FLASH
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The opening of the Kučova military base has significantly irritated Moscow. Although the first days passed without much fanfare, the most vocal media in Russia are writing about this development. A few days ago, it was "Russia Today" that threatened and attacked, while today " Vesti " television has made an article. In the long article, the anger of the Russians is with the fact that the Kučova base was built with the help of the Soviets, while it is now being used by NATO against Russia.
Excerpt from the article
The North Atlantic blockade in 2009 was so fast that the Albanians did not even have time to breathe. This was the so-called third wave of treacherous NATO expansion after the collapse of the USSR, which included two Balkan countries - Albania and Croatia. But then Albania entered NATO like 'crazy'. This is, for the future, so it will be.
Albania's real military development from the North Atlantic bloc is happening now.
NATO warplanes, officials and a military parade band flocked to Albania this week for a TV photo op.
Stalin would be taken from his grave if he knew that the same Albania, which he coveted, today, figuratively, has been put under NATO's boots. After all, the Soviet Union supplied Albania with everything for free - from building dozens of factories, hospitals, schools and just housing to an airport for a military base and a naval base as well. The son of the first ambassador of Albania to the USSR, Federik Tashko, remembers it like this: "Aviation, navy, artillery - everything!, the USSR also built a movie studio here, where there is now a Ministry of Culture. If you say today, no one will believe me and everyone will attack me. They just don't know anything."
In other words, the Soviet Union figuratively held Albania in the palm of its hand. And Albania too... in general, half the world at once. But today we are specifically talking about Albania. It was love based on ideological compatibility. And if there is love, then money does not count.
At that time, the permanent leader of Albania was Enver Hoxha. He erected a life-size bronze monument to Stalin at his place and also copied our state model. Albania, along with other pro-Soviet countries of Eastern Europe, joined the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and then became a member of the common defense alliance - the Warsaw Pact. Everything seemed to be going well. The USSR supplied Albania with everything, including straw.
And here is a hard lesson for us: sublime ideological sentiments turn out to be changeable. And so it happened. Not among the Albanians, but among us. Albanian leader Enver Hoxha did not accept Stalin's undoing in the USSR. To explain his line, Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev flew to Albania at the end of May 1959. He and Enver Hoxha met at the Pasha-Liman naval base, built with the help of the USSR, where a dozen of our submarines were already stationed. Khrushchev clearly underestimated the danger. He was much more fascinated by the prospect. Addressing the USSR Minister of Defense, Marshal Rodion Malinovsky, who was accompanying him, Khrushchev exclaimed: "Wonderful, wonderful! What an incredible bay at the foot of these mountains! If we station a powerful fleet here, the entire Mediterranean Sea from the Bosphorus to Gibraltar will be in our hands."
In Albania, such satisfaction was perceived as a reason to demand even more from the USSR. However, Khrushchev turned out to be much more stingy than Stalin. For Enver Hoxha this was not at all clear, because in Albania at that time the following joke was circulating: "Russians may not eat breakfast once, and Albanians will eat well for a whole year".
One way or another, a black cat ran between Enver Hoxha and Nikita Khrushchev. In 1961, Albania refused to allow the Soviet navy to be stationed at Pasha Liman. In the same year, Albania left the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and ideologically focused on China.
Khrushchev hated Enver Hoxha to the point of rage. At the end of the 70s, Albania would also deviate from China and take the path of strict closed autarky combined with radical atheism. Enver Hoxha chooses his path for the small country - a path that does not connect with anyone.
For the West, too, this self-obsessed little thing was not a good card. Decades passed, Ukraine appeared, the Western order collapsed and... Bah! But in Albania, a magnificent military airport has been idle since Soviet times. And a naval base too.
Partners laugh at the NATO member and lifelong candidate for EU membership. Albanians have written a thousand complaints to the British Air Force in 2011, not appreciating the specific English humor. The hosts of the car show Top Gear spent an entire episode poking fun at old cars and the mafia, which spanned almost the entire country.
Here is an excerpt from the program: "When someone from the Albanian mafia chooses a car, he always has a question - will it be possible to hide the body in the trunk?"
The trio took a spin along the runway of a military airfield. They were surprised, it was a NATO country and they were all Soviet planes.
The base was not built by NATO, but by the Soviet Union. The runway is 2 km, the aircraft parking areas are not in the open air, but hidden in the mountains. In 1955, when the work was completed, the 23rd Combat Regiment was stationed here.
Now it is unclear what is happening in Kuçovo. The base was grandly opened after the reconstruction, but several NATO planes flew in from Italy just for the duration of the ceremony. Three Turkish drones will be stationed there permanently.
Investments did not go beyond the perimeter of the airfield. The alliance does not plan to spend money on infrastructure, as the Soviet Union did.
Kuçova is a relatively new word on the map of Albania. Until 1991, the city was called the city of Stalin, or in the Russian way Stalingrad.
Stalin was Enver Hoxha's idol. He erected monuments to them during his lifetime. Now, of course, they cannot be found.
In the central square of the capital there is a monument dedicated to the main national hero, Skanderbeg, who rebelled against the Turks in the 15th century.
Hoxha died in 1985, but his work continues, say a few representatives of the opposition. We are recording an interview with one of them remotely. Our interlocutor Olsi Jazekhi, who is on the other side of the world - was forced to leave due to criticism of Albania's pro-American government.
"If a political group stands up for national interests or people put their country's interests over American interests, then Americans are quick to follow them," he says.
Even the American newspapers pointed out how the USA broke, or rather reformed, the legal and electoral system of Albania. The Soros Foundation, closely tied to the Biden administration, was involved in everything. Soros Jr., the heir to a business empire, is a frequent visitor to the Balkans.
What did Alex Soros do in these meetings? The question is rather rhetorical. At the summit they discussed support for Ukraine. The only thing Albania was able to transfer were cartridges for Kalashnikov assault rifles, a legacy of the USSR. There is no financial aid, we have to provide services.
"Albania is an active participant in the anti-Russian coalition of Western countries and primarily of NATO. He was the so-called US editor of the Ukraine file and in this capacity participated in the development of all the most important ones. anti-Russian decisions and statements", says our ambassador in Tirana, Mikhail Afanasyev.
After the transfer of the former air base to NATO, Albania is actively offering its partners a naval base, which the Soviet Union once built for it. / Pamphlet
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