Prague, Nov 11 (CTK) – The world has not ended with the election of Donald Trump the new U.S. president, but it will develop in a slightly different way, Czech-born former U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright said at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague on Friday.
She was secretary of state in 1997-2001.
Albright, who supported Hillary Clinton in the presidential election, said she is trying to not panic.
“We did not predict this, we were speaking about Brexit in Europe and were saying that this cannot happen in our country,” Albright told students in Czech.
She said no one is prepared for the presidential post as well as Hillary Clinton.
Albright said she hopes that Trump will cooperate with some of the Republicans who rejected to cooperate with him before the election, and mainly with people who will not be afraid of expressing a different opinion.
“I have always been an optimist, but an optimist with many worries,” Albright said.
She said she believes that Trump cannot materialise many of the promises he made during the campaign. She said she recommends to him to attend her classes at university.
Albright lectures at Georgetown University, specialising in Eastern European studies.
“He should learn that compromise is not a bad word,” she said.
Albright said the United States will continue considering relations with Europe the most important.
“NATO is the most important alliance in the world and it is necessary to work on it. But Europe must realise this as well and it must also do something,” she said.
The Europeans must know that in spite of Barack Obama’s seeming leaning towards Asia, the United States has not forgotten about Europe, Albright said.
“We considered you our partners, with whom we can cooperate on problems that occur elsewhere,” she said.
Referring to the causes of support for Trump, Albright said the present is determined by two large trends – globalisation and technological development.
“Everyone likes being able to travel around the world and do whatever they want. But people also want to have an identity, to be with others who talk the same language. Patriotism is a good thing, but nationalism is bad and dangerous,” Albright said.
She said social policy is still lagging behind the development of technologies and many people feel that they are receiving nothing from the state.
Albright said Trump cooperated with the media well. “Always when he called them, they responded because what he said was interesting,” Albright said.
“If Hillary called and wanted to talk about a serious issue, such as health care, it would not interest them because it is not entertaining,” Albright said.
