Challenges spoil the meeting’s celebration. The second Skalionji demands proof of love. Gjinushi and Pollo clash in Parliament. Pollo: We make the law; let the SP approve it

Albanians are finding it hard to stomach it

Dalip GRECA Albanians are barely managing to stomach the Majko-Berisha meeting. The fanatics in the two camps are finding it even harder, including former technocratic-sportsman Prime Minister Fino, who openly threatened and mocked Majko: “Go on, if you dare, kiss Nano”—he could not stomach the opponents’ tolerance. As if a UÇK fighter had met a Serb, or an Albanian nationalist a vori-epiriot, and not two Albanians who have decided to go into politics!! So why is this happening? Because this meeting was like a bolt from a clear sky. For eight years, Albanians have done nothing but curse and insult their political opponents. Perhaps the militants of both major parties had gone to bed on Sunday night weighed down by the insults and curses of the rally, and woken up the next morning at daggers drawn with their opponents. Perhaps this was something they could not stomach. Political dialogue is democracy itself, but the December 21 meeting exposed the falseness of the political struggle during these eight years of pluralism and confirmed the thesis that the PS and DP seek to monopolize politics by imposing a two-goalpost game, sometimes one side and sometimes the other. They decide when to make peace; they also decide when to wage internal war; they decide when Kosovo will be divided; they own the strikes and the conflicts—they, and they alone. In fact, the militants, especially the idealists and not the fanatics, are not entirely to blame for their opposition to the meeting. Let us consider for a moment what relations between the two camps were like the day before the meeting. On Sunday, during Berisha’s encirclement of the state’s citadel, the Prime Minister’s Office, there was no shortage of flames, fury, or insults; not a single curse was left unsaid—not one of the insults found in the Albanian lexicon from Gjon Buzuku’s “Meshari” onward. The two leaders will have to ... Continued on page 8

Dokle reveals the file on Milo Fejzoni: Association for Protection from Saliu Page 5

P. 9

Ismail Kadare: Enough of quarrels and resentment Page 9 Laço and Ndreu challenge the DP

Page 9 □ Laço and Ndreu challenge the DP The DP in Parliament today? □ Zani’s rival, trial begins with a brawl New Year? Beware of counterfeit money P. 2 □ Berisha’s prosecutor will not resign Agim Tirana: Berisha should have come to the Prosecutor’s Office himself P. 6 □ Qafë Thanë, 20 cars crash The Peqin rooster is sold in Elbasan P. 7 Kosovo, a dangerous situation P. 11