Reports that Syria's chemical weapons stash would be destroyed in Albania [1] have angered Albanians, who took to the streets to protest the proposal. Following the protests, the Albanian government refused to host the dismantling of 1,300 metric tons of Syria's sarin, mustard and other agents.
Online, Albanian netizens made their views heard.
[2]Environmentalists gathered on November 12th in the Albanian capital of Tirana to protest their country's plan to accept chemical weapons from Syria. Source: PBS Newshour. Used under CC BY 2.0
In an Open Letter to President Obama [3], Albania Reloaded wrote:
I am a deeply concerned citizen of Albania, who like millions of Albanians is shocked by the news that deadly toxic chemical arsenal of Assad’s regime is landing to Albanian shores. For a small country of 28,000 km2, over-populated, with poor infrastructure, with countless problems in every sector of the economy, health, education, environment, agriculture, tourism, struggling for over two decades to fight corruption and organized crime plagued in every cell of our society, the decision of demolition chemical weapons in Albania is TOXIC. The lethal impact that this potential decision will have in the lives of Albanians and the generations to come is unquestionable.
Robert Kyriakides explained the case in his blog Not In My Backyard – Destroying Syria’s Chemical Weapons in Albania [4]:
[5]Source: Friends of Syria on WordPress. Used under CC By 2.0
We do not hear much about Syria these days. It seems that the agreement to remove and destroy the chemical weapons of Syria has removed the threat of an intervention by the Western democracies which will now not bomb Syria and add their own destruction to the destruction and death that they Syrians are inflicting upon themselves, with a little help from their friends.