Tirana, Albania. Eighty years ago, Albanians made a fateful mistake for which they are still paying today: they voted for a Marxist, Leninist, and Stalinist leader who used democracy to come to power and then destroyed it. He also destroyed the separation of powers, freedomof expression, private property and autonomous imstitutions/
Pristina, Kosovo.– In this Muslim-majority capital, there is a statue of President William Clinton; you enter via George W. Bush Boulevard. In front of the hotel where I am staying, there is a bronze bust of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
The West embodies ideals of freedom, democracy, and human rights, developed through a history of civil progress, albeit with ongoing risks from authoritarianism. Recent challenges from figures like Trump and rising far-right movements jeopardize these values, threatening the established international frameworks that promote global solidarity and democratic governance.