THIS IS THE SWIFT RESPONSE OF THE USA TO THE END OF MONISM ALBANIA WAS ADMITTED TO THE CSCE

Berlin, 19 June 1991, 3:08 p.m. Today, in the German Reichstag, at the proposal of Dr. Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Deputy Chancellor and Foreign Minister of Germany, Albania returns to the bosom of the European family after almost 600 years. Thus the will of the Albanian people, oppressed for 46 years by the iron fist of the evil PP and dictator Enver Hoxha, has been fulfilled. This is the warm hand of European democracy. In Republika, we welcome this long-dreamed-of moment, when our flag flew in the same row as those of the peoples of Europe. This is the great day that comes from where the sun sets, as the great Naim said. This is a great act of commitment for us and a boon for the peoples of Europe and the USA, who highly valued our people's struggle for freedom and democracy. At last, the Homeland of Skënderbeu has become worthy of standing proudly at the European table. HYSEN ÇOBANI (sent by fax.)

Tomorrow, around 4–8 p.m., a delegation of distinguished representatives of the great American people will arrive in Albania for the first time. And this is Secretary of State James Baker. Not only in the developed world, but also in little “hermetic” Albania under monism, he enjoys a special popularity and sympathy as a statesman, an astute and highly pragmatic politician, a diplomat of few words and great deeds, and a balanced man. He appears to be striving to implement President George Bush’s policy with great conscientiousness; he is everywhere his presence is needed by the USA. In London, Paris, Moscow, Beijing, Berlin, Prague, Tel Aviv, Damascus, Cairo, Geneva... He is the man who prepared Bush’s talks with Gorbachev and many other leaders of major countries. And everywhere, as the American magazine “Newsweek” says, “he hates to lose. In the last decade, no other figure has had more experience in aligning himself with fortune while avoiding disgrace and defeat.” But how did this politician and “statesman” get this far? To answer this question (as we prepare this article), we are helped by the US representative in Albania, William R. Ryerson, who contacted Washington and quickly provided us with material from the US Department of State, sent especially in response to our request. JAMES BAKER III BECAME SECRETARY OF STATE James Baker III became the 61st Secretary of State on January 25, 1989, and was formally sworn in at the White House on January 27, 1989. He was nominated by President-elect Bush on November 9, 1988, and confirmed by the Senate on January 25, 1989. James Baker III served as the 67th Secretary of the Treasury from February 1985 to August 1988. At that time he was also charged with the duties of chairman of the powerful election campaign of Vice President George Bush. Before serving as Secretary of the Treasury, he was appointed by President Reagan as Chief of Staff to the President of the United States, a post he held from January 1981 to January 1985. During that time he was a member of the White House National Security Council, while also remaining a member of the Treasury Department. At the Treasury he was also chairman of the President’s Economic Policy Council. In 1980, Mr. Baker served as an adviser during the Reagan-Bush election campaign. From January 1979 to May 1980 he was chairman of Vice President Bush’s campaign for the 1980 Republican presidential nomination. Secretary Baker was the Republican Party’s candidate for Attorney General of Texas in 1978. He was born in Houston and worked as a lawyer at the firm Andrews and Kurth from 1957 to 1975. In August 1975, Mr. Baker was appointed Deputy Secretary of Commerce by President Ford. He joined President Ford’s election campaign in May 1976 as deputy secretary for Operations, and in August became National Chairman of the President Ford Committee. Secretary Baker graduated from Princeton University in 1952. After two years of active service as a lieutenant in the US Marine Corps, he entered the University of Texas School of Law in Austin. He completed his studies in 1957, graduating with honors. He is a member of the Texas and Houston Bar Associations, the American Linguistic Society, and the legal honor society Phi Delta Phi. He is also a member of the board of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars at the Smithsonian Institution. He has also served on the governing boards of Texas Children’s Hospital and the MD Anderson Cancer Institute hospital. Secretary Baker has received the Wexner Award for distinguished public service from the American Institute of Public Service, an award for distinguished public service from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and the Woodrow Wilson Award for distinguished achievement in service to the nation from Princeton University. In 1986 Secretary Baker was named an outstanding alumnus of the University of Texas. He holds many honorary degrees. Baker was born on April 28, 1930. His wife, Susan Garrett Baker, is a well-known philanthropist in the USA and the founder of two organizations for the protection of the homeless. She enjoys playing tennis and golf. Baker and Susan have eight children. To illustrate the story of US Secretary of State James Baker III, we are publishing a photograph of him from his life, printed in the American magazine “Newsweek” on January 14, 1991. It concerned the Geneva talks with Tarik Aziz, which were the last attempt to avert war with Iraq. About those days, as the magazine reports, Susan said: “Baker sleeps better than anyone in the world,” for the first time in ten thousand years, the needs had become reconcilable. He knew the danger facing the American army, but even more so the people and army of Iraq, who would have to pay a very heavy price for turning the desert into a deadly adventure. In the name of democracy and the Albanian people’s aspirations for progress and development, and in the name of Albanian-American friendship, we extend our heartfelt welcome to Mr. Baker in Albania. Our hearts are with you! G. DHIMO

The people have a golden saying: “A lie has short legs.” Life has thoroughly proved this over the centuries. But these days our political life has proved it once again. Let us analyze it: A year ago, the Party of Labour, seeing the abyss toward which it was heading, began a campaign to attract all kinds of foreign investors and firms to Albania. This shone through the principles of the Constitution and Enver, and did not go unnoticed. On the contrary, our television, even before contracts had been signed, conducted interviews and publicized every businessperson who came here. This propaganda became most visible on the eve of the March 31 elections, creating the impression that the opposition was wrong when it said the Communists helped no one. Look, on the contrary, all these firms have come forward. Albania will attract foreign capital and the situation will change. We would have been glad if it had really been so. But, goodness, it was all just propaganda to help the Party of Labour win, and to ensure the party’s future for Mr. Ramiz Alia as its leader. Even on the eve of March 31, he praised the glorious work of Enver Hoxha and the Party of Labour and urged the people to vote for this party. He knew very well that help would not come from abroad, and that those television interviews were simply propaganda. The Party’s interests came before Albania’s! But once victory had been achieved and capitalists were expected to come and invest, with the exception of one or two firms about which there had been many objections and question marks, no one appeared to help the Party of Labour and its monist government. Even Prime Minister Fatos Nano’s plans for a trip to Europe faded away without any explanation, because for 50 years the world had paid for the destruction of communism; it was hardly going to finance its flourishing in Albania now that it had collapsed. In these circumstances, the Independent Trade Unions Federation helped find a solution. The government led by Mr. Nano capitulated in the face of the general strike, and a government of national stability was formed with the participation of several political parties. Thus ended the PP’s lie about securing allies in the developed Western world. But will investors now come forward for the Albanians? In the name of democracy, the campaign to attract capitalists to Albania, presented as “salvation from the opposition,” went further: While it was still only speculation, the American newspaper “The New York Times,” through David Binder, announced that James Baker would come to Albania. But this was only a journalistic report, not an official confirmation. On the night when the formation of the government of stability was expected, while we had already prepared an article welcoming Baker to Albania the next day, we met Mr. William Ryerson, the US representative in Albania. His reply was: “There is no official confirmation, but this matter is being discussed in the US Senate.” They were waiting for a coalition government. And before this government had properly begun work, De Michelis arrived. Before the positive buzz about Italy’s approach had even died down—Italy, from which we are separated by only a “river,” so close are we, yet for 50 years we kept away as if it were the devil—the Deputy Chancellor and Foreign Minister of Germany, Dr. Hans-Dietrich Genscher, also arrived, together with the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the CSCE. The aim was as clear as daylight: his and many other states’ approval of Albania’s admission to the CSCE, because it is no longer a monist country; and secondly, something that for us is as vital as life itself: cooperation and economic aid. This distinguished representative of Germany and friend of our martyred people, as the Albanian Telegraphic Agency itself reports, “...welcomed the new political arrangement in Albania, the formation of a government of national stability with the participation of political forces, as an act that wins confidence at home and abroad.” Now the question naturally arises: “Are we going to Berlin next?” And since we want to, let us show “what strength and what worth the opposition has for the Homeland.” I will reinforce this with the official announcement that Mr. James Baker, US Secretary of State, is urgently coming to Albania. For 50 years we followed the course of red monism and kept away not only from these giants of development, but even when we wanted them (during the regime’s death throes) to avert the inglorious end that would consign the name of the “legendary” Party of Labour to history, they did not come. PETRO DHIMITRI (continued on page 4)

On June 14–15, the first Conference of the Democratic Parties of the Balkans was held in Athens, at the initiative of Greece’s New Democracy Party. At the invitation of the party’s president, Greek Prime Minister Mr. Cotakis, Sabri Godo and Vangjush Gambeta of the PR also took part in the conference as observers. The conference discussed the establishment and opportunities for cooperation among the Democratic Parties of the Balkans, for the benefit of democratic developments in the region. On behalf of the PR, the conference was greeted by Vangjush Gambeta, secretary of this party’s Initiative Committee. During their stay in Athens, Mr. Godo and Vangjush Gambeta met with Mr. Teodor Berkaçis, head of the foreign relations section of New Democracy. Their discussion covered opportunities to develop relations between the two parties and our countries, and in particular the problem of Albanian refugees in Greece. On June 15, at [time], in one of the halls of the Hotel “Dajlti,” the German Foreign Minister, Dr. Gensher, received and held a conversation with Sabri Godo, chairman of the PR Initiative Committee. During the conversation, Dr. Gensher described as encouraging the development of Albania’s future relations, the formation of the government of national stability, and the agreement among political parties on National Unity. He sought the Albanian Republican Party’s opinion on the issue of Albania’s admission to the CSCE. After expressing the Albanian people’s feelings of friendship toward Germany and its people, Sabri Godo stressed that these feelings are entirely different from those shown by Albania’s former rulers. “We see,” he continued, “Germany as a close and powerful country, with which we should establish close political, economic and social relations. The Republican Party in particular believes that its aims and aspirations are very close to those of the New Democracy Party.” (Continued on page 4)