As soon as it came to power, the Socialist Party and its political offshoots abandoned the propagandistic jargon they had used during the five years of transition in opposition, waving the strange banner of “we are entering a democratic, civilized and open Balkans for everyone.” Behind this slogan, the socialist leadership very soon adopted and developed nationalist rhetoric, which had rarely appeared during the rule of the Democratic Party. In recent days, the left-wing press has been making maximum efforts to highlight the Kosovo issue from new angles, different from those of previous years when “the Kosovo issue was treated as an internal matter of Serbia.” The solution of the issue of Albanians in the former Yugoslavia has never been regarded by the political forces of the left in Albania as the key to the overall solution of the Yugoslav question. Even when Kosovo took an important place in the Dayton Agreement, the Albanian left published no official position, remaining faithful to its historical cosmopolitanism and abstract cosmopolitanism. Despite all the demagogic insistence on the national question displayed over the years, the Socialists now in power, although they have tried to sabotage the spirit of the agreements between the political forces in Albania and in Kosovo, have begun to speak with increasingly loud tones about the possibility of a nationwide response with the aim of a lasting solution to the Kosovo issue, even to the point of realizing the idea of a possible national unification. This nationalist rhetoric also stood out in the greeting speech Prime Minister Nano addressed to the Euro-socialists at their assembly yesterday. But the typical duplicity of the social communists continues. The secret and non-institutionalized dialogue with Serbian diplomacy, without the presence of a third party and without prior concessions in defense of human rights in Kosovo and beyond, in defense of national rights, has also been described by foreign analysts as a penalizing and fatal inconsistency. The socialist concept is far removed from genuine nationalism. For Albanian leftists, nationalism represents a political trick to evade the responsibilities of governing and to offset opposition attacks in the context of the economic crisis, which continues to deepen. By proclaiming demagoguery in nationalist clothing, the Socialists cannot stifle the real aspirations of Albanian nationalism.

Page 8 Cartoon series by Medi BELORTAJA Page 5

Page 2

Zani enters the Court, Greek priests in the Presidency. The "big shots" are blocking the round table. Ngjela, the apple of discord

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