Our Gang - Kosovo Liberation Army

National Review, July 26, 1999 by Mark Almond

Albania itself is another template for Kosovo's future. It is an example of a lawless "state," and many Kosovar refugees experienced it firsthand during the crisis. The refugees were not always received with solidarity and generosity.

The local Albanian mafia battened on them, demanding protection money or trying to recruit destitute girls for their prostitution rackets in Italy.

Many of the key international bureaucrats who are slated to run Kosovo have served time in Albania since its collapse into chaos and gang-warfare in 1997.

In Albania, these international administrators and European Union peacekeepers were satisfied to appease gangsters and corrupt policemen. The pattern can be expected to repeat itself in Kosovo.

The KLA may have agreed to demilitarize but in practice this means it is going to transform itself into the local police-just in time for running local elections. Meanwhile, the combination of a shattered society and the inflow of humanitarian aid is likely to provide a honey pot for the corrupt and those who feel their service in the KLA deserves reward. It was ever so.

History teaches us not to be surprised, and also reminds us not to ignore the downside of NATO's victory. In all likelihood, the fragile Balkans are witnessing the establishment of another mafia statelet. The Kosovo tragedy thus continues.