July 10, 2026
Vast numbers of angry Albanians have been protesting across their Balkan nation for the past 38 nights. They are enraged by the Trumps’ commercial empire trying to grab the very last undeveloped coastal regions along the Mediterranean and adjoining Adriatic Sea.
The Trumps believed poor, impoverished Albania – until recently Europe’s most threadbare nation – could be hornswoggled by the self-promotion and glitz of the Trump industry into selling part of Europe’s remaining unspoiled coast for a luxury, billion-dollar hotel development. It was supposed to become Trump’s very own Saint-Tropez. I’ve seen the building plans.
Poor little Albania. It was ruled by the Ottoman Turks for over 400 years. The independent, warlike Albanian mountain tribes held off the Turks for centuries and prevented them from invading Italy and snuffing out its Renaissance.
Next came the Stalinists at the end of WWII. A ghastly tyranny, as awful as today’s North Korea, misruled Albania which became at first a Soviet then a Red Chinese ally after Moscow had denounced Stalin.
I experienced the scary Stalinist regime of Enver Hoxha that tuned Albania into a giant prison camp surrounded by watch towers and searchlights. My Albanian mother, Nexhmie Zaimi, was considered by Albanian secret police to be a US OSS (predecessor to CIA) intelligence agent – which she likely was.
The brutal Communists were replaced by Albania’s somewhat softer Socialists. They ended up naming a professional basketball player, Edi Rama, as president, replacing the competent democratic president, Sali Berisha, a former heart surgeon. I interviewed him in the 1990’s. His hawklike countenance much resembled Albania’s national hero, Skenderbeg. He gave me hell for not wearing a tie for our interview.
Albania was engulfed by corruption. Then came drug dealing that linked Turkey’s abundant hashish and opium trades with Europe. Albania became a caricature of the fabled literary Balkan states of Graustark and Ruritania.
The last thing long-suffering Albania needed was the Trumps turning it into a luxury golf course, a sport widely regarded across Europe as a waste of land and water that attracts sloppily dressed, overweight men.
But Albania desperately needs hard income. It has a little chromium and oil but its main resource is tough people who treasure their independence and traditions. Surveys showed their preferences are, in order, tobacco, guns, the liquor Arak, and women. Who could not like men like this?
Most Albanians hope to join the European Community (EU). They are half the way in and, unless something calamitous happens, Albania may be admitted to the EU by the end of next year – despite deep reluctance by some lilly-white EU members to admit Albania which is at least 60% Muslim.
But Albania’s Muslims are notoriously easy-going in their beliefs. In Albania, Christians traditionally celebrated the Muslim holy month of Ramadan (or Bayram as the Muslims call it). Christians observe Ramadan. Orthodox observe their own customs. Albania is not a smoking bombshell like former Yugoslavia but a good lesson in grown-up behavior. This is the traditional Turkish way of common sense and respect for others – albeit with certain really bad exceptions.
It’s likely Albania will finally join the EU. US forces are already based there. The Turks keep an eye on their former possession. Albania’s pristine coastline will benefit the EU with its overcrowded beaches – but without the ‘gaucherie’ of the Trumps. They still have North Africa and Somalia.
America the historic 20th century defender of Albania, has protected it from attempts by Serbia and Greece to seize Albania’s strategic Adriatic ports. After so much misery and communist oppression it’s now time for Albania to rise and shine.
Copyright Eric S. Margolis 2026
This post is in: Albania
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