Vukaj and Çelo resign. United Right: No to the PS, Stop Berisha.

Will the Guard be washed clean with a “Pardon”? Terrifying strange things are happening in Albania. Anxiety has taken the place of shattered hopes. The state seems unsure of itself and not infrequently takes crazy actions that leave people astonished. It seems we have two states within the state, barking at each other and not infrequently raising their fists to strike themselves. At one side of the ring, Fino’s little half-state waves its fist; on the other, the fist of the President’s state looms threateningly. On one side stands a state represented by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is showing signs that it has no dealings with Fino’s state; on the other stands a Ministry of Defence that shows itself to be rabid and incapable of serving the state of the Albanians. In this war between the state’s two half-states, it seems there can only be losers. After the battle, no one is counting the victims. No one is comforting those sent to be cannon fodder. Crime has climbed on top of the state and made all of Albania its sphere of influence. Within this disoriented state, strange and incomprehensible paradoxes are taking place. A group of civilians terrorizes the Military Hospital; even the doctors’ parents become victims. The Ministry of Defence hastens to blacken the newspaper pages, shouting loudly: “The vehicles are not ours. Those who attacked are not ours.” And why does the Socialists’ Ministry issue this denial? The meaning is clear: these forces apparently are not part of Fino’s state, of which Vukaj’s ministry is a part, but of the other half-state, the one belonging to the President. The truth that has come to light makes clear that the vehicles and forces that inflicted violence and terror on the doctors at the Military Hospital, which comes under the Ministry of Defence, are from the Republican Guard. The question of whom the Guard answers to is entirely beside the point. It is reported that at one of the police stations in the capital, police officers were pressured by a part of the state that is not answerable to Fino. But both sides are military. So the state rises up against the state itself. What is happening inside our state? Zhulali destroyed our first army, all right, but what about this second one? Who benefits from this dysfunctional, rabid army? The person we have put at the head of the Government seems to be nothing more than a puppet. No one is listening to his endless statements. The haemorrhaging continues. The parties have taken it upon themselves to lull the Prime Minister to sleep and make him disappear for a while. The state seems to be wandering aimlessly. The soldiers’ latest absences, even though unverified, give the impression of a coup rehearsal. Could it be that the state is turning its fist against itself? The Guard is asking for pardon. But can terror be washed away with a “sorry”?

Macedonians tear the Albanian national flag Gostivar has once again witnessed the Macedonians’ clear hostility toward Albanians. The former are very much in the minority in this area, but their audacity went so far as to tear the Albanian national flag. Macedonian authorities were responsible for this misdeed. Civilians identified as close to the official Macedonian authorities removed the Albanian flag from the government building and tore it up. This ugly act provoked the anger of the group of Albanians who were at the scene. At that point, the local police intervened and detained all those involved in the incident. In the early hours of the morning, the Albanian authorities, angered by the incident, raised the national flag again. The incident heightened tensions in the already strained relations between the two nationalities. In an arbitrary act, the Constitutional Court of Macedonia ruled that the Albanian flag could not be used in the municipality of Gostivar. In response to this decision, Albanian political organizations in Macedonia held a rally in Gostivar’s square on 24 May under the slogan: “Let us defend the Albanian national flag.” The Macedonian authorities are seeking to cast Albanians as a destabilizing factor in this republic. To achieve this aim, they are once again resorting to touching the Community’s symbols, something Albanians cannot tolerate.

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