Friday, June 08, 2007
Meanwhile, in Albania
The American president is coming!
Obviously, their history books have it right...
Obviously, their history books have it right...
For the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, Besar Likmeta reports on the preparations:
"Albania's capital, Tirana, is decked out in the stars and stripes of the American flag in preparation for the long-awaited visit of the US President George Bush, whom most Albanians consider their greatest friend in the world.
The countdown for the June 10 visit has long started, with the government scrambling hard to complete the tight security measures needed to protect the "leader of the free world".
What was once the pre-eminent symbol of half-a-century of communist rule, the pyramid-shaped mausoleum of the former dictator Enver Hoxha, now an international cultural centre, has been hung with massive Albanian and American flags, a gigantic poster of the US President and an illuminated welcome sign.
The city's opera house and national library in the centre also sport outsized American and Albanian flags. By the end of the week, every major building and landmark in the city will be dressed likewise in symbols and slogans proclaiming the friendship between the two countries. So will the main highways through which the presidential motorcade is expected to pass."
