Our Man in Tirana

A new face appeared on the posters recently. Apparently, this is Nard Ndoka , head of the Christian Democrat Party (PDK), which is more than I knew before some good folks left some comments identifying him. He is not a candidate for mayor, nor does his poster name any other candidate, so I'm not sure what his message is. Thanks to Kim I also now know that he looks like Stephen Harper , the Canadian Prime Minister. I thought I had found another new candidate when I spotted the poster below from a distance, but up close it turned out to be another poster for Olldashi except that he was being presented as the candidate of the Partia Republikane, one of the Democratic Party's allies in government. Thanks to Adela and Radu for identifying the gentleman in the picture as Fatmir Mediu , leader of PR and Minister of Defence. Olldashi's campaign has gone mobile. After seeing the Rama bus on Monday, today I spotted at least one Olldashi bus. I also saw at least three mobile hoarding...

I was watching Top Channel last night, first the news, then Fiks Fare. According to them Tirana's citizens now have a choice not only between Rama and Olldashi, but also between Rama and Rama. A minor right-wing faction, Parti 'Balli Kombetar' , submitted papers to the election authorities registering their candidate, Akile Rama. The people on Fiks Fare got hold of the papers and sent a reporter and camera team to the address listed for Mr A Rama. After much ringing of the bell the gate was reluctantly opened by a middle-aged woman who refused to speak to the reporter and tried to close the gate on her. Back in the studio Saimiri and Doctori - the two presenters of Fiks Fare - revealed that Mr Akile Rama was 73 years old, in hospital, and did not know he was now a candidate for mayor. They also compared two documents - the papers submitted on his behalf, and a genuine document he had signed. The signatures were not even remotely similar. There was an interview with the lea...

Thanks once more to Drita who provided some more links to sites dealing with environmental issues in Albania. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has a section on Albania , including a page of Albanian environmental stories and images . Fatmir Terziu is an Albanian journalist and film-maker who has produced a documentary film, Clouds of Smoke , about climate change and its impact on Abania.

Responding to the article in the Economist I mentioned in a previous post , someone left a comment referring me to the report of the International Commission on the Balkans . The Commission's research suggested that Albanians in both Albania and Kosovo are much more open to the possibility of unity than the Economist article claims. Below are the Commission's conclusions in written and graphical form. According to the survey, the breakdown of Macedonia and the establishment of a Greater Albania are two developments that could destabilise the region. The results of the survey show a relatively high acceptance of the idea of a "Greater Albania" among the Albanian populations of both Kosovo and Albania. As a whole, they differ from other groups in the region in their view that a future unification of Kosovo and Albania is both desirable and possible (figure 6). This suggests that the process of nation-building among Albanian communities in the Balkans is still in progre...

Last Sunday we took a trip with some friends to Apollonia and Ardenica. It was a beautiful day - warm and sunny with a clear blue sky. At Ardenica we visited the Orthodox monastery. The church that stands at the centre of the monastery complex dates from the 18th century, though there has been a monastery on this site since the 13th Century. This was one of the few major religious sites in Albania to survive the anti-religious onslaught of the communists. It was, instead, confiscated from the church and used as a tourist resort. The monastery was returned to the church after the end of the communist regime. We visited Ardenica in the late afternoon with a beautiful warming light shining on the buildings. There are some more pictures of the monastery on Flickr . Photographs from Apollonia are still to come.

With its piles of garbage, diesel fumes and cement dust, Tirana is hardly an environmentally friendly city. According to a recent report from the BBC though, the environment is starting to become a political issue: "This is not only a problem of flowers or birds or plants," says Dzemal Mato. "The environment can be a big cost economically. The government and people now realise that getting it wrong means they have to pay." Journal Chretien , a French religious journal, carries the story of Fatmir Kaloshi , a thug and gun runner who became a Christian. The Guardian reported on the recognition of an Albanian family by the Anti-Defamation League for their rescue of Jews during the Second World War. The league posthumously honored a Muslim Albanian man and his son for protecting six Jewish families during the war. The organization presented its Courage to Care Award to three relatives of the late Mefail Bicaku and his son Njazi. The two led the six families - a to...