Madeleine Albright was prophetic when in an article written for the New York Times on February 23 of this year (24 hours before Vladimir Putin had that idea) she stated that if Russia invaded Ukraine it would be “a bloody and catastrophic war that would drain Russia of resources and would cost many lives while creating a strong incentive in Europe to substitute other fuel for Russian gas. This is precisely what is happening.
Paradoxically, her decisions as US Secretary of State laid the groundwork for Vladimir Putin’s resentment of the West to be unleashed. Indeed, it is Mrs. Albright who initiates NATO’s expansion into Eastern Europe by actively campaigning for the entry of Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary into the Atlantic alliance. Meanwhile her intellectual rival Henry Kissinger warned the world that ‘it is a bad idea to expand NATO’. In Russia this first extension was viewed with displeasure but not concern. But when Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia were invited to join the treaty in 2002, Mr Putin began hatching his war plans. In 2017 he entered Montenegro and in 2020 Macedonia. By then Mr Putin had already occupied Crimea and was clearly executing plans to occupy Ukraine. All this leads us to doubt how correct Mrs. Albright’s policy was. For the fathers of geopolitics like George Kennan and Henry Kissinger, those decisions were very wrong. For her father Her intellectual ZbIgniew Brzezinski were instrumental in building a new world order. Both she and Brzezinski supported the Prague declaration promoted by Vaclac Havel in which the idea of establishing a date to commemorate the genocides of communism is launched. Both were liberals on domestic policy, but hawks on foreign policy. Both had been born in two nations occupied by Russia since World War II. All this leads us to doubt how correct Mrs. Albright’s policy was. For the fathers of geopolitics like George Kennan and Henry Kissinger, those decisions were very wrong. For her father Her intellectual ZbIgniew Brzezinski were instrumental in building a new world order. Both she and Brzezinski supported the Prague declaration promoted by Vaclac Havel in which the idea of establishing a date to commemorate the genocides of communism is launched. Both were liberals on domestic policy, but hawks on foreign policy. Both had been born in two nations occupied by Russia since World War II. All this leads us to doubt how correct Mrs. Albright’s policy was. For the fathers of geopolitics like George Kennan and Henry Kissinger, those decisions were very wrong. For her father Her intellectual ZbIgniew Brzezinski were instrumental in building a new world order. Both she and Brzezinski supported the Prague declaration promoted by Vaclac Havel in which the idea of establishing a date to commemorate the genocides of communism is launched. Both were liberals on domestic policy, but hawks on foreign policy. Both had been born in two nations occupied by Russia since World War II. For the fathers of geopolitics like George Kennan and Henry Kissinger, those decisions were very wrong. For his Intellectual father ZbIgniew Brzezinski they were essential to build a new world order. Both she and Brzezinski supported the Prague declaration promoted by Vaclac Havel in which the idea of establishing a date to commemorate the genocides of communism is launched. Both were liberals on domestic policy, but hawks on foreign policy. Both had been born in two nations occupied by Russia since World War II. For the fathers of geopolitics like George Kennan and Henry Kissinger, those decisions were very wrong. For his Intellectual father ZbIgniew Brzezinski they were essential to build a new world order. Both she and Brzezinski supported the Prague declaration promoted by Vaclac Havel in which the idea of establishing a date to commemorate the genocides of communism is launched. Both were liberals on domestic policy, but hawks on foreign policy. Both had been born in two nations occupied by Russia since World War II. Both she and Brzezinski supported the Prague declaration promoted by Vaclac Havel in which the idea of establishing a date to commemorate the genocides of communism is launched. Both were liberals on domestic policy, but hawks on foreign policy. Both had been born in two nations occupied by Russia since World War II. Both she and Brzezinski supported the Prague declaration promoted by Vaclac Havel in which the idea of establishing a date to commemorate the genocides of communism is launched. Both were liberals on domestic policy, but hawks on foreign policy. Both had been born in two nations occupied by Russia since World War II.
And from those sands comes the mud that we are confronting today that, according to other experts, was necessary to materialize to put an end to the mirage of Russian power. Unfortunately, this option for managing geopolitics is taking shape at a time when the world economy is convalescing from COVID 19 and when the West has lost world manufacturing dominance, which is the unquestionable banner of Asia and, very particularly, of China.
Mrs. Albright will also be remembered for her position on the genocide perpetrated by the Serbs in Kosovo. The American bombardment not only put an end to that disgrace, but brought about Milosevic’s downfall. Perhaps the West will end up with no choice but to box Ms. Albright in. But in this case that option would be to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine to put an end to this tragedy.
In her book “Read My Brooches” Mrs. Albright indicated that she chose the brooches to wear on each occasion not only to highlight her outfit but to warn her rivals when there would be peace and when there would be war. We assume that in all her meetings with Mr. Putin she had to wear warrior pins because until the end of the day she opposed him head-on.
Beatrice Rangel. Internationalist; Master in economic development, member of the Council on Foreign Relations of the United States
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