President Clinton, the president who has traveled abroad the most, visits Tirana on Independence Day in the USA.
President Clinton’s visit to Tirana today, on July 4th, is a visit in our national interest, to give a warm welcome to Bill Clinton on this exact date, where he has chosen to visit the capital of our country. With President Clinton, of course, “we need him more than he needs us.”
He is the president of the richest and most powerful country in the world. Beyond wealth and military power, the United States has rightfully assumed the role of global “policeman” and “judge.”
Most nations, even if not openly stated, agree that during each presidential term, America has been fair and careful in its relations with other countries. This has been demonstrated twice in our history as Albanians: in 1920, President Wilson stopped the partitioning of Albania at the Peace Conference, which marked a turning point following the American note in March 1920. And in 1999, the USA, along with NATO, militarily intervened for Kosovo’s freedom.
At the forefront of her presentation in the US Senate, prior to her approval for her mandate in Albania, Ambassador Yuri Kim (December 2019) mentioned the support that the United States provided to Albania, preventing the division of its territories at the end of World War I.
She mentioned it with purpose!
“The truth, which until now we didn’t know or didn’t say, states that from 1918 to 1920, President Woodrow Wilson and the American Government not only protected Albania from territorial division but also had in their plans the final and accurate determination of borders, aiming to unite all Albanians, spread everywhere, around the central core, with the ultimate goal of realizing a unified state.”
Former US President Bill Clinton said in Pristina during his visit on June 12, 2019, that he felt honored to have stood with the people of Kosovo “against ethnic cleansing and for their freedom.” As he was welcomed as a hero in the center of Pristina during the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of NATO troops’ entry into Kosovo, celebrated as Independence Day on June 12th.
Clinton: “I have a photograph in my office in New York, it’s a photo in Pristina after the end of the conflict, with Secretary Albright, General Clark, Tony Blair, and myself. Every day I look at that photo to remind myself of the main purpose that justified the use of force. I remember the faces of the citizens when I met them here 20 years ago, at a school in Ferizaj. On that day, I said something that I want to say today as well: 78 days of NATO air strikes may have won this war, but only the citizens who were in high school that day and the other citizens of Kosovo can win peace. Twenty years later, I think you have done a wonderful job in achieving peace, and I know that in times of peace, the most important thing is to look ahead.”
Clinton said he will always be honored to be in Kosovo, free.
These analyses and reports have been written so clearly and accurately, preserving their value even today. In fact, entire phrases and formulations used 100 years ago continue to be used by American politicians as constant and serious positions regarding relations between Albania and its neighboring countries.
But how did it happen that the leaders of the world’s most powerful country invested so much in a population of less than 7 to 8 million Albanians in the Balkans, whose history, except for the times of Skanderbeg, had never crossed the Balkan borders?
We will find the answer in the traces left in historical documentation to explain this remarkable affection for Albania and the Albanians.
