
SAS Rescue 3 Trapped British Diplomats in Albania - Hansig_jw
https://www.mydiplomaticlife.com/sas-rescue-trapped-diplomats-in-albania/
======
sushshshsh
The reason for the "civil disturbance" in Albania in 1997-1998 is very
interesting to study: the collapse of nation wide Ponzi schemes.

Several different Albanian Ponzi schemes were basically marketing themselves
as banks, and they were real legitimate businesses with IT employees and
salesmen and everything.

Eventually almost every Albanian had money tied up in these schemes in one way
or another, and one by one they all started to go bust as the leaders ran away
with the money or were otherwise unable to payout interest on deposits, or
even return initial principal deposits.

As a result, the nation rioted, and the PM decided to flee.

Realizing this, certain elements in the Albanian population decided to raid
the local police armories for military equipment of all times. And what
resulted was an interesting and tragic case study of what happens when several
different armed factions and many thousands of bandits begin to commit
violence against anyone and everyone under the guise of "re-establishing law
and order".

~~~
baybal2
Indeed, a very good case to learn from for people saying "such things can't
happen" in a modern civil state country.

Albania is of course not the best examples of a "Western" country, but it is
far more than, say, what ex-Soviet states were.

Imagine a few big banks falling in the same manner in a particularly low point
for ones country. In a few breakdowns of civil states so far, since the WW2,
the prime majority fell to "lightning out of the blue"

~~~
paulie_a
Is Albania considered a western country at all? I never thought of it as such.

~~~
skissane
Albania has been a member of NATO since 2009, and (just this year) has begun
negotiations to join the EU.

Not every "Western" country is a NATO member, but NATO members are usually
counted as "Western". Similarly, EU member states generally count as
"Western", and a country formally negotiating to join the EU probably falls in
that bucket too.

Turkey is possibly the big exception to the generalisations that "NATO
member"="Western" and "negotiating to join the EU"="Western". However, Turkey
used to have much more of a pro-Western orientation when it was ruled for
decades by secular nationalists. It is only in the last 20 or so years, with
Turkey being ruled by the religiously conservative AKP, that Turkey has been
moving away from a "Western" identity. But Albania's politics are very
different from those of Turkey. Albania's politics are dominated by secular
parties. While both Turkey and Albania are majority Muslim, the kind of
religious conservatism which is the driving force behind the current Turkish
government is far less popular among Albanians.

------
asimeqi
As an Albanian who had left the country 4 days before those events, I think I
should add a few comments.

While there had been unrest in 1997, there had been no civil unrest at the
capital, Tirane, for about a year before this happened. Many embassies,
including the U.S.A. one were opened. What sparked this unrest was the killing
of an opposition politician. There were accusations that the government killed
him. It is now mostly clear that the government didn't do it.

It is not clear to this day if the revolt was an attempted coup or not. There
is a video,
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WjksCDho2Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WjksCDho2Y),
of the office of the prime minister burning on that day. One would assume that
if there was a coup they wouldn't burn the office they intended to occupy. But
protesters did occupy briefly the State TV and a member of the opposition
appeared and said the situation was under control. The prime minister had left
the country. The situation was stabilized by the American embassy who told the
opposition that they would not recognize their government if they created one.
That was enough to calm the situation in a few days. That was also the last
time there was a major civil unrest in Albania (though the office of prime
minister has been attacked a few more times).

No matter which side of politics would be in charge they meant no harm to the
British interests. Given the respect that the people have for Britain and the
legendary good treatment that the Albanians reserve for their guests, the risk
to the Britsh embassy was very small. Clearly there could always be
opportunistic criminals that can use the occasion to act while the police is
not around, but the fact that no foreigners were hurt before, during or after
the events should be good enough proof.

I take issue with the article's characterization that the protesters were
shooting at his car. While I clearly wasn't there, unfortunately I had been
present at other similar events and it was always the case that the protesters
and anybody else involved were generally shooting on the air. If a bunch of
armed men were really shooting at the car, the car would have been hit.

------
ardit33
Albanian here, want to clarify some things:

1\. The situation was never that bad as the post makes....

It is similar to the current June events in the US (unrests/protests), but
sans looting of random businesses, just burning of the PM office (instead of a
police precinct).

2\. That politician, was not killed by the government, but it is rumored
(never verified) that he was setup by his rival leader of his own party. The
same guy who very conveniently then went to the streets and demand the
government step down. His own bodyguard was somehow intermingled in this
thing.

3\. Also, 0 foreigners were harmed during these protests, or past ones... I
know Embassies have to take precautions, in Albania foreigners are treat as
'guests' of the house, and treated well. (even during protests). Sounds weird,
but that's how it is. It is like the whole nation has the 'responsibility'
that the foreign guests have a good time when they visit.

It is from old traditions/customs, dating back to ancient times...

4\. This is an example of good American intervention, by then Bill Clinton's
cabinet, which was very competent. They basically called the 'bad guy', and
told him that the US would not recognize this government, as it was not
democratically elected, and you will be considered an outlawed gov. and
isolated from the rest of the world. That was enough, for the 'bad
politician', to step down, and let a provisory government with members from
all major parties to take over until the next elections. The coup-de-ta was
over in two days with just one phone call, and probably spared the country
from further unrests.

I know for some reason American involvement gets a lot of flack, but great
examples of 'just/correct' and successful intervention almost never make the
news. It is always the failures that do, unfortunately.

Ps. Also, Albania is a very beautiful Mediterranean country... while it is
lacking in infrastructure, It is just as beautiful as neighbors (southern
Italy, Greece or Croatia, which most americans are familiar with).

[https://pixabay.com/images/search/albania/](https://pixabay.com/images/search/albania/)

[https://www.thetravel.com/20-breathtaking-photos-that-
will-m...](https://www.thetravel.com/20-breathtaking-photos-that-will-make-
you-want-to-check-out-albania-asap/)

~~~
walshemj
Bodies lying in the street as described is pretty bad

~~~
asimeqi
Press accounts of the day speak about only one protester dead and 4 policemen
wounded. See for example BBC
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/170367.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/170367.stm).
It's almost sure that all of them were hit by ricocheted bullets or bullets
falling from the sky. So most likely the body that he speaks about was one of
the wounded policemen. The policemen most probably had just been wounded and
was rescued soon after the diplomat saw him. There are no known cases of
wounded or dead bodies lying on Albanian streets for long periods of time at
any time in the history of the country.

------
ChrisMarshallNY
That's a cool site.

As someone who spent most of my childhood overseas, it warms my heart to see
this kind of thing get a bit more exposure.

My father was in the CIA, then was an administrator for NGOs. I grew up in
some... _interesting_ places.

------
aunty_helen
I spent a week in Albania last year and my experience couldn't be more
opposite (obviously there's no civil war on at the moment).

I love the place and it's mostly because of the people. Never have I met more
friendly laid back and helpful people. For example, my airbnb host that I
stayed with, for all of 2 nights, kept my large suitcase so I could spend the
week in the south with just my carry-on bag. When I got back to Tirana not
only did his brother come and meet me with it, he also dropped me off at my
next airbnb across town and carried it in for me.

Somewhere I wouldn't hesitate to recommend others visiting. I'll be going back
when I can and for longer this time.

~~~
EForEndeavour
It's pretty comical to compare your tourist visit to Albania last year against
a Special Air Service operation during a civil war 23 years ago.

~~~
aunty_helen
mm I get what you mean, but it was more like: Today Albania is a great country
to explore and you'd be missing out if you were in the region and skipped over
it.

Another thing is their reputation within Europe is... well to put it as one
Albanian said to me laughingly: "They're scared of us. They think we're all
gangsters"

Most people don't know a lot about the country so if they just read the
article or go from what they have heard a European say, they might have an
impression that doesn't truly represent it.

~~~
zokier
> Another thing is their reputation within Europe is... well to put it as one
> Albanian said to me laughingly: "They're scared of us. They think we're all
> gangsters"

As an fellow European, I think most people around here would just lump it
together with the rest of Balkans; so nothing personal against Albania
specifically :) And having couple of (internal-ish) wars does tend to leave
memory, especially if they happen on your back yard (from global viewpoint)

------
throwaway0a5e
You can tell that they're well seasoned professional troops by the fact that
they were comfortable enough to stop and get pizza.

~~~
ardit33
Albanian here, want to clarify some things:

1\. The situation was never that bad as the post makes....

It is similar to the current June events in the US (unrests/protests), but
sans looting of random businesses, just burning of the PM office (instead of a
police precinct).

2\. That politician, was not killed by the government, but it is rumored
(never verified) that he was setup by his rival leader of his own party. The
same guy who very conveniently then went to the streets and demand the
government step down. His own bodyguard was somehow intermingled in this
thing.

3\. Also, 0 foreigners were harmed during these protests, or past ones... I
know Embassies have to take precautions, in Albania foreigners are treat as
'guests' of the house, and treated well. (even during protests). Sounds weird,
but that's how it is. It is like the whole nation has the 'responsibility'
that the foreign guests have a good time when they visit.

It is from old traditions/customs, dating back to ancient times...

4\. This is an example of good American intervention, by then Bill Clinton's
cabinet, which was very competent. They basically called the 'bad guy', and
told him that the US would not recognize this government, as it was not
democratically elected, and you will be considered an outlawed gov. and
isolated from the rest of the world. That was enough, for the 'bad
politician', to step down, and let a provisory government with members from
all major parties to take over until the next elections. The coup-de-ta was
over in two days with just one phone call, and probably spared the country
from a massive bloodshed/unrests.

I know for some reason American involvement gets a lot of flack, but great
examples of 'just/correct' and successful intervention almost never make the
news. It is always the failures that do, unfortunately.

~~~
zokier
> It is similar to the current June events in the US (unrests/protests), but
> sans looting of random businesses, just burning of the PM office (instead of
> a police precinct).

Wikipedia claims 2000-3800 deaths during the Albania crisis, in a country with
population of <3 million; US protests have 26 deaths (again from wiki), with
US population being >300 million. That is like 4 orders of magnitude
difference there.

~~~
ardit33
That was in March 1997, completely different thing from this one...

------
twic
Never mind the SAS, who are sauntering around with flak jackets and armed to
the teeth, it's Benny the driver, who volunteered to go on patrol with them,
who is the coolest character in this story!

~~~
asimeqi
I wonder if Benny was a local Albanian. The fact that he spoke Albanian
suggests that indeed he was. In that case his actual name would have been Beni
(but pronounced Benny).

------
iso947
Awesome blog. The Libya one was even better. I have a picture of Hermes Conrad
stamping the forms at the border, using every trick in the book to rescue
those foreign workers. British civil service at its finest.

------
jack_riminton
Interesting how quick the squad was able to deploy, clearly bypassed any
diplomatic decision making

~~~
dmix
There was a civil war in Albania since 1997 and most other countries had their
embassies evacuated. The US Marines cleared the US embassy in Tirana cleared
already:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Silver_Wake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Silver_Wake)

They were probably prepared to deploy for some time (assuming this was 1998
and not 1997):
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_Civil_War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_Civil_War)

------
catalogia
[2020 article about a 1998 occurrence]

~~~
iso947
Yes I did a double tape originally. And it was the driver who residue the
diplomats, the sas turns up later to fortify the embassy.

------
kif
Very nice article. It was a very troubling time, with Greece even wanting to
basically invade the south of Albania to "protect minorities".

------
monkpit
This is one of those weird titles that I would interpret differently based on
whether I saw it on HN or in a newspaper.

I was wondering how something called “SAS Rescue 3” would have trapped any
diplomats anywhere.

It also probably has to do with American vs British English and the use of
“Rescue” vs “Rescues”.

~~~
OJFord
It's mostly to do with shitty Click Bait Title Casing. You'd never think 'SAS
rescue three' was the name of a military unit.

BTW HN turns submitted titles into Shit Casing if they contain a certain
amount of caps (happens easily with acronyms). If you edit it again, it will
accept the original. Wish it would just take what you submit in the first
place though.

------
chimen
Recommended watch on Youtube: SASA who dares wins. I'm hooked.

------
SagelyGuru
EU started accession process with Albania in March this year. It appears to be
following the same model as Ancient Rome, Napoleon and Hitler, relying on a
constant stream of newly acquired territories to continue its existence.

------
speedgoose
This is not about Scandinavian Airlines.

