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OP-ED

The McGonigal affair and the Albanian implications of the 'Chinese file'

Politiko 2025-09-07 12:06:28
The McGonigal affair and the Albanian implications of the 'Chinese

Alfred Lela

Edi Rama, at that time a young man with dreams still untainted, at the close of an opposition rally in 1991, at the “Dinamo stadium,” said among other things that, “communism reddened us like the Russians, yellowed us like the Chinese, and blackened us like Albanians.”
This colorful imagery has returned to the stage of history for one of his friends, but perhaps also for the Prime Minister himself. Charles McGonigal, the former FBI chief now twice convicted, once again finds himself before the ‘guillotine,’ very likely to be sentenced for a third time. After being found guilty in Washington for the “Albanian file” and in New York for the “Russian file,” it seems he will now be convicted for the “Chinese file.” By analogy, after being reddened like a Russian, bruised like an Albanian, now he will be yellowed like a Chinese.

Of course, the Chinese implications of an American agent are not new, and would not normally spark much interest in Albania, but Albanians are central actors in this case. To a degree, Agron Neza, and especially Dorian Duçka, the so-called Persons A and B, as well as Prime Minister Rama. All three of them were present, as protagonists, also in the “Albanian file,” for which McGonigal was sentenced to 2 years and 4 months in prison.

What potentially could be new this time is that McGonigal may not be treated merely as “corrupt,” i.e., as someone hiding monetary sums or breaking the codes of conduct of American intelligence services, but as a spy for hostile foreign powers—something that could elevate the charge even to treason against America.

On the American stage, Donald Trump will avenge himself against the leftist establishment, which, through McGonigal, sought to brand him a “traitor to America” via alleged Russian connections. It seems McGonigal, through Chinese ties, may now be stigmatized with that same charge.

In Tirana, the Albanian links of the file carry importance and weight.
What emerges from a double reading is that the Albanians who entrapped him also betrayed the American agent. In all likelihood, in exchange for some form of immunity.

Perhaps here lies the new twist—informal or not—that this case may take. Will this new McGonigal investigation be forgiven by the new FBI leadership and investigating agents, considering that a group of foreigners, from a NATO ally country, very likely including Prime Minister Rama himself, entrapped and then “sold out” one of their former colleagues, an American, a comrade-in-arms?!
Will the investigation be purely professional, or also patriotic?

No one can say with certainty, but what seems clear from the timing, the form, and the narrative of the Trump administration is that this file, to put it in American terms, looks like “going in for the kill”—a closing strike, one that contains political, personal, and American revenge within it.

For the three Albanian actors tied to the ‘Chinese file,’ calm is not an option.

 

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