By Ben Andoni
Sali Berisha can speak about anything, but yesterday, his words fell silent regarding what happened at the White House, where Ukrainian President Zelensky faced a harsh confrontation with Mr. Trump and his vice president, J.D. Vance. A few hours later, Berisha spoke about a consulate in Michigan and the help that Albanians gave to Trump! To some extent, he has a point, as his name was mentioned in the U.S. Congress regarding the mismanagement of American funds. Yet, no one could have imagined that not only he but also his entire entourage would remain so mute about a war that is taking lives and, above all, carries a profound moral weight. Not a single word for Ukraine from the stifled professors and experts of the Democratic Party. Opposite him, just as silent, was Mr. Rama.
Consider that just a few days ago, in Davos, a memorandum was signed between him and Zelensky (!); a full summit on Ukraine was held in Tirana; and no politician from Rama’s circle missed an opportunity to use every form of propaganda to show who was closer to Zelensky. And yet, yesterday, they all fell silent. This silence made repulsive what we once considered merely pathetic—the desperate attempts of Albania’s political protagonists to showcase their connection to Zelensky, exhausting us with their relentless handshakes and photo opportunities.
Far from these local trivialities, never more than yesterday—aside from the moment of Russia’s initial aggression—has Ukrainian President Zelensky received such overwhelming support, particularly from within the United States. On X, the platform owned by Trump’s protégé, Musk, one can find numerous statements reflecting the moral decline in American foreign policy, a decline felt first and foremost by American citizens themselves.
Trump’s former National Security Advisor, John Bolton, summed it up bluntly:
“Ronald Reagan must be turning in his grave as an American president says he ‘trusts’ the Kremlin.”
Meanwhile, Liz Cheney, now a professor in the Department of Politics at the University of Virginia and once one of the most prominent names in the Republican Party, reminded her former colleagues—now at the top of American politics—to read more American history and start their education with a famous Reagan quote about freedom:
“Perhaps you and I have lived too long with this miracle to be grateful as we should. Freedom is a fragile thing, and it has never been more than one generation away from extinction. It doesn’t come as an inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. And those in world history who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.”
