berat buzhala

When the facts change I change my mind
@nacionaleks

[Luka Misetic @MiseticLaw]

Hashim Thaçi wishes to express his sincere appreciation for the outpouring of support he and Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi have received from the people of Kosovo and internationally, and calls upon Kosovo’s citizens to remain peaceful in response to yesterday’s injustice.

Mr. Thaçi’s lawyers will appeal yesterday’s Trial Judgment before the Appeals Panel of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC), asserting significant errors of law and fact that prejudiced the fairness of the proceedings.

Throughout the trial, the Defence repeatedly raised concerns regarding procedural fairness, including the extensive scope of questioning conducted directly by members of the Trial Panel in a manner that did not create the appearance of impartiality. The Defence maintains that judicial interventions crossed the boundary of neutral truth-seeking, compromising the appearance of impartiality required under international standards of justice. That lack of impartiality now permeates the Trial Panel’s Judgment.

The Defence submits that the Trial Panel’s findings of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt rely on insufficient and uncorroborated evidence. Moreover, the Trial Panel yesterday publicly claimed that Mr. Thaçi was involved in the murder of Behajdin Allaqi after having ordered all parties in the case not to discuss the case of Mr. Allaqi in public session in court, and after having ordered all of the evidence related to that case to be kept confidential. The Trial Panel has thus publicly convicted Mr. Thaçi of a murder while also keeping the evidence on which it drew this conclusion shielded from public scrutiny. Mr. Thaçi would welcome such public scrutiny of the evidence. The Defence will appeal the Trial Panel’s decisions for violating his fundamental fair trial rights under the European Convention on Human Rights and the Kosovo Constitution. Mr. Thaçi expressly denies any involvement in murders.

Adherence to rigorous standards of procedural fairness is vital to maintaining public confidence in international criminal institutions. The Defence will formally submit its Notice of Appeal to correct these factual, legal and procedural errors before the Appeals Panel.

[Richard Grenell @RichardGrenell]

My friend @Avdullah Hoti and his colleagues are great friends of America.

[berat buzhala @buzhala]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Saul Sadka @Saul_Sadka]

Massive celebrations in Tel Aviv right now, as the Mossad plot to get Argentina into the World Cup final has succeeded. This will go down as the greatest victory since the beeper operation.

[Petrit Selimi @Petrit]

Albin Kurti won 51% of votes on 28th of December. Inexplicably, he backstabbed President Osmani and then he fails to make a minimal compromise of cohabitation allowing a president from different party. Lo and behold, he just caused new snap elections in June. Genuinely weird. 🤷‍♂️

[berat buzhala @buzhala]

.@RoryStewartUK Heads-up, Rory: you’re being used for a glossy “Davos story”.

What Kurti says on stage isn’t what Kosovars live daily:
power cuts are back, people are leaving and big-name international investment is basically missing. Davos is perfect for slogans because nobody in the room pays the price of everyday dysfunction.

Also, this isn’t just “political criticism”. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (REL) wrote that at least two ministers are in investigations / court proceedings, and that media have reported probes involving at least 5 ministers + 2 deputy ministers (the prosecution publicly confirmed only some cases).

One example: Rozeta Hajdari is linked to the state reserves case. Another recurring name in reports is Liburn Aliu (questions around investigations/cases have been public for years).

So please treat the “Kosovo miracle” narrative as PR. If you want a reality-check, ask these 4 simple questions:

How often are there power cuts right now?

Name one major international investor/project delivered in this term.

How many cabinet members are in investigations/court proceedings (and for what)?

If “success” is real—why is emigration still the strongest trend?

[berat buzhala @buzhala]

🤣

[Khamenei.ir @khamenei_ir]

We will bring the enemy to its knees.

[berat buzhala @buzhala]

Cilen parti e votoni neser?

[berat buzhala @buzhala]

An account with around 5K followers, under the name “Alba Murtezi”, posts open hate against Drenica (the region that was the heart of the KLA resistance), defends the war crimes committed there, and loudly supports Albin Kurti and Vetëvendosje.

Her profile photo?

Anastasija Ražnatović – the daughter of one of the most notorious Serbian warlords.

So tell me:
Did Vetëvendosje create this profile, or did Serbia’s security services?

And it’s not just this one account. There are dozens of similar profiles: fake-looking female accounts, with Serbian celebrities or influencers as profile pictures, all pushing the same line:

- hatred towards Drenica and Kosovar Albanians,

- admiration or justification for the crimes committed there,

- and full support for Kurti and Vetëvendosje.

Out of curiosity, I uploaded the profile photo of this LVV “supporter” to Google’s Gemini AI.

The model identified the person as Arkan’s daughter.

I’ll let you analyse that yourselves.

Never before have I seen so many fake accounts campaigning for Vetëvendosje.

My genuine dilemma is this:
Are these profiles being paid by Vetëvendosje – or by Serbia, to support Vetëvendosje?

Because otherwise, why on earth would a Kosovar party feel comfortable with Arkan’s daughter as the face of its online fandom?

[berat buzhala @buzhala]

This is How States Die

Unfortunately, this opposition cannot defeat Albin Kurti.
Now, we’re going to remain stuck halfway down the road.

Kurti will come out first again, but I see it as very difficult for him to have any real chance of forming a post-election alliance that would allow him to create “Kurti 3.”

The opposition, in its current form, neither knows how, nor dares, nor has the will to win.

The LDK is divided. Lumir cannot win the elections, cannot take his people to Kurti, and cannot bring them together with the PDK.

Simply, they don’t listen to him.

So, he has chosen the path of abstention and rejection. NO to Kurti, and NO to the opposition.
If he says YES to Kurti, he breaks with Gazmend, Avduallah, and many other “Gazes” and “Dullas.”
If he says YES to the opposition, the number of “Xhafer Tahiris” increases.

Therefore, the only way he can camouflage his lack of authority in the party is by saying NO to everyone — supposedly based on some vague vision of total victory.

Among those who remain in LDK, there’s also a faction that stays there simply because they’ve always been there. They don’t even really know why they’re there.

They’re there because of the hardware, not the software.

Lumir has completed his political cycle. I’m not saying he can’t add 2 percent more if he takes in Nisma, or lose 2 percent, but I don’t see how he can add 10 or 15 percent to become the second or first party.

Some important people in the party haven’t forgotten how the diaspora votes were engineered to favor certain figures and sideline others.

PDK, on the other hand, has potential — but it’s badly trapped in internal dysfunction.

When it comes to deciding on the party and privileges, decisions are made by the “Xhevdet Doda school friends,” but when it comes to gathering votes, they call Bedri Hamza to lead the list.

I’m not sure how many more election cycles this Bedri Hamza “trick” can work. If they were serious about Bedri, Memli wouldn’t have rushed to become chairman.

I don’t understand how a party elects someone as chairman but borrows its candidate for prime minister.

It’s hard for a political party to succeed when it’s prouder of coming third in Prishtina than of winning Ferizaj outright or of victories in other municipalities.

Surely, to take third place in Prishtina, they spent more money than in all other municipalities combined and hired international consultants — as if they were in a national election.

Unfortunately, after the local elections, the vote in Drenica will never again be what it once was.

Are you sure these members of the presidency, led by their chairman, will attend a rally in the city where Ramiz is mayor?

They might show up, but the rivalry among the people has already gone far deeper than they realize.

AAK, in this election, seriously risks falling below the threshold. The chances of not passing it are greater than of passing it.

Ramush doesn’t lack energy, but he may have simply burned through all the political fuel he had left after 25 years leading the same party.
What can he even say in this campaign?

Albin Kurti has been — and remains — the greatest political misfortune that has befallen our country since Rrahman Morina.

But it’s not easy to convince the average Kosovar voter of that.

There’s a very good book titled How Democracies Die.
I would say: This is How States Die.

[berat buzhala @buzhala]

The parliamentary elections in Kosovo were held in February this year, but even after that, the party that came out first in the elections, Mr. Kurti’s party, has not managed to secure the majority needed to form a government.

However, the most ridiculous part is that for months Kurti accused the opposition of blocking the constitution of the Assembly, claiming that the moment the Assembly was formed, he already had the numbers to create the government.

When the other parties finally helped establish the Assembly, Kurti declared that it was difficult for him to form a government because the political climate was too toxic among the parties, therefore, perhaps new elections were needed.

What an idiot.

[berat buzhala @buzhala]

Neser ne Hage - shpresoj per here te fundit

Pas disa ditesh behen 5 vjet nga dita kur eshte arrestu Hashim Thaci, kurse une neser e takoj ate per here te peste ne Sheveningen te Hages.

Shume po shpresoj qe ky do te jete takimi im i fundit me te ne kete qender te paraburgimit. Shume po shpresoj qe ne dimrin e vone ose ne pranveren e hershme do ta takoj ne Prishtine.

Eshte bo boll e teper.

Ata qe nuk e njohin, e kane te veshtire me besu se cfare karakteri ka ky njeri.

Eshte shqiptari i gjalle me i rendesishem dhe me kontribut masiv per ceshtjen kombetare, por kurre, asnjehere, ne keto takime nuk e kam vrejte qe e ka qofte edhe nje grime pendese per veprimtarine e tij gjate luftes, e qe per shkak te saj po e paguan nje cmim kaq te larte.

Fatkeqesisht edhe takimet ne paraburgim kane ardhur e jane bere edhe me te veshtira, jo sikurse ato te fillimit, por Hasha ka vazhduar me te njejtin entuziazem dhe optimizem.

Me t'i marre pese vjet jete eshte krim shume i madh, sepse ne nuk jetojme 1000 vjet. Pastaj me t'i marre keto vjet, kur ti i ke sakrifiku per vendin dhe popullin tend edhe nja 10 a 15 te te tjera, eshte krim i dyfishte.

E per cka se?

Sepse Serbia i ka pergatite qindra deshmitare kunder teje, sepse Serbia i ka dergu mijera dokumente ne ate Tribunal.

Sigurisht qe me pyet edhe per shume prej jush, me pyet a po shkruje hala ne Facebook.

"Copa u bojshim", i tham une. Ai qeshet.

Po po, marredhenia e jeme me te nuk ka qene gjithmone me e mira e mundshme, porse marredhenia e jone ka qene pa interes.

Kur kemi qene mire, kemi qene shoke, kemi qene vendas. M'ka ardhe ne shpi, i kam shku ne shpi. E ka respektu familjen teme, ia kam respektu familjen e tij. Pjesa tjeter ka qene politike.

Po flasim per nje raport qe ka zgjate 15 vjet.

Ne keto pese vjet qe ai eshte ne burg, jam mundu me i qendru afer pa asnje interese. Edhe keto vizitat qe i bej i bej me leket e mia.

Biles, jam mundu, aq sa ka mujte, me i binde shume miq te mi me i ndihmu fondit te Thacit financiarisht, sepse Thaci dhe te tjeret nuk jane atje per fatet individuale, por per fatin kolektiv.

Fatkeqesisht, bash kur kishte nevoje me se shumti, shteti per te cilin ai luftoi dhe shteti qe ai e shpallin ra ne duart e njerezve qe ate e urrejne me shume se sa cdo gje tjeter ne jete.

Kryeministri Edi Rama i ka qendruar afer burrerisht - ne cdo drejtim dhe kjo gje eshte madheshtore.
Do t'ia percjelli te falat e juaja 📷📷

[berat buzhala @buzhala]

"If you can’t solve a problem, make it bigger."

This quote is attributed to Dwight D. Eisenhower, the former American president and World War II general. It may sound like a counterintuitive solution — but sometimes it works.

That was exactly today’s solution in the Assembly of Kosovo, where the LDK deliberately voted unconstitutionally for Nenad Rašić, thereby expanding the problem, making it bigger — essentially constituting the Assembly in an unconstitutional manner — but at the same time opening a new path: either to elect a new government, or to call extraordinary elections.

Clearly, the ChiefDeceiver, Albin Kurti, didn’t see this coming — just like he didn’t expect PDK’s vote for Dimal Basha.

Now, Kurti is exposed. He can no longer hide behind patriotic traps and blackmail.
Now he stands naked.

[berat buzhala @buzhala]

Five years of lies, intrigue, and deception drowned in water in ten seconds.

James Rubin said that it was the zone commanders who gave orders to Thaçi, not the other way around.
Rubin was speaking about the several-day meetings he held with the KLA leaders in Prishtina, after the war ended.

In those meetings, Rubin said, the zone commanders—who were older than Thaçi in age—told Thaçi what he had to do, and not the opposite.

For five years, the criminal prosecution of the Specialist Chambers has summoned all sorts of thugs to testify that Thaçi was the one asked about everything in the KLA.

Then comes the highest-ranking American official for Kosovo at that time, and with simple and convincing words explains the opposite.

Who will take responsibility for this political chaos that this criminal court has caused in Kosovo and for the five lost years of Thaçi and the others?

[berat buzhala @buzhala]

These were Prime Minister Kurti’s expressions today in the Assembly. Elections in Kosovo took place back in February, yet the country has been left without institutions ever since.

During all this time, Kurti has been in conflict with every opposition party, with civil society, with the media, with the Constitutional Court, with Albania, and with the international community.

Kurti shows no respect for the laws or the Constitution of Kosovo. While the rest of the world is reconfiguring itself, he is keeping Kosovo in an uncertain and highly dangerous situation.

It remains unclear what plan this man has in mind, but none of them seem good for Kosovo. Inflation remains high, foreign investments have disappeared, while Kosovar businesses are gradually relocating to neighboring countries such as North Macedonia and Albania.

[Petrit Selimi @Petrit]

The largest post-war protest unfolded today in Kosovo. People are genuinely angry over The Hague court @SpecialChambers for becoming a mono-ethnic tool of rewriting history. This court refuses to use Kosovo flag and uses evidence supplied by Serbian intel agency. Bizarre stuff.

[berat buzhala @buzhala]

On Thursday, the 7th, I will protest in Pristina against the Specialist Court, where a criminal process is underway against the leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), led by Hashim Thaçi.

Investigations have now officially begun in the United States against Jack Smith, the American prosecutor who filed this absurd indictment.

He is being investigated for alleged political motivation against Donald Trump — and there is no doubt that the arrest of Thaçi was part of the same conspiracy, aimed at preventing the White House agreement.

If we had a patriotic political class, this process would be dismantled next week — something that would be fully understood by the Trump administration.

[Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib @afalkhatib]

My latest for @TheAtlantic: Hamas Actually Wants a Famine

"Hamas actually wants a famine in Gaza. Producing mass death from hunger is the group’s final play, its last hope for ending the war in a way that advances its goals."

https://t.co/ZxdImlYeY0

[berat buzhala @buzhala]

💕

[berat buzhala @buzhala]

Yesterday’s top headline in the world’s media was this: Israel had asked Trump for permission to take out Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, because they had him in their sights. Trump told Netanyahu he didn’t think assassinating political leaders was a good idea.

What does that mean?

When it comes to heavyweight moves, Israel doesn’t do a thing without first checking with America (Yes, Albin, I’m thinking of you).

And fuck your “state security” when the enemy you’re at war with can wipe out your whole leadership—he’s just decided, for now, to stick to killing your generals.

[berat buzhala @buzhala]

There are few global figures who have altered the course of history as profoundly as Ayatollah Khomeini.

Khomeini imposed a radical version of Islam in Iran, rooted in Shia doctrine, but his impact extended massively to Sunni Muslims as well, particularly in Saudi Arabia, which was forced to enter a competition with theocratic Iran over “who is more Islamic.”

To undermine Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt, Iran began fully supporting the Palestinian cause and Hamas — despite them being Sunni Muslims.

Khomeini’s Iran identified Israel as the greatest evil in the world and vowed to engage in its eradication.

These messages strongly resonated throughout the Islamic world, regardless of sectarian affiliation.

Such a posture by Iran forced a radical, and negative, transformation in Saudi Arabia.

A manifestation of this was the armed takeover of the Great Mosque in Mecca by a radical group in November 1979. After this event, Saudi Arabia and the entire Middle East were drawn into Iran’s game, one of regression and anti-civilization.

The competition became: who oppresses women more, who hates Israel more, who hates the West more. Saudi Arabia, of course, played a double game, outwardly an ally of America, but internally Wahhabi.

It is for this massive influence that Time magazine named Khomeini the Person of the Year in 1979.

Therefore, the Middle East will only be liberated when the criminal regime of the mullahs falls. This would also liberate Saudi Arabia.