I VIEW WITH ADMIRATION THE NEW SITUATION ALBANIA IS GOING THROUGH. Former Italian President, «Senator for life», Françesko Kosiga, held a press conference for journalists. He began by expressing his satisfaction at the major changes that had taken place in Albania since his first visit, when he came in his capacity as President of Italy. «I view with admiration the new situation Albania is going through,» said the distinguished Italian figure. «I see much greater insight and clarity among Albanians, and this is extremely important for a country that has been isolated from the world like no other. The journalists present asked him various questions concerning the further development of the very friendly Italian-Albanian relations, the complicated situation in the Balkans, problems of Albanian emigration to Italy, the activities of the «Skënderbeu» Foundation, etc. Senator Kosiga answered the journalists’ questions and stressed that the «Skënderbeu» Foundation, one of whose founders is He, «will be a further contribution to the mutual strengthening of Italian-Albanian relations». (ATSH)

Around the middle of January, the American television station MTV, by then quite well known in Albania too, was to broadcast a concert featuring seven of the best-known singers in the United States of America. One of them, the singer Pol Makartni, went to the television station and asked to meet its director. He authorized his spokesperson to receive the celebrated singer. Meanwhile, also authorized by the MTV director, she told him: - Mr. Makartni, your song has been removed from the concert. When he asked why, the spokesperson continued: - Because your song desecrates the song. It does not meet our television station’s ethical standards. This decision by the MTV director seems unbelievable to an Albanian publisher or viewer, who generally has the impression that in democratic America nothing is forbidden. America has both freedom and a legal limit. We in Albania have freedom, but as for the legal limit, even when there is a law, everyone still defines it as they please, which has led to the abuse of freedom. The transitional period from dictatorship to freedom should truly be regarded as a golden age for Albanian journalism. Numerous pens entered its school, in democracy: professional and amateur authors, democrats and conservatives, cultured and vulgar, tolerant and intolerant, truth-tellers and manipulators of the truth. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that moralizing journalism, ideologized to the most absurd extreme, came to an end. The transition from totalitarianism to a free press inevitably also brought its own extremism. Under dictatorship, you are forced to prove yourself within the vicious steel circle it has imposed on you; in a democracy, you are obliged to go only as far as the law you have established allows. The most difficult period is precisely the space between a society under dictatorship and a society governed by law, or, to put it in terms of time, what we would call the transition. Within it, everyone who takes up a pen to say something, intentionally or not, makes a statement. Those who express their opinions publicly must meanwhile take into account that the next day they will be abused in articles written in the most foul-mouthed language. Without a doubt, this phenomenon must be labeled a disgrace to journalism. Alongside the polluted side, dirty articles also circulate. Many authors use pseudonyms instead of putting their names beneath their articles. These newspapers resemble anonymous letters sent by mail. This tactic has been chosen to smear anyone more easily and to hide better from the public. In the past, and not so long ago, in tragic confrontations between periods, such faces in Albanian society led to conflicts with tragic consequences between individuals. Fortunately, this does not happen in a democracy. Yet something else is happening: many colleagues avoid one another, not because they hold different political beliefs, but because one of them insulted the other in a newspaper using street language. The other has neither responded nor engaged in a physical confrontation; instead, as revenge, and ashamed to repay him in the press with the same coin, he has chosen to keep his distance, as someone more peaceable and more intellectual. In these cases, verbal violence has gone as far as becoming a criminal act. If Albania is passing through the transition period peacefully, that is the people’s merit. They have been more tolerant than many authors, and through their tolerance they have prevailed. The intellectual’s operative reason is knowledge. His strength in polemic is argument. A knowledgeable person with a well-rounded education presents the full substance of their thought everywhere with a high degree of ethics. Informational ethics, having come under the harsh blows of two extremes—first under dictatorship and then under democracy—is now on the threshold of its true emancipation. The law is also expected to have an influence in this regard. A footballer who insults someone is punished. He is forbidden to turn a sporting spectacle before thousands of spectators into a stage for a torrent of street language. The law punishes a driver who violates traffic rules. Someone who strikes or kills another person goes to prison. Many writers have gone to extremes, giving their published words criminal responsibility, and, strangely, they do not care. Therefore, democracy is calling on the law to protect as they please, which has led to the dispersal of freedom. The institutionalization of pluralism in Albanian life wisely and significantly brought two very important elements: the successive creation of a large number of political parties, and the sudden emergence of many new newspapers. There are so many political parties, both major and newly established, that only the Ministry of Justice knows their exact names. Newspapers are being published so rapidly that we have encountered a paradox: the outdated factories ... Vulgar extremism struck journalism, clothing it in some of the most choice banal language. The intellectual authors, with the dignity of democracy, are faced with an alternative: if they decide to ... The position taken by the American television channel MTV is one example of how freedom of speech and thought can be defended in a democracy, by taking the right stance toward the abuser, whoever he may be! QEMAL SAKAJЕVA

- The statements by Italian investigator Evelina Canale definitively demolish the far left’s propaganda about politically contrived trials against F. Nanos. - When the Italian aid scandal erupted in Albania, the circumstances surrounding the aid emerged in a way that weighed heavily on the former communist leaders of that time; in Italy, investigations had already begun into the phenomenon of abuse of aid intended for Third World countries. However, up to that point Albania’s name had not been listed alongside those of the other countries. We have all witnessed how former communist Prime Minister Nano and former President Alia reacted (and continue to react) to the accusations. The substantiated charges of abuse of office, which undoubtedly lead to accusations of corruption, were immediately interpreted as «political setups». Since it is now clear why such an interpretation is being made, I will not repeat it. One of the points Nano and those doing his propaganda tried to press in support of their «theory» was the fact that an investigation into the matter of aid to Albania had not yet begun in Italy. They present this fact as a strong argument proving Nano’s innocence. But once again, they failed to see what was coming. Italian justice faces Nanoist propaganda The aid scandal conceals enormous profits. They are so substantial that they can corrupt officials and ministers, private companies, etc., both in Italy and in Albania. Perhaps, following such a statement, Nano might claim that the Italian justice system, too, intends to hold political trials against the former communist leader, but it is hard to imagine anyone believing that. Canale also confirms the accusation made against R. Alia by the Albanian justice and oversight authorities: «Levante Co...» had business dealings with the son of an Albanian political leader, she says. Abiding by her authority and at the same time respecting certain principles of justice, the Italian investigator does not name names in her statements and draws no final conclusions; rather, she makes it known that, in order to reach such conclusions, she will have to conduct some additional investigations in Albania as well. The left-wing propaganda also dwelt at length on the facts gathered by the State Audit Office, calling them political manipulations. The Italian investigator Evelina Canale, who is handling the investigation into the scandal over the Italian government’s aid to Albania, has begun drawing some conclusions. Although, for understandable reasons, these conclusions are still preliminary, they definitively disprove Nano and his supporters’ claims that the proceedings against him are political. Here is what Canale said in an exclusive interview with «Gazeta Shqiptare» about the aid scandal involving Albania: «They are documents that I have examined, assessed and placed in my case file...» she says. So, what is left for Nanoist propaganda? Let them go on publishing letters of solidarity from their Marxist-Leninist brothers, calling for «mënër» F. Nano to be released, regardless of any law. EDI PALOKA

- New missionaries of an old alliance, or an adventure? - Apparently, out of a desire to enter history at any cost and by any means, and to impress the country and the world with original statements and deeds (perhaps also victims of the Enverist legacy), the leaders of the Democratic Alliance Party, Neritan Ceka, Spartak Ngjela and Arben Imami, planned, sought out and are now carrying out their historic mission in Milošević’s Belgrade. Naturally, for Milošević—known throughout the world as the most adventurous and greatest criminal politician, the most rabid chauvinist and most deranged anti-Albanian—the arrival of two unknown emissaries from Albania may be of some interest at a time when the entire world’s public opinion has abandoned, blockaded and condemned him. Who are they? ... For a glimmer of hope? He himself may know, but his advisers or historians may also recall that Belgrade has not infrequently received emissaries, or acts and messages of help and support, from Albanian politicians from Prishtina or Tirana. About 45 years ago Enver Hoxha had gone to Tito, kissed him and raised a toast with him to the mass slaughter of Albanians and the sale of Albania. Milošević himself has had close collaborators by his side in carrying out his old anti-Albanian plan: renegades stigmatized as Halit Ternovcati, Rrahman Morina and «other sold Albanians», who served Belgrade more zealously than the Serbs themselves. But why are you going to Belgrade, to Milošević? Mr. Ceka, Mr. Ngjela and Mr. Imami? Is it perhaps to help your comrades in Belgrade? ... Rugova and all the Albanians who support him and follow him with complete conviction and trust? If you go on this mission, you deserve a grand reception: he should proclaim you honorary citizens of Belgrade, heroes of Serbia. You may forget that he will not spare you. But we do not forget, and we wish to remind you that the end and place deserved by missionaries such as your predecessors and yourselves is the garbage heap of Albanian history. We also wish to remind you that you are guests—or friends—of the greatest executioner, the monster drenched up to his neck in Albanian, Bosnian, Slovenian, Croatian and Serbian blood. Since he has never invited you as a war criminal to meet ... Or have you been commissioned and ordered to go? Doklevid and Sebastianin may use your visit to send fraternal messages to Milošević. Why not? You may also receive some message to take to Belgrade from the Serbian Embassy in Tirana, which proved extremely willing and quick to issue you visas. The adventure of Messrs. Ceka, Imami and Ngjela may also be inspired by their naivety or megalomania in their assessment of themselves and the party they represent. How can they hope to find an intellectually trans-zigjente spirit in Milošević? How can they think they will change his mind or soften him? How can the three leaders of a microscopic or phantom party hope to do what high-ranking diplomats of the great powers have not managed, for water and Serb Albanians? Once again, Mr. Ngjela and Mr. Imami? Is it perhaps to link yourselves to an old alliance with a new bond of friendship?

The un-banned writer of a for-bidden peo-ple By Bashkim Trenova • Qosja puts worn-out social-communist theses into circulation: ones believed only in Belgrade and Athens. • The theory of «tomorrow»—a diabolical attempt. To build the future, you must live in the present. The political quixotism of the deserts of the future. • Mud slung at political pluralism in Albania and Kosovo, among democracy’s most powerful pillars. Judgments from wholly reactionary political and ideological positions, rooted in Albanian-Serbian monism. • The Albanian state and Parliament are attacked too. Social-communist support for a parliamentary crisis. Democracy in Albania, according to Qosja, is illegal(!) • The follower of Enverism takes the dictator’s human warehouse under his protection: H. Alinë, F. Nanon, etc. The academic Qosja, defender of crime and corruption. The ideology of national unity and reconciliation calls for class struggle and national division. • The nightmare of the national question—a spokesperson for chauvinist circles ...