Homeward Rendition

Albania gets a mention (pp. 55-56) in Dick Marty's second report on Secret detentions and illegal transfers of detainees involving Council of Europe member states.

Comments

Anonymous said…

At least today you cannot claim that Albanian gets no mention in the British media. Starting with the Today programme on Radio 4 and ending with Radio 1 newsbeat, they have all been talking about Yo Bush's watch incidhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/13/wbush113.xml&CMP=ILC-mostviewedboxent.
Here is a link:

4:25 pm

Anonymous said…

Albanians are a vital nation with a unique history and baggage. Unfortunately we will have to put up with a lot of bad publicity in the next few years, until Albania gets more stable and there will be other ethnicities to whine about. Some reflection and self-discretion on our part (as Albanians) would be quite helpful.

Congrats on your entertaining blog, and thanks for adding mine into your list.
Look forward to participating in the discussions,

Julian

6:11 pm

olli said…

Hi Miri. Good to hear from you.

Hi Julian. Your welcome and congratulations.

10:49 pm

Albania and the Perils of the 21st Century

Another article on religion in Albania appeared yesterday. Patrick Poole, writing in the American Thinker , argues that Saudi funding for the construction of mosques and the training of imams is a threat to Albania, since these mosques and imams reflect the fundamentalist interpretation of Islam dominant in Saudi Arabia.

Kamëz Part 3

For those who want a lengthy detailed report into the election there will, undoubtedly, be a range of them to chose from. In the meantime, here are my brief reflections on the last few weeks. At the heart of the problems around this election is the unwarranted influence of political parties on all aspects of the electoral process. Every institution responsible for organising and facilitating the election is under the control of political parties. The Electoral Code itself was heavily revised only days before the original date for the elections and only weeks before the actual date (Law 9676 13 January 2007). It was these revisions, specifically Article 181/2, that created the overly complicated identification requirements that caused so much confusion, and undoubtedly disenfranchised some voters. Let's be clear though: these revisions were not designed to protect the interests of the electorate. They were drafted primarily because the political parties do not trust each other. The ...

Big in Albania

Ask me how much I knew about Albania before coming here and my list would be a short one: Enver Hoxha, bunkers and Sir Norman Wisdom. I have no idea when or how I acquired this extensive body of knowledge, but the association of Norman Wisdom with Albania was by far the most interesting part of it. I remember watching Norman Wisdom's old films on British television. My parents were fans of his wholesome, slapstick comedy, but apparently missed the ideological significance of Pitkin's relationship with Mr Grimsdale. Pitkin, the downtrodden and oppressed representative of the workers, triumphed every time over his capitalist oppressor, Mr Grimsdale - and he got the girl. It took a theorist of Hoxha's insight and profundity to discern this deeper political message. It always seemed tremendously unlikely, yet the story of Sir Norman's fame in Albania has been reported in worthy sources like the BBC , the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph . According to the Guardian, when Wi...

Our Man in Tirana

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