Chris Hill, assistant to President Clinton for the Balkans, told President Meidani yesterday in Washington: “We want a responsible opposition in Albania”

ALEKSANDËR ÇIPA “Money makes the man...”. That old saying, born of popular pragmatism, brings out the banal and ridiculous slanders of the day, and of the 797th day it seems to be becoming so even for the historic leader of the Albanian right, Sali Berisha. Theft, in the general sense of the term, is being served to us as the cause and motive of all the upheavals of the moment, and even of the striking and scandalous remarks tinged with anti-civic and anti-national slander that Sali Berisha himself makes against the USA. Such remains the latest reference he made with his proverbial ambiguity. Perhaps it will be buried under the groaning of Professor Meta’s anti-coalitionist staff, a slander as vulgar as it is accusatory for the next fault, which the first one, with its own polemical gender, presented to us in order to transform the blow as such for others too. Theft emerges as guilty for the burning of Tirana in tears when one can observe the strong blow that flowed from another slander by Sali Berisha directed at the USA itself and the western orientation of the building of Albanian transition. Without a shadow of doubt, day by day the current opposition, crushed by the lack of civic identity and political format, is turning into an unmatched pedestal of anarchy and moral countervalues. Beyond the truth of this situation there is also a very simple, but also sad, explanation for this loss. The speculators of broad knowledge regarding the truths of Albanian reality have apparently for years underestimated the strong man, who, simply by appearing at the opening of the opposition’s political positions, knew very well how to send the scoundrels away from the stage of the performances. So he, in a simple way and with a special kind of abuse, has brought us yet another example of the deep moral crisis that defines this opposition. The frightened priest, in a time of tricks, performs magic. Frightened by the challenge with the Socialist Party, by people’s successes or failures, we know well that gold is sent into the fire from the soap tub. Therefore, as the last petal falls, nothing has remained these days for Berisha except to invent and fabricate other slanders in order to appear as a harsh ally. As the election campaign approaches and the news about the people’s vote risk killing even the last hope of this anti-historical project. So understandable it has become for him. When the consequences come, after the stampede of news that may pass unnoticed, the balanced mandate for defeat. Right after the feigned boy, slander now once again emerges in bold as the declarer, like the fortune-teller of July and September. Even when stolen, the next evil is still evil. But in the end, who stole it? And they keep on in their silence. Perhaps we should come to an agreement, as the cleaners themselves declare, in order to confuse the stages of Albanian-American relations. (continues on page 7)

The new law on Public-Private RTV requires the businessman Nikollë Lesi to donate (or sell) 60 percent of the ownership of his electronic media outlet The law on Public-Private RTV, now voted by parliament, has a very strange article, which requires the owners of local television stations to sell their property. According to this article, no single owner must hold more than 40 percent of the shares, while the rest is required to be distributed, even compulsorily. This requires Nikollë Lesi, who decided last night with the opposition staff, according to reports, to give 40 percent to the journalists of RTV Koha and 20 percent, while he himself will keep only 40% of the shares. The consequence of this is that the private media institution in Albania takes a blow, since anyone who today starts a private initiative in the media must permanently give up almost half of their ownership. Some time ago it had chosen the model of American television stations, where media property is free and untouched by interference. (At the moment the sports supplement Ekspres of radio “Koha e Jonë” enjoy 100 percent of the shares) “KOHA TV”, TELEBINGO 6 May 2000 5 TELE-BINGO with 5 OVER 1 MILLION 1 MAGIC-BINGO with 5 MILLION 1 STAR-BINGO with 1.5 MILLION 100 WINNERS MINI-BINGO with 100 THOUSAND LEK

BY ALFRED PEZA Albania in one hand codes and “Treasure Island”, in modern times of dangers, two groups of pirates, marketeers, underground thieves and corrupt customs officers! The old pope who has touched gold with his hatred should not, from him, claim the time, the riches, and the anguish of the man drowned by the latest scandal. Some events have been set upon us and keep following in such a repeated way that they are not only feeding our minds toward a collective evil. Their actions, carried out at sea with watercraft, accompanied by weapons, masks, radios and the hiding of traces, and by vandalism and robberies, are dragging on and have entered an inescapable hole. Indeed, one of them has been involved in cases at the center of the state. To find the end of this story we must accept that an economy of crime is flourishing, one that seeks profit not only from chaos, but also from unmeasured plunder. The latest stories about the country’s “treasure” have taken on the taste of our fear. The new pirates of the transition do not know the boundary between loot and the state. (continues on page 11)

American NASA scientists assure that there will be no apocalypse page 3,8 May 5, 2000 Saturn Jupiter Mars Venus Mercury Sun Earth