Former US congressman, Joseph DioGuardi, who together with Congressman Tom Lantos, was among the first to open the Kosovo issue in the US, claims that Hashim Thaçi and Ramush Haradinaj are mobsters, who are not interested in anything other than money and power – Pristina-based daily Gazeta Express reports, citing Insajder website.
“Hashim Thaçi and Ramush Haradinaj are mobsters, they are not interested in people, but only money and power,” DioGuardi said.
DioGuardi also says that that he is yet to see a reason why Pristina will attract the highest instances the United States. He adds that this will be done without co-operation with Kosovo Albanians, Albanians from Albania and Albanians living in Macedonia.
Dioguardi was a New York representative in the US Congress from 1985 to 1989. He is a Republican who supports a strict policy towards Russia, and although he supported Donald Trump in the presidential race, he became his worst critic as he fears that Trump will lead America into bankruptcy.
“Public debt is growing, and our economy depends on the money we do not have,” explained DioGuardi, who is of Albanian origin and originates from a village in Italy.
He says he dedicated his life to the Albanian goal, and is still active in the US as the leader of the Albanian-American League.
“Kosovo and Albania are in a very bad condition because of the political elite who thinks that everything can be bought. They tried to buy me too, they offered me money in exchange for my support,” he said.
DioGuardi accused Thaci of paying 2.3 million euros to the former senator, Robert Dole just to write a preface in the book “New State, Modern Statesman: Hashim Thaci – a Biography” written by British journalists Suzy Jagger and Roger Boyes.
“He gave 2.3 million euros of Kosovo taxpayers’ money to that man just to write a preface for the book preface,” DioGuardi said.
DioGuardi also claims that Robert Dole is considered a “great friend of Albanians”, and his company Alston Bird won the competition to provide special services for the Kosovo government and the president.
He adds that the deal with Dole implies campaigning for Kosovo in the United States, providing quick and quality information, providing advice and analysis, identifying key international officials in the lobbying strategy, and influencing sectors and officials in line with Pristina’s interests.
DioGuardi claims that he will never meet up with any of the Albanian leaders because they are corrupt.
DioGuardi is currently writing a book in which, he says, he will reveal all the details of his engagement in lobbying for Kosovo, beginning with his first visit to Belgrade and Pristina in 1989, as well as, as he claims, the crimes committed in Kosovo during the time of the president of Serbia, Slobodan Milosevic.
For DioGuardi, Kosovo’s independence is the greatest achievement. He is convinced that Kosovo will never merge with Albania.
Although he refuses to meet up with the Kosovo politicians, he is more than willing to meet the representatives of the civil society in Kosovo. “I do not want to meet with politicians, I do not want photo-ops with them, I do not want medals, I do not want money from them.. I want to go to Pristina and promote my book,” DioGuardi concluded.
(Vecernje Novosti, 23.04.2018)
Photo credits: AP, Tanjug
This post is also available in: Italiano