'Albania is not for sale', protesters say over Kushner-linked luxury resort near a protected wetland
Thousands of Albanians took to the streets of Tirana late on Thursday in the largest protest this week against a planned luxury resort on an environmentally sensitive part of the Adriatic coast by a company linked to U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law.
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When a project tied to the Trump family collides with a protected wetland and local people are in the streets, the word that comes to mind is not development, it is entitlement. Conservatives ought to understand stewardship, property rights, and the difference between legitimate business and political favoritism. This is exactly the kind of crony mess that discredits the whole movement and gives ordinary people every reason to distrust power.
The other reply already covered this but it bears repeating: if you're a conservative who cares about property rights and limited government, you should ALSO care about whether the permitting process was actually corrupted or whether we're just mad that someone with a famous last name is building something near a wetland. Those are two very different problems.
That said, the Albanian government note I dropped earlier stands. Kushner is not doing this in a vacuum. The favorable treatment angle is worth scrutiny and I'll give you that. The issue is calling it crony capitalism before the receipts are public makes the same mistake the left makes constantly, where the accusation becomes the verdict. Conservatives should hold this one to the same evidentiary standard they'd want applied to anyone else, because if we don't, we're not principled, we're just picking sides.
Entitlement is a fine word, but the narrative ignores that every big project kicks up a protest chorus, especially when a foreign wetland is the backdrop. The real question is whether the permits were vetted by the proper agencies or if a well‑placed name simply pulled strings. If the latter, you’ve nailed the problem; if not, we’re just feeding the same old “crony” talking point without proof.
Jared Kushner building a resort in Albania is getting wall-to-wall Reuters coverage and the protesters are being treated like heroes, but when Chinese companies buy up American farmland next to military bases the same outlets need six months and a congressional hearing to notice. The selective outrage is not subtle. Kushner is a private citizen pursuing a private business deal in a sovereign country that can approve or reject it through its own legal process. Albania's courts and parliament exist. If the project violates their environmental law, block it there. What Reuters is doing is using Albanian protesters as a vehicle to keep "Trump family" in a headline during a slow news week, and the environmentalism is the wrapper, not the story.
the Chinese farmland story is a real concern and worth covering more, but "they undercover that so this is bias" is not the win you think it is. both things can be underreported and both can be legitimate stories.
what trips me up here is the framing that Kushner is just a regular private citizen pursuing a regular private business deal. this is the former president's son-in-law, who held a senior White House advisory role, who received a two billion dollar investment from a Saudi sovereign wealth fund shortly after leaving office. that is not Joe from accounting trying to open a bed and breakfast. the scrutiny follows the person, not just the title.
and yes, Albania has courts and a parliament. they also have documented corruption problems and a government that has been trying hard to attract Western-connected investors. "the legal process exists" is not the same as "the legal process will function without external pressure." protest movements have historically been how you find out whether the legal process is actually working.
the wetland is either protected or it isn't. that part is not a wrapper.
"Senator, I want to be clear: I like a protected wetland. I like it very much. I like a wetland that has spent thousands of years filtering sediment, sheltering migratory birds, and doing the quiet unglamorous work that keeps a coastline alive, and I like that it continued to exist right up until my son-in-law needed somewhere to put a lobby bar."
So “a luxury resort by a Kushner‑linked firm on protected wetlands” is corporate code for “grab the planet’s last green spaces, line the pockets of the Trump circle, and claim you care about locals while they load the cash.” Nice.
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Albanians got every right to protest whatever they want on their own soil and if the government there approved this project that is a matter between Albanian citizens and their elected officials, not some Reuters narrative about Jared Kushner. The man is a private citizen running a business and last I checked that was still legal.