Word: albania
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Known to its citizens as the "land of the Eagle," Albania is notable on two dubious counts: it is Europe's poorest nation and a relic of the Stalinist era. For four decades, doctrinaire Dictator Enver Hoxha ruled the country with a monomaniacal determination and a fanatical brand of xenophobia. He proclaimed Albania to be the only true Marxist-Leninist state and pursued a program of "national self-reliance" that cut off virtually all ties with East and West. The country has no diplomatic relations with either the Soviet Union or the United States...
...isolationist policies still guide the current leadership, at least on the surface. In a speech to the Albanian Communist Party Congress earlier this month, Hoxha's handpicked successor, Ramiz Alia, 61, said, "Our party will apply his teachings with courage and wisdom." Yet even before Hoxha's death, Albania had begun to crack open its doors, and today there are signs that the eagle may be ready at long last to spread its wings...
...Evil Empire, circa 1954. Stalin is dead, Georgi Malenkov sits unsurely as party chief, and the ruthless Lavrenti Beria, head of the KGB, plots his own ascension. The monolith is in transition, and the U.S. and Britain launch a secret commando raid to overthrow the Soviet- dominated government of Albania. The assault fails because of traitors in high places...
...Should Harvard divest from companies doing business in Albania...
Hoxha, the product of a middle-class Muslim home and a French education, rose to power as head of the partisan resistance to the German and Italian occupation in World War II. He ruled Albania ruthlessly, sending tens of thousands to forced-labor camps. He tolerated no political opposition, and his rivals were frequently eliminated, including Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu, his closest associate. Shehu was officially reported to have committed suicide in December 1981, but it was widely rumored that Hoxha shot him in an argument over seeking ties with the West, which Hoxha then opposed...