Eagle, I don't want to form an alliance anymore.

After all, we need to eat. The protests don't pay, so we should figure out what to eat for dinner first before thinking about any kind of freedom.

Wait, what do you mean by getting a lot of dollars for going to a protest? Is there really such a good thing?

So the Zogu family went to the demonstration. At that time, Albania was experiencing hyperinflation, and the strongest hard currency in the country was the green US dollar. What else was there to say? Long live freedom!

In 1991, the Democratic Party came to power. Berisha became president, and Alban was ecstatic—he kept telling Zogu, "Albania is finally going to get better!" "Free markets, democratic elections, integration with the West... all the wonderful life described on the radio is finally coming!"

Sako looked at her younger brother's excitement and felt that something was wrong.

In his view, the easy access to good things, the ability for ordinary people to enjoy them, and the lack of queues constitute an impossible triangle.

His hunch was right.

In 1992, a vigorous privatization and political purge began.

The chromium mine where Sako had worked for twenty years was privatized. This state-owned enterprise, which had been operating for over thirty years, was sold to a businessman connected to Berisha. The first thing the businessman did after buying the mine was to lay off workers—a third of the long-time miners. Sako wasn't laid off, but his salary was reduced by forty percent.

His wife, Leila, also lost her job. She had worked in the school cafeteria for fifteen years, but the cafeteria was contracted out to a private owner who replaced all the original employees with his own relatives.

At the same time, countless propaganda materials flooded into countries that had entered the free world. Many of the demons and monsters that the great helmsman had suppressed in the past began to retaliate. The priests began to cry out that Hoxha had seized their vast lands, and the clans said that Hoxha had destroyed their long-standing national traditions.

Sako was skeptical, but his father said those priests deserved it, that those bastard priests obtained all their land by annexing and forcibly seizing farmers' land, and that the clan's traditional blood tax was a form of spiritual and physical exploitation.

But Alban countered his father's question: "If Hoxha was as great as you say, why has the country fallen to such a state? Where is the communist paradise that the dictator promised us?"

The reforms implemented by the great leader over the past few decades have been overturned one by one. The new government constantly criticizes the crimes of the old government while intensifying the sale of state-owned enterprises and further opening up to Western markets in the hope of obtaining everything promised.

As a result, prices continued to rise. The price of bread quadrupled in a month, and cheese increased sevenfold. The Zogu family began to tighten their belts, as even the US dollar was not very stable in Albania.

Soon, during the Yugoslav Wars, the Americans arrived with their businesses.

In early 1993, a neighbor excitedly knocked on Sako's door, saying he had deposited money in an investment company—with a 30% monthly return! He deposited $100 and withdrew $130 a month later!

Zogu didn't believe it. But his wife, Leila, did, because the old lady next door had saved it, the old man downstairs had saved it, the miners had saved it... everyone was making money. Thirty percent every month! If you save a thousand, it becomes thirteen thousand after a month, and over two thousand after three months!

Sako's intuition warned him, but looking into his wife's pleading eyes—eyes that had finally seen a glimmer of light after enduring poverty for so long—he did not object.

Leila deposited all of her family's savings—$2700—into the company; this was all the wealth they had accumulated over twenty years.

They did make money in the first three months; the numbers in the account kept rising, and Leila smiled every night while looking at her savings book.

Alban also deposited all the money he had saved from odd jobs at the port into the bank. He smiled and said that this was the true golden age of his country, and the freest and happiest summer he had ever experienced.

In January 1994, with the end of the Yugoslav Wars, the company closed down!

People flocked to the company, only to find a piece of paper on the door with no reason given, just a phone number—but the phone was unreachable; the boss had run away.

The family's savings were gone just like that; this is the price of a free market.

You can't only support the free market when you're making money. Even if you have nothing, you should see yourself as a millionaire who hasn't made any money yet, not as a poor proletarian.

In February 1994, the government declared bankruptcy, and Berisha resigned amidst widespread condemnation. Zoko's salary was stopped—the mine also shut down because society had collapsed, major enterprises had ceased operations, and no one was buying ore.

In March, the southern armory was opened. Sako saw his neighbor carrying a rifle on the street, and armored vehicles and tanks rolling over the bunkers on the side of the road and stopping there. As the old man next door pulled a light machine gun across the street, Sako closed the door.

Alban said angrily, "I'm going to go with my friends and settle accounts with those swindlers!"

His father grabbed his arm.

“You’re not going anywhere. It’s too dangerous outside. There’s going to be a war,” the father said.

Alban looked at his father, but ultimately did not go out.

In June 1994, the Soviets arrived. Zogu saw several warships, painted with red stars and their numbers, enter the port of Durrës through the window. Then came landing ships, from which tanks and armored vehicles rolled out.

It wasn't just Soviets. There were also Polish, Hungarian, and Bulgarian flags. Some from the European Community also came, as well as people from France and West Germany. Italy didn't come—probably because they were afraid of being beaten up by Albanians if they landed.

The loudspeakers in the street announced that a multinational force, invited by the European Community and led by the Soviet Union, had entered Albania to restore order.

Berisha had already stepped down. More precisely, he had taken his wealth and fled the country—reportedly to Italy. No one cared where he went; what people cared about now was—was anyone in charge? Was anyone still in charge of this country?

The older brother came to clean up the mess.

Soviet soldiers appeared on the streets of Durrës. They set up checkpoints, confiscated weapons, restored traffic control, and provided people with water, food, and medical services. Armored vehicles were parked at every major intersection, their cannons pointed to the sky, with several soldiers standing beside them.

Zogu stood on the balcony, looking down at the street. An armored vehicle slowly drove by, with several Soviet soldiers sitting on its turret. They looked young, probably about the same age as Alban.

Forty years ago, Hoxha drove the Soviets away; forty years later, the Soviets have returned.

Order was restored in Albania's major cities within a month. Warsaw Pact troops took control of all Albanian cities and villages, and the Soviet Union distributed large quantities of food to stabilize the population, followed by work relief programs.

When a country descends into anarchy and society comes to a standstill, it is essential to provide some work for restless young laborers.

One by one, “residents’ joint defense teams” were formed. The Soviets gave these people a wooden stick and a red armband. Each team was equipped with an armed soldier and they were sent to patrol the city all day long. They were told that “bandits outside are going to attack the city and seize the residents’ food” and “we are wholeheartedly armed to protect the people.” After a day of patrolling, the soldiers were exhausted. Then, at night, they were given food and ration coupons based on the soldiers’ attendance records.

Besides patrolling, the Soviet Union also took the opportunity to renovate Albania's infrastructure, such as building roads, dismantling numerous unused bunkers, and taking over factories whose owners had absconded but whose machinery was still in operation, bringing in unemployed workers to restore production...

This move greatly depleted the energy of the restless people, and within a month, the entire country of Albania was pulled back from anarchy to an era of order.

After production initially resumed, Warsaw Pact troops began to gradually withdraw from Albania, with the Soviet Union retaining only one division stationed in the capital. Subsequently, the Soviet Union brought a new government to Albania.

Politically, the Soviet Union found the remnants of the Albanian Party of Labour. The Party of Labour had been broken up during the Berisha era, but its core remained—grassroots party organizations, veteran rural cadres, and some mid-level officials who had not yet been purged... The Soviet Union gathered these people together and renamed them the Albanian Socialist Party.

In July, Socialist Party leader Fatos Nano became Prime Minister. That same month, Socialist Party Secretary-General Recep Maidani was elected Head of State.

A new government has begun to function.

When the country was in crisis, the opposition didn't step forward, but now that the Communist Party has returned to the government, these demons and monsters are causing trouble.

The large opposition groups that emerged during Berisha's era began to protest, accusing the country of dictatorship and being a Soviet-backed puppet regime. Considering Albania's still-recovering economy and the potential risks of excessive political instability, the Soviet Union made concessions.

Other political parties are allowed to exist as participating parties; they can have seats on the Central Committee, offer opinions, and participate in policy discussions, but the ruling party must be the Communist Party!

This system was later called the "multi-party cooperation system," which was considered to be just a one-party dictatorship of the Communist Party disguised as a multi-party system. But at that time, for a country that had just emerged from anarchy and was barely able to afford bread, people were not concerned about whether this counted as democracy, but whether they could eat tomorrow.

The aid supplies from the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance arrived quickly.

Zogu first saw these supplies at a distribution point in the port of Durrës. He had asked the patrol captain for leave that day, and everyone thought the same thing—so everyone started lining up. After waiting for two hours, he received a bag of flour, a bag of apples and cucumbers, lots and lots of old canned goods, and a box of milk powder.

He didn't even know what he was receiving. He didn't have any children and didn't need baby formula. Sako strongly suspected that this was a way for the countries of the Co-operation Union to clear out their stockpiles—but since everyone had nothing on hand, they might as well take whatever they could get.

The flour sacks were printed with Russian text, accompanied by an Arabic translation: "Brotherly friendship from the Soviet people."

Next to it is a short story written in Arabic, about how a Soviet agricultural research and production consortium in Central Asia increased yields using new irrigation technology, and how the consortium can now supply fresh vegetables and meat to surrounding cities every day.

Some proper nouns, such as "union," had explanations, and Sako quickly understood what had happened in the Soviet Union's agricultural reforms.

The other canned food box was printed with a story from Czechoslovakia, about how a factory in Prague resumed production after the reforms of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON), with workers' wages rising and production efficiency greatly improved.

The milk powder packaging featured a story from Poland, describing how a community in Poland built new housing through a cooperative model, allowing each family to purchase a heated apartment at a very low price.

Every item tells a story, a tale of how ordinary people in a socialist country have achieved a better life.

This idea came from Director Nian. Originally, Slava had planned to print some grand political narratives, such as slogans like "Down with imperialism" and "Long live the proletariat." Director Nian felt that these slogans were a bit too distant for the Albanian people, so it would be better to talk about things in daily life.

This practice greatly increased the Albanian people's goodwill towards the Soviet Union and its allies. Many people were keen to share stories about the supplies they received, and there were storytelling sessions in the community every evening. Soviet party and government officials also came to answer questions for the Albanian people.

The clamoring opposition and liberals have now fallen silent. The Soviet Union's move was too ruthless; they had never seen such a tactic before.

The reason is that Albania only has 200 million people, so the benefits of such projects undertaken by the Soviet Union far outweighed the costs.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

In October, the new government announced Albania's accession to the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) system and invited UN peacekeeping forces to be deployed to remote areas of the country—in the mountainous regions of Albania, there are many bandits who have taken weapons and are unwilling to hand them over, and the bunkers scattered throughout the country provide them with natural hiding places.

In the following year, the new government launched a crackdown. The Albanian army, reorganized under the training of Soviet military advisors, searched village by village for bandits and dismantled their bunkers bit by bit.

Demolishing bunkers is a huge undertaking in itself. Hundreds of thousands of concrete bunkers, each made of reinforced concrete, are extremely difficult to dismantle.

But they had to be dismantled because each bunker was a potential strongpoint—bandits could hide inside, making it difficult for the police to breach them. Bunkers were designed to defend against foreign invasion—but they could also defend against domestic security forces.

Hoxha probably never imagined that he built the bunker to protect Albania from Soviet invasion. Forty years later, the Soviets came to help Albania dismantle the bunker.

In February 1995, Sako's chromium mine resumed operations.

It was renationalized. Under the guidance of the Soviet Union, the new government nationalized key industries such as mining, transportation, oil, and agriculture. As for the state-owned assets that Berisha had sold off—those that could be recovered were recovered, and those that could not be recovered were considered tuition fees.

Many of the state-owned assets that were sold off were already sold abroad with the withdrawal of the United States.

Zogu returned to the mine. The wages weren't high, not much more than during Hoxha's time—but at least he received a monthly salary. Several Soviet engineers arrived at the mine, bringing new mining equipment and safety standards.

In addition to bringing advanced equipment, the Soviet Union also brought its own enterprise system—the introduction of workers' Soviets, with workers forming committees to supervise and manage supervisors.

Albania is not yet in a position to adopt a computerized planned economy based on cybernetics like the Soviet Union, but the Soviet Union promised: "There will be bread, there will be milk, and with the development of society, Albania can also live a good life like the Soviet people!"

Leila also got a job again, working at a newly opened community canteen. The canteen was government-run and used inexpensive food ingredients bought from the Mutual Economic Confederation. The pay wasn't high, but meals were provided.

What about Alban?

Alban went to the Soviet Union. The Socialist government had signed an educational cooperation agreement with Moscow, sending a group of young Albanians to study at Soviet universities every year. Alban decided to go to the Mining Institute in Leningrad.

Zogu sent his brother to the port of Durrës, where a Soviet transport ship would take the students to Odessa, and then they would take a train to Leningrad.

Alban stood on the dock, carrying an old backpack, looking back at himself and his father.

“Brother,” he said.

"Ah."

"Do you think what Americans say is all false? But why does America look so developed and wealthy in the photos?"

Sako looked at her younger brother and said, "Do you remember where the money our country was swindled out of went? America is so rich precisely because it is constantly sucking the blood of countries like ours."

"But can we guarantee that things will continue to get better after the Soviets arrive?"

After being dealt a heavy blow by capitalism, Alban experienced a rapid rise followed by a rapid fall, leaving him somewhat skeptical of everything.

Sako thought for a moment: "Let's focus on the present. As long as there's hope for the future, I don't really care whether it's Soviet or American rule."

He patted his younger brother on the shoulder.

"Go on, study hard."

Alban boarded the ship. Zogu stood on the dock, watching the ship slowly sail into the Adriatic Sea.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

In April 1995, Albania officially joined the Warsaw Pact.

This is a huge irony in Albanian history—Hoxha spent decades building bunkers to defend against Soviet invasion, and now Albania has voluntarily joined a Soviet-led military alliance!

Because the Soviet Union had helped Albania so much—it had guaranteed a portion of the international debt accumulated over the years—the new Albanian government, despite its bankruptcy, could have refused to take over the previous government's international debts. At worst, it could have faced international ostracism; after all, it had been used to being a diplomatic outcast for so many years. But then the Soviet Union waved its hand:

"Following the big brother will definitely not treat you badly!"

Thus, Albania's debt of over 60 billion euros was guaranteed by the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union helped repay one-third, Europe helped repay one-sixth, and Albania had to repay the rest slowly.

After the new Albanian government had benefited so much from the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON), had been given the most difficult debt problem by the Soviet Union, and had restored its political and socialist economic systems under Soviet leadership, everyone thought – why not just join the Warsaw Pact directly?

The new government decided to send the remaining old munitions stockpiled during Hoxha's era to the Soviet Union, and to sell all the rifles, mortars, and ammunition manufactured in China and the Soviet Union in the 1960s to the Soviet Union to pay off debts. Slava didn't mind; these old equipment were useless to the Soviet Union itself, but they could be sent to Africa and Latin America to support those places that were undergoing revolutions.

Having joined the Warsaw Pact, it was only natural for Albania to provide military conveniences to the Soviet Union. Albania leased the port of Durrës to the Soviet Union for 99 years as a naval port, and also leased the civilian port of Vlorë to the Soviet Union for joint use.

These two ports face the Adriatic Sea, with Italy directly opposite. Access to the Mediterranean from here was a decades-long dream of the Soviet Navy—avoiding the Turkish-controlled Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits!

The Black Sea Fleet must pass through the Turkish Straits to launch an attack.

Türkiye is a NATO member state, and in wartime it could close the straits, locking the Soviet Navy in the Black Sea, which was the Soviet Navy's biggest strategic weakness.

Albanian ports are located in the Adriatic Sea, eliminating the need to cross straits. Combined with Croatia's ports within the Yugoslav People's Federation—the Soviet Union now possessed two deep-water ports in the Mediterranean!

In June 1995, the Soviet Union announced the establishment of the Mediterranean Fleet.

The Soviet Union’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier will be incorporated into this new fleet. The strategic location here is excellent, with Greece and Crete to the south, Gibraltar to the west, and the Suez Canal and the Middle East to the east.

The Soviet Navy was finally no longer held back by a strait.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

This means a nightmare for Serbia.

Take a look at the map. Serbia is bordered by the Warsaw Pact to the north and east, the Yugoslav People's Federation to the west and south, and Albania to the southwest is now also a Warsaw Pact country.

Serbia is completely surrounded!

The only exit is Montenegro. Montenegro, together with Serbia, formed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and it has a stretch of Adriatic coastline—Serbia's only window to the outside world.

However, there are separatist voices within Montenegro. Some Montenegrins do not want to be tied to Serbia, especially given Serbia's recent defeats and the near collapse of its economy due to sanctions.

The United States must increase its aid to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia—especially economic aid and political support. The United States needs to prevent Montenegro's secession. Once Montenegro secedes from Serbia and joins the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Serbia will truly be completely surrounded by the Warsaw Pact.

By then, the United States will only have Greece as its foothold in the Balkans.

Greece is a NATO member, but it also has conflicts with its NATO allies and neighbors—the name dispute over Macedonia, the long-standing feud with Turkey... Greece is not a reliable pawn.

On the chessboard of the Balkans, the Soviet Union has more and more pieces, while the United States has fewer and fewer.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.