Berisha and Basha as excellent victims of each other

Alfred Lela

The American ambassador, with ingenuity but also with open cynicism, has brought back a maxim of the Albanian communism before the '90s to emphasize what seems to be an open war with the former democratic leader, Sali Berisha. The famous slogan of the past showed that Albania, in order not to surrender to capitalism and social-imperialism, 'would eat grass'. It would be ironic and tragic, Ambassador Kim said, if the party were to eat grass for the sake of one of its MPs.

With the subtext, the American ambassador put the DP in the role of the Labor Party and herself representing a country like hers, which at that time was seen by the Albanian communists as the 'gendarme of the world', 'imperialist', etc. Whether Ms. Kim exaggerates with this is probably an argument for another editorial. Here we will address the dynamics and semantics of the bizarre duo Berisha-Basha, and how the ambiguity evoked by the two Democratic leaders configures this relationship, which is always strained with the Americans, but also confuses public opinion.

What can be said about both is that they are excellent victims of each other. Berisha is a victim of Basha, for the fact that the latter never managed to make the DP big enough, ie winning, in the field of electoral battle, which would give a general amnesty to Sali Berisha.

Imagine a post-April 25 political scene where the DP would have won the election, and do the cold reckoning if Berisha's non grata had arrived. Chances are not. The Americans, although still worried about Berisha, would find other instruments to arch their goals against a right-wing government in the background of the cycle, the silhouette of Sali Berisha would also wander.

The fact is that Basha did not achieve this. Some say he is a weak player. Some others that all the time he has been in Berisha's game, not his own.

Whatever the reason, Basha has left the former boss, his personal mentor, but also the founder of the Democratic Party and the main figure of the post-communist Albanian right, exposed, alone, with little protection. So much so that she appears as a sheath next to the American Ambassador as she recites new chapters of the American non grata about Berisha. Powerless to intervene or take a stand, to the naive eye, and pleased that the Americans are forcing his former boss into a corner of the political ring, to the cynical eye.  

On the other hand, Basha is equally a victim of Berisha. He played so long, relentlessly and, let’s say, even with wicked joy the role of Padrino at the head of the right-wing house, which Basha owned only the straw keys.

Basha was never allowed to make his own mistakes, to learn his own lessons, to play his own games. While the Doctor owned the political capital of the party, Basha 'made some money' and played the incumbent chairman. All this coercion produced the situation we are in today, where neither one nor the other helps or kills the husband. It always happens that way in a political relationship, which loses its meaning when the roles on stage change, but those behind the scenes remain the same.  

Më keq ende, të dy, si Basha dhe Berisha janë tepër vonë për ta shpërthyer këtë çmërs. Shfaqja e Doktorit në Kuvendin Kombëtar të PD me ‘puthjen e  vdekjes’, ajo qeshje e tij kontinentale, shpërthim që mund të prodhojnë vetëm njerëzit që duan të thonë se e kanë një dorë të fortë për ta treguar, por nuk duhet apo nuk munden, dëshmoi se në këtë game of puppets, e dimë se cili është mjeshtri.

Analiza nuk mund të bëhet më me ‘ah, sikur të kish’ qenë…’. Pra, duke imagjinuar një PD ndryshe ku Olldashi dhe grupi i tij të kishin marrë kontrollin. E të tjera, e të tjera.

The DP is what it is today. But, it will be even worse if you do not solve them with the same stroke that both cramps. What to do with the Americans and what to do with Berisha. With plugs in their ears, between Sheila and the Caribbean, hoping the storm will pass is no solution for political captains. The mind must be divided: to hold Berisha and 'eat grass' going back to the time of the political epic 1997-2005, and to go to a direct confrontation with the Americans, or vice versa. Let the father be killed, at last, and the son be left, as always, without the crown of any manhood. Because even for the murder, especially for him, time must be found.

Today may be the worst time.