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.
> 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).
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.
>The situation was never that bad as the post makes....
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.
When you're looking bad, of course it may not have been that bad, but if you're in the middle of it of course you may have a different experience.
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).
You can tell they're professionals because they prefer to avoid conflict rather than aggravate it.
"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."
