As if Secretary of State Antony Blinken wasn’t embroiled in enough foreign debacles, he is now accused of interference in Albania’s elections on behalf of billionaire financier George Soros and is being sued for defamation in an international court as a result.

One of Blinken’s curious first actions upon taking office last year was to sanction the former president and prime minister of Albania, Sali Berisha, the anti-communist ally of Presidents HW and W. Bush, and who has been in opposition for eight years. years, and who is a vocal opponent of Soros and his Open Society Foundations, which push for judicial and electoral “reform” in Albania.

In an official statement and accompanying tweet last April, Blinken alleged that Berisha was “corrupt” and had “undermined democracy in Albania”, and banned him, his wife and two children from to enter the United States.

Berisha strenuously denies the allegations, is outraged that Blinken never provided evidence, says the US government is trying to prop up the Albanian socialist government of Soros-allied Prime Minister Edi Rama, and has launched a libel suit against the secretary before a court in Paris. Last year, the Paris Criminal Court agreed to hear his case.

“Never in my life have I been accused of corruption by any person or institution,” Berisha said over the phone from the Albanian capital Tirana. “The opposite was true. I have worked very closely with the US government in the fight against corruption.

The problem with Soros

He says the sanctions are retaliation for his attempt to declare Soros “persona non grata” in Albania after raising concerns about the pernicious influence of Soros’ Open Society foundations on his country.

“I never had a personal problem with George Soros. The problem is that he first helped Albania to have a civil society and I was grateful, but in a short time it became clear that he was creating a monastic model of civil society. . .

“The Soros group dictated everything. So now we have a judicial system, totally controlled by the government. . . The heads of the judicial institutions, in violation of the constitutional laws, are for the moment former communist prosecutors.

Berisha, a cardiologist who led the movement to overthrow Albania’s communist dictatorship, served as Albania’s first non-communist president from 1992, then its prime minister and opposition leader.

New York Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin smells a rat and has three times demanded that Blinken provide evidence to back up his corruption allegations against Berisha. At a House Foreign Affairs Committee meeting last June, Zeldin said the decision “seemed to have come out of nowhere.”

Zeldin said Berisha “was also known to be an aggressive opponent of George Soros. What specific information can you share with the committee at this time to justify this dramatic decision? »

“Unacceptable and suspicious”

Matt Palumbo claims in his new book “The Man Behind the Curtain: Inside the Secret Network of George Soros” that Blinken has family ties to Soros.

He points to the fact that the Secretary of State’s father, Donald Blinken, the former United States Ambassador to Hungary, and his wife Vera funded the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives at Europe University. Central Budapest, which was founded and funded by Soros. .

Palumbo also cites a 2002 Soros Foundations Network report, in which Donald Blinken is listed on the university’s board of trustees, with Soros as chairman.

After Antony Blinken’s confirmation as Secretary of State, Hungarian newspaper Magyar Nemzet called it “good news for George Soros”.

In November, Zeldin again wrote to Blinken asking him to justify his actions in Albania.

“This is now my third request for additional information since I raised the issue of Sali Berisha’s sanction with Secretary Blinken during the June 7, 2021, House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing,” Zeldin wrote.

“Congress plays an important oversight role for the executive branch, including the State Department, but my office received few alarming details in response to my inquiries. It is unacceptable and suspicious that the State Department failed to sufficiently respond to this request for additional information in a timely manner and instead chose to slow down a request for transparency from Congress.

Blinken must be clear. If he has evidence that Berisha is corrupt, he should make it public. Otherwise, America’s reputation is tarnished.

Court gets swayed at Bidens pal

Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s former business partner, best friend and colleague at Yale, will finally be sentenced later this month, which could end the jet-setting lifestyle he indulged in while on bail. bail.

Archer, 47, lost his appeal to the Supreme Court in December to have his 2018 criminal conviction overturned, relating to a $60 million scheme to defraud a Native American tribe.

The president’s son was never charged with fraud and was not allegedly implicated. But the court heard his name was used as a selling point and he was portrayed in promotional brochures as vice-chairman of Burnham Financial Group, the company at the center of the scam.

Unlike Archer’s cronies Bevan Cooney and John Galanis, who were tried alongside him in 2018 and jailed, Archer had his conviction overturned by US District Judge Ronnie Abrams.

Judge Abrams, an Obama appointee and married to Mueller’s special prosecutor, Greg Andres, said she was “left with unwavering concern that Archer is innocent of the crimes charged.”

His decision was overturned on appeal, and Archer’s last stop was the Supreme Court.

Amid his legal woes, Archer complained to Hunter about his predicament.

“Why did the people appointed by your father’s administration arrest me and try to put me in jail?” he wrote on March 6, 2019 in a text message found on Hunter’s abandoned laptop. “Why would they try to ruin my family and destroy my children and have no one in your family step in and at least try to help me?” I do not understand.

Hunter responded with an essay on the equal branches of government before reassuring his friend that he would not be abandoned by the Biden family.

“Every large family is persecuted. . . you are part of one big family – not a side show, not abandoned by them even in your darkest moments. This is how Bidens are different, and you are a Biden. It’s the price of power and the people who question you really don’t have any.

Now, Archer’s luck may have run out as he faces potential jail time.

Perhaps the shock of his impending date with fate made him forget his golf clubs at Plandome Country Club, where he played last year. A local spotted the Yale-themed golf bag abandoned outside the Long Island private club last month. No word on when Archer will return.

* Miranda Devine is the author of “Laptop from Hell: Hunter Biden, Big Tech, and the Dirty Secrets the President Tryed to Hide” (Post Hill Press).