I am not naïve and I know that that will not happen. The international community worships Albanians and - that's the way it is. However, the trouble is that the ethnic Albanian community in Macedonia and the region as a whole, despite the support coming from all sides, is simply not functioning as a community in the simplest sense of the word. It could not be any different if every household has machine guns and hand grenades, when ordinary criminals and bandits are proclaimed for partners of the international community in the "peace process". If I say that Albanians in this region lack capacity to create a modern, organized, democratic society, that is not ethnic prejudice, it is a fact.
We've seen a proof of that fact for ten years in Albania. We've seen a proof of that fact for the last three years in Kosovo. Just consider with how much soldiers the world is guarding "peace" and "fragile democracy" in Kosovo. What peace, what democracy? What rubbish - international forces in the province are protecting Albanians from other Albanians. The situation in Macedonia is no different. "Fighters for human rights", protégés of the international community, are now fighting each other. Now the coordination council of Ali Ahmeti, the body hat was supposed to be the embryo of parallel ethnic Albanian authorities in Western Macedonia, has accused individuals from the Albanian National Army (UKSh) (gentle quote) of being "smugglers, drug addicts, criminals and failed politicians".
And all that confusion at the time when all unbiased, and even very biased observers are realizing that Albanian leaders, those who pushed their people in a war for liberation of smuggling channels, actually consist of (gentle quote) of being "smugglers, drug addicts, criminals and failed politicians". Ali Ahmeti personally leads that bunch, the man who is now protected by a crowd of bodyguards and is riding in NATO helicopters. Foreigners are trying to create not only a politician (with a brief workshop) but also an instant-intellectual.
Now, although ethnic Albanian leaders have done all in their power to destroy their image, the international community will for a while continue to follow the path of least resistance and pretend (just like ambassador Klaus Folers on departure from Macedonia and his spokespersons), claiming that the clash between ethnic Albanian gangs does not endanger peace in the country and that Macedonian police had the obligation to investigate the incident. By the way, foreigners did not say that Mala Recica, the location of the shootout that produced dead and wounded, is a place where innocent women, children and elderly live. When ethnic Albanian "fighters for human rights" kill, then there are no innocents - not even Albanians, and even less Macedonians. All of us are guilty, because the image of the Albanian machine gun as the "weapon of peace and freedom" must not be sullied.
Furthermore, perhaps it will be necessary to find someone to blame on the (Slav) Macedonian side for the incident in Mala Recica? Arben Xhaferi, a "genius", has already taken steps in that direction by issuing a statement which claims that it is necessary (gentle quote) to intensify "efforts for wholesale implementation of the Ohrid agreement, for healing of war wounds and full integration of the former UCK members in the society and politics." There you go! And since by definition Macedonians are to be blamed for slow implementation of the Ohrid Agreement, they are also to be blamed for the fact that some sad, unintegrated Albanians shot at other, integrated Albanians, and thus, by shooting, healed their war wounds and sang "I shoot to forget, but the sorrow stays..."
So that we have an easier time swallowing the charges (just another one on top of so many swallowed nonsensical charges), they've come up with a story that is supposed to appeal to our vanity. Supposedly, our secret police has infiltrated "spies" in the ranks of the UKSh or UCK and they set up the incident.
Oh, if only our side was capable of such devious plots, we would not have lost the war.
Finally, regardless of how all of this ends, I've been proven right. My assertions proved to be correct. Americans and Europeans will have a lot of trouble with their protégés, in Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia. They will experience first hand with whom they planted cucumbers. The time to pick cucumbers has come. Until it ends, I have a public advice for our authorities (as far as I can tell, they have hardly benefited from paid advice provided by various experts): do not send police to the remaining villages in the crisis region, until the international community secures peace there. It's time for Albanians to invite the new reformed and ethnically diverse police to protect them and it's high time that they accept it as their police force, since now they know what they can expect from "their" paramilitaries.