Eastern approaches

Aside from being a great news weekly that I loved to read while spending summer afternoons in the hammock, The Economist also has an extensive website. One of my favorite blogs are Johnson, a blog about linguistics. The other week, Johnson examined the German habit of “pressing thumbs” for good luck, which I enjoyed immensely. The other blog I check daily is Eastern approaches which focuses on post-communist countries. It’s loaded with lots of interesting links and stories from all over the region while throwing in a book recommendation or two for good measure. So when the author was recently traveling through Albania, I couldn’t wait to find out his thoughts.

There are three pieces focusing on Albania: part one about Tirana, society and neo-Ottomanism; part two is on Albanian rail which I’ll write about separately; and part three about the northern border with Montenegro.

The first piece is a very brief summary of the last hundred or so years, combined with what the current situation is. Lately, volunteers have been discussing Turkey’s potential EU membership as well as Albania’s, of which I support Turkey’s bid to join the EU. One reason is that it can meet the EU requirements necessary for joining. It’s also the second largest supplier of NATO troops and is stabile and moderate for the most part. Having that kind of ally in a Muslim world that the West continuously alienates is a good thing and Turkey should be rewarded for what it has done. I’m not saying it’s free from flaws or not without problems, but when you compare other countries that are now members of the EU… it doesn’t leave much room for a lot of argument. People are against it for a number of reasons, usually having to do with the failure to admit the Armenian genocide (hint: take a page out of Serbia’s book when it came to Srebrenica and just own up to it) or the fact that they are, gasp, MUSLIMS! I don’t want to spoil any surprises, but the EU and its countries aren’t exclusive members of the old, white, Christian men’s club anymore. That’s a fact that will become more apparent as white Europeans continue to not reproduce. As colonial chickens come home to roost, European nations will have to deal with this identity crisis caused by changing demographics. Ever one for trumpeting rights and inclusion, the EU needs to put its money where its mouth is and accept a country that is religiously different from its member states. What the article does is bring up the idea of neo-Ottomanism as Turkey returns to the region it once ruled. I know several Turkish schools and even a few volunteers who will stay here in Albania to take employment at them. It should be interesting to see how things continue if Turkey is indeed trying to regain power in the region. My guess is that Albania will take whatever aid and improvements it can get.

The third post is about the Montenegrin border in the north of Albania. When I went to Croatia, this is the route we took. The border is less than twenty minutes outside Shkoder, the last large town going out of Albania. It’s kind of a weird border, especially when you consider that it’s a bus route for traffic going to through the area. The roads are windy and narrow and traveling on them was a mess because of the traffic. Every time you meet another bus, someone basically has to stop. It’s like that for quite some time since both sides of the border are loaded with villages. It’s not until later that you get on a “real road.” The border article is interesting because the Shengen zone continues to expand. A large part of the nightly news involves speculating on when Albanians will be able to travel in the EU without visas, something that should take a little bit more time. It’s an issue of interest to many Albanians because many leave the country to seek employment or have relatives abroad they want to visit. However, outsiders have concerns about an Albanian exodus if given the ability to travel visa-free. Already the country is bleeding youth. You have to wonder who will be active here if anyone can leave in the near future.