The renowned Italian weekly “Panorama” reports: . Objective: to help the former communists win the spring elections. The PS’s bunker mentality. In conditions of pluralist politics, one cannot speak of a bunker mentality in politics in general, which in the current Albanian context would mean its isolation. It is evident that Albania today has a diverse political space and political debate, to such an extent that, if one correctly understands the word bunkerization, one cannot apply it to present-day Albanian politics. This does not rule out the fact that bunkerization as a phenomenon is present in segments of this politics, specifically within the political sphere dominated by the Socialist Party. It is the only party in the Albanian political spectrum that demonstrates political constriction within itself. Setting aside its deeply compromising history, all one needs to do is walk around this party’s headquarters in Tirana to understand that the realization of European politics has completely failed. At the head of this party is a conservative clan closely tied to the past, specifically representatives of the same leadership, including former resident in Paris Kastriot Islami, former minister of anti-Semitism at the beginnings of democracy in Albania, and former Speaker of Parliament, who managed to elect Ramiz Alia president and also kept his own MPs seated when it came to condemning the Shkodër martyrs. The list of new candidates ... The renowned Italian weekly magazine PANORAMA, in its latest issue, gives a brief report with this text: ... had remained seated over the Shkodër martyrs. The lists of new candidates were being prepared by former Interior Minister Gramoz Ruçi, minister during the killings of February and April ’91, a policeman with a bullet aimed at Albanian democracy; the PS deputy chairman is a former informer on his own pupils and students, a Marxist sieve of the Party school, followed by Namik Dokle, the common thief of state dollars, and, moreover, the guarantor and executor of the orders demanding even the money Serbia gave him to preserve communism in Albania. This political dynasty has precisely excluded or eliminated from its ranks the reformist element that does exist in this party, removing in time even the possibility of a potential correction in the future. Thus, conservative leadership is the best laboratory for institutionalizing a party’s political bunkerization, in conditions where free and modernized politics are being affirmed across a country’s political landscape. The Socialist Party’s bunkerization is also served by its lack of alternatives, both economically and politically. It is a party that has omitted political alternatives from its overall program or simplified them to the level of propaganda, which is nothing more than a simplification or concealment of the absence of such alternatives; while economically, it operates in dependence on the actions of the Democratic Party and its government. Putting another party’s program first, rather than its own, is the clearest signal announcing a party’s bunkerization. Being in opposition solely because someone else is in power is an empirical argument that implies the opposition’s lack of political effectiveness, while the absence of political alternatives in keeping with the times leads directly back to the original alternative, which is very painful for the Albanian people. This party’s bunkerization is further aggravated by the lack of international relations, accompanied continually by resentment toward the relations the leading political force has established with countries important to Albania and with major international organizations. Nevertheless, bunkerization is not a phenomenon that flows from one political force to another. SUDAN … Washington has decided to evacuate Ambassador Timothy Carney and 25 staff members from the diplomatic mission in Khartoum. ALBANIA The secret police, the former Security Service, is reportedly receiving win the spring elections. SWEDEN For the first time in the country’s history, the conservatives, with 30.5 percent of the vote, have overtaken the...

Statement by the spokesperson of the Ministry of Finance Regarding the article published by the newspaper “Koha Jonë” on 14.02.1996, entitled “Deputy Prime Minister Vrioni orders the closure of 14 press outlets,” the press spokesperson at the Ministry of Finance clarifies that: The Minister of Finance, Mr. Dylber Vrioni, did not order the closure of any newspaper, but only requested that the 14 newspapers which, in order to evade taxes, registered themselves as magazines comply with their legal tax obligations, like all other entities—especially given the role they should play in shaping public opinion. We reiterate that the tax authorities are not under the competence of the Ministry of Finance. These obligations are established by law and must therefore be respected. P.S. In the interest of truth, we would ask this newspaper next time to publish documents in full and not remove paragraphs. To help the newspaper “Koha Jonë” understand this matter more clearly, we remind it that “from the first issue of its publication on 11 May 1991 until August 1994, it presented itself as a newspaper, and thus accepted its fiscal obligations. From then until today, it claims to be a magazine. Let public opinion judge us on this as well.”

EDI PALOKA In 1991, precisely at the time when most honest people abandoned the PPSH, Nikollë Lesi, under orders, applied to be admitted to that party (the document was published in “RD” as a facsimile). The man who had demonstrated his “ability” as a dormitory supervisor had been assigned by those same people to take charge of the Lezhë Party Committee newspaper, “Koha Jonë.” According to facts that have come to light recently, at the beginning of 1990, when it became clear that communism was nearing its end, a decision was made in Belgrade to turn a pro-communist newspaper in Albania into an “independent” newspaper so that it could secretly support the Albanian communists in Serbia’s service (the document was translated in “RD”). The Belgrade decision also specified how the “journalists” who would work for the newspaper were to be selected. It was at that very time that Nikollë Lesi went from being a dormitory supervisor to becoming a “KJ” journalist. Then, in 1991, a secret decision by the Secretariat of the PPSH Central Committee ordered the transfer of the newspaper “KJ” from being the newspaper of the PPSH Lezhë Committee to becoming an “independent” newspaper, but that decision emphasized that the newspaper had to remain entirely subordinate to the PPSH (later the PS), and that its directors had to be selected accordingly (the document was published in “RD” as a facsimile). Very soon after this decision, “KJ” became “independent” and, strangely, was privatized in Nikollë Lesi’s name, making him its owner. This caused conflicts, because there were other people at the newspaper who had a greater right than Lesi to be its directors, but they did not know the backstage dealings and did not have the money needed to keep a newspaper running. “Strangely,” others were said not to have the money; it appeared in Nikollë Lesi’s hands. How a man who until that day had lived solely on his salary as a dormitory supervisor could obtain the money to maintain a private newspaper becomes clear only today, in light of the new facts published in “RD” (according to information from the press office of Pietro Zannoni) about Serbian funding. Very soon, the wretched newspaper of the city of Lezhë was transferred to Tirana and began to be distributed throughout Albania. It was not long before “KJ” experienced almost an economic “boom,” something everyone noticed at the time but which is much clearer today. The former dormitory supervisor, unused to handling large sums of money, did not know how to hide the wealth that had “fallen from the sky” into his lap, but began driving luxury cars and displaying himself as a “socialite” in the capital’s circles. Meanwhile, the PS had lost the elections, and the Serbian Parliament was demanding an accounting for the 20 million dollars sent to Albania so that power would remain in communist hands. After March 22, the head of “KJ” no longer tried to maintain the mask of independence, and his newspaper went into a full-scale attack against the DP and the democratic government. On the other hand, articles signed with pseudonyms attacked the leaders of the Republic of Kosovo and their politics with unprecedented ferocity. The height of it came when Frok Çupi also attacked prominent figures of our National Renaissance, accusing them of having stolen Serbia’s money and demanding that the money be returned to Serbia. This is the history of the newspaper “KJ” and its first director, in a brief factual analysis. In forthcoming issues, “RD” will republish chronologically all the documents that substantiate the above.

p. 3 Dokle the self-conceited

Meta also reveals the enemies in the EU The SP is terrified by Ajazi’s political move p. 3

We are not following Pellumb Ruci, Dokle The chairman, along with 5 PS members, becomes a member of the DP The PS was never reformed That is why I am leaving it page 3

BY Pjeter PEPA p. 4