Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright passed away at age 84, according to a statement released by her family on Wednesday.
“We are heartbroken to announce that Dr. Madeleine K. Albright, the 64th U.S. Secretary of State … passed away earlier today. The cause was cancer. She was surrounded by family and friends.”
Albright served as Secretary of State during the Clinton administration (1997 –2001). She was a strong advocate of expanding NATO into the new breakaway nations formally under Soviet rule.
Albright also took a lead role in addressing ethnic cleansing in Kosovo in 1999 and served with distinction as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations between 1993—1997.
During an interview with NBC News in 1998, Albright said: “We stand tall and we see further than other countries into the future, and we see the danger here to all of us. I know that the American men and women in uniform are always prepared to sacrifice for freedom, democracy, and the American way of life.”
On Feb. 24, Albright wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times, warning Putin that a move into Ukraine would invite serious repercussions.
One day later, Putin pulled the trigger and sent troops into Ukraine territory.
“What is sure to be a bloody and catastrophic,” Albright wrote, “will drain Russian resources and cost Russian lives—while creating an urgent incentive for Europe to slash its dangerous reliance on Russian energy … That has already begun with Germany’s move to halt certification of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline.”
And “such an act of aggression would almost certainly drive NATO to significantly reinforce its eastern flank and to consider permanently stationing forces in the Baltic States, Poland, and Romania,” Albright continued.
In June 2018, Albright identified China as the greatest threat to the United States.
“The new [National] Defense Strategy of the United States has now said that Russia and China are our major adversaries. I think that is a gift to [Russian President Vladimir Putin], because they are not the equivalent of China,” said Albright, “China is really a power that is evolving in a big way, penetrating various places. The Russians are not there.”
Dr. Madeline Albright was the first female to serve as Secretary of State for the United States. Her family provided this brief tribute statement:
“A tireless champion of democracy and human rights, she was at the time of her death a professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, chair of Albright Stonebridge Group, part of Dentons Global Advisors, chair of Albright Capital Management, president of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, chair of the National Democratic Institute, chair of the U.S. Defense Policy Board, and an author.”
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