Topalli: P. 3

Zëri: P. 3

Zogaj: P. 3

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By Arben ILIAZI The fifth canceled visit by a senior figure in American politics and diplomacy. After Mrs. Klinton, President Klinton, Mr. Ollbrajt and Mr. Kohen, Ambassador Hollbruk is the one who will not land at Rinas Airport. The reasons, more than “technical” and “atmospheric,” are political and diplomatic. Hollbruk has visited regions engulfed in war without batting an eyelid. American diplomacy is punishing us for our passivity in the fight against crime. The price of this punishment is very high. All Albanians are paying it, through international isolation, the lack of prospects for investment, and the psychological terror inflicted on those who have decided not to abandon this country. The West, especially the USA, offered us much on the path to democracy, but those opportunities were not taken. The massive investment in the democracy and security of Albanians was not used to foster peaceful conduct, justice and honesty, but for dirty political businesses, trafficking, and every kind of corruption and smuggling. We have now reached a point where democracy is at risk and our lives are threatened by the obsessions of organized crime. Albania is being dragged toward a horizon where hope cannot be rekindled. It is no use asking about the political and economic future. The West seems to find it difficult to prevent this Somali-like situation, which begins with political degeneration and spreads toward mass suffering and calamities, with total chaos and anarchy. Now the Albanian government seeks to communicate by telephone with Western diplomacy and receives messages from them, but is unable to guarantee anything. If this situation continues, it would not be surprising if our government conducted diplomatic contacts via the “internet” or through meetings in the air, far from the Albanian border. Although our leaders are “pragmatic dreamers,” they have no program for public order, and disregard constitutional principles and laws, thereby showing contempt for humanism and reason toward Albanian citizens, the forces that guarantee peace and security. Ambassador Hollbruk delivered the most valuable message by canceling his visit. Albanians should thank this distinguished diplomat, architect of peace in Bosnia and, in part, of the end of the war in Kosovo. Why should we grovel before Westerners to keep in power a thieving, cynical state mortgaged to the Mafia? Hollbruk has told the truth to the rulers of Tirana and to impotent Albanian diplomacy. Democracy needs respect; the state needs laws to be respected. Crime is a co-author of official policy. The USA can no longer play the role of hypocrisy.

We are ungoverned; the world isn't helping us

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ALBANIA, A TRANSIT COUNTRY FOR ALBANIANS The season of mass departures has begun P. 11

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S 21677? ... no. 205-230, complete?