'What does Edi Rama do in West Point?'

By Frank Shkreli; original source here 

 The mission of the United States Military Academy at West Point is to “educate, train, and instruct cadet corps so that every graduate there is a leader of character, sworn to the values ​​of Duty, Honor, Homeland, and prepared for a professional career and in the service of the Nation, as an officer of the United States Army ”.

Usually, the Military Academy in West Point is visited by the Presidents of the United States, but not for political and partisan purposes, as the US military is over these dirty games of domestic or foreign policy and tries never to fall prey to manipulators who try to use the military for their ugly, personal and temporary political purposes.

There are other leaders, especially in the US military, who visit and deliver cadet graduation speeches, as happened this year when Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III spoke to them to inspire the recently graduated cadets for their new duty in the service of the Homeland.

At West Point, there is also a limited number (about 20 in total) of cadets from foreign, allied countries of America. It is fortunate that Prime Minister Rama finally revealed that there are and have been Albanians from Albania and Kosovo, sworn to the values: Duty, Honor, Homeland.

The American cadets of West Point, but also those few cadets from foreign countries, are selected among the best of the best, among the most prepared from the academic point of view, but also for the character and responsibilities they take upon themselves, as officers of the Armed Forces of the United States, guardians of our freedoms, defenders of our democratic heritage, but also liberators and peacekeepers in the world.

Considering the history that distinguishes it and the reputation it enjoys, not only in America but also around the world, the American Military Academy in West Point, to be honest, as a citizen of this country where we believe that the military and politics do not mix, but also how Albanian-American who believes in some universal values ​​that for decades have been defended by American military leaders who graduated from West Point, and who is known to the world, I was surprised and worried about the visit of Prime Minister Rama. There are many American heroes who have graduated from West Point who have distinguished themselves throughout history in the wars of this country, starting with the First World War and later in the Second World War and in the resistance against international communism during the Cold War. - world-famous military leaders, such as Eisenhower, Mac Arthur, Arnold, Clark, Patton, Stillwell, Wainwright and others later, during the Vietnam War and up to modern times, such as the war in Kosovo, when allied forces led by General Wesley Clark - also a graduate of the West Point Military Academy - attacked Serbian military and police terrorist forces that for years had been committing genocide against Kosovo Albanians - unprecedented in Europe since the World War II.

For me, the mission and tradition of the Military Academy in West Point, as I still live near it, as if I have it in the neighborhood and that is why I was surprised when I read about the visit of Prime Minister Rama, a visit that seemed to me like orchestrated so well for propaganda purposes, as there was no other content. Even the official reason given for this visit - the signing of the West Point twinning act with the Albanian Military Academy - could very easily have been done and should have been done between the President of the American Military Academy and the highest Representative of the Albanian Armed Forces and not by bringing the Prime Minister from Tirana to infiltrate the politics and the conflicting dirt of the Albanian political class. This should not have been part of the protocol on this occasion, but someone did it on purpose, to raise the personality of the Albanian Prime Minister in front of an audience that, apparently, had no idea who Edi Rama is, but the Prime Minister of Albania.

Unfortunately, this is not the way to promote the close ties between the American Nation and the Albanian Nation - people to people we have worked for decades - by promoting individuals and current policies for purposes that still remain unclear, such as unclear who are the persons and circles that are acting in this way. Many red diplomatic lines are being violated and no one is bothering!

My views and attitudes about this failed Albanian political class of these 30 years are well known. This failed political class - all so-called political parties, positions and "opposition" - includes the current Prime Minister of Albania, who visited this week one of the holiest American institutions, the West Point Military Academy. As Rama does not differ much from other Albanian politicians, but, for the sake of truth, he expresses his feelings and, as such, can be even more sincere, though sometimes hypocritical, based on his statements - today communist, tomorrow democrat, and the day after supporter and friend with the most authoritarian leaders of the globe.

I do not believe that the American embassy in Tirana will have sent a confidential letter to West Point Academy, to show him who Edi Rama is and what are the attitudes he has defended and the values ​​he has defended, over the years and more recently, to the West, to authoritarian rule, to the violation of democracy and freedom of the media and others, especially to the former communist regime in Albania and to the "goods of that system" - values ​​that do not at all correspond to the values ​​of The United States Military Academy, its leaders, and cadets.

Did the superiors of the American Academy in West Point know that it was a time when Edi Rama, as the mayor of Tirana, threw the American flag from the table with contempt? Did senior officials at the West Point Academy know that Prime Minister Rama was threatening the West, that is, America and Europe, that Albania had other alternatives than the West if they did not behave as he preferred - with the insinuation that autocratic states how Turkey, Russia, China, and Serbia were ready to accept Albania in their anti-democratic and authoritarian circle? Were senior US officials informed that, no later than this year, Edi Rama, the "anti-communist" of 1990, now the Socialist Prime Minister (successor of the Communist Party of Albania), a year ago had declared that he was proud of his communist father and that “communism was on the right side of history".

Did senior US military leaders know before the finalization of the Albanian PM's visit to West Point that Albania, although a NATO member and aspiring to join the European Union, unlike all other former communist countries now members of NATO and the European Union, Albania led by Edi Rama refuses to distance itself from the terrible communist past in his country, even after 30 years in transition, Albania has not yet officially condemned the crimes of communism and refuses to cooperate with the International Commission on Missing Persons, ICMP, to find out where the remains of victims of communism have been dumped in Albania? Is this a leader who inspires the cadets of the American Military Academy in West Point, whose leaders, apparently, were forced to visit without knowing who was coming? A senior foreign leader recruited to the US Military Academy, especially at West Point, must at least show goodwill towards some of the values ​​that represent its leaders and cadets. No Albanian leader, in position or in opposition, shares the values ​​of the Academy in West Point nor the American values, therefore he does not deserve such a visit and such treatment, in a sanctuary of American heroes. Because, if that were the case, Albania today would be different, not the most corrupt country in Europe, with a so-called "democratic" and dysfunctional system, a country from which the best are leaving, due to the conflicting policy of the country’s political leaders.

Hypocrisy has reached its peak and many red lines are being violated! The visit was an insult to the best sons and daughters of the American Nation and the values ​​they have fought for.

Here is another act being put on the pillar of shame.