Albania, Bush’s Visit and Innovation

If you're new here at 2thinknow, and you're interested in the latest ideas on economics, cities, trends and innovation, subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for your visit!

Well President Bush has been in Albania, Tirana, the capital to be precise.

This is a huge and welcome milestone for the small country that Bismarck once called a geographical expression. During the visit, Albanians were handed out America/Albania partners t-shirts. Albanians were encouraged by their government to welcome him. I don’t think they needed much encouragement, as it’s been a long-term dream for Albanians generally speaking, to have a US president visit. Symbolic, but important.

And it wasn’t about Kosovo (Despite some of the press coverage by journalists who get ‘confused‘.). The visit has been planned for 6 months apparently.

Bet that visit was a cultural shock for him. Why? Because:

a) he got praise. Real praise when his popularity at home is low

b) I don’t think he has been to the real Balkans before

c) Tirana suffered under one of the very worst communists, Enver Hoxha, the best pupil of Stalin, and a strongman who ate & lived like a King, like most Stalinist dictators. Bush would not have seen such state-sponsored poverty before…

Of course in Communism, Albanians spent most of their free time working for little or no pay or in manual labour. In Albania under Communism people like your or my parents and grandparents had to queue for their families for a ration of half a pound of bad margarine, off milk and limited sausage or meat. Sometimes the queues would start at 1.00 am. Often people in their 60s would be queuing when they should be sleeping. Of course the shopkeepers used to steal other people’s rations so their own families ate well.

Contrast that to the USA, which is pretty much anything you want anytime you want it as long as you have a few dollars (well in the big cities and anywhere in driving distance of a Walmart).

Bush having come from an Oil-man’s background would have probably been shocked, and I would have liked to be a fly on the wall in his car. Equally, the Balkan warmth, with people in a frenzy grabbing and kissing him is something he would never have experienced in America or most of Europe or Asia. Boy. Culture shock.

In terms of innovation the Albanian citizens are pressing to integrate with Europe, and massive infrastructure projects such as new airport and roads are underway. The younger 20-30 YO citizens want to get ahead, with or without their government.

The point is Albania has suffered a lot. Once the ancient Illyrian civilization pre-dating ancient greece about 500 years before Christ, and largely later a Greek then Roman trading port merging into the Byzantine empire. Illyria always had close ties to Greece, Roman, and eventually Southern part went on to form an outpost of the Eastern Orthodox church (ostensibly similar to Greek Orthodox).

The southern town of Korce is still almost 100% Orthodox and the southern half has likewise traditional ties to Greece & Macedonia (both Orthodox countries). It is often mistakenly reported as a Muslim country, or used interchangeably with Kosovo, but neither is true. It is far more complex and composite. Unfortunately accurate statistics on the country are difficult to compile reliably.

The top east-quarter has traditional ties to Kosovo, which has for the last few generations been a part of Serbia. The bottom half has strong ties with Greece/Macedonia. Tirana (the capital) is in the middle. Because it is a militarily weak and mountaneous country, surrounded by stronger states, it has been ‘cut-down’. Kosovo would presumably like to separate from Serbia then merge and to expand their borders. Serbia is of course opposed to this, as there are many Serbians in Kosovo.

In other words, the whole situation is a mess, as few people except the Russians understand how bloodily faught a Balkans war over territory would be. Because the western perception is that ONLY Serbs committed war crimes, when in reality Bosnians, Croatians and Kosovo’s all committed war crimes.

Serbs got blamed ALONE for the war, which is why they are angry.

Serbs cannot also understand why the US is fighting in Iraq but encouraging religion-based nationalism inside Europe. Concepts are too ‘Western intellectual’ and indeed theoretical for them to ‘get it’.

Really the West and Balkans need to sit down and get drunk together and have a good chat and try to understand each others cultures. You bring the Rakia, and we’ll bring the Jack Daniels. And throw a lamb and a cow on the ‘roaster’ over the fire…!

It’s not as simple as Westerners drawing a line on a map either so each group lives with ‘their own people’ which is the current US foreign policy of nation-hood. So that’s why it’s important that the US leader went to the reigion, and presumably those bright FP wonks in Washington did a lot of prepatory research first. Which means Albania is on the map.

You have to visit the Balkans and talk to people to understand that the version in the history books is far more layered and complex than simple ‘rivalries’.

The worst aspect is it is really the politicians who want more territory, and it is often distorted for local party-political purposes, for which normal people like you or I have no say. People like you or me who (whatever your opinion) have very little, if any say in our governments’ actions in Iraq or any other theatre of war. And we have strong democratic principles over a long time, Balkan citizens cannot always disagree so openly.

In the Middle Ages, Albania was a land under the Ottoman empire, and finally they ended up autonomous in 1912, and then after 1944 under Hoxha communism. So mostly it is a history of subjugation. Kosovo Albanians are a minority in Albanian, and traditionally live near the north. Calling Kosovo people ‘ethnic Albanians’ is confusing and potentially misleading, but is repeated by many Media constantly.

Unfortunately the verdicts in conflicts end up with the big countries getting fed up, and just coming up with the best compromise, listening to the loudest voices and as they dislike Serbia, they are forcing Serbia into the arms of Russia, which perhaps is not geo-politically in their own longer-term interest.

One suspects the solution will be messy. But the USA must at least be thinking about it, because Bush does not visit small countries that most educated Americans would have trouble finding on a map, for no good reason. He must have had good Foreign Policy advice to plan a visit.

The various governments must understand the problem via on-the-ground intelligence.

The Broader Balkans and/or Eastern Europe, especially Poland, Czech, Slovakia, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, Greece, and many other ancient lands have a chance to innovate, and to be finally nations of their own mind, in cultural terms, Eastern Europe’s ancient civilizations still have much to contribute.

But neither Balkan power-brokers, nor idealists must get in the way. Redrawing borders too radically or imposed solutions have rarely ever worked, and Europe has a poor record on the region. It might just come down to the USA after all.

This visit is one good thing done by Bush administration.

Take care… (And always attend a Balkan wedding where you can eat a LOT… mmmm L a m b bbbb !)

Christopher Hire:

Author of the Global Innovation Review, and Chief Editor of this journal. Focussed on innovation, innovation cities and positive social change globally.

Economics, innovation
Albania, America, Balkan, Bush, cities, democracy, Diplomacy, Europe, food & wine, foreign policy, global cities, global innovation, Greece, Greek Lamb, innovation, international, politics, Serbia, Tirana, Travel, USA