Albania is a mess

CHINESE LANTERNS painted with the word “Ik” drift across the evening sky. Waving red Albanian flags emblazoned with its double-headed black eagle, as well as European Union and American ones, the crowd chants “Rama Ik! Rama Ik! Rama Ik!” Since February, in a series of mass protests, the opposition has been demanding that Edi Rama, the prime minister, must—in one word—go. During such raucous demonstrations, firecrackers and paint bombs are regularly hurled at his office. Lulzim Basha, leader of the opposition Democratic Party, which has led the protests, tells his supporters: “I won’t let this country slip into eastern despotic ways!” But as chaos in parliament and on the streets persists, Albania’s chances of being embraced by the EU are dwindling.