Furious World Leaders Ban Ivanka and Send Warning

Jun 23, 2026 | MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas and Katie Phang report on European leaders banning the Ivanka and Jared Kushner Island in Albania if Albania intends to continue pursuing its path to join the European Union.

‘We Want a New Albania’: Protests against Jared Kushner-backed Resort Turn Anger on Government

This screenshot is from this Guardian article. | Thousands of people protesting outside the prime minister’s office in Tirana on Saturday. | Photograph: Vlasov Sulaj/Nur Photo/Shutterstock
THE GUARDIAN: Opposition to plans for ‘small paradise’ island of Sazan becomes wave of dissent against establishment

For Ina Shkurti, like so many Albanians, the island of Sazan has played an outsized role. As a child she bathed in its “always calm and emerald green” waters, as a teenager it figured in her dreams and as an adult it was an indelible part of the memory and desire that drew her back, every summer, to Vlore, her home town across the sea.

What Shkurti never imagined was that plans to build a mega-resort on Sazan – one of two luxurious complexes on Albania’s southern coast backed by Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner – would trigger a revolt, an uprising that has convulsed the Balkan state in a spasm of disgust over the perceived excesses of “a rotten oligarchic class” just as it hopes to complete accession talks with the EU.

“Am I outraged? Of course I am,” the cartographer said as the contours of the uninhabited outcrop came into view from a speedboat scudding towards its shores. “Sazan is our only island. It’s a small paradise that holds a special place in the hearts and minds of Albanians. Having some rich couple come in, develop it, and then deny us access, would be a crime.”

Not since the collapse of communism, more than three decades ago, has Albania been shaken by such collective fury. At 32, Shkurti, whose family emigrated to the US when she was 11, is typical of the tens of thousands, both in and outside the country, who have taken to the streets in what has become known as the “flamingo revolution” because of the threat posed by the proposed resorts to wildlife and delicate ecosystems on the sites.

“This government no longer represents us,” she said. “It has chosen to represent oligarch investors like Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. These protests are not going to stop, even if they’re no longer exclusively about them.”

Every day, she said, friends from Albania’s diaspora were flying in to join the rallies. In the biggest so far, thousands converged on Tirana at the weekend, many travelling from the US and other parts of Europe, to add their voices to the wave of dissent. » | Helena Smith in Vlore and Tirana | Monday, June 22, 2026

A Look at the Albanian Island Where a Kushner-Trump Resort Plan Has Sparked Protests

Jun 11, 2026 | Albania's Sazan Island is a jewel in the Adriatic Sea. The former Cold War-era base is now in a luscious nature preserve and an inviting prospect for real estate developers. Chief among them is Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. Their plans are running headlong into Albanians who want to keep what's theirs. Special correspondent Simon Ostrovsky and producer Katia Patin report.

What Albania Teaches Us about Kushner's Real Estate Tactics

Jun 10, 2026 | Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, has finalized a deal with Albanian officials to allow construction on Sazan Island in the Adriatic Sea.

The $1.6bn project is expected to build luxury tourism real estate on the pristine island and surrounding waters and wetlands. Spurned [sic] by the potential environmental impact of the plan and the possibility of corrupt dealings, demonstrators have taken to the streets of Albania's capital city demanding an end to the project.

Cate Brown, the Guardian's political enterprise reporter, examines what the Kushner real estate deal on Sazan Island can teach us on how Donald Trump’s son-in-law pursues real estate ventures and examines why Albania isn't alone in its fight

Kushner’s Sazan Plan: Barefoot Self-discovery or Modern Land Grab?| Soumaya Ghannoushi | MEE Opinion

Jun 9, 2026 | Soumaya Ghannoushi, a writer and expert in Middle East politics, argues that Jared Kushner's multi-billion-dollar plan to build a luxury resort on Sazan Island exposes a significant disconnect between elite privilege and the real-world implications of sovereignty.

Ghannoushi points out that what Ivanka Trump describes as an innocent "barefoot discovery" of an untouched "mysterious Mediterranean paradise" is actually a calculated venture supported by foreign sovereign wealth funds and facilitated by local authorities that are compliant with these plans.

She argues that Kushner is attempting to reduce sovereign geography to merely a picturesque backdrop, drawing a troubling parallel to his controversial real estate ambitions regarding the "waterfront potential of Gaza" during Israel’s genocidal war on the besieged strip.


This is a fantastic synopsis. Bravo! — Mark