Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama found himself confronted by a Kosovo activist regarding the demolition of the National Theatre last night during a Kosovo talk show.
In contrast with Albanian journalists, who often tend to be more restrained when arguing with Rama, activist Rron Gjinovci directly accused the Albanian Prime Minister of stealing public property to deliver to his oligarch clients. It is not believable, Gjinovci said, that the May 17 arrests and violence against activists protecting the Theatre came by only as a result of an “aesthetic” issue.
Gjinovci called the Albanian opposition weak, as well, and lamented the fact that the opposition’s meekness has allowed Rama to remain in power for so long.
The Albanian Prime Minister responded to these accusations by calling Gjinovci ‘rude’, ‘ignorant’ and ‘a propagandistic tool’. However, when faced with the Prime Minister’s bullying discussion tactics, that often tend to intimidate and subdue his opponents in Albanian talk shows, the activist cut him off reminding him that, unlike Rama’s Albanian opponents, he would not allow the Prime Minister to offend him.
Rama continued following the common tactics of his rulebook, denying Gjinovci’s accusations, attacking Gjinovci, in turn, for attempting to hold him accountable, and accusing him of being sent by Rama’s political opponents to purposefully antagonize the Prime Minister.
When Gjinovci responded that he is just an activist who speaks his mind, and pressed Rama about his luxurious villa, the Prime Minister said his house was just one of the 500,000 similar houses in Albania.
In the process, Rama repeated one of his favorite invented quotes which he keeps using when he feels in a difficult position, despite repeated fact checking at Exit News. This time Rama reused an Immanuel Kant quote he has fabricated in 2016: “When someone accuses you of something which you have not done and presents no facts, either he/she did that something on his/her own, or he/she is able to actually do it.”
