Lulzim Basha, the squeezed lemon of the Americans in Tirana

2024-02-15 20:10:00, Politikë CNA

Lulzim Basha, the squeezed lemon of the Americans in Tirana

Photomontage - Antoni Blinken and Lulzim Basha

When Lulzim Basha was approaching the parliament yard this Thursday, journalists rushed to ambush him. On this day marked by the visit of the secretary of state, Antoni Blinken had an unusual, almost cynical, interest in why Lulzim Basha was nowhere on the meeting agenda.

"Are you sorry that today no representative of the opposition will meet with Anthony Blinken for the 8 hours he will stay in Albania?", was the question he was asked as soon as Basha stopped.

Aware that the rhetoric that keeps his existence alive in politics did not correspond to the facts, Basha made an effort to relativize the facts. At the beginning, he explained the meaning of the concept of "strategic relationship" in relation to the USA. Then he found salvation in a prepared expression according to which these relations "cannot be put into the dirty socks of Tirana".

But the play on words was not enough to avoid the contradiction. " It's good that he doesn't know "non gratat", but apparently he doesn't know you either ", was the pin that was thrown by the group of reporters, as if to extend his embarrassment. As he climbed the steps of the assembly, with the bouquet of microphones behind him, Basha snapped another phrase in vain, " Meetings with American colleagues have not been missed and will not be missed ," he said.

Beyond the sneers of journalists and the routine harassment in the assembly yard, this visit of the secretary of state, Antoni Blinken, takes on importance for another secondary aspect, that of the struggle for identity within the opposition.

While one side of the opposition led by Sali Berisha finds meaning in several hundreds of thousands of votes, which are still insufficient for victory in the elections, the essence of Lulzim Basha's political existence has been a kind of sympathy, with which Juri Kim, the ambassador of the United States, once pampered him United States of America.

It was this confidential treatment, the frequent visits to the DP headquarters, his reference as "Luli" by the American diplomats that gave him the opportunity to circulate around Tirana with a halo, as if he was the "man of the Americans" within the opposition.

Of course, to strengthen this new identity, after the defeat of April 25, 2021, the act that Basha took at the request of the American embassy by hitting Sali Berisha on behalf of the United States of America also served.

And for the sake of "strategic relations with the great ally across the Atlantic", he set fire to the largest opposition party, expelled over 50,000 of its members, and even turned his eyes to Edi Rama for cooperation when needed.

For every step he takes in politics, in every speech he gives to his supporters, in every decision he makes, Lulzim Basha says that he does it in consultation with our strategic allies across the Atlantic.

Even a month ago, the American embassy was forced to publicly deny him, when he used for the umpteenth time his "secret" with strategic allies, for the agreement he had negotiated behind the scenes with Edi Rama for the electoral reform commission.

To understand that today's absence from Blinken's agenda is not a coincidence, it should be mentioned that on November 1, 2012, when Hillary Clinton came to Tirana, the administration of that time booked a meeting with the head of the Socialist Party, Edi Ramë. The detail makes even more difficult the visa that the Americans have removed from a pseudo-oppositionist, who has nothing left, not even "Americanism" to grab a bone from Rama's power./ Lapsi.al