An American study attempts to explain fate or misfortune Dean S. Rugg 1. Introduction In 1937, Stadtmüller, a German geographer, asserted that for 2,000 years Albania’s geopolitical role had been that of a Durchgangsland (transit corridor) between the Adriatic Sea and the Balkan Peninsula. In 1990, Cohen, an American geographer, pointed out the importance of the concept of a transit corridor in a changing geopolitical world. This article aims to analyze the connection between these two assertions, taking Albania as its subject of study. Although conventional judgments would diminish the country’s credibility as a transit corridor, Albania offers interesting opportunities to answer questions about the concept of a transit corridor. What are some of the characteristics of this concept? What kind of model can be developed to explain it? What is the present-day role of these small states? Does the concept of a transit corridor, applied to the case of Albania, offer a way to understand the reassessment of the Balkans? The dominance of foreign powers over these small states has been a familiar theme in the history of Eastern Europe. This theme was succinctly presented more than half a century ago by the geopolitics scholar Harriet Wanklyn: Can small states secure their existence without becoming tools of world politics? Continued on page 11

Photograph: burned-out cars and people on a street.

20 secret pages of Ngjela’s final report All the names of those guilty of the March tragedy Braho: “There is political responsibility among people in the governing camp, too” TIRANË - “Berisha and the others are the principal culprits in the events of March.” This is what Spartak Braho stated in the opinion of the full commission, summarized in about 20 sheets that make up the dossier on last year’s unrest. The Socialist lawyer explained that the report is expected to be read in Parliament and that Parliament will vote on referring the country’s senior leaders to the Prosecutor’s Office, starting with Berisha, Zhulali and Zhulali, and continuing with the others who headed military and state structures during those frightening months. Braho also explained the legal grounds for accusing Berisha and the people who were close to him, but, as regards moral responsibility, the PS lawyer did not exclude the opposition of that time either. AND THEN WHAT? Fatos Baxhaku The March responsibility commission has closed the cardboard covers of the files. After months of investigation, it has finally identified the people who must answer for one of the darkest periods in the recent history of Albania. Meetings, legal and political debates, scraps of paper and conversations with witnesses—all of these have now been neatly put together by the commission members, who have long wrestled with a difficult subject, perhaps the most difficult one, and with the twenty or so pages drafted by the MPs. The contents of the report are now known. The discussions, it seems, will be only a formality in moral terms. And so an old question returns to the stage once again, reminiscent of a film title: Who is to blame? If we were to answer with the title of another equally well-known film, then—judging by what has been established so far—we would be inclined to say: Money is to blame for everything. Life will go on. De[the rest is cut off] that recent period. A collection of witnesses—all of this has now been carefully prepared by the commission members, who have long sweated over a difficult subject, perhaps the most difficult one still hovering over Albanian public opinion. Who caused the absurd bloodshed of the spring a year ago? Should the Justice system intervene, or will this subject remain a taboo of politics and of the commissions established by politicians, which no one knows where they lead? Yesterday, one of the members of the “Ngjela Commission,” the socialist Spartak Braho, agreed to speak about the contents of the dossier that will very soon become a subject of discussion in Parliament. “The final word must be spoken by the Justice system,” Braho added, after blaming Berisha and his people. “We are not a court,” was his final point of interest. More or less the same thing was expressed in an article published in Gazeta Shqiptare by lawyer Ngjela, the commission’s chairman. The commission, then, offers only a moral assessment of the political events of this March for many Albanians. But this was a time that had already passed. Here, even six months before it happened, the replaced deputies had been laboring, while the mothers who had lost their sons from Tropoja to Vlora and Saranda had given their testimony through their tears. The orphaned children, deprived in their poverty, had given theirs too—all of them, especially in the south, as had the families of the guardsmen and SHIK officers killed by the madness of those who used them as cannon fodder. The cypresses know very well what morality means in the face of death. The mothers dressed in black from the North to the South may have many, many things to say, certainly also with

The Italian Visa “Counter” at ALBANIAN NEWSPAPER Send your letters to: Rr. Dibrës 370 Tiranë The Italian Consul replies in the pages of “Gazeta Shqiptare” Italian visas: Here are the new names List of nearly 200 people On page 11

GAZETA of Durrës The “Ceka” file: the originals are coming DURRËS - The smuggling file has been supplied with the original documents, which have finally arrived from the places where the trucks carrying the goods set off. The file, referred to as the “Ceka” file, includes 50 cases, most reported by Division XII and others by the customs police. On page 8

Ruçi: “Ceka should produce the evidence” The PS leader on Malaj: He is successful TIRANA — Gramoz Ruçi comes out against Ceka and defends Malaj over smuggling. “The minister is successful; he has managed to secure 90% of customs revenues, and this 10% that is missing should not be exaggerated too much, suggesting that nothing else happens in Albania except smuggling.” The Socialist secretary said that Malaj’s success is demonstrated not only by getting the finances of the Albanian state back on their feet once again, but also, most recently, by signing the ESAF-2 agreement with the IMF. “And while 120 other IMF member countries are celebrating the conclusion of the agreement, only in Albania does it seem to make no impression on us, and we quarrel,” the socialist leader said. He then took a jab at Ceka himself. “I trust facts more than the figures Ceka gives. While he was Minister of the Interior, he made no denunciation against those involved in smuggling,” Ruçi declared.

TIRANA — A millionaire with just ten lek. He bought a simple bingo ticket and, at number 36, read his triumphant turn of fortune. E.S. from Tirana went from poor to millionaire on the boundary between two lottery rounds. Together with a friend, he had been going to the “Magic Bingo Albania” hall in the Palace of Culture for only a week. The unemployed 30-year-old had managed to win three bingo games by 11:30 p.m., when luck reached its peak. One of the nine special tickets was scratched off at record speed, and with the number 36 he won Bingo. The late-night millionaire refused to make his name public for fear of the “masks” and gave only his initials. The game, which began in Albania three years ago, had been unfamiliar to him, but within a week he had learned it very well and had managed to win the grand prize. Extrabingo

TIRANA — With greetings from Nano and Prodi, the first edition of “Fiera del Levante” in Albania opened yesterday. The president of the fair, Francesco Divella, recalled two years of hard work to bring this project to fruition, which, he assured attendees, would not be a one-off. Nano described the event as an economic spectacle, while Prodi called it both a point of arrival and a point of departure. The fair, attended by 280 companies and public entities, will remain open for another four days. 1ª FIERA DEL LEVANTE IN ALBANIA TIRANA 28-31/5/98 Opening ceremony in Tirana Opening ceremony in Tirana (photo: H. Pustina)

SHKODRA — Crime returns to Shkodra. The caprice of the month, which will not go out without being bloodied, just as it came in, brought yet another victim this morning near the “Don Bosko” center. Ilir Maliqi, 26, was killed at around six ten in the morning in a burst of automatic gunfire.

VLORA — Nano and Prodi make promises and set conditions. “The boats that set off on schedules like city buses must be stopped,” the Italian prime minister told Nano, while also promising him that he would do everything possible to open the much-discussed consulate in the city of Vlora.

ALBANIAN NEWSPAPER Sports Drugs and sport: a pair that cannot be stretched apart, but that also cannot coexist. When the most important male hormones, androster[piece cut off] and testosterone, were discovered 65 years ago, they were considered “strength medicines” and were said to be used in sport. For athletes, although they increase muscle volume and help build strength, it is the steroids that cause harm. On pages 13, 15 Image of athletes and tablets/capsules.

GAZETA of Shkodër