$500,000, Bashkim Fino’s latest robbery

Unassailable documents from the major dossier on the plundering by those in power on pages 10–11

The opposition leaves the technical negotiating table

The blocking of consensus by Meidani and the SP, a major historical mistake The SP and Meidani unilaterally violated the joint declaration of March 13, 2000, accepted by the opposition and the governing majority in the presence of Ambassador Ahrens on page 3

Corruption is not inevitable; it can be brought under control

By Ridvan BODE According to the conclusions of the Southeast Europe Anti-Corruption Forum, published last month, corruption is the biggest problem revealed by Albanian reality and, at the same time, the greatest challenge that the government and the whole of society must face in the near future. The transformation of corruption from an aberrant phenomenon—against the will to bring it under control—into an institutional feature of governance over the past three years has caused public perception of it to be high today on page 5

Today, all of Shkodra takes to the streets in protest

As nine years ago, the people of Shkodra stand against dictatorship, poverty, and crime on pages 8–9

The government protects Azem Hajdari’s killers

Today, 558 days since Azem’s murder Every day that passes since the murder of Azem Hajdari, a symbol of democracy and pluralism, proves the involvement of Fatos Nano’s government and its successor in the crime that shook the entire Albanian world. Successive governments have left the criminals who took the life of the December Movement’s leader free and undisturbed, showing Albanians that they have been and remain on the side of the murderers, who have names and surnames but are untouched by those in power. Democrats and all Albanians who loved Azem Hajdari and helped build him up can never tolerate this government allowing criminals to seize and trample him—or it must publicly be condemned, because it is the government itself that committed Azem Hajdari’s murder.

The president’s institutional coup

By Teodor LACO We are at a political moment that calls for a high level of moral and civic responsibility from the Albanian political class. I am convinced that the opposition is more aware than ever of its historic responsibility to defend the values of freedom, democracy, and pluralism of alternatives on page 3

State structures run the trafficking networks

Here is the state of the trafficking in women for prostitution from the East, and of Kurds and Chinese people on page 15

Meidani and the others, ready to flee

on page 7

The caretaker government attacks Berlusconi

By Arben CEJKU on page 7

Doors closed to intellectuals

Bardhyl Londo Doors closed to intellectuals on page 4

A reading of War and Peace

Besnik Mustafaj A reading of War and Peace on page 21

The Stability Pact—a forbidden fruit for Albanians

Llesh Kola The Stability Pact—a forbidden fruit for Albanians on page 19

The tragic weight of the dream

Visar Zhiti The tragic weight of the dream on pages 12–13