The Ministry of Public Order needs officers like these A spectacular operation by Kukës police, led by a female police officer. With a grenade whose safety pin had been pulled and a pistol in her hand, she pursued the criminals until she arrested them page 10

By ENTON ABILEKAJ What matters is the result. For everything that has happened and is happening, for everything that has been discussed and continues to be discussed, what matters is the cold, hard result. There is still debate over whether the 20th century ends this year, or whether the year 2000 is also needed to complete the cycle. Some scientists, entirely unmoved by the festive feeling, now popular, surrounding the end of the Millennium and the Century, continue to announce that it is too early to say goodbye. But it seems that spiritual conventions and instinct have prompted most of the world to bid farewell to the Century and the millennium. What is certain in all this is that the Albanian State has not yet completed a century, and will not do so for another year. On the contrary, this Century can be called a witness to the creation of the first Albanian State; it can be called a witness to Albanian wars, the first Albanian [state?]; it can be called a witness to dictatorships, but also a witness to the first Albanian democracy. It can even be called the author of all these things, but what matters is the result: Albania entered the Century without a state, as a coveted piece of land inhabited by Albanian speakers, as a homeland of warriors with Skanderbeg’s torn flag, divided with pencils and erasers on paper maps; but it ends the Century as a State that has now experienced everything. As a state that, after many efforts, has held on to its 28,000 square kilometres and is creating space for other Albanians who live in other lands. Albania is ending the Century as the only state in Southeastern Europe for which borders have only conventional significance, although they remain fragile in this region; it is bidding farewell to the Century while increasingly gaining the attention of its friends, regardless of the political class. Everywhere in the world, people are taking stock. Some call it the Century of Wars, others call it the Century that finally brought down Communism, and so on. But above all, this Century should be called the birth era of Communication. The language of television, computers and mobile phones have been among the most important inventions brought about by political developments. Without satellite communications, NATO’s attacks on Kosovo would not have been so precise; without television, Clinton would not have convinced Americans that Kosovo had to be saved from violence, because they would not even have known where this piece of land was. Without national communication, [it] would never have been overthrown, and borders would have been emphasized more and more every day. And since most communication is the Media, a share of the credit belongs to this great power. Above all, the Century that suffered two great Wars ended in peace for the 21st Century.