== Albania, the Light of the World == 

 Hi, Didn't one of my countrymen shoot down your cousin? Sorry about that. 
 I have no personal stake in this. 
 There was a handy who's-on-the-team page at the BBC which said something useful along these lines. 
 But, as I have noticed often before, once the BBC makes a page go away, it really goes away. 
 I can't find it again. 
 They were using an Italian base just across the Adriatic from Albania. This is on a BBC map I could find. 
 So, given bad weather, etc., you might have need of a backup base. 
 Now, whether there was actual need of it ... ? 
 Joining a team requires a very high level of political decision-making since there can be repercussions. So a PM or President is involved whether or not the military did very much. 
 The military presumably would have gone on alert and increased patrols. Maybe even bought some bullets. 
 Now, your assessment of the overall situation sounds suspiciously like that thing I hesitate to mention.