On the menu today: You probably haven’t heard of the “Flamingo Revolution,” and the odds of you spending much time thinking about Albania are understandably low. And you’ve probably long since gotten used to hearing about presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner signing lucrative real estate development deals, in between work as a “special peace envoy” in the administration, a position that requires no Senate confirmation vote, background check, or security clearance. But you might be surprised to know that one of Kushner’s best friends is also beloved by . . . the Soros family. In fact, Alex Soros calls this European leader his “brother from another mother.” Read on.
Jared Kushner and the Flamingo Revolution in Albania
When it comes to Europe, Albania is usually an afterthought. And it has real problems: ranked dead last in gross domestic product on the continent, a relatively minor U.S. trade partner, and ranked pretty low in ratings for the rule of law, with the U.S. State Department warning that the Albanian economy “remains vulnerable to widespread corruption, organized crime, money laundering” and other problems. (Give the Albanians credit: They spend 2 percent of GDP on defense, as NATO requires, and plan to get it to 2.5 percent by 2029.)
The Spectator, over in the United Kingdom, is usually fairly pro-Trump, or at least Trump-sympathetic. So, it’s a bit eyebrow-raising to see a cover story from Ian Thomson entitled “Welcome to Kushner Island,” spotlighting how the president’s son-in-law is involved in a shady real estate deal involving prime real estate on the Albanian coast:
Albania is today the fastest-growing tourist destination in Europe. Serious money is to be made out of real estate, so no issue is more contentious than land ownership. And Albanians are furious that Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is developing vast luxury hotel complexes on protected land along Albania’s unspoilt southern coast.
Kushner bought the land for $120 million from a suspected Albanian drug trafficker, Artur Shehu, who fled to Miami after a gunfight in his uncle’s bar. It is alleged that Shehu used fraudulent Ottoman-era land records to claim great swaths of coastal property for himself, though Shehu’s lawyer has insisted that he is neither a drug dealer nor a land thief. . . .
In what has become known as the Flamingo Revolution, thousands of Albanians took to the streets in Tirana earlier this year to condemn Kushner’s property ambitions and the Albanian politicians who stand to gain from them. The protests are expected to gather momentum this fall as Albanians renew calls for their Socialist party Prime Minister Edi Rama to resign. Not since communism was dissolved has Albania been shaken by such collective outrage. The Flamingo Revolution is now in its 15th week.
Now, chances are, you’ve never heard of the Flamingo Revolution, unless you’re a diehard fan of Albanian-British pop star Dua Lipa, who called the protests “inspiring.” It’s still going — 122 consecutive days of protests, as of last week.
To the protesters, the island of Sazan and the peninsula’s Narta Lagoon are a sort of Shangri-La, “one of the country’s most important wetlands.” And as the New Yorker detailed, it does seem like the Kushner development plans — complete with an airport — would be incongruous with a nature preserve:
Although Ivanka had referred to Sazan as a “private island,” the area had long been open to the public. And the development in Zvërnec was planned to be constructed in the middle of a forty-thousand-acre nature preserve. Kushner’s local partners fenced off a site that had been a popular spot for beachgoers. Albanians began complaining that he had been awarded development rights without public notice or competitive bidding, and that the amendment to unlock protected land had been rushed through parliament. Rama even allowed an airport to be built inside the preserve.
In a lengthy response to the New Yorker article, Kushner contended, “Our ambition is to build to the highest design and environmental standards and leave this extraordinary part of Albania greener, more biodiverse and environmentally stronger.” Kushner added, “The Kastrati family, a reputable Albanian business family with deep roots and great pride in their country, originally brought us the land opportunity and shares our belief in Albania’s potential.” (Stop giggling; the Kastrati Group is a major Albanian conglomerate.)
But it’s not merely an environmental protest; the Flamingo protesters want no less than “the immediate resignation of the government due to governance failure, corruption, and lack of accountability toward citizens.” In the eyes of the protesters, the Albanian government is in bed with Kushner and the Trump family, giving away national natural resources in exchange for dirty money and influence.
The current Albanian government is headed by the Socialist Party of Albania, and on paper, they’re exactly the sort of left-of-center force that the Trump administration is instinctively opposed to in Europe. They’re part of the Party of European Socialists and Socialist International. They are the direct successor to the Party of Labor of Albania, the ruling party of the communist era, with that party’s logo featuring Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, and Joseph Stalin. Today’s Socialist Party of Albania is pro-European Union membership, pro-gay rights, and opposed releasing the files of the secret police from Albania’s communist era. Sex-selective abortions remain far too common in Albania. A survey a few years back found that 80 percent of Albanians see the Socialist Party as “extremely left-wing.”
The current Albanian prime minister is Edi Rama.
Alex Soros, son of George Soros, raves about Rama’s “inspiring leadership skills,” calls the prime minister his “brother from another mother,” and “the beacon of regional stability in the Western Balkans, and a good neighbor to all, he deserves more credit for this.” The two men met again at the Socialist convention in Barcelona earlier this year.
Among those calling Rama a “puppet of George Soros” is . . . President Trump’s former campaign manager, Chris LaCivita, who worked for Sali Berisha, the leader of Albania’s right-wing Democratic Party.
John Schindler, writing in the Washington Examiner, back in 2024:
Since 2012, Rama has run Albania as his personal fiefdom, helming his Socialist Party while turning the country into an authoritarian sinkhole of corruption, as even human rights outlets that are hardly critical of the Left keenly admit. Under Rama, enemies of the Socialists have been harassed, silenced, and arrested. If you want to learn how to employ lawfare to shut down political rivals under the guise of “fighting corruption,” Rama’s Albania is your guide.
What’s even worse is Rama’s tenure has witnessed his little country becoming Europe’s hub for the illegal drug trade. As a top German newsmagazine that’s hardly on the Right recently put it, Rama “has transformed Albania into an autocratic narco-state.” . . .
The Biden administration possesses a strange tolerance for Rama’s narco-state in Europe, insisting that Socialist Albania is doing a fine fighting crime when the opposite is the truth. Even Rama’s involvement in the shameful corruption of former FBI special agent in charge Charles McGonigal, one of the worst scandals in the history of the bureau, did nothing to tarnish Rama’s reputation with the Biden-Harris administration.
Why is the Trump family so eager to make deals and get in bed with a socialist ruler who Trump’s campaign manager called a “puppet of George Soros”?
Perhaps the thinking is, “It doesn’t matter if the local government is red as long as the money to be made is green.” But even the resort development deal doesn’t quite add up. Back in 2025, Marzio Mian of the U.K. Guardian wrote about the project, visited the island, and made the spot seem like more of a fixer-upper:
When I reached Kushner by phone the same month, I detected brimming enthusiasm for Sazan, which he seemed to regard as something of a treasure. He said he plans “to create the ideal resort that I’d want to be at with my family and with my friends”.
Before I visited the island, I marvelled at the thought of traversing its roughly 40 miles of trails, climbing its mountains covered in rainforest and exploring its deep waterways with names such as the Bay of Paradise, Hell’s Gorge, Devil’s Gulf and Admiral’s Beach. I wanted to see it before the phrase “I’m going to Sazan” becomes the prerogative of the rich.
When I got there, on a clear day in July 2024, I found that the island doesn’t lend itself to getting lost: it is covered in signs depicting skull and crossbones, warning of landmines. My guide, Arbër Celaj, a lieutenant commander in the Albanian navy, stopped me from venturing too far. He did not want to get a dressing down from his superiors. . .
I asked my guide about the signs warning of landmines. “Actually, they’re not exactly landmines,” he said. “This place is full of unexploded ordnance, there are still many areas that need to be cleared.” He pointed to a ravine on the eastern coast, where Affinity Partners wants to develop a significant part of the real-estate project that will span the entire surface of the island. . .
Can you picture that for your next vacation? Beautiful beaches, gentle breezes, and the abiding faith that the local contractors found all the remaining unexploded ordnance. I mean, technically, Normandy has beautiful beaches, too. (Until I just looked it up, I did not know that Utah Beach has a golf course.)
Having the president’s son-in-law gallivanting around the globe and negotiating lucrative private real estate deals, sometimes with the same governments he’s negotiating with on U.S. policy, is a terrible conflict of interest. If you’re a foreign government, saying no to a proposal from Kushner, the private real estate investor, could well spur an unfriendly response from the president and U.S. government as a whole.
What we see with Kushner is not too different from what we see with Kimberly Guilfoyle. After Friday’s edition of this newsletter, some readers argued that whatever side deals Guilfoyle was working on were inconsequential and unworthy of public scrutiny.
You know who doesn’t agree with that forgiving assessment? Donald Trump:
Q: Kimberly Guilfoyle, are you considering firing her?
Donald Trump: Well, we’re looking at it, yeah. We’re not happy.
It’s easy to see what Kushner, the president’s family, and Guilfoyle are getting out of this so-called “Dollar Diplomacy.” It’s less clear what the rest of us get out of it.
ADDENDUM: Over in the Washington Post, a look at how the era of drone warfare means that international air travelers to eastern Europe and the Middle East are now flying the unfriendly skies — one moment you’re waiting for your connecting flight at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, or Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates, and the next you’re dodging an explosion caused by drones from the Houthis or Iranians.