We spent the past two weeks in Ukraine, and Albania used the time to teach a master class in what citizens can do when a Princeling project lands on their coastline. For 40 consecutive nights, Albanians have filled the streets over a $4 billion luxury resort tied to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump in a protected lagoon that shelters flamingos and more than 2,500 other species. They call it the Flamingo Revolution, and it is the biggest unrest since communism fell. What began as an environmental protest is now a referendum on a political class that rewrote a country’s laws so a presidential son-in-law could build a beach club — and it may bring down Prime Minister Edi Rama’s government.
Back home, the feed trough never closed. The President’s own financial disclosure shows $1.4 billion in crypto income, his sons’ investments keep landing next to federal money with remarkable punctuality — tungsten in Kazakhstan, Tasers for ICE, drones for the Air Force — and even the Wall Street Journal editorial board has now said the quiet part out loud. Americans are beginning to pay attention. Albanians could teach Americans a thing or two about dealing with corruption.
Albania’s Flamingo Revolution — Protests Against Kushner-Trump Luxury Resort Could Bring Down Gov’t
Democracy Now, July 9, 2026
Ivanka Trump told a podcast that she and Kushner “swam to the island” of Sazan and admired “five miles of beachfront” across from it. How idyllic! Then the Albanian government stripped the Vjosa-Narta ecosystem of environmental protections to permit the construction of a five-star resort. Nightly demonstrations began in late May. Yesterday marked day 40. Tens of thousands marched over the July 4 weekend. Rama, who chairs the national territorial planning council that signs the construction permits, told Reuters the resort is “a bless for the country.” He also insists the outrage is really about Kushner’s name and the “shadow of Trump”. We agree with him in part.
Albanian court frees protesters who rallied against Kushner-linked resort
Al Jazeera, July 5, 2026
When protests reached parliament on July 2, police answered with tear gas, pepper spray, and water cannon. 15 officers were injured and 25 people detained. The crackdown backfired spectacularly. A July 4 “Free the boys” rally became the largest gathering since the movement began, with the Albanian diaspora joining in. A Tirana court released 19 protesters the next day without charges. Every act of repression has made the movement bigger. That is the lesson Americans should be writing down.
OCCRP, June 18, 2026
Albania’s special anti-corruption prosecutors (SPAK) sought 20 arrests in an international cocaine trafficking and money laundering ring. The case has an explicit overlap with the Kushner resort probe. A June 10 court order froze a bank account holding more than €110 million ($127 million) from a resort land sale between Artur Shehu, whom a separate order identifies as suspected of money laundering and participation in an organized crime group, and Albania Land Development sh.a. (joint stock company). Prosecutors allege much of the resort land was assembled using forged documents. The ownership chain runs through Dutch shell companies — one founded with a single euro and directed by a trust-management firm — up to the Al Khayyat brothers. If that sounds familiar, it’s because the Al Khayyat brothers are “investors” in Kushner’s company. Entirely coincidentally, President Trump lifted sanctions on their uncle, who had helped finance the Assad family and was close to the Syrian drug trade. We wrote about it here. Neceassary caveat: the court does not implicate Albania Land Development, Kushner, Ivanka Trump, or the investors in wrongdoing. Earlier in June, OCCRP reported the initial asset freeze, private guards beating of residents at Zvernec, and Rama calling the guards’ conduct “disgusting” while defending the project as Albania’s ticket to the “Champions League” of tourism. Greece lodged formal protests after a Greek citizen was injured, and the European Commission warned about the repeated extension of Albania’s strategic investments law.
Flashback: Kushner-Linked Firm Drops Belgrade Project
(Yes, Albania is the second Balkan country that Kushner’s corruption has brought to the brink of revolution)
RFE/RL, December 16, 2025
You may remember our Serbia coverage. Affinity Partners walked away from its $500 million Belgrade Trump Tower project hours after Serbian prosecutors indicted Culture Minister Nikola Selakovic for stripping the site of its cultural heritage status. There, as in Albania, the government stripped a heritage site of legal protections, clearing the path for Princeling. As the government teetered, prosecutors crawled in. Albania’s SPAK has confirmed an inquiry into changes to protected status and possible circumvention of public tender procedures, and more than 40 NGOs have accused authorities of corruption. Belgrade proves these projects can be stopped.
Two Major Trump Corruption Plots Revealed in Just 24 Hours
The New Republic, June 29, 2026
The New York Times reported that Washington awarded $1.6 billion in federal financing to Kaz Resources for a tungsten project in Kazakhstan. Weeks later, a firm partly owned by Trump’s sons took, with partners, a 20% stake in a corporate entity related to the project. Howard Lutnick’s sons raised capital for a project investor. The Times counts the Trump and Lutnick families tied to at least 14 companies working with the federal government on mining deals.
Trump is rearming America. His sons are invested in the companies that sell them weapons.
MS NOW, July 2, 2026
The sons are linked to investments in at least 10 companies with military applications, which have collected roughly $3.7 billion in federal funds since the second term began — versus about $2.8 billion in the equivalent late-Biden period. Three are at record Pentagon funding; three had never held a federal contract before. Powerus announced a reverse merger with Aureus Greenway, a golf company partly owned by the brothers, after the February 28 Iran strikes; about seven weeks later, the Air Force placed a limited order for interceptor drones following an Arizona demonstration. The 1789 Capital portfolio continues to collect, including Anduril’s Army contract worth up to $20 billion.
Trump bought up to $5 million in Axon stock before ICE’s Taser contract notice
CNBC, June 29, 2026
Trump bought up to $5 million in Axon shares roughly two weeks before ICE issued a notice seeking a $220 million contract for some 17,800 Tasers. The notice does not name Axon — but experts say the specifications match only Axon products, and Axon makes 90 percent of Tasers sold in the US. The President’s defense, offered on CNBC and repeated since, is that he does nothing related to his business because “my kids run it” (ABC News). The kids, as documented above, are very busy.
Trump Reports Over $1 Billion in Income From Crypto Ventures
TIME, July 1, 2026
Trump’s 927-page federal ethics disclosure shows more than $2 billion in 2025 income, with $1.4 billion from crypto. Fortune’s breakdown finds $635 million-plus in memecoin royalty income, roughly $600 million via World Liberty Financial, and about $263 million in net proceeds tied to selling 49% of WLFI to Sheik Tahnoun’s Aryam Investment, a deal longtime readers will remember. TIME counts $550 million-plus from WLF token sales alone, nine times the prior year. The Trump-appointed head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is now expected to hand WLF a national trust bank charter. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal editorial board — not exactly the resistance — published a July 8 op-ed slamming the family for “cashing in on the presidency.” When Rupert Murdoch’s flagship notices the feed trough, the country is catching up.
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