elected officials represent citizens likernthose quoted in the Los Angeles Times inrnMay 1995: “Citizenship in the UnitedrnStates helps us [Hispanics] to have thernculture of one country and participatern[vote] in the other’s society. I for onernwill never stop being a Mexican.” “Myrnfather is Mexican and my mother Salvadoran..rn.. Both are U.S. citizens but Irndon’t consider myself a patriot.” Evidentlyrnhe’s not the only one, because accordingrnto the head of the AdvisoryrnCommittee on Veterans and Military Affairs,rna body that advises the mayor ofrnLos Angeles, “If the United States werernto go to war with Mexico, it would feelrnlike fighting a civil war to me.”rnOur voting laws allow such peoplernto overthrow our government withoutrnfiring a shot. With American citizensrnlike these, the only thing uncertain isrnhow much longer loyal Americans willrnhave a country that isn’t a facsimile ofrnevery Third World hell on the planet.rn—Ruth Coffey, PresidentrnStop Immigration NowrnLong Beach, CArnCULTURAL REVOLUTIONSrnALBANIA has descended into thernHobbesian state of utter anarchy, whichrnseldom happens to a European country.rnArmed mobs have ransacked stores, unrulyrnsoldiers have stolen cars at gunpoint,rnforeign nationals have been evacuated byrnhelicopter from embassy compounds,rnand rebels have stolen some 100,000rnlight arms from government arsenals.rnThe sinking in March of an Albanianrnboat full of refugees (which many Albaniansrnbelieve Italy sunk on purpose) hasrnonly heightened tensions, convincingrnmany European authorities to rethinkrnthe prudence of dispatching troops tornthe area as part of an internationalrnpeacekeeping brigade.rnTiny Albania’s implosion was sparkedrnby the collapse of pyramid savingsrnschemes, which left hundreds of thousandsrnof people literally destitute in Europe’srnpoorest country. The spark hit therntinderbox of bitter, albeit ill-articulated,rngrievances; it bared the angst of a traditionalrnsociety which has been brutalizedrnover the past six decades by importedrnand imposed ideologies—initially byrnItalian fascism, then by a long spell ofrnStalinism, and finally, for the past fivernyears, by the robber-baron brand ofrn”democratic capitalism.”rnWhat does the melancholy story ofrnthis faraway country, of which we knowrnlittle, matter to us? One could bewailrnthe inability of traditional communitiesrnto survive the encounter with “progress,”rnin Albania no less than in the Highlands,rnin the Vendee, or in Appalachia. Onerncould dwell on the fragility of orderrnin human affairs, and the potential forrnanarchy that may be lurking even in ourrnmidst, beneath the veneer of constitutionalismrnand legality. But some Americansrnmay also find it instructive tornexamine the contribution their ownrngovernment has made to the unhappyrnoutcome of Albania’s encounter withrn”democracy” and “free enterprise.”rnWhen Albania emerged from almostrna half-century of Stalinist isolation inrn1991, the United States took a suddenrninterest in its fortunes. At that timernneighboring Yugoslavia was sliding intornviolent disintegration, and the Bush administrationrnsaw Albania as a potentialrnfoothold in the Balkans. But in order tornbecome useful, Albania first had to bern”stabilized,” and made friendly to Americanrninterests. The search was on for thernAlbanian Vaclav Havel. After a few falsernstarts, an ostensibly credible substituternwas found in the person of a little-knownrnsurgeon and former middle-rankingrncommunist, Sali Berisha, whose DemocraticrnParty adopted all the right slogansrnof Democracy, Human Rights, and FreernEnterprise.rnWithin months, as the first postcommunistrnpresidential election was approaching,rnthe American embassy inrnTirana actively promoted Berisha’s candidacy.rnThe rest, as they say, was history.rn”In those heady days of communist collapse,rnAmerica’s endorsement was worthrna million votes,” says Arben Puto, a historyrnprofessor at the University of Tiranarnwho had supported Berisha in the earlyrndays. According to a State Departmentrninsider, “We may have overstepped thernbounds of diplomatic propriety, butrnhey—it’s the Balkans, and it was wellrnworth it!” Berisha’s landslide victory inrn1992 “cost us a mere eight millionrnbucks.”rnFor over four years, until the collapsernof pyramid-style investment fundsrn(which many Albanians suspect were encouragedrnby Berisha’s entourage whornwere given a piece of action by the “entrepreneurs”),rnthere was hardly any criticismrnof his rule. Even now some expertsrnare loath to admit that Berisha is justrnanother “postcommunist” demagoguernwho uses communist methods in pursuitrnof greater personal power. Writing in thernWall Street journal, for example, onernMark Almond—known to Balkans aficionadosrnas the British author of fascinatinglyrnfact-free pamphlets on thernwar in former Yugoslavia—claimed thatrnWestern correspondents critical ofrnBerisha have been duped by the insurgents,rnwho form “an alliance of communistsrnand mafiosi.”rnAbsent from such analysis is the factrnthat Berisha inherited the notoriousrncommunist secret police in 1992,rnchanged its name from Sigurimi to Shik,rnand let its unpurged personnel carry onrntheir grisly business as usual. Berisha’srnapologists also overlook his government’srnaggressive campaign against the fewrnremaining independent newspapers andrnmagazines in late 1995. (As for the electronicrnmedia, no such campaign wasrnnecessary: they had remained the organsrnof the ruling party, despite Berisha’srnpromises to allow private radio and televisionrnstations.)rnThe new climate of fear, reminiscentrnof the heyday of the late communist dictatorrnEnver Hoxha, culminated a yearrnago. In May 1996, Berisha staged a generalrnelection which was spectacularlyrnfraudulent in conduct as well as outcome.rnAccording to the official count,rnhis Democratic Party gained 110 parliamentaryrnseats from a possible total ofrn115. This ratio, one feels, would havernbeen acceptable even to Hoxha.rnThese and other objections tornBerisha’s style and substance were routinelyrnrejected in Washington in thernname of “stability.” Berisha was to bernforgiven for his dictatorial trespasses forrnas long as he towed the line—which includedrnletting America use Albania’s airfieldsrnto send spy planes over Bosnia andrnrelinquishing control over its naval installationsrnto NATO’s Southern Command.rnEven after Berisha’s sham elections arnyear ago, the United States cohostedrnNATO exercises inside Albania. Thernweek-long war games, dubbed “Peacefulrn6/CHRONICLESrnrnrn