At a panel hosted by the Clinton Global Initiative, attended by Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani, former US President Bill Clinton shared a symbolic story of everyday life that reflects the values of peace and coexistence.
Clinton described a restaurant he frequently visits that serves Mexican food but is run by people from diverse backgrounds.
“We have a taco place where most of the workers are Mexican or Guatemalan, but the owner is an Albanian from Kosovo. And here’s the interesting part — the manager, the one who gives me a beer every time I walk in, is Serbian. That’s a miracle,” Clinton said.
He also noted that two Kosovar families live on the same street as him and his wife, Hillary Clinton.
According to Clinton, this simple daily encounter best illustrates the ideal worth fighting for: a world where people of different histories and nationalities work, live, and build together.
Reflecting on NATO’s intervention in Kosovo in 1999, Clinton recalled the challenges behind the historic decision:
“Many thought I was crazy when I got involved in Kosovo. But I told them: look, this will be the only place in the modern world where a war will be won through air power, because the Kosovars would never surrender. In the end, it would be too costly for the Serbs to continue fighting — and we would save more lives this way.”
President Vjosa Osmani, meanwhile, underlined the importance of international alliances, stressing that freedom should never be taken for granted.
