FLASH NEWS
Renowned journalist Peter Lucas: Trump has Albania on his mind when he gets confused because he has the problem of Sazan
2025-08-30 12:25:47 / POLITIKË
By Peter Lucas, BOSTON HERALD
It's understandable why President Donald Trump would have Albania on his mind.
That's because his daughter, Ivanka, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are on the verge of a big win with an exclusive, multi-billion dollar luxury development on Sazan Island, off the Albanian coast.
Trump confused Albania with Armenia when, in an interview with Mark Levin last week, he incorrectly claimed to have brokered a peace deal between Azerbaijan and Albania, when he actually meant Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Armenia is a landlocked country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia, bordering Turkey. Albania, a socialist country, is located in the Balkans, borders Greece and has a long coastline along the Adriatic Sea opposite Italy.
Speaking about his successes in brokering peace around the world, Trump said: “We saw Azerbaijan. It was a great deal that lasted thirty, thirty-five years with, uh, Albania. Think about that.”
"I mean, it's been going on for years, and I know the leaders, I know them through trade. I was dealing with them a little bit, and I said, 'Why are you fighting?' Then I said, 'I'm not going to make a trade deal if you're going to fight. It's crazy, '" Trump said.
The “two boys” were the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan. It is understandable if Trump did not dare to risk remembering, mentioning and getting their names wrong.
But he would have remembered the name of Albania’s Socialist Prime Minister, Edi Rama, with whom Ivanka and Jared Kushner have struck up a friendship and who paved the way for the Kushner/Trump investment.
It’s a complicated investment worth more than $1.4 billion. While Albania has never been at war with Azerbaijan, it has been at war with domestic political corruption. And it’s losing that war.
While tourism for quick profits flourishes along the coast, Tirana, the capital, has become a haven for laundering drug money.
A former Albanian president, Ilir Meta, is in prison on corruption charges, former Prime Minister Sali Berisha is on trial for political corruption, and Erion Veliaj, the mayor of Tirana and Rama’s potential successor, is in prison awaiting trial on money laundering charges.
Just two years ago, Charles McGonigal, a former senior FBI counterintelligence official, was sentenced to more than two years in prison for concealing about $225,000 in laundered money he received from a former Albanian intelligence official who once worked for Rama.
McGonigal allegedly warned Rama not to award an expensive oil exploitation contract to a Russian company represented by the former intelligence officer, in which the former intelligence officer had financial interests. As a token of gratitude, McGonigal presented Rama with an FBI hat.
There is no evidence that Ivanka and Jared Kushner gifted Rama anything during their meetings, other than good wishes from Trump, which may have been enough to win Rama's approval for the project.
Rama, who once called Trump a disgrace, now praises him, saying, after Trump's return to the White House: " Maybe God saved Donald Trump not only to make America great, but also to wake up Europe. "
Kushner, along with partners from Saudi Arabia, plans to build a series of luxury condominiums on Sazan Island, an uninhabited island in the Gulf of Vlora that overlooks the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. The views are spectacular.
The island, now called “Trump Island” by locals, was closed to the public for years. It once served as an Italian military post during World War II. It was then occupied by the Russians during the Cold War. There are dilapidated military installations and old ammunition lying everywhere.
The project was enhanced by the completion of a new airport just a few miles away in Vlora. This means that the wealthy can fly to their exclusive island in Albania without meeting a single Albanian, except the cleaning lady. It's Albanian socialism.
If things don't go well, they can always turn the island into the "Alcatraz of Albania." Trump would love that too./ Boston Herald, translated by Alfapress.al
Happening now...
America may withdraw from Europe, but not from SPAK
Nga Gentian Gaba
ideas
top
Alfa recipes
TRENDING 
services
- POLICE129
- STREET POLICE126
- AMBULANCE112
- FIREFIGHTER128