4 ms·
It's an interesting place. The language (Shqip) is Indo-European, but not closely related to any existing lamguage. The population is mainly Moslem, but isolat
by tengwar2 4y ago
It's an interesting place. The language (Shqip) is Indo-European, but not closely related to any existing lamguage. The population is mainly Moslem, but isolated from other Moslem-majority countries. They were allied with Communist China rather than the USSR. Today it's modernising fast, like most of Eastern Europe. I rode through there in 2017 on my way to FFYROM. They have some motorways now. Financial infrastructure supported contactless payments, and using an Apple Watch to pay for petrol did not raise any eyebrows. On the other hand the farms I passed were gathering hay in to ricks by with pitchforks rather than using balers, do some aspects are fair way behind.
- galdosdi 4y agoTo be fair, as long as cheap grain exports are available (although lately that's been in question), a weird situation has become possible where developing countries have been able to leapfrog past agricultural modernization, abandon the agricultural sector entirely, and focus on industrialization instead. It turns out though this has a mixed effect... In good times, this works for the same reason you and I going to a job to get cash to then pay for groceries works a lot better than you and I also trying to grow our own food. In bad times, if the country does not have the means to keep paying for and securing imports, famine, hunger, death, and violent upheaval happen.