Te fundit
Rrena dymiliardëshe
18 Maj 2012, 18:42Politika
TEMA
Berisha me SIVA PARTNERS
Një grupi kinse-investitorësh njujorkezë i ka mjaftuar deponimi 150- dollarësh në muaj (si taksë shtetërore) për ta themeluar një zyrë virtuale dhe për të zbarkuar në Ballkan me bekimin mesianik, përkatësisht në Tiranë dhe Prishtinë dhe për t’i lajthitur liderët e dy shteteve, përkatësisht të Shqipërisë dhe të Kosovës, se korporata në fjalë do të investojë në këto dy vende hiç më pak se nga dy miliardë euro (për të mos u mbetur hatri asnjërës) në energjetikë, miniera dhe infrastrukturë. Blofi i afaristëve nën logon SIVA PARTNERS në Prishtinë bëhet lajm kombëtar në RTK, ndërsa në Tiranë “mashtruesit” madje i pret kryeministri Sali Berisha dhe fotografinë me të e përdorin për marketing në internet, për t’u dëshmuar si investitorë seriozë të përmasave globale
Nga Halil Matoshi
Në fund të përrallës, gjithnjë një gjysh a gjyshe u thotë fëmijëve atë që duhet thënë, për të mos i lënë të vdesin në injorancë, përralla me lesh, e mira prej nesh!
Nëse hulumton në internet pas korporatës SIVA PARTNERS të shfaqet një shtëpi luksi me pishinë, më poshtë një sallë konferencash pa njeri dhe një adresë 780 Third Avenue, 9 flor. New York. Për krye të kësaj shfaqjeje shfaqet një emër në të parë asociativ, Mohammad Ali si bossi i korporatës e më poshtë është e pashmangshme një foto e investitorëve njujorkezë me të vetmin njeri publik në botë, kryeministrin shqiptar Sali Berisha.
Për të krijuar kështu fuqinë e imazhit.
I njëjti grup investitorësh virtualë kishte zbarkuar me pompë edhe në Prishtinë, për t’u dhënë shpresë të rreme fukarenjve ballkanikë.
Mungesa e mekanizmave mbikëqyrës institucionalë dhe etikës së pushtetit si dhe mungesa e sensit për realitetin financiar u krijon hapësirë ideale korporatave fantome jo vetëm vendore, por edhe ndërkombëtare për ngritjen të skemave piramidale dhe shpëlarje parash. Pritja e SIVA PARTNERS në Prishtinë nga zyrtarët e lartë qeveritarë (në video shihet zëvendëskryeministri Pacolli në hotelin e tij “Diamond”) e dëshmon ose naivitetin e skajshëm të udhëheqësve politikë kosovarë, ose lehtësinë e padurueshme për “të bërë” para nga një rrenë klluqe!
Por si e hëngri karremin Qeveria shqiptare dhe kryeministri Berisha duke u bërë personazh i kësaj storie “banditësh financiarë”?
Lutfi Dervishi, drejtor ekzekutiv i TI-Albania (Transparency International) na tregoi këtë “përrallë” miliardëshe nga e cila të shkon lëng nga goja.
“S’e vrau mendjen kush, sepse vinin si amerikanë, ndonëse shumat fiktive të investimeve me të cilat operonte ky grup ishin spektakulare, saqë “kishin turpëruar” edhe FMN-në duke premtuar 10 miliardë dollarë investime në Ballkan vetëm për vitin 2012, nga dy miliardë në Shqipëri dhe Kosovë!?”
Mjafton të kesh informacion se cila është qasja dhe shkalla e besueshmërisë së një populli dhe shteti ndaj SHBA-së, pra mjafton të jesh amerikan për të ndërmarrë mision shpëtimtar mashtrues, ose për ta ngritur një skemë piramidale në një vend në transicion.
Mjafton të kesh një zyrë (një adresë) dhe t’i deponosh 150 dollarë amerikanë për ta themeluar një korporatë virtuale për t’iu shitur vendeve ballkanike si fuqi investuese marramendëse, që kap shifrat miliardëshe. Në këtë rast mashtruesit duhet të kujdesen që të kenë ndonjë emër bombastik krahas adresës, sepse popuj dhe shtete naive nuk hulumtojnë më tutje për identitetin, seriozitetin dhe fuqinë e korporatës që u shfaqet në derë për t’ua zgjatur dorën e shpëtimit.
Një gazetar hulumtues, John Holland (redaktor në OCCRP- Organizata për raportim të krimit të organizuar dhe korrupsionit) zbulon se ky grup është fantom, virtual dhe se përmes mashtrimit synon të ngrejë skema piramidale në vendet e painformuara ose në ato vende të cilat i ka dërrmuar korrupsioni dhe krimi i organizuar, duke shfrytëzuar ose paaftësinë e shtetarëve, ose duke i përfshirë vetë ata në krim të organizuar…
SIVA PARTNERS në këtë rast është kujtuar ta gjejë edhe një amerikan me origjinë shqiptare si ekzaminues i tregjeve investuese në rajon. Emri i tij është plasuar në internet si Pjerin Lumaj ose Gurraj, ndërkaq që në pozitën e bashkëkryesuesit dhe drejtorit menaxherial figuron emri Mohammad Ali! Ideja e parë që i krijohet secilit ballkanas të shkretë kur e lexon këtë emër “bombë” është ish-kampioni botëror në boks Casisus Clay i konvertuar si Mohamed Ali. Mirëpo gazetari Holland ka hulumtuar identitetin e këtij njeriu dhe prapa këtij emri nuk i është përgjigjur asnjë person real në New York. Fillimisht ai arrin te një e dhënë se ky njeri ishte një specialist i kirurgjisë plastike në Virginia të ShBA-së, por me të arritur atje, del se në këtë shtet nuk ka një qytetar amerikan rezident që mban këtë emër, sepse ai ishte zhdukur para dhjetë vjetësh!
Të dhënat e mëtutjeshme gazetarin e shpijnë edhe më larg, në Pakistan, ku ky njeri e dyshohet se merret me zejen e vjetër, krim të organizuar, duke ngritur skema piramidale në krahinat e humbura të këtij vendi. Po ashtu dyshohet se përmes mashtrimit, ky njeri ka krijuar një pasuri të majme, rreth 2, 5 miliardë US dollarë në asete.
Një plan i detajuar për këso skemash korruptive këtij farë Ali &Co “i dhezi” në Tiranë dhe në Prishtinë. Lajmi u dha në televizionet publike të te dyja shteteve, duke mësyrë të rrisin kredibilitetin e qeverive të dy vendeve se si “po i lulëzojnë” ekonomitë e mjera të vendeve të tyre !?
Vendi ku kallxohen përralla me mbretër dhe qypa me lira (një portal në Prishtinë para do kohësh e pati publikuar lajmin se hiç më pak se Donald Tramp dëshiron të investojë miliarda në Kosovë) është i shkretë. Ndërsa prijësit politikë janë mashtrues popujsh!
Për një qytetar të edukuar mirë, lajmi i RTK-së për investime sa dyfishi i buxhetit shtetëror të Kosovës vetëm brenda vitit 2012 siç pretendonte grupi fantom me seli në internet (sic!) ose mund të merret si gabim logjik, ose thjesht e kupton se është një mashtrim. Por për politikanët e paaftë, ky spektakël medial është shprehje e synimit për të mbajtur pushtetin personal mbi rrenën ose thjesht është “derë e vogël” për t’u përfshirë në botën e krimit të organizuar.
Tjetër shpjegim kjo nuk ka.
Tashmë është muaj i pestë i vitit ’12 dhe asnjë lajm tutje s’erdhi nga SIVA PARTNERS.
Si duket ia kanë ndier erën se gazetarë hulumtues u kanë rënë në gjurmë mashtrimeve të tyre dhe, me gjasë, janë fshehur në tollovitë e zhurmshme të pjesës tribal të Pakistanit, në Peshavar…
Në anën tjetër qeveritarët shqiptarë dhe kosovarë, ndoshta presin t’u vijnë partnerët e tyre nga interneti me thasët plot para në Tiranë dhe Prishtinë, për ta realizuar parajsën e tyre në tokë.
Tregim i bukur për infantilë në pushtet!
Fundi i narracioneve të tilla për investime miliardëshe duhet të jetë legjendar, jo dashakeqës, por thjesht letrar: “Përralla n’shkallë, dukati n’ballë!
20 komente në “Rrena dymiliardëshe”
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Më të lexuarat
24 oret e fundit
Javen e fundit
Blog Tema
Shqiperia po ndryshon :p
Kur ne krye te vendit qendron me VOTA TE VJEDSHURA agjenti i Serbise,ANTI SHQIPTARI ME I URRYER NE KETO 6oo VJETET E FUNDIT,Sali Berisha,cfare presim tjeter???
Nga ju kosovaret,qe e mbani per “HERO” kete BICIMSEZ,ju themi: MERRENI NJE ORE E ME PARE!!!
JU A KEMI FALUR!!!Me qe ju duket i mire,pse nuk e FUTNI NE SKUADREN TUAJ???
ESHTE NJE LOJTAR I PLAKUR NGA TRUTE,ndaj e merrni ne parametrat “ZERO”
PO ZERO E VERTETE,AMA!!!
MALLKUAR DITA,QE LINDI KJO MONSTER E NDYRE!!!
Ky sharlatan do vdese pa i shpaguar krimet e tij! Familjaret do paguajne per te!
Me ne fitojne te gjithe. http://mdcal.blogspot.com/2012/05/cfar-thane-te-tjeret-per-shqiptaret.html
zoti halil pergezime
ke shkruar nje nga artikujt me brilante por ki kujdes se eshte nje grup teper mafjoz dhe i sofistikuar ne shqiperi qe ka lidhje me ca bolemedhenj ne dy anet e atllantikut qe
-zhduken remzi hoxhen
-vrane kosta trebicken
-vrane gjyqtarin e vlores
-dogjen oficerin e shikut
-deputetin xhindi
-egjyptianin e cimentos.
Me besoni se eshte e njejta dore dhe ju urojme jete te gjate.te shpetofte zoti se ne nje vend ku kapet 2 ton droge dhe nuk arrestohet njeri merre vesh muhabetin ..TUNG!
Per te gjithe ata qe duan te mesojne te verteten mbi SIVA Partners mjafton te kene nje PC dhe pak minuta te shohin webin e SIVA PArtners.
Cdo gje eshte e thjeshte dhe e kuptueshme.
Per me shuem mundet te lexojne edhe ne FB.
Kerko SIVA Partners ne FB dhe mudn te shohesh plot info e foto nga aktiviteti i SIVA Partners ne US dhe ne Ballkan.
Shendet,
Arbeni
Kjo Siva do kete filluar tynelin direkt New York-Tirane-Prishtine,dhe inagurimin do ta bejne treshe ne 2013,Plerisha-Placi-Jahjakovaci.Do behet koncert ku do kendoje dora vete,rrozefina.
Z.Matoshi,pergezime per zbulimet e reja dhe interesin qe tregoni per mega-mashtruesit e rralles,te cilet fatkeqsisht na lejne te kuptojme aftesite e voketa dhe vizionin e verber qe kane pushtetaret e shqiperise dhe nje pjese e mass-mediave qe eshte shitur dhe si rrjelloje edhe populli,
mgjth. pas nje kerkimi te shkurter qe bera duket qe SIVA eshte akoma ne qarkullim me pjestar te tjere ,dhe ka nderruar viktimat dhe objektivat,nuk flitet mè me miliarde dollare por me mijera,per arsye reklame kane afruar ne gjirin e tyre Z.Ekrem Bardha,eshte akoma Simon Elyakim,ndermjetesi (Chairman & CEO )eshte jo Pjerin Gurraj por Valentino Gurraj(ose Valentino M.Gurraj)i cili ka deklaruar qe “SIVA Partners dhe Shqiptarët e Michigan-it, rreth 57 mijë dollarë për Kishën e Bajzës”,dhe viktima e rastit duket qe eshte kryetari i komunes Kastrat(M.e Madhe) Z.Viktor Popaj,jam i sigurt qe kjo eshte nje serial dhe do kemi raste te tjera per te folur per SIVAn.
L.E (Milano)
Z.Matoshi,pergezime per zbulimet e reja dhe interesin qe tregoni per mega-mashtruesit e rralles,te cilet fatkeqsisht na lejne te kuptojme aftesite e voketa dhe vizionin e verber qe kane pushtetaret e shqiperise dhe nje pjese e mass-mediave qe eshte shitur dhe si rrjelloje edhe populli,
mgjth. pas nje kerkimi te shkurter qe bera duket qe SIVA eshte akoma ne qarkullim me pjestar te tjere ,dhe ka nderruar viktimat dhe objektivat,
Miku im L.E.
nqs dini te lexoni mire gjuhen Shqipen ato mijera qe keni pare ne FB jane dhurate bere per kishen katolike ne Kastrat, Malsi e madhe.
Nuk kuptoj cfare te keqe ka ketu?
Per dijenine tuaj Z.Ekrem Bardha eshte nje nga drejtuesit e komunitetit shqiptar ne Amerike.
Shendet,
Arbeni
Shoku Arben,fatmiresisht shqipen e zoteroj akoma ne livele te pranueshme,dhe per dijenine tuaj e di kush eshte Z.Bardha (prandaj thashe qe e kane perdorur per reklame edhe neper takime te tjera per te rritur Siva besimin tek te tjeret),gjths nese komuniteti shqiptar i amerikes donte te bente nje gjest per kishen ne Kastrat nuk kishte nevoje ta realizonte permes ketyre personave genjeshtare dhe te pandergjegjshem per deklaratat dhe aksinet e tyre (takimi me kryeinistrin,shpalosjen e disa projekteve madheshtore etj),pra,mund te themi qe edhe Z.Bardha ose nuk e njef kominitin ne te cilin ben pjes ose eshte mashtruar me ane te manipulimeve dhe spekulimeve te ndryshme si gjithe neve perfshire edhe rangjet e larta te shteteve Shqiperi-Kosove.Vetem pas pak muajsh te avulluar krejtsisht nga planet miliardere me Berishen i gjejme me Z.Popaj,kshq.nese perdorim fillin logjik dalim thjetsisht ne konkluzion qe ose Z.popaj (qe eshte nje peshk shum i vogel)po perdoret si vegel per tu shfrytezuar (dmth po mashtrohet)ose ka lidhje direkte me Z.Gurraj & Co.,kjo e fundit eshte shume me e demshme
Artikull i rregullt Halil, vetem hiqe ate fjalen “deponimi” se s’ka lidhje ne kete artikull. Fjala qe duhet te kishe perdorur eshte “depozitimi” se deponimi perdoret ne te drejten penale.
Z Matoshi,ti mos u habit.Na ne Shqipni nuk shtangena prej lajmesh “Bombe” si ky.Saher don me rrejt Sala,perdor veglat qe thurin rrena.Na nuk e harrojme cekun e bardhe qe na e pat sjell prej Amerike DR Rrumpalla me Gramoz Pashkon.Dikur,ne mocme,mashkujt qe rrejn e lehin tue sha si kurvat,nuk jan thirr ne kuvend te burrave.Sala yne,qe leh si shake e perdale,nuk asht per kuvend,por ka ra kuvendi ne dore te horrave.
Lexoni ne origjinal reagimin e zotit Lumaj:
I feel obliged to write this article to clarify a dangerous lie spread in Albania by SIVA Partners.
Recently, the Albania media has been reporting on a “huge” investment to take place in Albania, and it is to be undertaken by SIVA Partners, LLC. The project is to be called The Millennium Casino and Resort and would be “built” in Vlora or Fier, Albania. Somehow, my name is associated with SIVA Partners and the media even reported that I am one of the “supporters” and “investors” in this project. Nothing can be further from the truth. SIVA, shamelessly, used my name, and even emphasized that fact that I am running for the US Senate, to advance their fraudulent “investment” in Albania.
SIVA Partners is located in New York and is founded by very suspicious characters, including some of them who are illegal aliens in the USA. It is true that Valentino Gurraj, President of SIVA, contacted me and asked to meet . Indeed, I met with him and his “partners,” one of them being Muhamed Ali from Middle East, who also claimed to be the founder and president of SIVA.
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During this meeting, they offered to raise funds for my campaign for the United States Senate in the upwards of $200K. They told me that even Donald Trump would be part of this fundraiser as he is involved in SIVA. I thanked them for offering to assist my campaign and left. They asked for nothing in return.
After I left them, I did some research on SIVA Partners and found out that the whole thing is just another Pyramid Scheme waiting to be perpetrated on the Albanian people, especially in the northern part of Albania. I have since detached myself completely from SIVA.
SIVA has no money nor do any of the so called partners, presidents or founders, to invest. No one from SIVA can produce any concrete evidence of any funds they raised for this project or any other projects “completed” by them. Most of the “partners” are recent immigrants from Albania and Middle East, who are very well versed in tricking people into “investing” where “investors” are tricked into putting their funds in phantom projects which never materialize. This one is no different than the 1997 pyramidal schemes perpetrated in Albania.
In this case, what SIVA is trying to do is to convince investors in northern Albania that they have the capital to commence the project in Volara or Fier. They met with a number of prospective investor in Bajze, Koplk, and Shkoder. According to Mr. Gurraj, SIVA representatives met w with Viktor Popaj, the chairman of the Kastrat Commune, who will be in charge of raising funds in the Malesi e Madhe district for the project in Vlora or Fier.
According to a source from SIVA, they are concentrating in raising the funds for the project in northern Albania because they have the money since most families from the north have family members abroad, who would send them money if need be, to invest in Albania. I hope they will not repeat the 1997 mistake.
After and exhaustive search of both national and international data-basis, neither my staff nor I could find any, and I mean any, projects completed by SIVA anywhere in the world. That kind of information is supposed to be public records. But then common sense dictates that the whole thing is a sham. Look at the date SIVA was established. Late 2010! Yet, they built projects allover the world in less than two years.
I contacted Donald Trump’s office, and they categorically denied having anything to do with SIVA. They never heard of SIVA or any of the names listed as SIVA’s partners and executives. They made sense when they told me that “If this SIVA has the billions of dollars they tell people they have, how come they don’t invest in New York or any other parts of USA?” I had no answer for them nor did SIVA when I contacted them a few days after I found out that they had associated my name with SIVA.
And, lastly, don’t forget that the last time Sali Berisha was involved in “projects,” he gave Albania the turmoil of 1997. This time, for some obscure reasons, he is involved with SIVA, according to SIVA’s website. I wonder why? I will leave it up to the readers to decide to draw their conclusions.
Nevertheless, I feel that I have an obligation to caution all the Albanians who would read this article not to trust SIVA Partners with their money. And be careful of things that appear too good to be true, because, mot of the time, they indeed are. And SIVA is a clear illustration of the above expression.
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Related topics:
Albania
SIVA Partners
investments in Albania
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Pjerin Lumaj, Albania Headlines Examiner
Pjerin Lumaj, Esq., is a Civil Rights Attorney in New York City. After obtaining his BA in Political Science from CUNY in 1996 and his LL.B from the University of Wolverhampton in 2005, he earned his Master of Laws (LL.M) from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. He has been admitted to the…
Ky Pjerin Lumaj ishte grup me SIVA-n. Se ca u prishen per nji pazar me duket e boni sikur i denoncoi. Pse nuk foli mo pare? Tani i erdhi veza ne menere, me duket.
Megithese nuk e di se kush eshte zyba ne kete mes. Me duket se zyba jane vete keta te SIVA-s. Rrezik keta lajne paret e Sales. Ky i joni eshte kapoja i madh.
O Halit, Po keta po thojn qe eshte Valentino Gurraj dhe jo Pjerin Lumaj.
A i ke verifiku edhe keto gjojnat e tjera qe po shkru?
Po mire o vlla, ky Sala i provoi njihere piramidat ne 1997. Nuk u mesu ky njeri?
Albanian-American Newspaper for sale: Berisha may stop financing it.
By Peter Lumaj, U.S. Senate Candidate 2012 http://www.lumaj2012.com
Until about a month ago, I was not aware that there is a Kosovar Newspaper named Illyiria published in the Albanian language in New York. It came to my attention when a friend of mine, Esad Reizi, called me and informed me that Illyria had mentioned my name. That is when I commenced looking into it.
The following is what we have uncovered: It is owned by Lek Gojcaj, published by Wahbi Bajrami and financed by the Prime Minister of Albania, Sali Berisha.
Sources close to Lek Gojcaj told me that he is insulted by what his paper publishes and that he is trying to get rid of it. Sale it!
Illyriai is published twice a week in New York and it sales approximately 250 copies each publication. Its readers are mostly Kosovar Albanians. Most Albanians from Albania don’t even know anything about this newspaper. They appear to get their information from two other local newspapers, Bota Sote and Dielli, both of which are highly respected by both the Albanian community here in the States and aboard.
If this newspaper sales 250 copies per publication, then why would some one buy it. How can someone make money out of it. At the end, profit would be the motivating factor to buy it, would not it. Well, look at the individual who is financing Illyria. It is no one less than the Prime Minister of Albania, Sali Berisha. It turns out that after the 2005 election, Berisha hired Illyria to do his propaganda abroad, i.e. to be his mouthpiece.
In the early part of 2006, after he was fired from Voice of America, Wehbi Bajrami, the current publisher of Illyiria, met with Sali Berisha and expressed his interest in cooperating with the Prime Minister and offered to help him establish and keep a good image in the USA. They appear to have reached an agreement on the terms as long as nothing negative would be written about Sali Berisha. Bajrami kept his promise. Thus far, out of over 400 mentions of Berisha in Illyria, none of the articles say anithing negative about him. He is not even called to task about the Gerdec explosions, the murders of Kosta Trebicka and Aleksander Keka, or the political killings of January 21, 2011.
Mr. Bajrami apears to be good at fooling the readers. After all, he almost fooled Voice of America when he applied for a job with them in 2005. As a matter of fact, he was hired by Voice of America in either October or November 2005, and if it were not for the great job that Investigators did in investigating his background, he may still be there. He was fired in January 2006 after investigators confirmed that his college degree from Kosovo was fraudulent. Further, investigators also substantiated that the letter issued by Ruben Avxhiu, who claimed in it that he was the editor-in-chief of Illyria, was also a fraud. Both Bajrami and Avxhiu were severely reprimanded for their fraudulent documents, but were able to escape prison time.
Mr. Avxhi (Hadhxhiu) is currently working full time as a doorman in Manhattan and serves as a part time “journalist” for Illyria. The only journalist to have held a job with Illyria without being compromised was Beqir Sina, who left Illyria after he felt “uncomfortable” with what was going on in the Illyria Headquarters. He is currently working for Dielli newspaper, which has been around since 1902.
Mr. Bajrami told me that he quit Voice of America and that he was not fired for fraudulent documents. Even if I were to believe him and ignore all the fact, logically, who would resign just two months after having been offered a dream job by one of the most prestigious media outlets in the world. We are talking about Voice of America here not some cockamamie news outlet in an unknown country.
Whoever buys this newspaper is going to have to deal with the fraudulent reputation of Mr. Bajrami and Mr. Avxhi. Further, if Sali Berisha is not reelected as the Prime Minister of Albania, he will not need Illyria and thus would stop financing it. Maybe Mr. Bajrami knows that Berisha will not be elected and therefore his newspaper without him would become obsolete. And that could be the reason why he is trying to sale his propaganda paper.
I for one am not interested in a newspaper published by fraudsters who use it for propaganda purposes and nor should any Albanian.
Related topics:
Albanian News
Albania
News
Pjerin Lumaj, Albania Headlines Examiner
Pjerin Lumaj, Esq., is a Civil Rights Attorney in New York City. After obtaining his BA in Political Science from CUNY in 1996 and his LL.B from the University of Wolverhampton in 2005, he earned his Master of Laws (LL.M) from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. He has been admitted to the…
Peter Lumaj and the issue of a dangerous precedent in the Albanian-American community
Peter (Pjerin) Lumaj ran for US Senate in Connecticut for the seat left vacant by Joseph Lieberman, a well-known name to many Albanian-Americans.
One of the main leitmotifs of Illyria newspaper throughout its 21 years in business has been to discover and promote Albanian-American success stories and it is one of our most important contributions to the history of the Albanian nation.
In this context, nothing would make us happier than to have finally an Albanian in some high level position in Washington DC. After many wonderful achievements in business, science, sports and a variety of professions, we’d love to see our compatriots make it in the field of politics as well.
Unfortunately, it did not seem that Peter Lumaj was on the way to break that glass ceiling. He was running only on paper as he was not even close to compete with the two main contenders within the Republican Party in Connecticut.
Ours is a community with limited resources and we in Illyria were alarmed when Mr. Lumaj claimed to have raised more than $100,000 from Albanian-Americans who were understandably enthusiastic about the idea of the “first Albanian-American Senator”, but who knew little about his electability. Most of them were in Michigan and New York with little understanding of Connecticut political scene.
Not surprisingly many Connecticut Albanians seemed to oscillate between Chris Murphy on the Democratic side and Chris Shays on the Republican one. Murphy came first in his party convention and has a good chance of replacing Lieberman in the US Senate, while Shays managed only to get a place in the ballot with the party machine openly siding with his main competitor, Linda McMahon. Lumaj, who was endorsed by only 22 delegates out of 1245, claimed that the vote was a “sham”, but to those who have followed the race it was clear long before the elections that he did not really stand a chance.
Albanian-Americans are both entrepreneurs and active in US politics, supporting particularly candidates with strong credentials in foreign affairs and who understand the situation in the Southeastern Europe. Albanians are staunch believers in American values as well. Not surprisingly most of the candidates they support are the best ones for America as well. However, despite the Albanian generosity, our funds are limited and therefore, we must learn how to use them in intelligent ways. As a newspaper we think that it is our obligation to educate and inform our readers about politicians, their views, positions and electability. In our view, Mr. Lumaj was not truly in the race and he had no chance in front of McMahon and Shays. Understandably, Mr. Lumaj did not like our analysis, but any political analyst in Connecticut, worth his mantle, would have reached the same conclusions.
Mr. Lumaj was presenting himself from strict ideological conservative positions. Connecticut, in state level, votes either Democrats or moderate Republicans. Mr. Lumaj was offering a vision more appropriate for Kentucky than Connecticut. It was a ready-to-wear political identity acquired and modeled after the nation-wide Tea Parties of 2010, instead of a reflection of the experiences, expectations and exclusivities of the people of Connecticut.
Of course, we’d rather see a genuine candidate who believes in his positions rather than a flip-flopper who adapts to polls. Mr. Lumaj was right to stand by his views but at the same time there was very little chance that the people of Connecticut would look at him as an appropriate representative for them in DC. In a way, he was running in the wrong state.
I also pointed in my analysis that when you run as a newcomer in this level of politics, you need one of the following three advantages (if not a combination of two of them): financial means, local party support or a great name from a distinctive success in some other field of life. In Connecticut, Ned Lamont comes to mind, when he challenged a veteran like Lieberman for the same post, a few years back. Unfortunately, Lumaj lacked all three of them.
He threw $50,000 of his own money and raised a little less than $200K in six months. I pointed out the Gulliver effect. He was not only in the wrong state but he was in the wrong race as well. With that money, he was a dwarf in the US Senate race, but he could have been a giant had he been running for a local position instead. I advised him in my article to adjust his aim. (He seems to have been offended by my advice and decided to aim against Illyria instead.)
He was unknown to most Republican Party local officials and made little way with them in the months of his anemic campaigning. Not long ago, in 2010, another candidate close to the Albanian community, Joseph DioGuardi was also snubbed by the leaders of the Republican Party of New York in the state convention, but his grass root support and the endorsement of small town, local Republican leaders in the end defeated the party machine and he received his nomination in the primary. Mr. Lumaj had received only one endorsement from a local party leader and there was no visible movement in his support. He was aloof and lacked a proper campaign organization. I followed his campaign website, his twitter communications, his schedule and his mentioning in the media for about three months before writing my analysis. His campaign barely existed. Maybe he had never participated in an electoral campaign before, at least in that level and he had clearly failed to hire professionals who have a modicum of idea on how to run a campaign. Or maybe he lacked the sources to hire them. I doubt that he was in just for the attention of the Albanian community or as what I call an “electoral tourist”, who runs just out of curiosity.
Finally, his name was not known to the public of Connecticut. He presents himself as a “civil rights attorney” and I believe he focuses on immigration cases, which is fine, but he had never led any movement or action that could have particularly drawn the attention of the people of Connecticut. His campaign did little to solve this problem. He was rarely in the radar of the local media. While Shays and McMahon were mentioned at least 4-5 times daily by Connecticut media sources, one had to wait for about two weeks for the name of Lumaj to appear somewhere. Most of the time was in the background of news, which focused on the other two candidates. With some rare exceptions, Lumaj was almost never given a chance to introduce himself to the general voter. He did relatively well in the two public debates, but by then he had nothing to lose there and everything to gain so it was an expected success, which would matter little to the race.
In my article, I did not exclude necessarily the possibility of Lumaj being the best candidate. However, I focused first on electability and explained to our readers why without name recognition, money and party machine support, it is impossible to get elected.
Apparently, Mr. Lumaj took my analysis as a personal attack. He called the office, threatened to “expose” us and tried to reach people whom he believed could influence us. However, my article was meant first and foremost to analyze the race. Over the last decade I have written hundreds of similar articles as I have made it my mission to explain to the Albanian community how politics works in the United States and how they can and should get involved. It was natural that I would offer my opinion on Peter Lumaj’s candidacy and not only I do not regret writing about it, but I feel now remorse for not having written sooner and in a more blunt style which could have probably saved Albanian-Americans some of their hard-earned money which were shamelessly wasted in his practically inexistent campaign.
After the publication of the article I was in fact still hoping to be proved wrong. I would have rather had that if it meant having an Albanian-American US Senator. After all, in more than two decades of writing career, it is natural to miss the target at times and we all learn by making mistakes. Greater names in journalism and major sources of media have erred famously in the past: Dewey was declared winner of presidential elections by Chicago Tribune in 1948, CNN and other major televisions wrongly projected Gore as winner in the 2000 presidential elections, to mention a couple of cases. Unfortunately, my analysis was confirmed by the results of the Republican state convention in Connecticut; Mr. Lumaj received less than 2% of the vote.
One main problem that I had with his failed attempt was that he left the community nearly a quarter of a million dollars poorer. This money could have been used in other races where well-known supporters of our cause in Congress were facing tough battles. For example, Jeanne Schmidt, co-chairman of the Albanian Caucus in the US Congress lost her primary battle within the Republican Party in Ohio. A percentage of the money that was wasted for Mr. Lumaj’s campaign could have made the difference there. Similar battles are still waging across the country and our community should find ways to inform and organize themselves better.
I have heard that Mr. Lumaj claims that he opened the way now for other Albanians to try their luck in the high level of the American politics. I believe that the opposite is true. I think that he made it harder for other Albanians to run in similar races. He benefited by the trust of his unsuspecting compatriots by raising funds for an unwinnable battle, thus setting a dangerous precedent. We have seen this happen in other aspects of life as well. False prophets have always preceded the true ones in our Albanian world. This community has been milked before by pseudo-artists and pseudo-activists of various fields, only to make it harder for the real talents when they showed up to ask for help.
I have only respect for much more known and successful leaders of our community like Ken Biberaj who is running for the City Council in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, or Mark Gjonaj who is running for Assemblyman in The Bronx. They also could have tried to impress us by running for higher offices. I wish they had been endowed with the funds made available to Mr. Lumaj, but there is still time and hopefully, the community will wise up and throw its support behind the real candidates and its genuine representatives.
Mr. Lumaj seems to be now in a revenge mood, not against the Republicans of Connecticut who were not impressed by his campaign, or his rivals who never saw him as a threat, but against the only voice that tried to sober him up and help him put things in perspective. He did a disservice to this community and to his political future as well, by opting to ignore our advice and listen to the unprofessional people he seem to have surrounded himself during the months of this senseless electoral adventure.
In a recent article to examiner.com, a website he apparently has been using for years to sow the seeds of religious conflict among historically multi-religious Albanians, he throws against Illyria a bunch of misinformation which in his mind will damage our reputation. However, even here, he has done his homework with the same “talent” that he showed when doing research on Connecticut before running for Senator.
Nevertheless, the problem here is not the reputation of Illyria or its staff. We have nothing to prove to the Albanian-Americans. We are not asking for their vote or their money. Those who were not satisfied by our service have left for other means of information. Others have loyally been our readers, advertisers and supporters for more than two decades.
As for the claims in Mr. Lumaj’s article: I have never worked as a doorman (although at times, when I have to write this kind of explanations, I wish I had) or have tried to defraud the Voice of America (go figure!!) or have ever been sponsored by Mr. Sali Berisha the Prime Minister of Albania (another weird assumption of Mr. Lumaj). Illyria is probably the most unbiased nonpartisan newspaper in the entire Albanian world. It certainly does not accept money from governments and political parties. Furthermore, Leke Gojçaj is not and has never been publisher or part-owner of Illyria and this is easily verifiable. He is a respected leader of the community and a good friend of us and has explained this to Mr. Lumaj in person during the latter’s failed attempt to make us apologize for the article about him. (I never heard about apologizing for an analysis! However, we did suggest that Mr. Lumaj write a response with his view on his race and his chances of electability or that he become available for an interview to explain his take to our readers. Nevertheless, it would have hardly changed our opinion about his campaign at that point. My strong suspicion is that since the article was published in Albanian he may have missed the gist of the article has relied on others who described it poorly to him, but I may be wrong.)
To hundreds of thousands of Albanian immigrants who came to the United States throughout the last century no job was too insulting to take. From dishwashing to house cleaning, from heavy construction gigs to working in farms and factories, Albanians have made a name as hardworking individuals. Doorman sounds like a gentleman position to me compared to some other jobs Albanians have been employed. And although Mr. Lumaj may look down on it, I would have been proud to wear any of the uniforms which adorn hundreds of Albanians who are employed as doormen throughout New York and help to make this City a safe place to live. After all, it is people like them who have scrapped even their last penny to support candidates who over the years have understood the plea of the Albanian nation in the Balkans and have helped to steer the US foreign policy towards the principled positions it holds in that part of the globe. It is the hard-earned money of this kind of people that Mr. Lumaj cavalierly wasted with so much lack of understanding, of sensitivity and of responsibility.
A later, closer look, on Mr. Lumaj activity has made us believe that we were lucky after all that he could not make it in the Senate race. He has shown an increasingly disturbing behavior, which has nothing to do with his baseless allegations against Illyria. In 21 years of independent and principled reporting and opinionating, we have faced much heavier rants and accusations. It comes with the territory. However, the problems with Mr. Lumaj are of high concern to the entire Albanian community in US.
From badmouthing the Kosova Liberation Army as an “Islamic terrorist organization” (either by himself or via an assistant under the fake name Josif Mladic using the account [email protected], now documented by us) to portraying Albanian Muslims as radical extremists, from giving credence to the Serbian ludicrous claim that Ben Laden had been at some point in Kosova to accusing the Albanian government of being tied to the Iranian regime, despite the fact that Albania has been for years to be the most pro-American country in Europe. And why did he send his article against the Albanian-American newspaper, Illyria, to the people of Serbianna.com, the Serbian lobby in US and to other anti-Albanian writers? Why are they in his mailing list? What else has he been sending them besides this piece?
It is hard for us to understand Mr. Lumaj’s agenda at this point. Why would someone asking for the vote and the money of Albanian-Americans subscribe to and promote such views on the Albanian nation, which is famous for its religious tolerance and harmony? I assume from his previous post in examiner.com that as a lawyer he represents clients who are asking for political asylum on religious persecution basis and this distorted image of Albania may help win the cases and advance his business. It is of course only an assumption. Albania is a European Union candidate and already a NATO member and is under the microscope of domestic and international human rights organizations, so these allegations seem quite hollow. The Serbs have tried hard in the past to convince Washington that KLA was an Islamic organization, but they failed because the truth prevailed. Do we have to return to this old debate just because some Albanian dusted off old lies for reasons that only he can explain? Furthermore, not only is Prime Minister Sali Berisha a staunch supporter of the United States but he is one of the few if not the only leader in office who has called Ahmadinejad “a neo-Nazi”. These are all published facts and we don’t need to be sponsored by Berisha, as Mr. Lumaj assumes, to point this out. Nor do we need to be paid in order to defend our Albanian nation from baseless allegations. Does Mr. Lumaj need to be paid to make them? One does not even need to be a patriot to defend the truth. A minimal decency is sufficient.
Maybe Mr. Lumaj believes that by rounding a number of accusations against us and by trying to damage our reputation, we would backtrack from exposing the truth about these matters. We shall not. It is our obligation as journalists with a responsibility for the image of our Albanian nation, as people of integrity with respect for the historic truths, and as citizens of this great country called the United States of America.
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