Smuggler's Blues, Part 2
from Stop Islamic Conquest by Yankee Doodle
An Interview with Sibel Edmonds (Page Two), 2004

SE: You might have an organization supposed to be promoting the cultural affairs of a certain country within another country. Hypothetically, say, an Uzbek folklore society based in Germany. The stated purpose would be to hold folklore-related activities – and they might even do that – but the real activities taking place behind the scenes are criminal.

CD: Such as?

SE: Everything – from drugs to money laundering to arms sales. And yes, there are certain convergences with all these activities and international terrorism.



It's the lure of easy money,
It's gotta very strong appeal.


The Candidates on Kosova ... and perhaps beyond, 2008

(D) Senator Hillary Clinton who insisted that her husband initiate the NATO Bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 has repeatedly declared that the bombing of Serbia was "a success". She has been the honored guest to of many Albanian fundraisers and is hailed as someone that would continue her husband’s legacy as a friend and defender of Albanians. Hillary receives 63% of her campaign donations from individuals who donate $2300 or more and 37% from those who donate the maximum $4,600; in short, she is a "big money" candidate. Hillary Clinton is a socially liberal and aggressively interventionist.



Perhaps you'd understand it better
Standin' in my shoes,


McCAIN AND THE KLA CONNECTION, 2000



It's the ultimate enticement,
It's the smuggler's blues,


McCAIN AND THE KLA CONNECTION, 2000

The caption accompanying the above photo says McCain was in New York doing some fundraising, and it is fair to ask: how much money did he get from the Albanian lobby? As the great "reform" candidate who denounces the influence of "special interests" and the power of money in politics, McCain had better tell us exactly how much the Albanian lobby has thrown his way – and to what effect. Of all the lobbyists in Washington, it is the "special interests" represented by the agents of foreign powers that pose the greatest threat to the integrity of the Presidency.



Smuggler's blues.



The Turkish Lobby, Obstruction of Justice and Henry Waxman, 2008

While we're at it, notice who took a great deal of money from the Turkish lobby for her Presidential bid.





See it in the headlines,
You hear it ev'ry day.


The Turkish Lobby, Obstruction of Justice and Henry Waxman, 2008

And whose smiling face do we see on the list?



They say they're gonna stop it,
But it doesn't go away.


More heroin from Afghanistan pouring into U.S. cities, 2007

U.S. Rep. Mark Steven Kirk, a Republican who represents suburbs north of Chicago, said the Bush administration had been slow to respond to indications that more heroin from Afghanistan was coming to the United States. U.S. law enforcement officials also have told him privately that Afghanistan's share of the American heroin market is growing, he said.



They move it through Miami, sell it in L.A.,


Embassy of Afghanistan quoting "Unlikely allies: U.S., Iran separately fighting a common foe -- the Afghan drug trade", 2006

"As far as Pakistan, we don't have much cooperation," Haidari said. "They have not been as effective as we would have hoped. Not only traffickers but also terrorists regularly cross borders and attack.

"We are getting assistance more from Iran. One reason is they have a more established, cleaner counter-narcotics police force. They are watching for drug traffickers coming in from the Afghan side, and interdict them and arrest them and put them in jails in Iran."



They hide it up in Telluride,
I mean it's here to stay.


More heroin from Afghanistan pouring into U.S. cities, 2007

"More heroin is definitely coming in from Afghanistan," said Kirk, who's visited Afghanistan as a reserve naval intelligence officer. "The problem is the official reporting lags as to what we're actually seeing in the streets."

The increase in the U.S. supply of Afghan heroin is further evidence that Afghanistan is awash in illicit opium and plagued by official corruption.



It's propping up the governments in Columbia and Peru,


Heroin Heroes, 2000

Now free of the war and the repressive Yugoslav police machine, drug traffickers have reopened the old Balkan Road. With the KLA in power -- and in the spotlight -- the top trafficking families have begun to seek relative respectability without decreasing their heroin shipments. "The Kosovars are trying to position themselves in higher levels of trafficking," says the U.N.'s Tony White. "They want to get away from the violence of the streets and attract less attention. Criminals like to move up like any other business, and the Kosovars are becoming business leaders. They have become equal partners with the Turks."

Italian national police discovered this new Kosovar outreach last year when they undertook "Operation Pristina." The carabinieri uncovered a chain of connections that originated in Kosovo and stretched through nine European countries, extending into Central Asia, South America, and the United States.



You ask any D.E.A. man,
He'll say "There's nothin' we can do,"



UN World Drug Report, 2007 page 45

The route from Afghanistan continues to go mainly via Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and the Balkan countries to distribution centres in West Europe. However, alternative routes have also been established to circumvent the border between Turkey and Bulgaria, some via Ukraine to Romania and along the Balkan route to West Europe.



From the office of the President,
Right down to me and you, me and you.


McCAIN AND THE KLA CONNECTION, 2000

THE DIOGUARDI-McCAIN CONNECTION

There they are, the two of them, DioGuardi and McCain, side by side: one who would carve an Albanian empire in the midst of the blood-soaked Balkans, and the other who would be President of the United States. It is a disturbing juxtaposition, to say the very least.



It's a losing proposition,
But one you can't refuse.


Corruption and Organized Crime in Kosovo: An Interview with Avni Zogiani, 2008

John Rosenthal: Your organization focuses on the links between organized crime and politics in Kosovo. Can you give us some idea of the nature of the problem and the particular forms organized crime takes in Kosovo?

Avni Zogiani: You've had cases where politics was mixed with organized crime in a very blatant manner: for example, cases of high officials who were found to be involved in arms smuggling or in money laundering. Because of the lack of integrity of the public sphere in general and especially the political institutions, very often you will find that a part of the money that goes to organized crime comes in fact from public funds. This is one aspect of the problem. Another aspect is human trafficking: women are brought to every corner of Kosovo to be sold into prostitution. Human trafficking in Kosovo is a very big deal and also drug trafficking is a big deal.



It's the politics of contraband,
It's the smuggler's blues,


John McCain armed Kosovo Islamic terrorists, 2008



Smuggler's blues.


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Mar 4, 2008 (3 days ago)
Smuggler's Blues, Part 1
from Stop Islamic Conquest by Yankee Doodle
UN World Drug Report, 2007 page 10

At least in the short-term, conditions in the world's heroin markets will be determined by what happens in southern Afghanistan, as the country was responsible for 92 per cent of global opium production in 2006. For no other drug is production so concentrated in a single area. This concentration went hand in hand with a remarkable long-term progress in eliminating other sources of supply, principally in South-East Asia.



There's trouble on the streets tonight,
I can feel it in my bones.


UN World Drug Report, 2007 page 37

There are indications that a small but increasing proportion of opiates from Afghanistan are being trafficked to North America, either via eastern and western Africa, or via Europe.



I had a premonition,
That he should not go alone.


Top-quality heroin floods U.S. as Afghan poppy trade grows, 2006

Not only is more heroin being produced from Afghan poppies, it is also the purest in the world, according to the DEA's National Drug Intelligence Center which monitors heroin coming into the United States.



I knew the gun was loaded,
But I didn't think he'd kill.


Heroin Heroes, 2000

Law enforcement officials in Europe have suspected for years that ties existed between Kosovar rebels and Balkan drug smugglers. But in the six months since Washington enthroned the Kosovo Liberation Army in that Yugoslav province, KLA-associated drug traffickers have cemented their influence and used their new status to increase heroin trafficking and forge links with other nationalist rebel groups and drug cartels.



Everything exploded,
And the blood began to spill.


Fresh cheap heroin headed for New England, 2008

The booming poppy harvest in Afghanistan could soon become New England's heroin problem.

Boston drug enforcement agents are bracing for what could be a shift in the way heroin flows into New England.

If it happens, according to current and former Drug Enforcement Administration agents, prices on the street will drop and the potency of competing products will spike. Last summer, according to a DEA spokesman, changes in Northeast heroin potency caused a rash of overdose deaths.



So baby, here's your ticket,
Put the suitcase in your hand.


Fresh cheap heroin headed for New England, 2008

"The Afghan heroin is absolutely going to - if it hasn't started flooding the market yet - it's going to get here," Levine said. "It's going to get to New England."

[snip]

Southwest Asian heroin is still a small player in the United States, according to the NDIC, but Levine said competition from Afghan heroin would be significant.

"Afghan heroin is huge, it's a huge market," he said. "The State Department is trying to downplay it and say it's not going to be a huge problem, and they've got a vested interest in that because ... heroin is supporting those allies of our war in Afghanistan."



Here's a little money now,
Do it just the way we planned.


Heroin Heroes, 2000

The benefits of the drug trade are evident around Pristina -- more so than Western aid. "The new buildings, the better roads, and the sophisticated weapons -- many of these have been bought by drugs," says Michel Koutouzis, the Balkans region expert for the Global Drugs Monitor (OGD), a Paris-based think tank. The repercussions of this drug connection are only now emerging, and many Kosovo observers fear that the province could be evolving into a virtual narco-state under the noses of 49,000 peacekeeping troops.



You be cool for twenty hours
And I'll pay you twenty grand.


John McCain armed Kosovo Islamic terrorists, 2008

Americans of Albanian heritage collected a million dollars in one evening for the presidential campaign of Republican Senator John McCain, said the Albanian American Civic League yesterday, the lobby group headed by former Congressman Joe DioGuardi. A reception for McCain was held January 22 at the Saint Regis Hotel in Manhatten, and the senator, who is now leading in the runoff for the Republican party candidacy in the November elections, cut his campaign in Florida by one day to attend this gathering.

"Even in 1998 when we had problems with Milosevic, McCain did everything that we asked of him to the benefit of the Albanian people, including arming the KLA", announced DioGuardi. "We are American Albanians and we need a leader who will strengthen this country... We must support John McCain because he did everything we asked of him for Kosovo, from supporting the Kosovo Liberation Army to supporting the independence of Kosovo."



I'm sorry it went down like this,
And someone had to lose,


More heroin from Afghanistan pouring into U.S. cities, 2007

But internal drug-enforcement reports indicate that U.S. authorities are seizing more Afghan heroin at U.S. ports and from low-level dealers in American cities.

The reports contradict the public statements of drug enforcement officials, who maintain that the amount of heroin reaching the United States from Afghanistan hasn't increased.



It's the nature of the business,
It's the smuggler's blues.


Top-quality heroin floods U.S. as Afghan poppy trade grows, 2006

The jump in deaths was especially prevalent among users older than 40, who lack the resilience to recover from an overdose of unexpectedly strong heroin, according to a study by the county's Office of Health Assessment and Epidemiology.

"The rise of heroin from Afghanistan is our biggest rising threat in the fight against narcotics," said Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino. "We are seeing more seizures and more overdoses."



Smuggler's Blues


Top-quality heroin floods U.S. as Afghan poppy trade grows, 2006

The Department of Homeland Security also has found evidence of increasing Afghan heroin in this country. The agency reported skyrocketing numbers of seizures of heroin arriving at U.S. airports and seaports from India, not a significant heroin-producing country but a major transshipment point for Afghan drugs. The seizure of heroin packages from India increased from zero in 2003 to 433 in 2005 -- more than 80 percent of total heroin mail seizures that year.



The sailors and pilots,
The soldiers and the law,


Embassy of Afghanistan quoting "Unlikely allies: U.S., Iran separately fighting a common foe -- the Afghan drug trade", 2006

Just a few days ago, the United States announced that 11,000 new coalition troops would attack insurgents in the drug-ridden provinces in the south. Three straight years of bumper crops have flooded Iran and Western Europe with Afghan heroin, a trail now leading to the United States as well, with Chicago the chief distribution center and nearby cities such as St. Louis affected.

Missouri and Illinois officials say the highly pure heroin is attracting younger, affluent users and causing a spike in overdoses.



The pay offs and the rip offs,
And the things nobody saw.


The Criminalization of the State: "Independent Kosovo", a Territory under US-NATO Military Rule, 1999

Moreover, barely a few two months before Rambouillet, the US State Department had acknowledged (based on reports from the US Observer Mission) the role of the KLA in terrorising and uprooting ethnic Albanians:

" ... the KLA harass or kidnap anyone who comes to the police, ... KLA representatives had threatened to kill villagers and burn their homes if they did not join the KLA [a process which has continued since the NATO bombings]... [T]he KLA harassment has reached such intensity that residents of six villages in the Stimlje region are 'ready to flee'."



No matter if it's heroin, cocaine, or hash,


And the Winner is . . . the Albanian Mafia, 1999

Smuggling is the Albanian mafia's core competency, and over the past decade the Albanians have steadily come to dominate smuggling to and within Europe, even overshadowing their erstwhile mentors, the Italian mafia. Smugglers are smugglers, and the commodity on any given day shifts with demand, whether it is narcotics, weapons, fuel, stolen goods—or people.



You've got to carry weapons
Cause you always carry cash.


Heroin Heroes, 2000

As the war in Kosovo heated up, the drug traffickers began supplying the KLA with weapons procured from Eastern European and Italian crime groups in exchange for heroin. The 15 Families also lent their private armies to fight alongside the KLA. Clad in new Swiss uniforms and equipped with modern weaponry, these troops stood out among the ragtag irregulars of the KLA. In all, this was a formidable aid package. It's therefore not surprising, say European law enforcement officials, that the faction that ultimately seized power in Kosovo -- the KLA under Hashim Thaci -- was the group that maintained the closest links to traffickers. "As the biggest contributors, the drug traffickers may have gotten the most influence in running the country," says Koutouzis.



There's lots of shady characters,
Lots of dirty deals.


An Interview with Sibel Edmonds (Page Two), 2004

SE: I can't say anything specific with regards to these departments, because I didn't work for them. But as for the politicians, what I can say is that when you start talking about huge amounts of money, certain elected officials become automatically involved. And there are different kinds of campaign contributions - legal and illegal, declared and undeclared.



Ev'ry name's an alias
In case somebody squeals.


More heroin from Afghanistan pouring into U.S. cities, 2007

However, U.S. officials have privately told their Afghan counterparts and some American lawmakers that they've detected an increase in the amount of heroin from Afghanistan.

"We have talked about these problems and this increase," said M. Ashraf Haidari, the first secretary of the Afghan Embassy in Washington. "It's logical that where there is demand there is a supply. Drugs from Afghanistan are making their way to the United States."

Mar 3, 2008 (4 days ago)
Fares, Part 2
from Stop Islamic Conquest by Yankee Doodle
We continue from Part 1 reviewing a 1999 paper entitled And the Winner is . . . the Albanian Mafia by Frank Cilluffo and George Salmoiraghi:

In recent years passage through the Balkans into Europe has grossly overshadowed previous drug channels from Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle. This principal drug-shipping channel, known as the Balkan Route, is worth an estimated $400 billion a year and handles 80 percent of the heroin destined for sale in Europe. Opium grown in Afghanistan and Pakistan (the heart of the Golden Crescent) is processed in Turkey, then travels through the former Yugoslavia and the Czech Republic to reach other parts of Europe. The Balkan Route then links to England through the French port of Calais, where Albanian gangs have secured their position. In the Channel ports, the Albanians hire facilitators who, to confuse sniffing patrol dogs, disguise the smell of smuggled cargo by loading their vehicles with meat, pet food, and fresh flowers. The clans profit doubly by piggybacking illicit trafficking operations—for example, shipping oil to Macedonia, dodging the Greek embargo, and using the shipment to cover the added cargo of heroin. And people seeking passage into Europe make ideal drug-carrying mules for the fares.



In the above paragraph, one should both notice the importance of the Balkan Route, and keep in mind that the report is from 1999.

Skipping now another document we looked at in Part 1, EUROPOL DRUGS 2006, we see how things have changed since 1999 in the Golden Crescent:

Afghanistan is the major supplier of heroin for the European markets. In addition to opium poppy cultivation, the country has developed into a major processor of the final product: heroin. UNODC estimates that 72% of opium is converted to heroin in Afghanistan. Some 10.000 tonnes of chemicals, including 1.000 tonnes of acetic anhydride are needed for this process. The Tajik Drug Control Agency estimates that there are more than 400 heroin laboratories in Afghanistan, with 80 of them situated along the border to Tajikistan.

snip

Trafficking of heroin towards the European Union continues to be dominated by Turkish and associated criminal groups. These groups make use of facilitators in Southwest Asia to liaise with domestic criminals or brokers who can purchase large quantities of heroin directly from source countries. Very rarely do heroin consignments travel the whole way from Afghanistan to Europe in a single journey; they are bought and sold by different criminal groups along the route.



Afghanistan is the main supplier of heroin for Europe, although now, instead of processing the final product in Turkey, it is processed on the spot in Afghanistan. This makes business for the narcotraffickers a great deal easier, as heroin itself is easier to transport than bulkier unrefined opiates.

Notice, however, that Turkish groups continue to dominate the movement of heroin toward Europe. This reminds us of the Sibel Edmonds case, where Edmonds, working as a translator of Turkish-language (and other) materials in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Washington Field Office in the wake of 9/11, was dealing with a backlog materials -- many from about the same time as the 1999 Cilluffo and Salmoiraghi report. The information Edmonds saw was startling for many reasons, not the least of which was that it indicated that front companies for these Turkish organized crime groups had US government officials, in the State and Defense Departments, in Congress -- from both parties -- and in the FBI on their payroll. These US government officials received bribes and promises of a cushy future in return for using their position in the government to further the interests of Turkish organized crime.

Notice also that consignments of drugs change hands as they travel from Afghanistan to the streets of Sweden, the UK and elsewhere.

Continuing with EUROPOL DRUGS 2006:

The liaison between organised crime groups trafficking different commodities is expected to continue. This cooperation refers, for instance, to South American criminal groups exchanging cocaine for heroin with Turkish traffickers, who, in turn, liaise with indigenous wholesalers of amphetamine type stimulants. Thus, heroin may be transported in multi-drug consignments, which include synthetic drugs, cocaine and cannabis. Heroin trafficking is sometimes also associated with the trafficking of human beings and/or illegal immigration to increase efficiency and profit.

Iran and Turkey are amongst the most important transit countries of Afghan sourced heroin destined for the European Union. Iranian law enforcement efforts concentrate on the borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan and on internal trafficking, rather than on drugs leaving the country into Turkey. In 2004, Iranian law enforcement agencies seized some 4 tonnes of heroin, 12 tonnes of morphine base and 174 tonnes of opium.



Iran has a problem with narcotics addiction, but the government in Tehran, for all its shortcomings, has been helpful in the War on Drugs -- a war that has been dramatically eclipsed by the advent of the "War on Terror" and by the appearance of Iran's name on the "Axis of Evil" list, an appearance that occurred despite the fact that Iran was not implicated in the events on 9/11 that sparked the War on Terror.

Continuing with EUROPOL DRUGS 2006:

Equally, Turkish law enforcement priorities are on the situation in the country and on the exportation of heroin via the Istanbul area along the Balkan Routes into Western Europe. In 2004, Turkish law enforcement agencies seized 6,515 kg of heroin and 4,491 kg of morphine base.

snip

Turkey remains, due to its geographical position, the main corridor for heroin trafficking towards the European Union. The country serves as a starting point for the Balkan Routes. Most heroin from Southwest Asia reaches Europe via these routes.

Whilst awaiting onward transportation into Western Europe, heroin is often stockpiled in countries along the Balkan Routes. The dual use of the Balkan Routes for smuggling heroin to and ecstasy from the European Union is noteworthy.

snip

Even though the 'Silk Route' via central Asia is emerging, with indications of increased trafficking activities, it can be expected that the Balkan Routes will remain the most prominent supply routes for heroin in the coming years.

The Balkan Routes continue to be the most important for getting Afghanistan heroin to European markets!

Returning now to the final excerpts of Cilluffo and Salmoiraghi's And the Winner is . . . the Albanian Mafia from 1999:

The fares run a multinational operation. The Albanian clans are dispersed in Kosovo and Macedonia as well as Albania proper. Moreover, the Kosovo Albanian clans have confederated with their counterparts in Turkey and Bulgaria. Recent arrests also demonstrate that the fares use Czech couriers to deliver heroin to Britain-based English and Turkish dealers. The smugglers forged alliances with their criminal counterparts in Italy, including La Cosa Nostra. It is an open secret that the Italian Mafia relocated to Vlore, a coastal town in southern Albania, after the recent Italian crackdown on organized crime. But in many places the Albanians have begun to outmaneuver their various competitors. Already in the Turin region, according to Italian authorities, the Albanians supplanted all of the other foreign criminal groups—from Nigerians to Moroccans—that had been operating in the area. The Albanians and the Italians simultaneously have a symbiotic and competitive relationship. The fares take business from the mafia, but they also provide invaluable services. Despite this bifurcated existence, the Italians fear that the fares will use the exodus of refugees as a means of staking out an even larger sphere of influence in southern Italy. A British Home Office report warns that the Albanian clans are exceptionally vicious and "make the Italian Mafia look like a whist drive."

"A British Home Office report warns that the Albanian clans are exceptionally vicious and 'make the Italian Mafia look like a whist drive.'"

The paper states that the Albanian clans are "in Kosovo and Macedonia as well as Albania proper" -- actually, they are spread beyond that, but those three places are perhaps most significant.

The fares' success illustrates the extent to which the state has slipped into ungovernability. An estimated 10 percent or more of Vlore's population is involved, either directly or indirectly, in smuggling. Individual operators can realize $13,000 from a good night's haul, whereas criminal gangs can generate $400,000. The growing number of expensive Italian and German cars in Albania are signs of a thriving smuggling industry, and a recent report by investigative journalist Frank Viviano reveals that two-thirds of the cars on the streets of Vlore and Durres are stolen. Smugglers transport their merchandise throughout Central and Eastern Europe in Italian cars, reported as stolen to defraud insurers. After one or two trips, the courier receives the car as a bonus. Stolen cars are everywhere, not only with the gangsters themselves. Europe's Geopolitical Drug Watch revealed the extent of the illegal automobile enterprise by highlighting the arrest of the president of the Albanian central bank for driving a stolen car while vacationing in Italy.

The clans continue to thrive because political deterioration in Albania has created an ideal working environment for the illicit traffic. Organized crime thrives on a weak government, a lack of antidrug legislation, poorly equipped police forces, a cash-based economy, and fragile banking regulations. Albania has all of these.

It is not just Albania that has these fine qualities. As Serbian authority was being eroded in Kosovo, Kosovo increasingly developed as a haven for smugglers and lawlessness. To be sure, the international forces moved into Kosovo, and they we were well-equipped, but the authorities who had been attempting to deal with the smuggling have seen their efforts undercut.

Communist rule isolated Albania for 47 years. With its mottled patterns of corruption and abuse, Albania is still trying to shed its Communist skin. After becoming a democracy in 1991, Albania attempted to establish a market economy as well. The economy collapsed in 1997, following the dramatic failure of a series of pyramid schemes backed by government assurances of corporate viability, and has not yet recovered. The economic plunge led to rioting and looting—a general fog of lawlessness that has not yet dissipated and seems to be getting thicker. Corruption extends to the very top, so much so that the Albanian parliament has been dubbed the "Kalashnikov parliament" because of its apparent indifference to organized crime and close ties to weapons dealers.

Albania's weak political system has not provided government offices the tools to fight the fares. Thwarted by powerful interests, parliament was slow to pass antidrug legislation, while there was a lack of political will to enforce the measures it did enact. The Albanian police are ill-prepared to stem the smuggling tide. They are poorly equipped and trained, and divisions such as the financial crime unit are staffed by people lacking the necessary qualifications. The police also do not receive strong support from the other branches of government; rarely were the arrested tried and sentenced by the courts. Corruption flourishes in a country demoralized by low wages, unenforced legislation, and leadership that was for sale. Many police officers were simply paid off not to enforce the laws.

The humanitarian aid flowing into Albania as a result of the Kosovo war has arrived in this governance vacuum. The intended recipients have not always been the beneficiaries. Much has been diverted and sold by top officials and their relatives at usurious prices. Meanwhile, as a result of the Kosovo war, the Albanian government has already spent its entire annual budget. The government is broke and broken. In contrast, the fares are pulling in money hand over fist and expanding their operations, using their human smuggling network to further tie into criminal operations.

Of course, the Albanian network exists far beyond Albania and the Balkans; criminal elements can be found within the diaspora of ethnic Albanians throughout Europe and in North America. It is worth recalling the role of Albanian gangs in the Channel ports, described above.

The consequences of organized crime's insidious penetration of the Albanian government continue to reveal themselves. As President Clinton and the G-8 nations look to the future and turn their focus on reconstruction efforts, at the top of the list should be laying the foundation for a stronger society in Albania, underpinned by the rule of law. Washington needs to move beyond the limited options of dollar diplomacy and Tomahawk missiles—the foreign policy elixir of the past six-and-a-half years. Dollars and missiles have treated the symptoms but not the source of Albania's political and economic malaise. The United States must ensure that it provides the majority of decent Albanians with the tools to better help themselves. And in doing so, it must embrace transparency and accountability in the use of humanitarian and reconstruction funds to prevent a repeat of the rampant looting occurring in Russia. The end of military action cannot be the end of interaction.

It would be tragic, if in winning back Kosovo, the West loses Albania to the mafia.



It is not just Albanian proper that may get lost -- it is "Greater Albania" that is at risk. The West has, in violation of international law and over the objections of Russia and Serbia, just handed Kosovo over to narcoterrorists-cum-government leaders in newly-independent "Kosova", and the United States government continues to push a policy that favors narcotraffickers and smuggling, as well as Islamic extremist terror. With "Kosova" independent, this "successful" policy will inevitably lead to more crises in the Balkans, and the dismemberment of more Balkan nations in favor of Albanian organized crime.

Although this two-part series has ended, we will continue our study of this matter in upcoming posts. In particular, we will examine the ties between Albanian organized crime, and the US Senator from Arizona and Republican Presidential candidate John McCain -- and, we will look at why Macedonia and perhaps Montenegro are likely the next dominoes to fall in the Balkans, should McCain (or Democrat rival Senator Hillary Clinton) be elected.

I leave you now with an image from a webpage entitled McCAIN AND THE KLA CONNECTION by Justin Raimondo, February 25, 2000: