Flags

I took this picture from the balcony of our hotel in Durrës.  This is not an uncommon sight in Albania, displays of these flags together, or maybe just two of them.  On the left is the EU flag and on the right the Albanian flag, the double-headed eagle, which was the emblem of Albanian national hero Skanderbeg, real name Gjergj Kastrioti, in his fight against the Turks in the mid-15th Century.  The amount of money pouring into the Balkans from the U.S. and Europe is staggering -- almost every day the paper has something about a new program of some sort.  3.5 million Euro from Spain for vocational education in North Albania, 10 million Euro from the EU for this or that, 5 million Euro from Italy for a highway, so on and so on.  Of course I get the idea that in this atmosphere of rapid expansion and easy money that a lot of money gets "redirected" away from its original intended target and into a waiting pocket, but that too is put to work building large houses or businesses.  It is hard to be critical the day after Ted Stevens's indictment, or after reading an earmark list ($1 million for a Woodstock park?)  But my concern is that the west is so anxious to incorporate the new Balkan countries into NATO and the EU that they're going to accept a lot of "exceptions" to their roadmap, and in the end the unstable economies and corruption will lead to economic unrest in Europe, the way unstable countries and nationalism in the Balkans led to political unrest in Europe a hundred years ago.  

The hotel owner who flies these flags is a very nice guy, obviously very hopeful for the future, and actually seemed to be honored to have a couple from the U.S. embassy staying at his hotel.  (Maybe he was just shocked we weren't at the 5-star Adriatica down the street.  One shows a passport to secure payment for the hotel bill is how he knew for sure, other than everyone seems to know from looking we're Americans.)  I hope his leaders don't disappoint him.  But right now securing power and covering their tracks seem to be the order of the day.  But, again, it's hard to point fingers -- remember Karl Rove and the permanent Republican majority?