Speaking from Sweden: The ambassador introduced me to Argita. Mrs. Malltezi asked me to buy a piece of land belonging to her in order to carry out the 100 million euro investment; I refused. What happened and why I withdrew from the investment Zafar Ansar's account for TCH: How I was introduced to the prime minister's daughter Pages 2-3

Commentary BY AFRIM KRASNIQI Citizens and the elites of power Whenever the transition is analyzed, most foreign scholars agree in assessing that Albania was among those countries where there was continuity of elites between the old system and the new one. This trait is also found in Russia and several other former Soviet republics, and makes a fundamental difference from the transition in most other former communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Unlike other countries, Albania had no political dissidence, no intellectual stratum critical of the regime, no liberal movement or signs of organized elite revolt. Western intellectuals had been killed or had died in prisons before the 1950s, religious institutions had been outlawed and the clergy eliminated in the mid-1960s, civil society as a concept had been replaced by the model of the new man — a soldier, loyal, in permanent obedience, under censorship and control, without private life and freedom of creation, without career opportunities and space for survival outside the sphere defined by the party-state. Academics, leaders of the League, rectors and deans, professors and creators were appointed mainly on the basis of... continued on page 22

Dossier/ The nephew Mario Ashiku speaks: Italian actresses, his lovers THE PHARMACISTS' DYNASTY IN SHKODËR TIRANA ZENEPE LUKA It took 90 years from the day of his birth, 50 years from the day of his death and 60 years from the day he left... Pages 16-17

Edi Rama, the original one and the Portokallia version, put on a show Page 5

Want a gun? You can buy one only with an identity card Reporter: Who [?] Page 11

ALUIZNI, the new property deeds for 2,200 families across the regions Pages 19-21

THE INTRANSIGENT ONE Page 22 THE SCARECROW BY GENTIAN BALA

EU-MEDIA Page 6 Sequi: State advertising is distributed unequally

INTERVIEW Pages 8-9 Mark Marku: Berisha has an interest in purges within the party

KSERA: Page 10 The Prime Minister like Ismail Qemali for Albania up to Preveza

THE EXPOSE Page 20 Malltezi: Skanderbeg's weapons were controlled from Vienna

THE STORY AFTER THE 1996 MOTION Page 4 Dokle: I will show you the Nano-Meta backstage “Nano avoided the notables after the slogan: With Namik and Servet, the PS will take power”

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