Fear of Islamist attacks / Washington withdraws diplomats from Tirana Bomb alerts in Romania and Switzerland too. Staff evacuated. Pages 2–3

BY FRROK ÇUPI The United States of America recently suspended the activities of its embassy in Tirana as a precautionary measure to prevent Islamist terrorist attacks against it. In a way, this seems like a discovery: the superpower of the globe has found that, in the small Balkan country only forty-some miles from European Italy of the Vatican, in the “child” it had cradled in its hand for about five years, there were Islamist terrorists who had shaken Manhattan and, most recently, the American embassies in African countries. But in fact this was not a discovery, although the superpower has only now pulled the thread of the ball of yarn. Progressive Albanian intellectuals, politicians and journalists imbued with the spirit of Western civilization had sounded the alarm bell about the danger of Islamic fundamentalism to Albania as early as the end of 1993. Yet even the representatives of model America were unable to hear such voices. Now the American state itself is obliged to come to Albania with the highest level of security measures, pulling on the thread found years ago. So what is happening? First of all, America is learning the lesson it missed. In the 1990s, when Albania opened its doors to the world and to a pluralist political system, American envoys made the fight against communism their sole objective. Former ambassador Rajerson publicly declared at the time that “the communists must be left without jobs.” The truth is that the brutal communist system in power had gone so far as to close the doors of the American embassy in Albania. But America, by giving the green light to the Albanian president of the time to open the doors to “every color and every boy except the communists,” ended up in the opposite political hemisphere. The American Embassy was forced to close again in August 1998; but this time because of “excessive” freedom and anti-communist chaos. Secondly, America may have learned a lesson from its “little child”: that the people of this nation must truly be put to use, and that slogans and flattering the senior officials are not enough. Sali Berisha, a man with pronounced tendencies toward an Islamist fundamentalist style, who is President, was for a long time America’s most pampered favorite, even though the voices of Albanians were ringing out against him. (continued on page 2)

An Islamist family traveling through the mountains of Afghanistan Photo REUTERS An Islamist family traveling through the mountains of Afghanistan. Photo REUTERS

Two Albanians were traveling to Greece with the enormous quantity They were discovered at customs, with the drugs hidden in the car’s fuel tank. They were coming from Turkey in the direction of Albania The adventure of the two Albanians returning from Turkey toward their homeland ended in a completely unexpected way. It is unlikely they could have imagined that their long journey would be interrupted at the point where the border between Turkey and Greece runs. As the usual passport checks and customs formalities were being carried out, Greek border officers at the Kipi border crossing, where the road linking Greece and Turkey passes… P. 9

Property disputes return. Prosecutor’s Office launches investigations Government officials do not disclose their assets P. 4 PSD and PRDNJ against the Socialists: They did not keep their promise The left-wing coalition is torn apart by SHIK P. 4 Kosovar politician writes to the Kosovo army Demaçi accepts the KLA invitation P. 5 Former SHIK chief, a unique case: Five-star mathematician Gazidede, the civilian with the rank of general P. 7 Ilir Zela, two hours waiting in the line of masks Deputy falls victim to gangs P. 13 Cetniks enter Albania twice more Midnight battle with the Serbs P. 10 Kosovar academic criticizes Rugova’s group The case against the negotiators P. 6