Can citizens of Albania, population 2-point-4 million, push back against their own government and the pull of the U-S president’s family whom they accuse of capitalizing on their connections to privatize protected coastline on the Adriatic Sea? Introducing what activists have dubbed the Flamingo Revolution of 2026, an unprecedented leaderless movement against Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner’s bid to build a 4-billion dollar luxury resort project on land purchased by Qatari contacts of the Kushners.
From no-bid contracts and allegations of fraudulent sales of land by organized crime-related figures posing as the real land owners to the diplomatic row sparked over the manhandling of ethnic Greeks in the area, we’ll ask about the case and the prime minister’s promise that the project will propel Albania into the quote “Champions League” of tourist destinations.
In this David versus Goliath style-tale, there’s that blurring of lines between the personal business interests of the Trump family and the power of a sitting U-S president. The current one’s sent his son-in-law to mediate peace with Iran and Russia, pardoned his convicted real estate mogul father and appointed him ambassador to France. Why does the outrage seem stronger in Albania than in the United States or here in France, where the president just this week quietly welcomed four-term leader Edi Rama?
Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Piera Rocco, Charles Wente.
