Those who falsified Justice are not just the three arrested yesterday page 7

By FERDINAND XHAFERRI DP MP On Sunday, President of the Republic Meidani returned from a visit to China. From the interview he gave to state television, it was difficult to understand why Mr. Meidani had undertaken this visit to China. A little less than a month earlier, a delegation headed by Defence Minister Hajdaraga had flown to the People’s Republic of China. The media attacked that visit from the perspective of its economic costs, or even the senior officials’ tourist desires. The press and electronic media, closely controlled by Berisha, chose silence as an alternative—or were ordered to remain silent. The fact that all the force commanders were included in the delegation means that we were not dealing with discussions about Chinese cubic metres of corn and all sorts of similar issues, but with purely military matters. What we described above was the warning bell about the visit to China undertaken by a huge contingent headed by the President of the Republic, who is also Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. Among the senior government officials accompanying him, the Chief of the General Staff of what, for the sake of convenience, we call the Albanian army, stood out—not by chance. The visits are being undertaken at a time when the military part of the Kosovo crisis has been resolved. Thanks to NATO’s intervention, Albanians were not only deserving beneficiaries of the victory, but also, to some extent, contributors to resolving the issue. Those who defend, or are obliged to defend, such moves answer the questions raised about these visits only by mentioning military figures and influential personalities from countries that play a role in global politics. This reasoning is not in itself disturbing or groundless. If that were all, it would not cause much concern. This reasoning is something more, and serves a greater purpose. It is used to conceal conduct or obligations that began decades ago. (Continued on page 5)

page 29 Mefarete Laze at the Festival yesterday. Photo: P.Ilo

The Minister of Public Order is forced to wait at Kapshticë It happened quite unexpectedly. While entering Greece, Minister Poçi was stopped at the customs post. The Greek computer had come up with a completely unforeseen reason: the Minister of Public Order’s car was stolen and could not enter the neighbouring country’s territory. Poçi was stranded, and a helicopter was sent specially from Athens to transport the Minister of Public Order, who had been officially invited to Greece. This was the incident, which was kept secret so that no one would find out, and there was no official reaction from Albania. Perhaps also because, at that moment, no incident with Greece was supposed to occur, while the highest-ranking leaders of the executive were visiting the country. page 12

You still have 2 days to make amends for the insult you inflicted on 62 Albanian tourists. May your irony about celebrating the birth of Christ in February, at the time of Buddha’s birth, and the arrival of the millennium at the time of the Chinese New Year be the last irony that a representative of a country like Italy directs at Albanians. ATHS