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So the geopolitical definition or positioning of the country, for the vast majority of Albanians, is determined by the West, meaning the USA and the European Union.
Albanians are quite active in following and curious about international developments. This fact is easily seen in the wide audience that news and analysis on important events create, leaving domestic developments in the shade, especially during the peak of these events in the world.
This is seen not only in the heated discussions in the neighborhood bar, but above all in the audience figures of online media.
On the other hand, in the Albanian environment there is a widespread geography of sympathies towards different countries or geographical areas, which have come as part of our rich history, of the intermingling of empires and foreign cultures.
In the Balkans, Albania is perhaps the only place where foreign music is heard, not only the Anglo-Saxon kind that is global, but also from other European countries, even from the region or even further afield.
In Albania, there are people who have nostalgia or sympathy for the Russians, namely their culture, music and literature. There are people who have sympathy for China, mainly the way they behave towards Albanians. Feelings that have come from the close relationship during the communist era with these two countries.
As well as sympathy for countries in the region, such as Turkey, Greece, and above all neighboring Italy, etc.
However, in every survey conducted in the country, by prestigious public perception measurement institutes, where of course Erostat is the most specialized; we have an unchanged result for 30 years.
Although a country with a lot of polarization and political conflict, Albania has over 80% of people with a positive perception of European and Euro-Atlantic integration.
So the geopolitical definition or positioning of the country, for the vast majority of Albanians, is determined by the West, meaning the USA and the European Union.
However, after 2013, when the first "protest" in front of the American embassy in the history of the Albanian state took place in Tirana, an attempt was made to create an "anti-Western public opinion".
In the fall of 2013, after the installation of Edi Rama's first government, protests took place against the processing in Albania of some of Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons.
The so-called "civil society" of those protests was nothing more than a direct proxy of the Democratic Party and the then LSI.
As clearly and politically identified by the United States of America, and brought to the public's attention by the voice of the then US ambassador to Tirana: Alexander Arvizu.
Those "proxy-pasdaran", as was clearly proven, were financed by completely distinct circles that started in Moscow and also touched Tehran.
Which has a political activity focused on Albania, especially after the arrival of the Iranian opposition to take refuge in us. This is not only with the active existence of an Albanian-language portal of official propaganda Parstoday, but also the existence of a number of organizations linked to it for years.
Meanwhile, this type of anti-Western proxy was conceived more in the ether of online space, after the approval of the justice reform in 2016, supported by the US and the EU.
One only has to open the social media pages of the US and EU diplomatic missions in Tirana to see the toxic activity of this "anti-Western people". Their activity has been quite intense at certain stages and times, especially during important events related to the region and beyond.
An activity that, of course, was not limited to networks, or even dinner panels, where so-called "experts" come to life who do not just provide expertise. They simply convey the political propaganda of their funders, clearly distinguishing which foreign center of gravity they belong to.
From Turkey to Iran, from Greece to Arab countries. Where of course the Kremlin and its giant propaganda apparatus with Sputnik and RT are not missing, which often provided live links from Tirana, respectively when the popular Russian weapon "Molotov" was used.
These "toxic people", although very active, failed to influence perception at all, and even created more of an opposite effect by hating this way of behaving in public.
The anti-Western "toxic people" had a political affiliation with the radical opposition in the country at certain periods; from 2016-2021 and then after 2021 when sanctions came for Sali Berisha and SPAK began taking strong actions.
With Trump's victory, this political connection was severed, as the hopes of the opposition with anti-Western stances were pinned on the new "boss" of the White House.
Hopes that were dashed, however, the opposition has changed its political stance towards the West, lowering the battery of propaganda artillery.
While "toxic people", who are less present, nevertheless exist in Albanian-speaking networks such as in Tirana, Pristina or Skopje, do exist.
It exists because it is not a public opinion that depends on or is fed by the political gravitational centers in the capitals of Albanian politics. But that has wanted to enter these centers.
"Toxic people" is a tabletop product and technological creature, already confirmed by an Albanian parliamentary commission, which was recently led by MP Erion Braçe. An initiative that began throughout the region and reached the conclusion that there was a gravitational center of this "public opinion".
James Ruby, a senior State Department official, led an organization on this issue and visited Tirana and the Balkans a year ago, when he spoke about foreign influence on Albanian opinion.
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