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Comment by mongol | Hacker News Reader

What made Albania the country they ended up in? It is quite interesting, in Sweden, a well known but controversial politician, (Hanif Bali), grew up in a camp in Iraq to parents from this group, and while he was sent to Sweden as a child, his parents eventually ended up in Albania. When I heard that story, I did not pay particular interest to "why Albania", but now I start to wonder why.

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Albania is very subservient to the US. Pro- US sentiment stretches back to the early 20th century when the Albanian diaspora in the US helped Albania establish her national identity.

They're powerless, but quite unsavory - no one really wants to have an authoritarian cult on their territory, even if they can't stomach letting Iran execute them as seems likely.

Hence giving them asylum is considered a relatively cheap way for a NATO member state like Albania with limited military and economic resources to pull its weight.

Could be that Albania has a unique Muslim majority in Europe so it would be more sympathetic to other Muslims, in this case refugees from Iran?

Bosnia is also majority muslim.

Also, consider that a quarter (half?) of Albanians and Kosovaars have left for Germany and other places in non-muslim Europe and are fairly well integrated.

How is it that the MEK prefers Albania when Albanians themselves prefer to leave?

What's unique about Albania is not that they are muslim, but the stratospheric corruption of the country. Its makes the country a very useful dumping ground for certain problems NATO encounters (chemical weapons, laundering, terrorists)

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