SAS Rescue 3 Trapped British Diplomats in Albania

As an Albanian who had left the country 4 days before those events, I think I should add a few comments.

While there had been unrest in 1997, there had been no civil unrest at the capital, Tirane, for about a year before this happened. Many embassies, including the U.S.A. one were opened. What sparked this unrest was the killing of an opposition politician. There were accusations that the government killed him. It is now mostly clear that the government didn't do it.

It is not clear to this day if the revolt was an attempted coup or not. There is a video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WjksCDho2Y, of the office of the prime minister burning on that day. One would assume that if there was a coup they wouldn't burn the office they intended to occupy. But protesters did occupy briefly the State TV and a member of the opposition appeared and said the situation was under control. The prime minister had left the country. The situation was stabilized by the American embassy who told the opposition that they would not recognize their government if they created one. That was enough to calm the situation in a few days. That was also the last time there was a major civil unrest in Albania (though the office of prime minister has been attacked a few more times).

No matter which side of politics would be in charge they meant no harm to the British interests. Given the respect that the people have for Britain and the legendary good treatment that the Albanians reserve for their guests, the risk to the Britsh embassy was very small. Clearly there could always be opportunistic criminals that can use the occasion to act while the police is not around, but the fact that no foreigners were hurt before, during or after the events should be good enough proof.

I take issue with the article's characterization that the protesters were shooting at his car. While I clearly wasn't there, unfortunately I had been present at other similar events and it was always the case that the protesters and anybody else involved were generally shooting on the air. If a bunch of armed men were really shooting at the car, the car would have been hit.

Since the pizza shop was open, the situation at that place probably was not that dangerous. Most of the unrest was near the center of the city.

I was in Albania in 2002-2007 several times and I was told it is very different today. At that time it was very peaceful and quiet compared to Kosovo (where we traveled in convoys guarded by armored carriers and helicopter gunships), Sarajevo (when landing on the Sarajevo airport, Apache helicopters were deploying flares to protect the civilian aircraft) or Belgrade (big holes visible in building walls from bombs).

The biggest problem 20 years ago was almost nobody was speaking any foreign language in the eastern part of the country and some were understanding Italian on the coast (they watched Italian TV a lot). I was not able to eat anything from Skopje, Macedonia, to the restaurant in Tirana were I went with some Albanian colleagues. I confirm the people were friendly and the country was strangely nice, the eastern part reminded me of Jordan (quite arid) and Tirana was a mess of driving too many cars with very inexperienced drivers on tiny roads and back alleys where you had inches on each side of the car. Their language sounds similar to mine, but it just sounds (not many common words), so the atmosphere in the restaurants was familiar and friendly, I felt like in a smaller city in Romania. At the Macedonian-Albanian border crossing I had a fantastic chance of meeting a guy who was speaking Romanian, we used to be a guard at the Albanian embassy in Bucharest and this is how I was able to cross the border, otherwise I was not able to communicate with anyone else in English, French, Italian or hand gestures.

>There are always rouge actors and..

rogue, not rouge which would imply these actors have beautified themselves with cosmetics

Albanian here, want to clarify some things:

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.