Politics in Albania

Lolers writes:

Political photo ops with children are creepy. They are especially creepy when they involve an Albanian politician and child. They are even more unsettling when the unfortunate looking illiterate ass I hold personally responsible for most of my fears about the future of my people is involved.

Albanian Breakfast

What do Albanians eat for breakfast?

Albtranslator writes:

Pranojeni…kush nga ju qe jeni jashte shtetit prej shume kohesh nuk ka nostalgji per mengjeset qe hanim ne Shqiperi?Megjithse une per vete e quaj veten me fat sepse duke qene ne Stamboll , mundem ta gjej shumicen e gjerave qe mund te gjej dhe ne Shqiperi.Me kujtohen mengjeset kur ngrihesha per ne shkolle dhe nga kuzhina kundermonte era e çajit te malit apo atij te blirit apo e bukes se thekur.Ishte nje nga gjerat e pakta qe me ngrente sadopak humorin e prishur per shkak te sapongritjes nga gjumi.Sigurisht qe duhet ta keni marre me mend se mengjeset e se dieles jane ato qe desha me shume , madje kjo eshte e vlefshme dhe sot e kesaj dite.

Kosovo and Islam

Bozinovich writes:

At some point, Yashar Pasha came up with a more ambitious infrastructure plan for Kosovo then simply stringing up Christian Serbs for property: he decided to build a bridge over Sitnica River at the Kosovo village of Lipljani, known today as one of the flashpints of Muslim Albanian attacks on Kosovo’s Christian Serbs.

In order to adequately supply his stone-masons, Yashar Pasha ordered that Christian Serb churches in villages of Batus, Skulanovo, Rajce and Slovinja be demolished, but carefully enough, so that the demolished stone can be transported and used in building the bridge. As his stone masons complained that the supply isn’t enough, Yashar Pasha sent his posse to Lipljan to demolish that church, but for some mysterious reason decided not to.

Pious Christians say that miracle of Christ resides in the Lipljan church, even today, because Yashar Pasha was kept away from destroying it.

Yashar Pasha was also benevolent towards Christians and Jews in Kosovo’s capital, Pristina, forcing many small shops, most of them Jewish, to be turned over to Islamic owners.

Kosovo in 2006

Byzantine Sacred Art Blog writes:

The death of Kosovo Albanian “president” Ibrahim Rugova in late January delayed the start of “status talks” concerning that occupied Serbian province. However, an outpouring of (undeserved) praise for Rugova in the Western media created a climate of sympathy for the Albanians, and for the first time independence was openly proclaimed as the preferred solution for Kosovo.

Soon thereafter, the Contact Group issued a statement that left independence as the only acceptable option. British diplomat John Sawers, speaking to Kosovo Albanians in February, stated almost explicitly that independence was inevitable. The Empire stood squarely behind the Albanians, going so far as to orchestrate the change of leadership in Pristina. Provisional “prime minister” Bajram Kosumi was replaced in early March by the wartime leader of the terrorist KLA, Agim Ceku.

But for the rest of the year, the project to separate Kosovo from Serbia went nowhere. Empire’s pompous proclamations met with Belgrade’s determined resistance, Russia’s opposition, and the growing frustration of the Albanians that has translated into violence against both Serbs and their international “liberators.” The battle for Kosovo is far from over.

Restaurants in Tirana

Imaginariums writes:

Xhovani Ziu, el dueño de un restaurante en Tirana (Albania), ha mandado construir para festejar estas fechas un árbol de Navidad con espaguetis con una altura de 16 metros y 6 metros de diámetro, un trabajo de chinos que le ha costado más de 3.000 euros.

Armar el árbol ha llevado una semana y ha requerido la colaboración de 15 personas. Casi una tonelada de espaguetis se ha empleado para la construcción.

Human Rights in Albania

Robin Good writes:

After being abducted while holidaying in Macedonia, El-Masri was beaten, shackled, blindfolded, drugged and put on a plane to Afghanistan, where civil rights can be effectively ignored, and the torture of innocent ’suspects’ falls within the rights of interrogators. Here he was told that he could be killed, detained indefinitely or made to disappear from the face of the earth.

Months later, he was finally released, as Wikipedia notes:

”In April 2004, CIA Director George Tenet learned that El-Masri was being wrongfully detained. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice learned of his detention shortly thereafter in early May and ordered his release.

El-Masri was released on May 28 following a second order from Dr. Rice. American authorities met with him and agreed to release him if he agreed never to tell the story of his ordeal to anyone. They flew him out of Afghanistan and released him at night on a desolate road in Albania, without apology, or funds to return home. At the time he believed his release was a ruse, and he would be executed.”

Thus an innocent man lost months of his life, suffering brutal torture, detainment and daily fear for his life in the name of the ‘war on terror’. But he was not alone.

Albania Not in EU

Neretva River writes:

Reuters is reporting that the European Commission is set to recommend that EU accession processes underway with states in the Western Balkans not be advanced in the near future, which effectively will end the prospect of near term EU accession for the remaining non-EU former Yugoslav states and Albania. Although the freeze in EU enlargement contradicts statements made by Barroso to Croatian PM Sanader, Reuters has quoted an EU official as stating there will be a de facto pause in enlargement for five to six years, meaning Croatian accession at the earliest could occur in 2011-12. However, this five to six year framework is only the result of the fact that accession negotiations have already been opened with Croatia making Croatian accession more difficult to block than the accession of other states in the Western Balkans.

Women in Albania

Words of Power writes:

A study ‘Stereotyping: Representation of Women in Print Media in South-East Europe’ has studied the portrayal of women in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia. The study was carried out by the MediaCentre in Bosnian capital Sarajevo….Analysts studied leading publications from the region of former Yugoslavia for almost a year, and concluded that “the public sphere remains the domain of men, as politics and other ’serious’ matters remain reserved for men, while women are assigned roles in the private sphere and entertainment.”
“In 80 percent of the text, it is men who are represented in all the issues the dailies tackled,” said co-author Ivana Kronja at a presentation of the study in Belgrade last week. “Women are almost invisible; they appear when one goes to the entertainment, fashion or TV section.”

Albanian Dictator

Uncorrelated writes:

Many twentieth century dictators never answer for their crimes:

India’s independence leader Mohandas K. Gandhi said dictators “can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall.” That hasn’t always proven true. Russia’s Josef Stalin, North Korea’s Kim Il-Sung, China’s Mao Zedong, Spain’s Francisco Franco, Albania’s Enver Hoxha and Syria’s Hafez Assad all died in power. Augusto Pinochet of Chile arranged a comfortable retirement before handing over power. The global record of bringing tyrants to justice has been mixed.

Of the two executed dictators noted in the article, Nicolae Ceausescu and Samuel Doe, neither received public trials like Saddam.

Backpacking in Albania

My Greek Odyssey writes:

Greece is developing a burgeoning ecotourism designed to bring people to the truly beautiful and unspoiled areas on the mainland and islands of the country. My next backpacking trip will be in the Zagoria region of Greece and Albania, an area, by the way, where my Dad born. “The villages of Zagoria are uniquely endowed with extraordinary natural beauty, a vast temperate forest ecosystem, distinctive architecture, cultural wealth and the sheer romance of an ancient way of life. From the Slavic word meaning ‘behind the mountains,’ Zagoria is defined by the Gamila (Tymfi) and Mitsikeli Mountains as well as the Aoos River. It is a part of the massive Pindus Mountain Range that stretches from Albania to Central Greece.”