Shtypi i huaj mbi Shqipërinë dhe shqiptarët

[Lioness]

“Arte”: Shqiperia e varfer, kriminele, kanunore e mesjetare

“Arte”, per ato qe nuk e njohin eshte nje kanal dy gjyhesh ne frengjisht dhe gjermanisht. Ai eshte mjaft i ndjekur kryesisht per dokumentaret e reportazhet e shumte qe transmetohen ne te.

Se fundmi, me dt. 12 janar, ku kanal transmetoi nje reportazh mbi mafien e kanunin shqiptar. Reportazhi eshte realizuar ne Shkoder dhe ne te paraqitet dhe zonja Topalli e cila lavderon punen e shtetit shqiptar.

Fatkeqesisht, reportazhi tregon nje Shqiperi te varfer, kriminele, kanunore e mesjetare (term ky i perdorur nga gazetarja). Pavaresisht faktit qe keto jane deri diku te verteta te pamohueshme nga asnjeri prej nesh (kujto vetem vrasjet e ketyre 10diteve te fundit), reportazhi ne shume pjese te tija eshte i pasakte. Pa dhene asnje fakt, krimi i organizuar barazohet me totalitetin e popullsise shqiptare duke e cilesuar si nje “gjitheperfshires” i shoqerise shqiptare.

Per ata/ato qe flasin frengjisht (dokumentari eshte ne mes) :

http://plus7.arte.tv/fr/detailPage/1697660,CmC=1875242,scheduleId=1869848.html

Per ata/ato qe flasin gjermanisht:

http://plus7.arte.tv/de/detailPage/1697660,Grid=1640332.html

Ndoshta ndonje nga anetaret kane pasur mundesine ta shohin. Pershtypje?

[drity]

Report: Most SEE countries have moderately free economies

Improvements in six of the ten freedoms have allowed Albania, scoring 63.3, to jump to 56th place, up from 66th last year. It now ranks 27th among the 41 countries in the European region.

"Albania's economic freedom ranks above the world average, and its score has risen over the past few years, a noteworthy achievement in a region characterised by federal separatism and instability," the Index, edited by Kim Holmes, Edwin Feulner and Mary Anastasia O'Grady, noted. "If Albania maintains its impressively strong investment freedom while doing more to combat corruption, its score should continue to rise."

Bulgaria is ranked 59th with a score of 62.9, and moved up three places from last year, primarily because of improved trade freedom. The country, which joined the EU along with Romania in January 2007, is now the 28th freest economy among the 41 European nations and its overall score is slightly above the world average, according to the report.

Bulgaria scores highly in six freedoms, including trade freedom, fiscal freedom, monetary freedom and labour freedom. But Bulgaria is significantly below the world average in freedom from corruption and property rights.

Those two areas appear to be the weakest also for Albania, BiH, Croatia, Macedonia and Romania.

Romania is ranked 68th with an overall score of 61.5. This is a 0.3 percentage point increase over last year, reflecting improved scores in monetary freedom and the investment climate. The country is the 30th freest economy in the European region, and its overall score is below the regional average.

With a score of 61.1, Macedonia is ranked 71st in the world and 31st in Europe. Of the other SEE countries in the group of "moderately free" economies, Turkey (60.8) and Greece (60.1) are ranked as the world's 74th and 80th freest economies, respectively.

Of all SEE countries, only Croatia and BiH fell in the 52-nation group of "mostly unfree" economies, made up of countries that earned average scores of between 50 and 59.9 points.

Artikulli i plote http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setime.../16/feature-01

[D&G Feminine]

Discover what might be Europe's newest nation


Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo have pledged to proclaim independence in 2008

The region is still colored by the medieval collision of Slavs and Ottoman Turks

The city of Prizren offers a glimpse of unspoiled and intact Turkish baths






DECANI, Serbia (AP) -- The Visoki Decani Monastery is nestled in a stunning canyon ringed by rugged mountains, but it's not the altitude that takes your breath away.


The picturesque city of Prizren offers a glimpse of remarkably unspoiled Ottoman Empire architecture.

1 of 3 Step inside the 14th century Serbian Orthodox abbey, inhale the fragrant myrrh that perfumes the frescoed interior, and suddenly you're transported through the ages to a bygone era of monks, marauders and martyrs.

It's a rare Balkan oasis -- a place of unspeakable beauty, sanctity and solitude. And somehow, the heavily armed Italian peacekeepers standing respectful guard just outside the ancient monastery's cobblestone courtyard make it seem all the more poignant.

Decani is among the delights that await in Kosovo, the breakaway southern Serbian province that seems destined to become Europe's newest country. Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo have pledged to proclaim independence in early 2008, and the U.S. and several EU states have indicated they would recognize it.

"Kosovo is an intriguing place and full of paradoxes and surprises for any first-time visitor," says Verena Knaus, co-author with Gail Warrander of the newly released "Bradt Guide to Kosovo."

Off the beaten path? No question about that.

But for the adventurous seeking a glimpse of a region still colored by the medieval collision of Slavs and Ottoman Turks, and spiced by Islam and the mysteries of Eastern Orthodoxy, Kosovo is deliciously uncharted territory.

Is it safe? That's a fair enough question to ask about a place where a 1998-99 war between ethnic Albanian insurgents and Serbian troops killed 10,000 people, and where ethnic strife still occasionally erupts.

The answer: an unequivocal yes. About 16,000 NATO peacekeepers patrol the province, which is roughly the size of Belgium or Connecticut, and visitors can count on plenty of warm Balkans hospitality.

Pristina, Kosovo's gritty capital, is the most logical starting point, if only because Austrian Airlines and a handful of other carriers fly daily there from Vienna and a few other European cities.

Its tiny airport is your first clue that you're about to alight in what was, just a decade ago, a rough neighborhood. Military jets and helicopters line the tarmac, and signs warn visitors not to snap pictures.

Don't be put off by Pristina's drab communist-era apartment blocks and muddy trash-strewn streets. The city is working hard to clean up its act, and tucked among the tenements are some of southeastern Europe's most lively cafes and bars. Demographically, it's much like Dublin: a youthful city where half the population is under age 25.

Pristina's top watering holes change every few months, but among the current hot spots is "212," owned by an Albanian-American and named for New York City's area code. Quench your thirst with a bottle of Kosovo's signature Peja lager, or just drink in the live jazz.

Apropos New York, this is one place where Americans are practically worshipped rather than reviled, at least among the province's independence-seeking ethnic Albanian majority.

A little background: In 1999, U.S. forces led the NATO air war that broke the late Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic's grip on Kosovo, and Washington has been a staunch supporter of statehood. That helps explain why the capital's main street is Bill Clinton Boulevard, and why a 6-story-high poster of Clinton -- who was president at the time -- towers over the city center.

Kosovo's beleaguered Serb minority doesn't share this pro-America sentiment. But visitors, regardless of the passport they carry, are likely to be offered a glass of home-distilled "slivovitz," the region's ubiquitous firewater. It's sometimes called "rakia" or plum brandy, a decidedly dainty name for a drink that to the uninitiated can burn like jet fuel.

Now get out of town!

The best of Kosovo is just a two-hour drive to the west, where the settlement of Pec (known to Albanians as Peja; and yes, where the beer is brewed) rises from the forested foothills of the craggy range that forms the border with Montenegro.

Or roughly the same journey to the south, where the picturesque city of Prizren offers a glimpse of remarkably unspoiled and intact Turkish baths and other Ottoman Empire architecture.

In Prizren, wander the banks of the River Bistrica, which winds through the town, and haggle with the merchants selling hand-crafted silver jewelry and embroidered cloth. Indulge in a cappuccino -- the Kosovar version is especially decadent, topped with a thick dollop of cream and chocolate syrup.

Climb the hill and take in the panoramic views from Prizren's 11th century Kalaja Fortress. Back down in town, check out the Mehmet Pasha Mosque, built in 1561, and its hexagonal mausoleum; and the larger Sinan Pasha Mosque with its Baroque paintings and ornaments.

Although Kosovo is unquestionably Albanian, arguably its greatest treasures are its Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries. The most important of these have been under NATO protection since 2004, when ethnic Albanian mobs attacked the Serbian minority and defaced or destroyed about 30 churches.

Not to be missed: a visit to the Decani Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site tucked in a verdant valley below pine-studded cliffs.

The elegant exterior of the church, built with sumptuous slabs of pale yellow onyx and light violet breccia marble, is a marvelous combination of Gothic, Byzantine and Romanesque features. Equally lovely is the courtyard, where the scraggly bearded Serb monks offered safe haven to Albanian refugees during the war.

But it is the interior that beckons. A single step inside helps explain why Serbs stubbornly cling to their conviction that Kosovo is the heart of their ancient homeland, if not the cradle of civilization itself.

A hush -- to the spiritually inclined, an undeniable presence -- washes over you the moment you set foot inside. Christ and the saints beam down from some of the continent's best-preserved fresco paintings and icons, and the monks say the faithful are still healed by contact with the remains of Holy King Stefan entombed in the chapel.

Conflict of any kind seems entirely out of place, even though as recently as last spring, someone fired an anti-tank rocket that damaged Decani's outer wall.

No one was hurt, and the young 20-something monk tending the chapel is nonplussed. He's seen worse, and expects better.

"NATO is here," he says. "But it is God who will protect us."



If you go ...
Kosovo: http://www.visitkosova.org has useful information on how to get around Kosovo and tips on important cultural landmarks and other destinations.

Getting there: Austrian Airlines flies daily to Pristina from Vienna. British Airways offers nonstop service from London's Gatwick Airport, and Adria Airways operates regular flights from Brussels and other European capitals. A full rundown is available at the airport site: http://www.airportpristina.com/

Where to stay: Hotels in Pristina can be somewhat hit or miss, but a number of clean, new hotels have sprung up in recent years. Try the Hotel Prishtina, http://www.hotelprishtina.com, where wireless Internet, breakfast and mini-bar are included in the room rate. Go to http://www.hotelskosova.com/ for an overview.

Decani Monastery: Details and history at http://www.kosovo.net/main.html

Currency: The euro is used in Kosovo.

Language: Albanian is the predominant language but English is widely spoken, especially among young Kosovars.

[drity]

Is there a European Islam?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereport...n_islam_1.html

Mark Mardell 21 Jan 08, 10:25 PM

This is my first visit to Albania and it is a fascinating, beautiful country: Tirana much more impressive than I had been led to believe; the run-down Durres tower blocks and shanties more in keeping with my preconceptions.


I am here to report on Albania’s reaction to the looming independence of Kosovo and my report will be on Radio Four and the World Service next week and I will link to it when it is ready.

But that is for another day.

Today, religion.

On the way up into the town of Kruja, perched on the side of a mountain, we stop at a small road side shrine, a Teke, a green-domed, white walled, small building.

Down a few stone steps is a neat little room, covered with small, Turkish-style rugs. But a little area of the floor is bare, and what looks like limestone.


There’s a hole, about eight inches deep and it doesn’t take much imagination to see it as a footprint.

The shrine’s guardian, 79 year-old Masmut Subashi, tells me this is the footprint of Sari Saltik .

Holy man

The holy man’s portrait hangs on one wall, robed, with long dark hair, his hands apparently resting on the hilt of a sword. Masmut tells me how he was taken to the shrine by his father as a small boy and now he tends to it. Then he tells me the story of the saint.

A nearby village was terrorised by a monster who demanded a human life every day. Sari Saltik cut off the monster’s seven heads and for 25 years lived in the large cave which the beast had inhabited.

When he left, he first stepped on this mountainside. His next foot print was a hundred miles away and his next in Crete .

He tells us that the legend is that Sari Saltik had a brother who was a Christian, St Anthony, who had his own cave not far from here.

Please don’t hold me to the highest standards of BBC accuracy on this one.


A Muslim saint, a Muslim portrait, acknowledging a Christian brother?

Well, yes, Albania is the headquarters of the Bektashi, a Sufi group.

Sunni Muslim

Muslims are said to make up 70% of the population in Albania, and most of them are not Bektashi, who are Shia, but Sunni.

It’s mildly curious to me that while some people argue Turkey shouldn’t join the European Union because most of its population is Muslim, I have never heard the same argument applied to Kosovo or Albania.

Perhaps it’s because they are so small. Perhaps it’s because, for many, the religion is only nominal. As I write this, in Albania’s capital Tirana , I can hear the call to prayer but the approach to religion seems much more European than the more profound attachments one may find in other parts of the world.

I hasten to add I am not just talking about Islam and the Middle East: America’s devoutness seems very shocking to many worldly Europeans.

Anyway while some websites warn that Albania could be a base for “extremism ” or “fundamentalists” there seems little sign of even moderate conservatism or devotion on the streets or indeed in the villages.

Not a headscarf in sight, let alone a hijab or burkha. Is there a European Islam that is as different from Wahhabism as the Church of England is from Baptists of the Bible Belt?

Is it to be found in these lands?

Rock-and-roll poet

Ervin Hatibi is a poet and intellectual, a Sunni Muslim, who became serious about his religion after living a rather rock-and-roll lifestyle.

While some, like the historian Bernard Lewis, argue that secularism is a specifically Christian phenomenon, Ervin says Islam has its own secularism and should not be seen as a monolithic whole.

“Everywhere Islam is different,” he says.

“As an everyday experience in the Balkans, for centuries it has created unique features. I consider Islam as part of the European landscape. It was for centuries. It kept changing, especially in Europe, the continent of continuous change.

“As a believer I may have fantasies about a society that moves towards certain values, and so will an Albanian Orthodox, or an atheist from a Muslim background or one of the new Protestant Christians, but we all have to live within an Albanian space.

“We have to live in harmony with the will of the majority and this is our culture, a more and more European and Western culture. It has something special that is not only Islam, but Ottoman and from the communist regime, so we have our special flavour that gives more beauty to the European experience and is not something dangerous.”

Is he right ? Could the much derided Ottoman Empire ,multi-ethnic and relatively religiously tolerant, have got something right in the Balkans?

[Arb]

Ky Marku eshte nder te rrallet qe ka pershkruar se sa vertete jane fetare Shqiptaret.

[brooklyn2007]

• Të dielën Evropa do të ketë një shtet të ri - Kosovën, dhe kjo i jep fund 17 viteve të përgjakshme të luftërave në ish Jugosllavi.

Ky është një rast për të festuar, shkruan në numrin e sotëm gazeta prestigjioze "The New York Times". Gazeta vlerëson se pavarësia e Kosovës është e justifikuar, unike në llojin e vet dhe e pashmangshme dhe nuk ka rrugë tjetër, ndërsa konstaton se Serbia e humbi lojën e nacionalizmit në Kosovë shumë kohë më parë. Në fillim të javës tjetër, fuqitë e mëdha, përfshirë Shtetet e Bashkuara, Francën, Britaninë dhe Gjermaninë do ta njohin shtetin e ri. Një shumicë e qartë e 27 vendeve anëtare të BE së pritet ta njohin shpejt Kosovën e pavarur.
Qiproja, me pjesën e vet të pushtuar në veri, do kryesojë vendet që nuk do ta njohin Kosovën. Disa nga vendet e tjera të BE së që janë dyshuese për shtetin e ri janë Spanja, Slovakia, Greqia dhe Bullgaria. "Nëse BE ja do fliste me një zë, do të ishte diçka e këndshme, por mbështetja në shkallë të gjerë është e mjaftueshme për Kosovën e pavarur. Kjo mbështetje në rradhë të parë i dedikohet punës së ambasadorit gjerman në Britani, Wolfgang Ischinger. Ajo që është më e rëndësishmja, është se BE ja dhe SHBA të do ecin me një hap, çfarë nuk ka ndodhur shpesh kohëve të fundit", shkruan mes tjerash kolumnisti Roxher Koen në "The New York Tjmes", i cili ka raportuar për luftërat në ish-Jugosllavi.(B SINA - INA)