alt.hn

6/9/2026 at 1:39:31 PM

Albania Is Not for Sale: Kushner's $4B Resort Triggers'Flamingo Revolution'

 https://www.yacnews.com/albania-is-not-for-sale-kushners-4-billion-resort-triggers-flamingo-revolution-asset-freeze-and-an-eu-warning/

by ortr

6/9/2026 at 2:14:13 PM

Jared Kushner tried a similar thing in Serbia[0] and failed after a public outrage.

[0] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/12/17/serbia-trump...

by bkovacev

6/9/2026 at 2:56:46 PM

That Ivanka podcast interview about this island will go down as a masterpiece in tone-deafness. I assume there are already memes of it.

by rapind

6/9/2026 at 10:14:47 PM

The short segment I saw on reddit, I believe, of Ivanka talking about an island gave VERY strong AI vibes. Is this interview real and are there links? This is the first I've seen it referenced so haven't given it much thought.

by dieselgate

6/9/2026 at 6:31:45 PM

tl;dl We found a true paradise and want to destroy it to build a resort.

by port11

6/9/2026 at 3:37:41 PM

Oh, 'highlights'?

by LearnYouALisp

6/9/2026 at 7:38:19 PM

It doesn't matter how tone deaf it is, they are so wealthy they don't care.

by joquarky

6/9/2026 at 4:00:50 PM

And Trump's plan to build a skyscraper on Australia's Gold Coast was nixed a month or two ago because his partner on it bailed because of its "toxic associations".

by FireBeyond

6/10/2026 at 2:38:36 AM

If you ever been to Gold Coast, that place is perfect fit for Trumps toxicity.

by dzhiurgis

6/10/2026 at 4:58:43 AM

Not since I was a child in the 90s. Haven't been to Brisvegas in 20 years either. But to be even too toxic for Trump? Hah.

by FireBeyond

6/9/2026 at 2:46:42 PM

Half of Albania is butchered like this, beaches and green being destroyed to make resorts for the tourists to come. Go see Dermi or Vuno and then go see Borsh how clean it is, with no excavations at all or resorts being build.

by annagio_

6/9/2026 at 3:05:14 PM

Don't forget that resorts et al typically belong to international capital, and the tourists rarely leave the premises.

So what does the local economy get out of it? A few maids salary to clean up the tourist's shit?

by whatever1

6/9/2026 at 3:47:39 PM

> Don't forget that resorts et al typically belong to international capital. What does the local economy get out of it?

Same goes for any natural resource. Oil, precious metals, water, etc. Globalization feeds this behavior, but that’s a conversation people don’t usually want to have

by hammock

6/10/2026 at 8:46:12 AM

> Same goes for any natural resource

No, in most cases the contract stipulates profit/revenue sharing. E.g. Orano's uranium mines in Niger had 50% of all revenues going to the Nigerien government. In other cases it's much lower (e.g. Dundee Precious Metals in Bulgaria pay 10% of profits to the state).

by sofixa

6/10/2026 at 2:43:20 AM

Whats a fair share then? Should investors just return all profits to host country out of their kindness of their hearts?

by dzhiurgis

6/10/2026 at 8:43:33 AM

> Whats a fair share then?

I thought it was implied in the question "What does the local economy get out of it?"

A fair share is when the local economy gets out of it what the local economy needs/wants.

by 6P58r3MXJSLi

6/9/2026 at 4:21:31 PM

[flagged]

by Avicebron

6/9/2026 at 3:20:18 PM

what about tax revenue ?

by dominotw

6/9/2026 at 3:24:55 PM

Most resorts secure favorable tax deals directly from the central governments before they invest, accompanied by public announcements in the media about success of government in attracting international investments.

So no tax the locals. During the construction phase there is some legitimate economy uplift (similar to datacenters). But after that nothing.

by whatever1

6/9/2026 at 4:11:51 PM

> Most resorts secure favorable tax deals directly from the central governments before they invest, accompanied by public announcements in the media about success of government in attracting international investments.

is this just pure old corruption. govt not working for ppl stuff.

by dominotw

6/9/2026 at 4:40:32 PM

This happens, publicly, in the US, all the time. Megacorps like Amazon regularly pit cities and states against each other for what you're calling plain old corruption.

by bcrosby95

6/9/2026 at 7:41:57 PM

A more common example is sports stadiums.

by joquarky

6/9/2026 at 3:41:56 PM

"Big money" tends to extort the same sort of tax deals that American sports stadiums get: they get huge tax breaks and while the registers at the stadium look like they're charging sales tax, that money goes directly to the stadium owners, not the government. Sometimes these deals are called "special economic zone".

by Tangurena2

6/9/2026 at 4:03:57 PM

I challenge you to find a single example anywhere on earth where redistribution of foreign tax revenue significantly improved the economic standing of the existing general population.

by hedora

6/9/2026 at 4:57:15 PM

I don't know the details of the economics, but Costa Rica seems to be doing quite well with ecotourism, no?

by BobaFloutist

6/9/2026 at 3:50:33 PM

Tax revenue, local jobs, and the possiblity for entrepreneurs to build businesses around that possibility of tourists leaving the premise.

With all that being said, I still think that overreliance on tourism is bad for a place in principle. Those places fossilize, the wealth of tourists overwhelmes local culture, it will create wrong incentives, draw in junk vendors, pick-pocketers, and AirBnB vultures making life more miserable for the locals. One can also be certain that the local hospitality operators will try to pass the least possible amount to locals by finding even cheaper employees from god knows where.

by woodpanel

6/9/2026 at 5:44:59 PM

The Netherlands prides itself on its coastline and dunes but by the time mass tourism arrived the country was already rich.

The secret ingredient is always money. Spain looks the way it does because that country was desperate for foreign currency and jobs in the 60s and 70s. Economic development is hard and Albania does not have much going for it unfortunately.

by PearlRiver

6/9/2026 at 8:42:03 PM

Exactly, it’s why tourists flock to Manhattan, while the city isn’t getting dominated by that industry. Your trip doesn’t outcompete locals, but the local economy makes it a rather expensive trip.

by woodpanel

6/9/2026 at 3:52:23 PM

such a stark contrast with all the hysteria over foreign tourists avoiding the US due to Trump that was posted here a few days ago. "Oh noes Trump is destroying the tourist economy!!!" vs. "only a few maids salary to clean up the tourist's shit"

by 1234letshaveatw

6/9/2026 at 5:15:29 PM

Do you unironically think that all tourism is resort tourism?

by filleduchaos

6/9/2026 at 5:32:40 PM

Do you unironically think that all resort tourism related jobs are maids?

by 1234letshaveatw

6/9/2026 at 3:44:40 PM

We happened to be in Borsh beach around a week or so ago, and that will be a tourist wreck in 2 years. Multiple working sites, 70% of the beach already claimed by beds.

Quite laid-back in May / start of June, but I do not want to be there in the high season.

by esquire_900

6/9/2026 at 3:24:49 PM

Same in Greece. Right off the coast of Albania, Corfu is seeing heavy development as well.

by skinfaxi

6/9/2026 at 4:07:00 PM

Corfu has been a mainstream holiday destination for Europeans for half a century. I don't think it's really in the same category as Albania.

by tweetle_beetle

6/9/2026 at 7:55:50 PM

All coastal zones are. Mallorca is the same, for example. Eivissa as well. Many parts of València, etc. And that's just the ones I know.

by icar

6/9/2026 at 2:52:00 PM

[flagged]

by Dkuku

6/9/2026 at 4:00:38 PM

I simply don’t understand how American voters are fine with being robbed blind.

Many countries have far more corrupt administrations than the current U.S. one, but even in the most degenerate ones none of them are as open about it.

And it’s not just a political thing.

Consider how the Chinese owned Smithfield’s is polluting lakes and land all over the Midwest with their highly intensive (and incredibly cruel) pig farming that is causing high cancer and mortality rates for the people living there, and yet the locals tend to support whatever Smithfield wants.

by adjejmxbdjdn

6/9/2026 at 4:36:26 PM

Americans aren’t “fine with it.” Trump’s approval ratings are very low.

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/trump-approval-stays...

by skybrian

6/9/2026 at 6:31:24 PM

Which is weird because this is pretty much what they voted/abstained for. I think we have to trust the ballot box more than opinion polls.

by cosmicgadget

6/9/2026 at 8:21:33 PM

It's a two party system in a big complicated country. Voting for a candidate you dislike and often disagree with is the norm. People vote against opposing candidates as much as they vote for something, especially in recent years.

In the particular case of trump, the less one knows about politics and governing the more likely they are to support him. The US is full of people who don't care much about how government actually works, which is not an unreasonable position for the most part, but can get hijacked by an effective conman.

by rurp

6/9/2026 at 7:02:19 PM

> I think we have to trust the ballot box more than opinion polls.

I think voting trends are a pretty poor signal of voter values, but a much stronger signal of voter “alignment”, especially in first-past-the-post systems.

by datsci_est_2015

6/9/2026 at 8:06:00 PM

Certainly there is very little granularity in both election outcomes and yea/nay approval rating.

That said, if people voted based on values or alignment for a candidate that said he would overturn civil service reform and conduct the bigliest deportation campaign in history, it'd be silly to think they'd reject the outcomes they voted for.

by cosmicgadget

6/9/2026 at 8:19:01 PM

I think one of Trump’s greatest sleight-of-hands was convincing nearly every red triber that he represented their interests specifically, which is the ultimate goal of a populist. He was simultaneously a free market hero, while also highly protectionist. He was fair and sophisticated, while also highly retributive and humble. He became representative of their values, no matter what they were. I even still see it when talking to people who lean red - they’ll forgive Trump for nearly everything except what they view as being the important thing, which is a reflection of their own politics rather than Trump’s.

I mean, up until the election he was denying that he even knew what Project 2025 was, and now he’s bragging about how much from the document he’s accomplished.

Trump’s win was not a policy win, it was a culture war win.

by datsci_est_2015

6/9/2026 at 8:49:09 PM

No doubt, policy was completely absent in his campaign. His normal shtick does deal a lot in outcomes that are backed into policylike promises, "[literally anything] will make us/you the richest person/country in history, probably ever".

And you point out the single-issue voters that the GOP has farmed for decades. The culture war was there but since he protrays himself as elite, he couldn't do the blue collar charade. Instead it was a really half-assed demonization of trans athletes and, of course, immigrants.

The thing I think has to be mentioned is that he seems to have manipulated people's need to feel like they are on a team that is winning. I think that's why you see the cult of personality stuff like flags and tattoos - he's more of a college football team than an administrator.

by cosmicgadget

6/9/2026 at 8:41:37 PM

They didn't vote for a war with Iran.

by skybrian

6/9/2026 at 11:09:52 PM

Sure they did. They voted for the guy who airstriked an Iranian general in his first term. You might have caught the rampant social media commentary about how people were certain they'd be drafted soon. Of course, we didn't follow up with an invasion but it's a clear acknowledgement that acts of war are absolutely on the table.

His relationship with Netanyahu didn't start Jan 2025, nor did the eventual showdown over nuclear weapons precipitated by our withdrawal from the arms treaty.

I know that is a lot of thinking to ask of his voters so here's an easy one - it's very obvious when the dude is lying. Anyone hearing him talk about being the president of peace should have instantly known it was no different from claiming we'd all soon be rich beyond our imagination. Or that covid would be over in a week. Or that any election he lost was 'stolen'. Anytime he describes himself as being the "most/greatest anything in history". Whenever someone asks a critical question and he freaks out (sadly for Trump voters, Joe Rogan isn't capable of this).

by cosmicgadget

6/10/2026 at 12:11:18 AM

Many Americans didn't vote for Trump at all, so to the extent this is true, it still can't be accurately summarized as "American voters are fine with being robbed blind." Maybe some still are, but they don't speak for everyone.

by skybrian

6/10/2026 at 1:54:02 AM

Huh? When were we talking about Americans who voted against him?

by cosmicgadget

6/9/2026 at 4:36:03 PM

Most voters aren't fine with it.

https://www.economist.com/interactive/trump-approval-tracker

by 2OEH8eoCRo0

6/9/2026 at 6:45:27 PM

Donald Trump was re-elected because too many voters who voted against him the last two times stayed home. That they don't approve, yet did not go vote, is the textbook definition of fine with it. America does not have a wellspring of anti-Trump voters just waiting to be awakened.

America is Trump.

by philistine

6/9/2026 at 11:54:43 PM

> Many countries have far more corrupt administrations than the current U.S. one

not sure that "many" applies anymore; we're almost up there with DRC and Zimbabwe at this point

by insane_dreamer

6/9/2026 at 4:15:21 PM

I don’t get it either. I think it is a combination of the two party system, and short attention span / tribalism.

Look at the California primaries. In every race I can name, the right wing (like funded by the same people as Trump levels of right wing) and the republican token candidate are advancing to the general election.

We have open primaries, so, in theory, there could be a corporate democrat vs. a populist/progressive democrat in the general elections.

I say “token” republicans because they are clearly sending the B team. One ran on “too many dogs get to vote” and another (who advanced) on a transphobic platform.

Typical breakdowns of California primaries in Silicon Valley, translated to European norms: 5% left, 15-25% center left, 30-35 moderate to hard right, 35-40 right wing nationalist.

In the general, the first three categories will collapse, and the moderate to hard right democrat that gets elected will claim they have a mandate from the voters.

Edit: The narrative dominating the news cycle is Trump’s claim the elections are rigged because the results were so far to the left. I guess he wants two republicans facing off in every general election race, despite the state being overwhelmingly blue.

Also, on ballot initiatives, the state overwhelmingly votes left, not moderate right, so, when presented with an actual policy decision, they vote completely differently than they do when given a choice of candidates.

by hedora

6/9/2026 at 7:01:15 PM

There’s one bright spot, the Los Angeles mayoral race eliminated the MAGA candidate so it’s a corporate Dem versus more left Dem.

by stevenwoo

6/9/2026 at 4:19:55 PM

[flagged]

by unharmed474

6/9/2026 at 4:24:19 PM

Are you suggesting that immigrants are to blame for electing the current administration that's robbing them blind?

by yacin

6/9/2026 at 4:37:57 PM

Most people in my social circles that do not feel the US is in an existential crisis are first generation immigrants.

They see the checks and balances that we used to have, and assumed those structures would constrain the administration to mostly tow the line.

On the one hand, it’s true they came from places with weaker institutions. On the other hand, they’re used to leaders that face real threats of coup, asset seizure, assassination, etc. The current US administration has publicly stated it is permanently above the law, and it has also dismantled most checks and balances.

by hedora

6/9/2026 at 5:46:48 PM

I basically have the opposite reaction from my first gen immigrant social circle ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Also, unless they're ignoring/ignorant of the checks & balances falling apart, I'm not sure this bolsters OPs implied point.

by yacin

6/9/2026 at 6:32:54 PM

Weird to equate "American culture" and being able to understand democracy.

by cosmicgadget

6/9/2026 at 4:03:26 PM

It's because the massess are cattle themselves.

by superloika

6/9/2026 at 2:25:45 PM

I wonder how many more things like this are happening under the radar around the world

by totetsu

6/9/2026 at 3:32:21 PM

The article says: "If it was not Jared, they would not give a shit about what is happening in Albania," Rama said."

by billfor

6/9/2026 at 6:48:15 PM

Jared or some of the other White House insiders trying to offshore their recent financial gains.

by cosmicgadget

6/9/2026 at 5:40:06 PM

Oh, this Rama?

> Rama, a long-time friend of the Trump and Kushner families

> The protests, which civil society and international media have called the Flamingo Revolution, have grown well past their environmental starting point into a challenge to Rama himself

(because of accusations he's bending regulations for Kushner that exist for other companies).

> On 30 December 2024, a Strategic Investment Committee chaired by Rama granted strategic investor status to Atlantic Incubation Partners, a firm affiliated with Kushner's Affinity Partners ... Reuters, which saw the written decision, reported .... the terms include no tax during the construction phase while the Albanian state underwrites the water, electricity and sewage infrastructure.

Yeah, forgive me if I don't exactly see his opinion as unbiased.

by FireBeyond

6/9/2026 at 3:03:07 PM

Every time you hear about some corpo or another getting to "play a role in the development of $nation" it's pretty much always going to be some kind of bullshit that will employ a lot of locals for shit wages to provide a product or service to residents of the Global North.

There are exceptions of course but the vast, vast, vast majority are tourist trapping and wealth extraction.

by ToucanLoucan

6/9/2026 at 2:58:30 PM

[dead]

by verminator468

6/9/2026 at 2:39:58 PM

[flagged]

by guywithahat

6/9/2026 at 2:46:24 PM

The resort would destroy lots and lots of species and nature:

"Conservationists describe the wider zone, the Pishe Poro-Narta protected landscape, as one of the Mediterranean's last largely intact coastal wetlands, home to flamingos, more than 200 migratory bird species, Mediterranean monk seals and nesting loggerhead sea turtles."

by b3lvedere

6/9/2026 at 2:43:45 PM

Protected environmental zone != normal tourist area. Crazy to post Fox News though, it is legally entertainment so has no obligation to report the facts.

by mcmcmc

6/9/2026 at 2:46:33 PM

> What is wrong with building a resort in Albania? OP's link is down but it looks like they're building a pretty normal resort in a normal tourist area. This is a very boring story

I'm not sure if you are trolling.

From the article:

> Albanian anti-corruption prosecutors froze the bank accounts of Albania Land Development, the company that bought beachfront plots for a luxury resort backed by Jared Kushner, as national protests against the project entered their seventh consecutive day. The preventive seizure was ordered by SPAK, the Special Prosecution Against Corruption and Organised Crime, as part of a property-fraud investigation into how land titles in a protected coastal wetland were acquired and how the area was stripped of its protected status.

Furthermore.

> In 2024, the Albanian Parliament passed special legislation reclassifying Sazan and the Pishe Poro-Narta area to permit large-scale development, the move that made the strategic investor designation possible; opposition parties and environmental groups argued the changes were written to accommodate Kushner-linked investors. One administrator of Albania Land Development, Redi Struga, has reportedly been subject to searches.

And of course the old beaten down excuse.

> Rama, a long-time friend of the Trump and Kushner families, claimed the anti-corruption and land defence campaign was being pushed by opponents of Donald Trump.

by locknitpicker

6/9/2026 at 2:44:47 PM

Poe's Law.

by actionfromafar

6/9/2026 at 4:11:03 PM

[flagged]

by amitport

6/9/2026 at 2:39:06 PM

This is hardly under the radar, it’s all over the news.

by 1over137

6/9/2026 at 2:41:35 PM

They mean an attempt like this, but one that they manage to keep quiet and out of the press.

by frereubu

6/9/2026 at 2:42:18 PM

I wonder, if I asked the next dozen people I meet, whether they would have any idea about this.

by pavel_lishin

6/9/2026 at 3:29:51 PM

The only people this is relevant to are Albanians. I don't expect an Albanian to know about data centers being built in Texas. Hell, I don't expect Michiganders to know about them.

by KPGv2

6/9/2026 at 9:21:57 PM

> The only people this is relevant to are Albanians.

That's a short-sighted view. Nature destruction is relevant to people everywhere. The locals might not even care much (unlike in this case, fortunately).

What if this construction project would wipe out animal species x, y or z? That's a permanent, irreversible loss for the world as a whole.

What if some species loses its breeding ground, decimating a population elsewhere? Or takes out a stop halfway a migration route?

Destruction of nature always has 2nd order effects. Don't ignore just because you don't live there.

by RetroTechie

6/9/2026 at 4:45:44 PM

Maybe it’s naive, but there’s something incredibly hopeful that there are folks not only protesting this kind of corruption, but also that there’s a government actually responding to the voice of the people. That the EU’s own legal frameworks might positively (if indirectly) affect things is even better.

by rnxrx

6/9/2026 at 3:08:51 PM

The rich are getting too openly greedy and complacent again, they're slowly forgetting about history, can't wait to see how it pans out in the next decades.

https://www.prosperosisle.org/spip.php?article1196

by toasty228

6/9/2026 at 3:22:23 PM

Which is ironic because Rae Kushner - his grandmother - is a legend. She has gone through some things.

Now her grandson is wrecking Europe.

https://www.npr.org/2018/05/04/560224531/trump-stories-kushn...

by renegade-otter

6/9/2026 at 3:49:57 PM

Would you elaborate why she's considered a legend?

She was certainly a victim and a refugee, of which we have many today, most being denied admission to the US. Are those all legends too?

by agnosticmantis

6/9/2026 at 7:38:37 PM

She was in Jewish underground resistance after she escaped the ghetto, and that movement was responsible for saving a lot of lives. Sure, not a shockingly unique story in WWII, but she did better than these upward fail sons.

by renegade-otter

6/9/2026 at 3:38:56 PM

Never heard of her. His father, the tax evading felon recently pardoned by Trump, is rather more well known I would think. (But hardly a legend)

by justin66

6/9/2026 at 4:18:53 PM

well a legend he is, if we are to believe what former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said about what the pardon was for: "one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes" he ever prosecuted as U.S. attorney.

by woodpanel

6/9/2026 at 3:31:13 PM

Present America is real estate developers all the way down.

by lifestyleguru

6/9/2026 at 3:50:06 PM

Real estate, Crypto and AI make up the 3 legged stool of US investment (from my perspective).

In my area which is over 1/3 retired people this is where the majority of their investments seem to lie. Those who are simply relying on 401k or other investments are also at risk due to the lack of diversification. Since their investments are tied to those 3 things.

If any of the legs of the stool go out...the whole thing goes down.

by Ccecil

6/9/2026 at 9:28:30 PM

You forgot Big Oil and weapon industry.

by RetroTechie

6/9/2026 at 3:45:37 PM

Wait till you see the housing market in other Anglo countries.

by drstewart

6/9/2026 at 3:56:35 PM

Maybe it's not cheap but also not very available, quality is rather poor, you can rent it short term without any tenant rights?

by lifestyleguru

6/9/2026 at 3:47:51 PM

All the great art should teach us that we can't take riches to the grave, it's too bad that this is being forgotten.

Then again, may be they already figured out how to make their lives meaningfully longer. I often think what drives 80 year old Bidens and Trumps to live the stressful POTUS life.

And I can think of only one incentive. Weird thoughts, but otherwise the dots just don't connect.

by nullorempty

6/9/2026 at 3:51:20 PM

Different people are driven by different things. Some people genuinely want to serve their nation and being a president is a huge honor to the family. You become part of history.

Others may be serving their own interests as it gives them access to all information.

Others may just want the power.

by avgDev

6/9/2026 at 4:12:51 PM

What is this news source? I've never heard of it before and there are no names associated with it on their site. Two of their social media links are broken. Their YouTube channel was only active for like a year, 4-5 years ago. It all feels strange.

by Brendinooo

6/9/2026 at 3:19:53 PM

I thought Albania still had concrete bunkers around the coast to keep unwanted invaders OUT.

by sys_64738

6/9/2026 at 2:33:49 PM

Somewhat higher stakes version of the Trump Aberdeen golf course:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-she...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Forbes_(farmer)

by pjc50

6/9/2026 at 2:38:56 PM

This led to the greatest trolling of an individual ever when they deliberately stuck a windfarm directly off the coast of his new golf course. He's spent a couple of decades spending countless millions in losing a bunch of court cases, and of course, to this day, constantly moans to anyone who will list about "windmills".

As far as trolling goes, it's one of the greatest achievements in the history of mankind.

by partial225

6/9/2026 at 8:08:20 PM

On par with publicly embarrassing someone's birtherism at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

That blowback though.

by cosmicgadget

6/9/2026 at 2:46:57 PM

unfortunately this trolling has caused trump to try to halt all large offshore wind projects in the United States in federal land grants. it's terrible.

by fooblaster

6/9/2026 at 2:49:42 PM

Yep absolutely this and not at all big oil money/interest.

by thefz

6/9/2026 at 2:58:36 PM

Why not both?

by Sharlin

6/9/2026 at 3:27:46 PM

What would be doubly ironic is if the gold course windmill farm was sponsored by big oil.

by foobarian

6/9/2026 at 3:35:03 PM

Wow! I especially like this:

> Scottish people formed a Tripping Up Trump Campaign to make it more difficult to transfer the title to the land, and hundreds of people bought small interests in Forbes' property and became co-owners.

Continued in another article[1]:

> When it emerged at the end of January 2011 that Queen guitarist Brian May had agreed to the use of the band's song "Bohemian Rhapsody" in a film highlighting the plight of the families, Trump appeared to deny in a media statement that there had ever been an eviction threat, declaring "we have no interest in compulsory purchase and have never applied for it."

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_International_Golf_Links...

by thih9

6/9/2026 at 4:00:11 PM

I hate these rich motherfuckers so much. They are openly corrupt, and move through the world with impunity on a magic carpet of wealth. Not only must the individuals be stopped, but the systems that allow nonstate actors to wield effectively unlimited funds must be rebuilt.

by Kapura

6/9/2026 at 2:14:32 PM

This island was a Russian naval base in the cold war with hundreds of underground nuclear bunkers.

Kushner apparently wants to build a billionaire resort with the protections required to insulate billionaires from their actions. Maybe UAE is too dangerous now.

Here is another article. Try not to be put off by the Rothchild connections, they are mostly irrelevant and based on Kushner's own statements:

https://tomselliott.substack.com/p/what-is-jared-kushner-act...

by adf-aslk

6/9/2026 at 2:20:24 PM

If things ever get bad enough that the wealthy need underground nuclear bunkers, the underground nuclear bunkers aren't going to be enough to protect them. The ordinary people who did the electrical, plumbing, security, etc. know where you are, and no level of security will protect you from an angry mob with nothing to lose.

by water-data-dude

6/9/2026 at 2:34:33 PM

> The ordinary people who did the electrical, plumbing, security, etc. know where you are, and no level of security will protect you from an angry mob with nothing to lose.

Governments around the world already keep many locations/facilities secret and hidden from the public.

They will simply arrest you, or worse, just kill you.

What’s your solution to that?

by graphime

6/9/2026 at 3:34:38 PM

> Governments around the world already keep many locations/facilities secret and hidden from the public.

Those cold war bunkers only had one purpose: to keep high ranking government and military peeps alive just long enough (up to 2 weeks or so) to make sure that mutual destruction is actually 'assured'. They were not meant as some sort of cradle of a new civilization or as a safe haven to survive a nuclear war (because there would be no place to return to anyway).

by flohofwoe

6/9/2026 at 7:10:42 PM

I'm talking about the wealthy building private end of the world bunkers

by water-data-dude

6/9/2026 at 3:18:01 PM

Have you thought this through fully? In that case who'se supposed to be doing the arresting and killing? -- more ordinary people.

Look at what happened to Ceaușescu for example. He went from being confident in his rule to dead 24 hours later.

by everyone

6/9/2026 at 3:52:33 PM

Robots. That's why they're obsessed with AI and robotics.

by jappgar

6/9/2026 at 4:24:40 PM

Yes, ordinary people have famously never killed tens of millions of civilians/undesirables at the orders of the government. Great point.

by jmye

6/9/2026 at 3:19:35 PM

[dead]

by graphime

6/9/2026 at 4:47:00 PM

I once saw a news article with interviews of anonymous bunker tenders; essentially, there is a small industry of former special ops folks that are paid to live in the bunker and maintain it.

The main point they made during the interviews: If things ever get bad enough for the owner to want to move into the bunker, the #1 priority of the guards will be to neutralize the owner. They worked out detailed contingency plans while twiddling there thumbs and rotating cans of caviar.

It turns out you cannot eat electronic money that’s sitting in the middle of a bank’s bombed out business continuity vault.

by hedora

6/9/2026 at 6:43:29 PM

Sounds incredibly fake. The type of people you're talking about don't do anonymous interviews, and they wouldn't talk about this if they did.

But hey, I enjoy fake AI content on social media sometimes too!

by senordevnyc

6/9/2026 at 2:22:53 PM

automated war machines are plenty to stop an angry mob imo.

by stevenpetryk

6/9/2026 at 3:17:07 PM

Now imagine an angry mob with automated war machines

by esseph

6/9/2026 at 3:44:05 PM

Why do you think they're trying to regulate 3D printers and CNC machines all of a sudden?

For that matter, what did you think gun control was for, exactly?

by CamperBob2

6/9/2026 at 2:23:44 PM

Maybe in some dystopian future. But right now there are still plenty of humans in the loop for supporting those machines.

by organsnyder

6/9/2026 at 3:19:05 PM

Yeah like the elites would have any clue how they operate, like any tech.

by everyone

6/9/2026 at 3:51:28 PM

The Mexican cartels have kidnapped people and forced them to build telephony infra for them.

by skinfaxi

6/9/2026 at 3:36:06 PM

What about drones though

by olmo23

6/9/2026 at 3:43:07 PM

Buster-style microwave backpacks

by LearnYouALisp

6/9/2026 at 2:16:08 PM

It looks like Thiel is betting on Argentina.

by abirch

6/9/2026 at 2:21:48 PM

as the custom goes, since 1945.

by java-man

6/9/2026 at 2:26:03 PM

[dead]

by aiisascam

6/9/2026 at 2:21:04 PM

That would explain why Milei got so much US money already. I wonder when the people in Argentina wake up and realise this is a problem.

by shevy-java

6/9/2026 at 2:24:31 PM

Argentina has been a mess for decades.

by pjc50

6/9/2026 at 3:35:16 PM

A billionaire resort with 10,000 hotel rooms...

by treis

6/9/2026 at 4:51:30 PM

There are around 3500 billionaires in the world. With family those rooms will quickly fill up.

by layer8

6/9/2026 at 4:48:39 PM

The people supervising the help need some rooms.

Epstein 2.0 would at least double occupancy on their own.

by hedora

6/9/2026 at 5:56:34 PM

Maybe they have human shields on one end of the island and the billionaire reservation on the other. Also, note that Kushner, like Trump, is always lying. We'll only know what is actually built after it is done.

by 42jag16

6/9/2026 at 3:42:11 PM

It’s crazy that the US is now run by these clowns out to enrich themselves

by Havoc

6/9/2026 at 3:44:57 PM

[flagged]

by the_doctah

6/9/2026 at 3:55:48 PM

Do it.

Both sides SHOULD BE calling out those using the office to enrich themselves. Also, looking at their own party.

We cannot go forward as a nation when people rally up behind their party and only see the issues with the other party.

You have to be blind not to see the crypto grift from the current admin. No republican or democrat has ever done that before.

by avgDev

6/9/2026 at 3:57:46 PM

Out of curiosity, do you have a similar example of a Democrat doing something like this?

Most left leaning people I know aren’t exactly happy with Nancy Pelosi’s insider trading activities and are in full support of outlawing Congress from actively trading and are willing to hold Dems accountable for other unscrupulous actions.

by thepryz

6/9/2026 at 4:03:33 PM

ok, show us some facts, buddy

by buellerbueller

6/9/2026 at 4:29:46 PM

[flagged]

by the_doctah

6/9/2026 at 4:45:49 PM

You seem to be under a misconception of how modus ponens works.

by layer8

6/9/2026 at 5:54:29 PM

No, you just failed to produce evidence, which should have been easy, if your original claim was valid.

by buellerbueller

6/9/2026 at 6:58:13 PM

[flagged]

by the_doctah

6/9/2026 at 8:11:30 PM

Is there a reason you left out Eric Adams?

by cosmicgadget

6/9/2026 at 11:02:23 PM

Nope

by the_doctah

6/9/2026 at 7:39:28 PM

You listed a bunch of names, in response to an article that contains factual reporting and sourced information to support the allegations that are being made. Excuse me for not being impressed.

Whereas I recognize many of the names, the only one whose transgressions I am familiar with is Robert Menendez. He is in jail.

The burden of proof rests upon the person who makes the allegation. "Do your own research" lol.

by buellerbueller

6/9/2026 at 11:02:11 PM

>Excuse me for not being impressed.

That was always going to be the outcome.

>The burden of proof rests upon the person who makes the allegation. "Do your own research" lol.

This isn't a court of law, I'll provide you with as much or as little evidence as I please.

by the_doctah

6/9/2026 at 3:36:54 PM

Silver lining - It's not oil/gas extraction or mining.

by 0x59

6/9/2026 at 4:06:29 PM

RnB, BnB

by mrKola

6/9/2026 at 3:29:57 PM

The T family acts as everyone expected and warned, they are not stopping, and they are even accelerating. I'm not sure what is the conclusion from this.

by lifestyleguru

6/9/2026 at 2:12:49 PM

Are we sure they're not just negotiating over the price?

by jeffbee

6/9/2026 at 2:20:22 PM

Yes. The whole bought media, party in-power, the opposition are against the protests and are trying to downplay them.

Source: I live there. It's very easy to tell if you do.

by ddorian43

6/9/2026 at 2:39:01 PM

Is the project more of a private residence or something that would bring tourism to the local economy?

by tmaly

6/9/2026 at 2:45:30 PM

There are 2 projects here. And there is a lot of missing details from both.

But what has happened before is that:

The government gives free/cheap/exclusive public land to someone to build apartments/villas. They sell these to whoever wants to buy before starting construction. At the end of construction, with the profits, they build nice hotels at the frontline and keep for themselves without investing any of their own money in anything.

So they will most likely build apartments in Narta, sell them to the populace, and keep Sazan for themselves as luxury resort.

Something worse than this has started happening for high rises too, where they start selling before getting the permit even. So they don't invest their own money even to get the initial permit to start building.

by ddorian43

6/9/2026 at 3:30:38 PM

So... it's like a kickstarter for real estate!

by foobarian

6/10/2026 at 6:20:24 AM

It's worse. Most/All of the development is done by subcontractors who also get apartments/villas instead of plain cash for their work. So you will do plumbing on 10 villas and for your work get 20% cash + 1 apartment that you have to sell it yourself. This for all subcontractors except steel.

by ddorian43

6/9/2026 at 4:54:02 PM

In NYC, Trump did something similar. He built condos, then sold them way above market to Russian oligarchs, who then immediately resold them at market value to people that were not laundering money.

Same grift, different marks.

by hedora

6/9/2026 at 2:24:17 PM

I'll take your word for it! But I reflexively add "... at this price" to such statements.

by jeffbee

6/9/2026 at 2:34:48 PM

People really don't get the idea of intangible cultural heritage and irreplaceable wetlands, do they? Not everything and everyone is for sale.

by pjc50

6/9/2026 at 2:39:57 PM

[flagged]

by mothballed

6/9/2026 at 2:30:42 PM

What do the locals have from a higher price?

by notrealyme123

6/9/2026 at 2:33:16 PM

Very hard for the general public to gain things though.

It's too luxury, most likely will pay no taxes for years, you can import workers from elsewhere, etc etc.

It's not the first time this kind of thing happens in Albania and we've already seen results.

Normal people will just never be able to go there again. People in power will either get millions or 1+ free apartment/villa, or heavily discounted price (depends on how much power you have).

I was literally kitesurfing when they came and added fences to the road to block access to the beach.

by ddorian43

6/9/2026 at 2:32:36 PM

Protests by the masses and business negotiations are very different.

by kelipso

6/9/2026 at 3:34:45 PM

Stop the financialisation of everything.

(Or if you prefer because you are unable to compute that, the price is upfront $70,000 trillion (2025 prices) - cash only)

by philipwhiuk

6/9/2026 at 2:34:47 PM

Weird flagging in this submission. Pointing out that billionaires build nuclear bunkers is not allowed even though it is public knowledge.

by qwlart

6/9/2026 at 9:41:59 PM

Was this going to Epstein Island 2.0?

by nikolay

6/9/2026 at 3:52:01 PM

Trump is gonna put tariffs on Albania very soon

by throw343

6/9/2026 at 4:51:32 PM

And somehow do more damage to the US than to Albania.

I predict… just a sec… footwear and insulated wire shortages and a rebar glut [1]

[1] https://oec.world/en/profile/country/alb

by hedora

6/9/2026 at 3:24:17 PM

The evidence so far hints more at Albania’s weak rule of law/property/environmental governance and ugly conflict-of-interest more than Kushner being part of some evil conspiracy.

by hereme888

6/9/2026 at 3:57:53 PM

Seems like a bit from both column A and column B, personally.

by cmrdporcupine

6/9/2026 at 9:46:47 PM

Albanians should realize that $4B will not change their lives a bit, but they will look like submissive sheeple. I hope they prove to be brave and determined. Their president is a total madman - I'm not sure why they elected him, which makes me think Trump's corrupt family will get what they want.

by nikolay

6/9/2026 at 2:50:57 PM

Some of the messaging around this by the people trying to build this out is so tone deaf. I think they know and that's why they're building bunkers.

by HumblyTossed

6/9/2026 at 3:19:43 PM

Which is actually pretty shortsighted.

What if we just made a strong middle class? Made sure they had a LOT more money? Then they could just buy more stuff and services.

by kilroy123

6/9/2026 at 2:57:54 PM

These poor billionaires are just trying to make ends meet like any of us.

by Sharlin

6/9/2026 at 3:04:20 PM

YES! More of this. Such places and people are not for sale. What kind of sickos think they can just see a place and say "I've got money, these know-nothing-barefoot-fools will take our money and let us rape their lands!"?

And on top of that it's Trump kids, yeet them into the sea.

by gigatexal

6/9/2026 at 2:20:10 PM

The USA is currently run by oligarchs. They try to buy their way into other countries via corruption. How much kickback did the government of Albania get already? It is highly suspicious how supportive they are of Trump.

by shevy-java

6/9/2026 at 3:28:25 PM

You can be sure they are getting paid off. It's sickening.

In the past the wealthy families would fund building churches, hospitals, housing for poor.

Nowadays' oligarchs aren't that kind.

by nullorempty

6/9/2026 at 3:32:54 PM

[dead]

by cindyllm

6/9/2026 at 2:47:42 PM

Incompetent oligarchs. If you can't even successfully bribe the Albanian or Serbian government, you are just really bad at corruption. Those are (sadly) among the most corrupt countries in the world.

edit: the governments appear to be supportive, but obviously aren't as supportive as they could be. Probably taking the bribe and not doing as much as they could.

by andix

6/9/2026 at 2:25:38 PM

When Trump was running for the first time, the prime minister was extremely against Trump and even ridiculed him publicly on interviews "shame of our civilization" https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/04/13/albanian-prime-minister...

Which backfired after Trump won twice in US. But it's just business.

by ddorian43

6/9/2026 at 2:34:12 PM

[flagged]

by orwin

6/9/2026 at 3:07:56 PM

Unlike most places in Europe, America has never had a revolution where they deposed the ruling class and those with political power. Americans tell themselves they live in a free country with a government run by the people. It is increasingly obvious that that is a lie.

by titzer

6/9/2026 at 3:23:44 PM

we regularly depose those with political power. In elections.

And the wealthy die or stop participating within around 30 yrs of becoming wealthy normally. And compete themselves across idiology. Soros, Koch, Musk and Moskowitz all have very different packages of political beliefs they advocate vs each other

by jdross

6/9/2026 at 3:23:11 PM

I always point this out too. They had a war of independence, the main goal of which was so the elite slave owning class wouldn't have to pay tax. Yet they call it a revolution.

They have never had an actual revolution akin to French revolution and the July revolution.

by everyone

6/9/2026 at 3:23:06 PM

except the courts are somewhat functional, and the law has a lot of pro-privacy and pro-consumer basis. It is not so simple as "lie" but, the clay feet of the idol are showing today.

by gnerd00

6/9/2026 at 3:02:35 PM

[flagged]

by roysting

6/9/2026 at 3:59:25 PM

If you've read https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html, this is obviously not what this site is for, so please don't post like this.

by dang

6/9/2026 at 5:59:53 PM

I get that the guidelines are just about the most subjective black hole you could drive a quasar through, but what exactly is the offending aspect? Is it the “Epstein island 2.0”? I mean, who believes that these types of people will not be trying to rebuild that same kind of capacity in some other place by some other, albeit similar means?

If I were tasked to do it, the Albanian coast would be a top choice for me too; it has near perfect conditions for such an enterprise.

Don’t we discuss viruses, exploits, dark patterns, scammers and fraud when it comes to other things? Why would it be objectionable to call out the top civilization hackers and scammers and exploits? Everyone can talk about meaningless scams and exploits. Is there any bigger, worse exploit and hack than hacking a whole country and civilization and extracting trillions in sum?

by roysting

6/9/2026 at 8:13:01 PM

HN's guidelines are subjective in the sense that they involve interpretation and no two people (including tomhow and me) interpret them identically. But they're not arbitrary, in the sense that every moderation call is just a whim. Most aren't borderline calls, and the one here certainly wasn't.

In this case it's the use of denunciatory rhetoric that fries any element of curious conversation that the comment might have contained. The combination of snark and fulminatey pejoratives is the kind of internet discourse which, however popular, is destructive of what we're trying for on HN.

(Secondarily, there's also something about the combination of "His kind [...] alien [...] paraistic [...] depraved" which has overtones that I can understand why other commenters were objecting to. I'm sure you didn't mean it that way, but such language does have history and the imprints of that history are still active.)

There's a phrase in your reply here which I think touches on the core and that's "calling out". Denunciatory rage and the shaming process are natural social responses to bad behavior. But it's really not what HN is for, and this isn't just a matter of taste because we can't have both forms of discourse at the same time.

Past explanations about this in case anyone is interested:

calling out - https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

shaming: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

This is in no way to deny or defend bad behavior of course. It's just trying to preserve HN for its intended purpose, which is fragile and forever in danger of getting trampled by the much stronger default forces on the internet. We're simply trying to stave that off for as long as we can (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...), and since it's more or less a battle with entropy, it takes a lot of energy.

by dang

6/9/2026 at 3:20:46 PM

[flagged]

by toasty228

6/9/2026 at 3:40:52 PM

KMFDMs latest album cover is spot on:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_(KMFDM_album)

(Judging from the lyrics, there’s a reason they went with orange.)

by hedora

6/9/2026 at 3:45:04 PM

Omg I didn't realize they still put out albums

by homeonthemtn

6/9/2026 at 3:49:42 PM

It's the Innsmouth look.

by panzagl

6/9/2026 at 3:42:06 PM

vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis, lit. 'vampire squid from hell') is actually a thing.

by sorokod

6/9/2026 at 3:41:02 PM

Is this meant to be an anti-Jewish remark? Or just eugenicist more generally

by hammock

6/9/2026 at 3:50:55 PM

Mostly anti parasitic, all shared common traits between all the sociopaths in charge of big companies/institutions not my problem, it's a good line of defense I admit, but I fear it works less and less since people see through the bs more easily these days.

by toasty228

6/9/2026 at 3:54:55 PM

You may want to pick a broader range of samples for your examples then, since both Zuck and Kushner being Jewish and you choosing those two names specifically...

Concerns can be raised.

by cmrdporcupine

6/9/2026 at 3:58:15 PM

Sure: Altman, Dario, Karp, oh... wait... Well at least we have Musk and Thiel

by toasty228

6/9/2026 at 3:25:39 PM

They want to upstage Putin's Black Sea palace in a place where they can bribe their way out of extradition.

by kevin_thibedeau

6/9/2026 at 3:23:24 PM

This kind of talk used to be a lot more common in our grandparents' time. It's sad to see the best and the brightest of our times going back to it.

by hereweare26

6/9/2026 at 3:51:07 PM

Your point is that the rhetoric of the late 1800s running into WWII was, by far, the worst thing that happened during that time period, just like now?

I emphatically disagree.

However, there was widespread vilification of cephalopods on all sides of multiple wars during that time period:

https://neverwasmag.com/2017/08/the-octopus-in-political-car...

(To be clear, I don’t hate any sea creatures.)

by hedora

6/9/2026 at 6:10:28 PM

I sincerely apologize to any cephalopods I may have harmed or emotionally injured with my irresponsible association with the Kushners and their ilk. I hope to mend the trust and friendship with all my fellow creature on earth that are all equally a victim of the Kushners and their like.

by roysting

6/9/2026 at 3:58:02 PM

You mean when the industrial revolution put a lot of people out of work, and lowered living standards for most workers?

Gee, I wonder what could be happening that's similar to that.

by RobotToaster

6/9/2026 at 3:39:17 PM

Our grandparents were right, and right to say this.

by superloika

6/9/2026 at 3:48:05 PM

I think parent poster is implying that the language is directed at or about Kushner's Jewish ethnicity.

Which I don't think is the intent of anybody in this thread. We're just talking about them being privileged and rich.

I do think it's important to avoid accidental or deliberate anti-Semitism when talking here though. Epstein and Kushner being Jewish has zero to do with their vileness, but for a segment of the population it's all too easy to unconsciously (or worse, consciously) make a linkage between old vile anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about Rothschilds or whatever.

by cmrdporcupine

6/10/2026 at 9:54:24 AM

It's rather odd that you good-boy with all the many points (we know you like your "karma") immediately jump to associating jews with evil and vile people like Kushner and his type.

There are many jews who are opposed to vile creatures like him and his ilk. Yet here we are with you immediately associating evil, vile people with jews even though no one but you mentioned jews.

Seriously, what makes you do that? He is surrounded by many non jews, he is trying to manipulate many non-jewish corrupt and rotten organized criminals, aka the Albanian government, he is associated with the most vile Sykes-Picot finger puppets ... and you immediately think "he's talking about the jews"???

Seriously, have you allocated some intellectual resources to working through that neurosis?

by roysting

6/9/2026 at 6:07:30 PM

You mean the talk that got us all out rights and freedoms? You know, like what started 250 years ago this year, and everyone has taken for granted to the point that it’s all just quietly being slipped out from under people who have no understanding for the value and contract of things??

by roysting

6/9/2026 at 3:26:30 PM

lmao, every. single. time.

Criticise a jewish person for something completely unrelated: infinite amount of green accounts created on the spot come in and start vaguely referencing "ThE DaRkEsT TiMe In HiStOrY".

by toasty228

6/9/2026 at 3:56:06 PM

OP did say “his kind”, leaving it as an exercise for the reader

by jazzyjackson

6/10/2026 at 10:00:39 AM

So I talk about vile evil people doing destructive, greedy, and rapacious things and you immediately think "he's talking about the jews!"?

Why is that? Have you ever thought about why you do that?

by roysting

6/9/2026 at 4:14:23 PM

<500 karma account throwing stones in glass houses.

I raised concerns about your framing, and I think you'll find I'm not a green account. By far.

Please don't drag this forum down. With my own opinions... I wouldn't complain about "Class War" language, but your posts concern me.

by cmrdporcupine

6/10/2026 at 9:46:06 AM

Congratulations for never even slightly perturbing the abusive people in control. Well done, you serve your submissive role well.

Unfortunately for everyone on the planet, those who only speak sycophantic affirmations to power, always only condemns all of humanity to the inevitable cycle of misery.

Your attempt to denigrate with "<500 karma account" as if the meaningless "karma" is evidence of anything but your own servile and thoughtless nature, is implicated in the suffering you inevitably enable.

I suspect your admiration for the meaningless "karma" used to manipulate you prevents your understanding what you are being told, but that is why you are the good boy for evil you are with many points.

by roysting

6/9/2026 at 5:02:07 PM

> <500 karma account throwing stones in glass houses.

If my 15k karma account wasn't banned I'd happily use it. I rotate new accounts every few months now, it's much more convenient

by toasty228

6/9/2026 at 3:27:13 PM

It would indeed be surprising to hear people say this if you completely ignore the words and actions of the Epstein class and the overwhelming amount of pain and suffering they afflict on everyone else.

by dopple

6/9/2026 at 3:39:07 PM

[flagged]

by armchairhacker

6/9/2026 at 3:46:45 PM

It's becoming more like Reddit, that's for sure

by the_doctah

6/9/2026 at 3:52:57 PM

Wow what an insightful comment we haven’t heard repeated for over a decade here.

by iwontberude

6/9/2026 at 3:43:59 PM

It is just Russia trying to undermine US president! We seen this type of protests several times!

by ifjfkfkfkfj

6/9/2026 at 2:38:54 PM

This is off topic and I understand we’re not supposed to comment on such things, but was anyone else mystified by the decisions that went into the scroll progress bar up top (on mobile)? It seems to be two part, where part of it would accurately reflect your scroll state, while the other had some weird latency associated with it. And then it ended up hidden behind the top of page blur unless you scrolled very aggressively, to the point where the blur could not keep up.

by appplication

6/9/2026 at 3:10:16 PM

It works for me. I didn't dismiss the first dickover, but did dismiss the second dickover. Scrolled all the way to the bottom smoothly (minus the pause for the second dickover).

by antiframe

6/9/2026 at 4:12:15 PM

Headline: "A large comet is approaching the earth and all life is expected to be wiped out within 20 days"

HN: "The scrollbar is two pixels too narrow on the article!"

by mythrwy