{"id":1327,"date":"2026-06-13T05:10:56","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T05:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=1327"},"modified":"2026-06-13T05:10:56","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T05:10:56","slug":"ivanka-called-it-captivating-protesters-call-it-destruction-what-to-know-about-the-kushner-unrest-in-albania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=1327","title":{"rendered":"Ivanka called it captivating. Protesters call it destruction: What to know about the Kushner unrest in Albania"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Thousands of protesters are taking to the streets in nightly protests, blowing whistles and holding up cardboard cut-outs of flamingos \u2014 one of the protected migratory bird species that could see their habitats threatened by the proposed luxury resort.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=1325\">U.S. energy secretary says 7 million barrels of oil exiting Persian Gulf daily, but Chevron CEO rebuts the claim<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The government says the development on the Adriatic coast would be transformational for the former communist nation as it seeks to enter the high-end tourism market and pushes for European Union membership.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>But the venture, spanning an abandoned island and a nearby stretch of seafront on Albania\u2019s southern coast, has drawn opposition from environmental campaigners and critics of longtime Socialist Prime Minister\u00a0Edi Rama.<\/p>\n<h4>Outside forces blamed for anger<\/h4>\n<p>In an\u00a0interview\u00a0with The Associated Press, Rama vowed not to \u201cstep back\u201d from the development and defended his administration\u2019s environmental record. He insisted the protests were being encouraged by malicious cyber activists overseas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is a lot of manipulation. There are a lot of half-truths that become bigger and bigger lies by the hour,\u201d Rama said, accusing Iran of targeting his government.<\/p>\n<p>The allegations, which Rama has made for several years, followed a dispute with Albania after it sheltered members of an Iranian opposition group in 2022. Iran has denied the claims.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Despite Rama\u2019s defense of the development, the protests have gathered pace, with supporters in Albanian communities in neighboring Greece and other European countries also holding rallies.<\/p>\n<h4>Kushner and Ivanka Trump found the site on a barefoot hike<\/h4>\n<p>The luxury project has two components: a coastal development in the Narta Lagoon area, which is a wildlife reserve, and a smaller resort on the nearby uninhabited island of Sazan, a communist-era military base.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The planned development of hotels, apartments, villas and a marina is linked to Kushner and Trump\u2019s daughter,\u00a0Ivanka Trump. An investment firm linked to Kushner has been granted special investor status by Albanian authorities.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In an interview this week with U.S. podcaster David Senra, Ivanka Trump said they discovered the site by accident.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cWe were on a friend\u2019s boat, and we stopped for a swim. Effectively, that\u2019s how we found it,\u201d she said. \u201cWe swam to the island. We went on a hike, barefoot all the way up to the top, and we were just captivated.\u201d<\/p>\n<h4>Harsh communist rule and pristine beaches<\/h4>\n<p>Albania has 450 kilometers (280 miles) of coast that remained largely underdeveloped during decades of harsh communist rule.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=1323\">AI shopping agents are coming. No one is ready for them<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Protest groups fear sections of that pristine coastline could be snapped up by powerful investors. And public anger grew after video showed an activist being dragged by a private security guard while demonstrating at the site.<\/p>\n<p>The development is planned within a nature reserve and one of Albania\u2019s most valuable biodiversity areas, a key stopover for migratory birds along the Adriatic coast.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Since late May, excavators and other heavy machinery have entered the area, opening access routes, digging into the sand, clearing land among pine trees and installing fencing.<\/p>\n<p>Environmental groups from Albania and elsewhere in Europe condemned the work, with one prominent local group charging that long-protected habitats are being \u201cirreversibly destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n<h4>A multibillion dollar bonanza?<\/h4>\n<p>Albania\u2019s state anti-corruption agency has confirmed it opened an investigation related to the project but has not disclosed details.<\/p>\n<p>The government says the land earmarked for the project is privately owned. But competing claims have emerged questioning the privatization.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Rama has committed to the venture, saying it would align with Albania\u2019s ambition to become a major global tourism destination.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlbania should not be a country that fears an extraordinary project like this one, where exceptional partners have come together to invest 4 billion euros ($4.6 billion),\u201d Rama said.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>He added: \u201cThere is no chance for this investment to stop as long as I am here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, the demise of a similar project in Serbia offers a cautionary tale. In November, Serbia\u2019s Parliament\u00a0passed a special law\u00a0to enable the building of a luxury complex in the capital, Belgrade, to be financed by an investment company linked to\u00a0Kushner.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The following month, Serbia\u2019s prosecutor for organized crime\u00a0charged four people, including a government minister, with abuse of office and falsifying of documents to help pave the way for the development.<\/p>\n<p>Kushner later withdrew from the\u00a0planned multimillion investment\u00a0that would have replaced a sprawling bombed-out military complex, a designated heritage zone whose legal protection was lifted by the former officials now on trial.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=1321\">\u2018Buy a ticket for 60 bucks and resell it for $6,000\u2019: NYC Mayor Mamdani criticized FIFA\u2019s resale market, but his jersey drop created the same thing<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>They Found Albania&#8217;s Coastline on a Barefoot Hike. Now $4.6 Billion and a Prime Minister&#8217;s Career Are on the Line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[171],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-protests"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ivanka called it captivating. 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