I suppose if the Hiltons could do it, the Trumps are entitled to their hotel chain as well. But do they really have to be so ostentatious? And isn’t there — or shouldn’t there be — some moral imperative against doing business with dictators and tyrants? Or using threats and coercion (i.e., sanctions and tariffs) to get the deal you want?

Apparently not when there is enough money, and oil, at stake.

Word has it that the Serbian government has — against the wishes of a very vocal segment of the country’s citizens — established a joint venture with a property development company owned by Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to demolish an historic building site in Belgrade dating back to the conflict with Kosovo, to be replaced with a glitzy, five-star hotel/apartment/museum complex.

In an effort to gain relief from U.S. sanctions against Serbia’s national oil company due to its majority stake being owned by Russia’s Gazprom and Gazprom Neft, the country’s president, Aleksandar Vucic, has been cozying up to the Trump administration in spite of his friendly relations with Vladimir Putin and his accelerating crackdown on independent media and and civil rights.

So when Kushner came calling, Vucic pushed through a law removing the cultural designation of the existing complex and permitting demolition work to proceed “in a manner that is satisfactory” to Kushner’s company, Atlantic Incubation Partners LLC. The deal with Kushner includes a free lease of the land for 99 years, with an option for the lease to be converted into full ownership. [Julian Borger, The Guardian, November 13, 2025.]

Serbia is not a member of NATO or the EU, though it has been working toward EU membership. Vucic is another of those world leaders — like Turkiye’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hungary’s Viktor Orban — trying to maintain a balance between East and West, with varying degrees of success. And for a country that is one of the poorest in Europe, a deal like this with Kushner would be a huge windfall for Serbia . . . well, for Vucic, anyway.

And what would it mean to Kushner? If nothing else, it would buy him a lot of brownie points with daddy-in-law, who would benefit politically and — let’s face it — financially as well. Because, while the oddly-named Atlantic Incubation Partners may legally belong to Kushner, where dynasties like the Trumps are concerned . . .

. . . it’s all in the family.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/19/25