<p>3/ This book starts with the dying days of Hoxha&#39;s rule, and traces the country&#39;s history to mid-2015. Abrahams first landed in Albania in 1991 and has returned regularly ever since, so he knows about as much about it as any Western observer. ↵</p>

<p>2/ There not a lot of English literature on Albania, which is definitely one of the odder corners of its part of the world: what some have described as the North Korea of Europe due to Enver Hoxha&#39;s closed state. ↵</p>

<p>1/ I know very little about the Balkans, and I discovered this excellent book, Modern Albania by Fred Abrahams, in an unusual way. I was at the Albania exhibit at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025, and this happened to be placed with the exhibit. ↵<br /><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/BookReview" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>BookReview</span></a></p>

<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mastodon.social/@whitequark" class="u-url mention">@<span>whitequark</span></a></span> the whole point of Guantánamo Bay was that it was not US soil. That’s why they get to do all the sorts of horrible things there that are illegal in the US.</p>

<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mastodon.social/@whitequark" class="u-url mention">@<span>whitequark</span></a></span> If I want to send my package to Hawaii I would choose...?</p>

<p>For the English speaking audience, &quot;Путин хуйло&quot; (Putin&#39;s a dick) was a chant Ukrainians invented in 2014, I think (if not before that). Glad to see it being creatively reused against another dictator.</p>

<p>You bet! <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/nokings" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>nokings</span></a></p>

<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://bitbang.social/@slaeshjag" class="u-url mention">@<span>slaeshjag</span></a></span> i think the near end loopback mode in this PHY is fucked</p>

<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mastodon.social/@edmeme" class="u-url mention">@<span>edmeme</span></a></span> yeah it&#39;s the same INS</p>