SAS Rescue 3 Trapped British Diplomats in Albania
mydiplomaticlife.com
mydiplomaticlife.com
Several different Albanian Ponzi schemes were basically marketing themselves as banks, and they were real legitimate businesses with IT employees and salesmen and everything.
Eventually almost every Albanian had money tied up in these schemes in one way or another, and one by one they all started to go bust as the leaders ran away with the money or were otherwise unable to payout interest on deposits, or even return initial principal deposits.
As a result, the nation rioted, and the PM decided to flee.
Realizing this, certain elements in the Albanian population decided to raid the local police armories for military equipment of all times. And what resulted was an interesting and tragic case study of what happens when several different armed factions and many thousands of bandits begin to commit violence against anyone and everyone under the guise of "re-establishing law and order".
Albania is of course not the best examples of a "Western" country, but it is far more than, say, what ex-Soviet states were.
Imagine a few big banks falling in the same manner in a particularly low point for ones country. In a few breakdowns of civil states so far, since the WW2, the prime majority fell to "lightning out of the blue"
I'm not sure if I'd fully agree with that characterization. Sure, the Balkans as a whole had bit their own thing going on (probably can thank Tito for that), but Albania was still ruled by iron-handed communist regime and at least based on surface reading seemed to be deeper in the (Stalinist/Communist) ideology than many others, including post-Stalin Soviet Union.
I think socialists being still relatively strong during 90s probably contributed in part to the crisis. Overall it's important to remember that the country was still on its first post-communist decade.
Found this contemporary reporting from 1997, while the language is maybe bit excessively colorful it still paints a picture how the country was perceived at the time: https://web.archive.org/web/20190412111815/https://www.balti...
I don't understand this part given that the rest of your post, and the article you link, makes it clear that they had transitioned out of communism 6 years previously. But yeah they were still terribly poor and perhaps worse off under the post-communist regime. They were seen as more backward and less Western than, say, post-Soviet Latvia which was already deep in talks to join the EU - something that remains a long way off for Albania more than 20 years later.
Quote from the GP linked article:" Capitalism ran amok, transforming Tirana into a 20th-century version of Dodge City, filled with gun-toting lawmen, abrasive money-changers and tough guys dressed in leather."
Not every "Western" country is a NATO member, but NATO members are usually counted as "Western". Similarly, EU member states generally count as "Western", and a country formally negotiating to join the EU probably falls in that bucket too.
Turkey is possibly the big exception to the generalisations that "NATO member"="Western" and "negotiating to join the EU"="Western". However, Turkey used to have much more of a pro-Western orientation when it was ruled for decades by secular nationalists. It is only in the last 20 or so years, with Turkey being ruled by the religiously conservative AKP, that Turkey has been moving away from a "Western" identity. But Albania's politics are very different from those of Turkey. Albania's politics are dominated by secular parties. While both Turkey and Albania are majority Muslim, the kind of religious conservatism which is the driving force behind the current Turkish government is far less popular among Albanians.
While there had been unrest in 1997, there had been no civil unrest at the capital, Tirane, for about a year before this happened. Many embassies, including the U.S.A. one were opened. What sparked this unrest was the killing of an opposition politician. There were accusations that the government killed him. It is now mostly clear that the government didn't do it.
It is not clear to this day if the revolt was an attempted coup or not. There is a video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WjksCDho2Y, of the office of the prime minister burning on that day. One would assume that if there was a coup they wouldn't burn the office they intended to occupy. But protesters did occupy briefly the State TV and a member of the opposition appeared and said the situation was under control. The prime minister had left the country. The situation was stabilized by the American embassy who told the opposition that they would not recognize their government if they created one. That was enough to calm the situation in a few days. That was also the last time there was a major civil unrest in Albania (though the office of prime minister has been attacked a few more times).
No matter which side of politics would be in charge they meant no harm to the British interests. Given the respect that the people have for Britain and the legendary good treatment that the Albanians reserve for their guests, the risk to the Britsh embassy was very small. Clearly there could always be opportunistic criminals that can use the occasion to act while the police is not around, but the fact that no foreigners were hurt before, during or after the events should be good enough proof.
I take issue with the article's characterization that the protesters were shooting at his car. While I clearly wasn't there, unfortunately I had been present at other similar events and it was always the case that the protesters and anybody else involved were generally shooting on the air. If a bunch of armed men were really shooting at the car, the car would have been hit.
1. The situation was never that bad as the post makes....
It is similar to the current June events in the US (unrests/protests), but sans looting of random businesses, just burning of the PM office (instead of a police precinct).
2. That politician, was not killed by the government, but it is rumored (never verified) that he was setup by his rival leader of his own party. The same guy who very conveniently then went to the streets and demand the government step down. His own bodyguard was somehow intermingled in this thing.
3. Also, 0 foreigners were harmed during these protests, or past ones... I know Embassies have to take precautions, in Albania foreigners are treat as 'guests' of the house, and treated well. (even during protests). Sounds weird, but that's how it is. It is like the whole nation has the 'responsibility' that the foreign guests have a good time when they visit.
It is from old traditions/customs, dating back to ancient times...
4. This is an example of good American intervention, by then Bill Clinton's cabinet, which was very competent. They basically called the 'bad guy', and told him that the US would not recognize this government, as it was not democratically elected, and you will be considered an outlawed gov. and isolated from the rest of the world. That was enough, for the 'bad politician', to step down, and let a provisory government with members from all major parties to take over until the next elections. The coup-de-ta was over in two days with just one phone call, and probably spared the country from further unrests.
I know for some reason American involvement gets a lot of flack, but great examples of 'just/correct' and successful intervention almost never make the news. It is always the failures that do, unfortunately.
Ps. Also, Albania is a very beautiful Mediterranean country... while it is lacking in infrastructure, It is just as beautiful as neighbors (southern Italy, Greece or Croatia, which most americans are familiar with).
https://pixabay.com/images/search/albania/
https://www.thetravel.com/20-breathtaking-photos-that-will-m...
That comment was buried in a thread...
As someone who spent most of my childhood overseas, it warms my heart to see this kind of thing get a bit more exposure.
My father was in the CIA, then was an administrator for NGOs. I grew up in some...interesting places.
I love the place and it's mostly because of the people. Never have I met more friendly laid back and helpful people. For example, my airbnb host that I stayed with, for all of 2 nights, kept my large suitcase so I could spend the week in the south with just my carry-on bag. When I got back to Tirana not only did his brother come and meet me with it, he also dropped me off at my next airbnb across town and carried it in for me.
Somewhere I wouldn't hesitate to recommend others visiting. I'll be going back when I can and for longer this time.
The biggest problem 20 years ago was almost nobody was speaking any foreign language in the eastern part of the country and some were understanding Italian on the coast (they watched Italian TV a lot). I was not able to eat anything from Skopje, Macedonia, to the restaurant in Tirana were I went with some Albanian colleagues. I confirm the people were friendly and the country was strangely nice, the eastern part reminded me of Jordan (quite arid) and Tirana was a mess of driving too many cars with very inexperienced drivers on tiny roads and back alleys where you had inches on each side of the car. Their language sounds similar to mine, but it just sounds (not many common words), so the atmosphere in the restaurants was familiar and friendly, I felt like in a smaller city in Romania. At the Macedonian-Albanian border crossing I had a fantastic chance of meeting a guy who was speaking Romanian, we used to be a guard at the Albanian embassy in Bucharest and this is how I was able to cross the border, otherwise I was not able to communicate with anyone else in English, French, Italian or hand gestures.
Another thing is their reputation within Europe is... well to put it as one Albanian said to me laughingly: "They're scared of us. They think we're all gangsters"
Most people don't know a lot about the country so if they just read the article or go from what they have heard a European say, they might have an impression that doesn't truly represent it.
As an fellow European, I think most people around here would just lump it together with the rest of Balkans; so nothing personal against Albania specifically :) And having couple of (internal-ish) wars does tend to leave memory, especially if they happen on your back yard (from global viewpoint)
1. The situation was never that bad as the post makes....
It is similar to the current June events in the US (unrests/protests), but sans looting of random businesses, just burning of the PM office (instead of a police precinct).
2. That politician, was not killed by the government, but it is rumored (never verified) that he was setup by his rival leader of his own party. The same guy who very conveniently then went to the streets and demand the government step down. His own bodyguard was somehow intermingled in this thing.
3. Also, 0 foreigners were harmed during these protests, or past ones... I know Embassies have to take precautions, in Albania foreigners are treat as 'guests' of the house, and treated well. (even during protests). Sounds weird, but that's how it is. It is like the whole nation has the 'responsibility' that the foreign guests have a good time when they visit.
It is from old traditions/customs, dating back to ancient times...
4. This is an example of good American intervention, by then Bill Clinton's cabinet, which was very competent. They basically called the 'bad guy', and told him that the US would not recognize this government, as it was not democratically elected, and you will be considered an outlawed gov. and isolated from the rest of the world. That was enough, for the 'bad politician', to step down, and let a provisory government with members from all major parties to take over until the next elections. The coup-de-ta was over in two days with just one phone call, and probably spared the country from a massive bloodshed/unrests.
I know for some reason American involvement gets a lot of flack, but great examples of 'just/correct' and successful intervention almost never make the news. It is always the failures that do, unfortunately.
Wikipedia claims 2000-3800 deaths during the Albania crisis, in a country with population of <3 million; US protests have 26 deaths (again from wiki), with US population being >300 million. That is like 4 orders of magnitude difference there.
That's kinda what I figured. They drove around, realized they had zero chances of getting in any firefight let alone one big enough that having a dude running around trying not to drop the food would be a problem and consequently decided to stop for pizza.
And I understand what you're saying about treating foreign tourists well, but incidents happen regardless (the same as they could and do in every country).
"Benny told us later that the patrol had been menaced on several occasions by armed men, but a few well aimed shots above the heads of the mob had convinced them to melt away and not to mess with the patrol."
They were probably prepared to deploy for some time (assuming this was 1998 and not 1997): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_Civil_War
They landed a transport plane on an airport. That's not a feat of military might. It's one of having the same blue/yellow emblem somewhere on your plane as on the 10.5 million cartons of infant nutrition you distributed the year before.
Some "shots over their heads" may have been useful in discouraging individual idiots. But the only reason there was anybody left to rescue, and the reason they were allowedd to succeed, is that neither side of the conflict had any actual interest in harming them.
rogue, not rouge which would imply these actors have beautified themselves with cosmetics
That system likely provided these SAS operators both with direct support here (like briefings on what route to take travelling, who would and wouldn't be hostile, etc.), and with the indirect support inherent in anyone who hoped to end up controlling Albania not wanting the British as an enemy. I'd guess the operators felt appreciation for that support and pride in their own contributions to that system, and no diminution of their individual achievements.
I was, however, dismissive of HN warriors with World-War 3 lingo of "hot zones" and "threat vectors" and "secondary actors", tom-clancying their way to such magnificient insights as:
> Going into any hot zone as a small squad is always a big deal
I was wondering how something called “SAS Rescue 3” would have trapped any diplomats anywhere.
It also probably has to do with American vs British English and the use of “Rescue” vs “Rescues”.
BTW HN turns submitted titles into Shit Casing if they contain a certain amount of caps (happens easily with acronyms). If you edit it again, it will accept the original. Wish it would just take what you submit in the first place though.