The crash of an Italian plane - reportedly carrying drugs - in the Ishem area of Albania has become the subject of numerous conflicting claims between politicians and journalists.
Fatjona Mejdini
BIRN Tirana The plane crashed in Ishem. Photo: State Police
Mystery - and a thick web of conspiracy theories - surrounds the circumstances under which a small plane with an Italian pilot crashed on Thursday in the Ishem area north of Tirana, leaving the pilot who was flying alone slightly injured.
After police at first reported that 69-year-old Andrea Guidi said he was flying over Albania for innocent purposes, it is now widely believed he was on a drug-trafficking mission. The journalist who broke the story was meanwhile briefly detained.
Initially, after the downed plane was found, Albanian police said that in his first testimony, the pilot had claimed he had set off from Bari in Italy across Albania to enjoy the fine views, and the plane had crashed for "technical reasons".
However, media and opposition parties immediately questioned this version, comparing the crash to another in May 2014, when an Italian pilot, Giorgio Riformato, crashed his plane in Divjaka in southern Albania, while it was loaded with cannabis.
Thursday's crash then took on a new a twist after a journalist revealed that the pilot had offered to collaborate with prosecutors after confirming that he was flying over Albania to prepare to transport drugs.
Journalist Artan Hoxha broke the news on TV Klan on Thursday that Guidi had told prosecutors that he was inspecting the terrain, while planning to return after 20 days and pick up 200 kg of cannabis.
After the TV show, prosecutors detained the journalist, however, accusing him of divulging the secrets of the official investigation.
A video of the moment when Hoxha was asked to testify about the sources of his information shows him saying: "I didn't know that the information I got was a part of the secrets of the investigation". The journalist was released an hour later.
Politics added a further twist to the case after the main opposition Democratic Party suggested that the information that Hoxha shared on TV was, in fact, released by the Interior Minister, Saimir Tahiri, in order to "compromise the investigation".
"The Democratic Party express deep concern for the compromising of the investigation against the Italian pilot by the Interior Minister," the party said.
"This governmental compromising is done with the aim of giving time to the Albanian drug dealers who hired the plane, to hide their real intentions," the statement reads.
The opposition has long accused Interior Ministry officials of collaborating in the drugs trade and of secretly supporting those who grow cannabis in the country. The authorities deny the claim. - See more at: http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/the-crashed-plane-brings-conspiracy-in-albania-09-16-2016#sthash.bfnPnVJD.dpuf
Albanians older than 40 know about militarized schools. For
years during communism, children took time from classes to march, dig,
and shoot in preparation for an onslaught from the “imperialist West” or
“revisionist East.” Last week they drew on that experience to help
children in other countries keep their classrooms for learning.
On September 9, Albania became the 56th country to sign the Safe Schools Declaration – a political commitment to protect education in armed conflict. This includes a pledge to respect the Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict, which safeguards students, teachers, and schools in war.
Albania’s decision sends a message that schools deserve special
protections and that children have a right to education even in wartime.
It also could have practical implications because Albanian armed forces
participate in the international coalitions serving in Afghanistan and
Iraq. For that reason, it’s important for Albania to follow this
important step by integrating the principles of the Guidelines into
relevant domestic policy and plans.
The urgency could not be greater. Around the world, in places such as Syria, Yemen, and Afghanistan, schools have come under attack.
Students and teachers have been maimed and killed by rockets, missiles,
and barrel bombs, as well as small arms. Over the past decade,
government forces and armed groups have used schools and universities as a base or barracks in 26 countries, interrupting classes and making the facility vulnerable to attack.
Albania has taken a step to help end that. Other countries should follow.
ELDER PATRIOT
– The wheels are coming off of the Clinton machine at an alarming rate
and the endorsement of Trump by Bill Clinton’s CIA Director is another
sign that Hillary is unfit for high office.
James Woolsey, a
national security and energy specialist and the former Director of
Central Intelligence from February 5, 1993 until January 10, 1995,
literally trashed Mrs. Clinton for her performance running the State
Department giving that as the reason he’s joining Team Trump.During his announcement Woolsey said that Mrs. Clinton:
“demonstrated a complete lack of
understanding and an inability to lead the agency she headed in such a
way as to maintain its mission and security.”
“Based on the emails thus far released
we know that Secretary Clinton also lacks the ability to lead her
senior managers while complying with and maintaining the basic protocols
designed to protect our government’s sensitive and classified
information.”
The Clinton campaign realized early on
that her resume would disqualify her for the presidency so they instead
focused on creating an image among potential voters that Donald Trump is
more deplorable and poses a greater risk than she would be in the White
House.
Now it’s Woolsey’s turn after having
waited to see how Trump would handle the information he began receiving
at security briefings.Woolsey had this to say about Trump:
“Trump has come out on two things that
I think are important: first of all, he seems to be very much more so
than his opponent in favor of a strong defense budget and we’ve got a
lot of space to make up problems that have been left in defense by the
Obama administration.
The other is that he seems willing to
keep a secret and not to blab everything to the public and to our
opponents when he comes up with something about national security that
ought to be kept quiet. I think that’s good. You can’t go yakking about
everything that you’re interested in, you have to keep your counsel.”
Hillary’s mainstream media has refused to connect the dots for their readers so we will.Woolsey
is now the latest in a long line of high profile Democrats who have
been responsible for our national defense that that have rejected
Clinton’s campaign because they have concluded that she would threaten
national security if she were Commander in Chief.
Woolsey will be joining the Trump campaign as a senior advisor.This
is more proof that Trump is building a team that welcomes viewpoints
from both the left and the right to help him with the difficult
decisions that a president must make.
Endorsements like these matter more than
those from the parties’ political hacks whose only interest is in
preserving their place at the government trough and avoiding new
leadership that might actually expose their unlawful behavior.
The honorable Deputy Prime Minister Peleshi, Mr. Klosi, General
Lleshi, friends from the faith community,
diplomatic colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
I love that Mr. Peleshi quoted Malala Yousafzai. My daughter who
is 11-years-old, this summer read Malala’s autobiography and it filled her with
questions, questions about the conflicts and the world we live in. But during
this week of the first days of school for children all around the world I think
it is a beautiful reminder of how a young girl can inspire us all.
On August 10, the Albanian police arrested a Kosovar convicted
criminal. Dijar Xhema was arrested on suspicion of committing acts of terrorism
and calling for acts of terrorism in the Albanian city of Vlora.
The police said Xhema tried to pull three people into his car
over a two-hour period while proclaiming, "Allah Akbar. I have been sent by Allah" and "I
want to kill you all."
Unfortunately, most violent extremists are less obvious and much
more sophisticated than Mr. Xhema. They
use techniques and technologies that make them difficult to identify and hard
to catch while recruiting foreign fighters or attempting acts of violence.
But countries of the Western Balkans have been incredibly
successful, and they should be proud of their recent success in arresting and
prosecuting foreign terrorist fighters. In
the region there have been 93 guilty verdicts with another 35 individuals
currently on trial. Bosnia has found 12
people guilty with 8 now on trial.
Kosovo has indicted 75 persons and has obtained guilty verdicts in over
50 cases. Macedonia has now 18 guilty
dispositions for foreign fighter related charges. And Albania earlier this year has convicted 9
persons for a total of 152 years for recruitment and participation in terrorist
organizations.
Albania has also reduced the flow of terrorist fighters from its
soil from over 90 in 2013 and 2014 to zero during the last two years, according
to the Albanian Institute for International Studies. This is an incredible accomplishment without
parallel in the Western Balkans.
But now Albania and the Western Balkans are worried about a new
threat -- the possible threat of foreign fighters transiting as refugees
fleeing from Iraq, from Syria and from Afghanistan. The United States is proud to support the
leadership of the OSCE, the Office of the Prime Minister and SHISH in holding
this tabletop exercise to focus on preventing this emerging threat.
At the same time, it is critical that these efforts not violate
the legitimate rights of refugees to seek safety and protection, as defined
under the 1951 Geneva Convention on Refugees.
One of the keys is better information and better border protection. One of the tools made available recently to
Albania by the American FBI and the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center is
access to a terrorism database through an information sharing agreement signed
during Prime Minister Rama’s visit to Washington in April. With this tool, Albanian Border Police can
access a list of thousands of potential terrorists that has been compiled with
the cooperation of dozens of partner countries.
Finally, ISIS is not confined
to Syria and Iraq. ISIS is not just an
army. It is an ideology. And through that reason, it poses a serious threat
to Europe and beyond. We do not know in
what form these threats will materialize -- as they have so tragically this
year in France, in Belgium and in Germany.
But from what we do know is that from where ever these threats will
come, we are confident that if we work together, we will be ready to face them.
Thank you very much!
Ψήφισμα διαμαρτυρίας εξέδωσαν οι Χειμαρριώτες
μετά τη συγκέντρωσή τους τον Δεκαπενταύγουστο με αφορμή την προσπάθεια
υφαρπαγής ελληνικών μειονοτικών περιουσιών και τη μετατροπή της
Χειμάρρας σε πολυτελές θέρετρο που θα ελέγχεται από εταιρείες και
επιχειρηματίες φιλικά προσκείμενους στην κυβέρνηση...
Είναι ιστορικό χρέος να προβάλουμε το
περιεχόμενο του ψηφίσματος αυτού, που αποτελεί κραυγή αγωνίας όλου του
Ελληνισμού της Βορείου Ηπείρου:
«Η κατάσταση στην περιοχή της Χειμάρρας, σε ό,τι αφορά τα περιουσιακά
δικαιώματα, έχει χειροτερέψει τα τελευταία 25 χρόνια εξαιτίας ενεργειών
και αυθαιρεσιών της αλβανικής κυβέρνησης, η οποία ενθαρρύνει ανθρώπους
με πολιτική και οικονομική δύναμη καθώς και μέλη συμμοριών του
οργανωμένου εγκλήματος και της μαφίας να καταπατούν και να κλέβουν
συστηματικά τις περιουσίες των Χειμαρριωτών. Το Κοινοβούλιο, η
κυβέρνηση, το δικαστικό σύστημα, η δημόσια διοίκηση και τα Μέσα Μαζικής
Ενημέρωσης χρησιμοποιούνται για να αφανίσουν τη Χειμάρρα και την ιστορία
της και να επιβάλουν πολιτικές αφομοίωσης, που έχουν υιοθετηθεί από το
νέο νομικό πλαίσιο και τις αποφάσεις της αλβανικής κυβέρνησης κι έχουν
ως αποτέλεσμα την παραβίαση βασικών ανθρωπίνων δικαιωμάτων και
ελευθεριών καθώς και του Συντάγματος της Αλβανίας.
Οι Χειμαρριώτες:
1. Απαιτούμε την άμεση κατάργηση όλων πολεοδομικών σχεδίων, αναπτυξιακών
σχεδίων, απαλλοτριώσεων και δωρεών κοινοτικής γης σε οποιοδήποτε
εγχώριο ή αλλοδαπό ψευδοεπενδυτικό σχήμα, που η αλβανική κυβέρνηση
σχεδιάζει και εφαρμόζει στην περιοχή μας, έως ότου ένα κανονικό, δίκαιο
και εγγυημένο σύστημα καταγραφής των ιδιωτικών και κοινοτικών περιουσιών
ολοκληρωθεί για το σύνολο της περιοχής της Χειμάρρας.
2. Απαιτούμε την κατάργηση του καταστροφικού νόμου 7501 περί αγροτικής
γης, ο οποίος είχε ως αποτέλεσμα την υφαρπαγή αγροτικής γης από τους
πραγματικούς ιδιοκτήτες της, την καταστροφή χιλιάδων ελαιόδεντρων και
την κατασκευή προσβλητικών κτιρίων, βασισμένων σε ψεύτικους τίτλους
ιδιοκτησίας. Όλα αυτά υποβοηθήθηκαν από την απουσία διαδικασίας για την
ολοκληρωτική καταγραφή των περιουσιών, την απαγόρευση καταγραφής
περιουσιών που επεστράφησαν στους νόμιμους κληρονόμους τους με
δικαστικές αποφάσεις και της διαδικασίας επιστροφής ιδιοκτησιών που
κατασχέθηκαν.
3. Απευθύνουμε έκκληση σε διεθνείς, ευρωπαϊκούς και αμερικανικούς
εταίρους να ασκήσουν πίεση στους αλβανικούς νομοθετικούς και
διοικητικούς θεσμούς ώστε να ακυρώσουν όλους τους αντισυνταγματικούς
νόμους και τις κυβερνητικές αποφάσεις που παραβιάζουν βασικά ανθρώπινα
δικαιώματα, αρχής γενομένης από τη νέα διοικητική μεταρρύθμιση, τον νέο
νόμο για την αποζημίωση απαλλοτριωμένων περιουσιών και τον νέο νόμο περί
τουρισμού.
4. Απαιτούμε την αμετάκλητη επιστροφή όλων των κοινοτικών γαιών και όσων
ανήκουν στην Ελληνορθόδοξη Χριστιανική Εκκλησία της Χειμάρρας, την
οποία η κυβέρνηση οφείλει να σεβαστεί. Επίσης απαιτούμε την επιστροφή
των περιουσιών που ανήκαν στις Ένοπλες Δυνάμεις και των ιδιοκτησιών που
ανήκουν στον δήμο.
5. Ζητάμε την άμεση παύση των εργασιών κατασκευής θερέτρων και των
αποκαλούμενων «τουριστικών χωριών» έως ότου η αλβανική κυβέρνηση
αποδείξει με διαφάνεια στους Χειμαρριώτες τη νομιμότητα των τίτλων
ιδιοκτησίας με βάσει τους οποίους εκδόθηκαν οι σχετικές άδειες
κατασκευής.
6. Απευθύνουμε έκκληση στους αντιπροσώπους σας στην Αλβανία να ασκήσουν
πίεση ώστε να εφαρμοστεί η νέα διαδικασία αποποινικοποίησης και
δικαστικής μεταρρύθμισης όσο το δυνατόν συντομότερα και να συμπεριλάβει
και την περιοχή της Χειμάρρας, όπου έχουν λάβει χώρα τεράστιες υποθέσεις
απάτης και κλοπής περιουσιών από μέλη της αλβανικής μαφίας και του
οργανωμένου εγκλήματος, που συνδέονται με πολιτικούς, ολιγάρχες και
ανθρώπους κοντά στους διοικητικούς και δικαστικούς θεσμούς, κάτω από την
ομπρέλα των καλούμενων σχεδίων για την ανάπτυξη του τουρισμού.
Με πίστη στον Θεό και σεβασμό προς το αλβανικό Σύνταγμα, οι Χειμαρριώτες
εκφράζουμε με αυτό το ψήφισμα την ελεύθερη βούλησή μας και τις
προσδοκίες μας, ελπίζοντας στην υποστήριξη και στην κατανόησή σας σε
αυτή τη δύσκολη προσπάθεια να προστατεύσουμε τα βασικά ανθρώπινα
δικαιώματά μας και να επιτύχουμε την εφαρμογή του νόμου και της
δικαιοσύνης στην περιοχή της Χειμάρρας και σε ολόκληρη την Αλβανία.
Ειλικρινά,
Υπογεγραμμένο από όλους
τους ελεύθερους αυτόχθονες Χειμαρριώτες».
Όπως γράψαμε και σε προηγούμενο άρθρο μας, το σχέδιο του επιτελείου
της Χίλαρι Κλίντο για το μέλλον των Βαλκανίων, περιλαμβάνει και τη
διάλυση των Σκοπίων. Πώς όμως θα γίνει αυτό.
Στο σχέδιο συμμετείχαν πολλά γνωστά think tanks όπως το STRATFOR
(STRATegic FORecasting, Inc) αλλά και το RAND (Research AND Developmen).
Κατέληξαν λοιπόν στο συμπέρασμα πως τα Σκόπια δεν είναι βιώσιμο κράτος,
κατά συνέπεια είναι πρόβλημα για τη σταθερότητα της περιοχής.
Στη συνέχεια, με το αξίωμα της μη βιωσιμότητας, τα Σκόπια θα διαλυθούν
και τα εδάδη θα μοιραστούν στα κράτη γύρω αυτού, πιθανότατα και ένα
μέρος στην Ελλάδα. Προς αυτή την κατεύθυνση πιέζει και η ελληνική
ομογένεια στις ΗΠΑ, που αποτελούν σημαντικό κομμάτι του εκλογικού
σώματος της Αμερικής.
Προσοχή μόνο απαιτείται από τις Ελληνικές κυβερνήσεις καθώς θα αυξηθεί
το έδαφος της Αλβανίας και θα γιγαντώσει τις εθνικιστικές τάσεις της.
Hillary Clinton is often perceived as a candidate that, if elected next
US president, will pursue a more muscular foreign policy, particularly
with regard to Russia, China and the Middle East, but her record points
to a string of troubling decisions that have left several countries in
chaos.
The former US Secretary of State has often referenced her experience
that ostensibly makes her particularly fit to be America's next
commander in chief. Indeed, Clinton's extensive foreign policy record
speaks for itself, but the picture it paints is far more complex and
troubling. It is this record that prompted journalist Diana Johnstone to
crown Hillary "the queen of chaos."
"As President Obama likes to say, Hillary Clinton has more national
security experience than perhaps any previous nominee.
The former US Secretary of State also championed NATO's
military intervention into Libya, an operation that has left the country
in a state of chaos that remains unresolved to date.
In addition, Clinton has long called for a more muscular foreign policy,
particularly in Syria, fueling concerns that the US will launch a
large-scale military operation in the war-torn Arab country if she moves
into the White House on January 20, 2017.
"In the case of Clinton there hasn't been a major foreign policy
decision in the Middle East she pushed for that didn't end up being a
disaster both at home and the countries she advocated meddling in,"
analyst Adam Johnson wrote in January, adding that the Democratic
hopeful "has only grown more bellicose and hawkish" since the Iraq vote.
The image seen round the world of Secretary of State Colin Powell and
his mock vial of anthrax,which he held up during a presentation before
the UN on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction program, February
5, 2003.
Powell Email to Clinton on How to Dodge Security Rules Released
This is not to say that Hillary Clinton will actively pursue similar
policies if she gets elected.
"Even if Mrs. Clinton wants to restore US global leadership, she might
not have the means given her desire to continue Mr. Obama's fiscal
priorities. She wants to expand domestic spending and entitlements in a
way that would inevitably starve defense," the WSJ observed. "Her
likeliest path as President is continuing to retreat at a somewhat
slower pace."
