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BY EMIN BARÇI A section of the SP leadership concluded last night that they can manage without Nano. Ultimately, this means that the SP chairman is now on the list that the anti-Nano faction is preparing in order to put him on trial. Given the Albanian tradition that when someone stumbles, people kick him in the throat, revenge against Nano, now that he no longer has the prime minister’s office as a backdrop, seems normal. But the moment when the first attempt is made to remove the Socialist leader seems abnormal and immoral. According to some private sources, Nano is abroad for health reasons. The leader of the Socialists did not officially inform any of his party subordinates about this trip. It seems this was also the pretext for saying, “We have managed, and can manage, without Nano.” It is strange that these same people, who apparently realized they could manage without Nano, had unanimously voted for him to lead a new government only a few days before he voluntarily resigned as prime minister. It took nothing more than the removal of the backdrop of “Prime Minister” for even his position as “Chairman” of the SP to be called into question. While Nano made way for the younger generation in leading the country’s executive branch, some of the SP’s older leaders seem to consider themselves Majko’s contemporaries (the middle-aged portion of Nano’s generation) and are seeking a political comeback. Nano may deserve to leave the head of the SP as well, and that is for the party itself to decide; but launching the attack when he is personally absent from a small meeting of the Socialist leadership leaves a tainted impression of dishonesty and cowardice. By signing his resignation, Nano automatically acknowledged that he had failed to achieve his objectives of restoring order, fighting corruption, and directing the justice system. These own goals would have counted as points in the party standings if the KPD and the leadership had not given him carte blanche to form the “Nano III” government. On the other hand, a mitigating circumstance for the defendant, Nano, is that, unlike those attacking him today, he himself sought to resign. The group now preparing to replace Nano as head of the SP took advantage of the theory of inclusiveness, which is very important in governing the state as well as in the majority party. It should be noted that this group has not slipped from its senior government positions at any point. This means that they are either infallible (with Nano alone to blame for everything negative) or that demagoguery is their art: they take credit for every achievement of the SP and pin every failure on Nano. “We are a pilotless plane, because he has jumped out by parachute. Let’s meet together on the ground and talk,” one Socialist leader said last night.

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U.S. President Bill Klinton Photo REUTERS U.S. President Bill Klinton. Photo REUTERS