[2020 article about a 1998 occurrence]
Yes I did a double tape originally. And it was the driver who residue the diplomats, the sas turns up later to fortify the embassy.
SAS Rescue 3 Trapped British Diplomats in Albania
61–70 of 89 posts
Re: SAS Rescue 3 Trapped British Diplomats in Albania
#62Awesome blog. The Libya one was even better. I have a picture of Hermes Conrad stamping the forms at the border, using every trick in the book to rescue those foreign workers. British civil service at its finest.
Re: SAS Rescue 3 Trapped British Diplomats in Albania
#63Albanian 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. T…
Bodies lying in the street as described is pretty bad
Re: SAS Rescue 3 Trapped British Diplomats in Albania
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
Indeed, a very good case to learn from for people saying "such things can't happen" in a modern civil state country. Albania is of course not the best examples of a "Western" country, but it is far more than, say, what ex-Soviet states were. Imagine a few big banks falling in the same manner in a particularly low point for ones country. In a few breakdowns of civil states so far, since the WW2, the prime majority fel…
> Albania is of course not the best examples of a "Western" country, but it is far more than, say, what ex-Soviet states were I'm not sure if I'd fully agree with that characterization. Sure, the Balkans as a whole had bit their own thing going on (probably can thank Tito for that), but Albania was still ruled by iron-handed communist regime and at least based on surface reading seemed to be deeper in the (Stalinist/…
> Albania was still ruled by iron-handed communist regime and at least based on surface reading seemed to be deeper in the (Stalinist/Communist) ideology than many others, including post-Stalin Soviet Union.
I don't understand this part given that the rest of your post, and the article you link, makes it clear that they had transitioned out of communism 6 years previously. But yeah they were still terribly poor and perhaps worse off under the post-communist regime. They were seen as more backward and less Western than, say, post-Soviet Latvia which was already deep in talks to join the EU - something that remains a long way off for Albania more than 20 years later.
Re: SAS Rescue 3 Trapped British Diplomats in Albania
#65As 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…
> it was always the case that the protesters and anybody else involved were generally shooting on the air
Oh ok - just civilians firing weapons into the air? Ah right that sounds absolutely fine and normal no problem there then.
I can't imagine why these British people might have been worried!
/s
Wikipedia says there were thousands of deaths. Are you and the other person from the Albanian tourist board or something?
> legendary good treatment that the Albanians reserve for their guests
Literally what planet are you on? This is how Albanians treat their guests.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Albanian_war_crimes_i...
Re: SAS Rescue 3 Trapped British Diplomats in Albania
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. I'm told the key to a successful CIA cover, is that the job needs to be boring , so that people who ask "What do you do for a living?" regret it (Think Ben Stein, talking about the joys of Accounting). In his case, he started to get into his work. I think he actually began to make a difference in the world. Also, he developed "doctrinal differences" with the CIA. Despite all the medals and whatnot, he was actual…
> Also, he developed "doctrinal differences" with the CIA. Were you or your siblings shoulder tapped in college by recruiters? If not that may have been why.
Not that I know of, but I am not 100% sure.
He said it was because the CIA installed the Shah of Iran (and probably Pinochet, as well).
That is really where our "Iran problem" started.
Re: SAS Rescue 3 Trapped British Diplomats in Albania
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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. Unless they are serbs.
Haven't seen any malpractice on serbs. You need some sources.
Re: SAS Rescue 3 Trapped British Diplomats in Albania
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
Indeed, a very good case to learn from for people saying "such things can't happen" in a modern civil state country. Albania is of course not the best examples of a "Western" country, but it is far more than, say, what ex-Soviet states were. Imagine a few big banks falling in the same manner in a particularly low point for ones country. In a few breakdowns of civil states so far, since the WW2, the prime majority fel…
Is Albania considered a western country at all? I never thought of it as such.
How do you view it?
Re: SAS Rescue 3 Trapped British Diplomats in Albania
#69This is one of those weird titles that I would interpret differently based on whether I saw it on HN or in a newspaper.
I was wondering how something called “SAS Rescue 3” would have trapped any diplomats anywhere.
It also probably has to do with American vs British English and the use of “Rescue” vs “Rescues”.
Re: SAS Rescue 3 Trapped British Diplomats in Albania
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
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. T…
> 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 300 million. That is like 4 orders of magnitude difference there.
That was in March 1997, completely different thing from this one...