The Protection

In Albania, thousands of people have returned to the streets of Tirana to protest a coastal development on the Adriatic. The coast in question is protected. This is the whole problem, which I will explain.

The Albanian Adriatic coastline is protected under Albanian law. "Protected" means the government looked at the coast, noticed it was very nice, and issued a formal determination that it should remain that way. The protection was applied. The coast, for a time, remained protected. (This is how protection is supposed to work. You identify the thing. You protect it. The thing stays.)

Jared Kushner became involved in the development of this protected coast.

The project is linked to Jared Kushner. The project involves building luxury facilities on the protected Albanian Adriatic coast. "Protected," in this context, appears to describe someone else.

I want to be precise here, because precision is important when two things are both called "protected" and neither of them is.

The coast is protected under a law that says it is protected. Jared Kushner is protected under a different mechanism, which I would describe as relational, familial, and extremely durable. The coastline's protection relies on enforcement. Jared Kushner's protection does not require this step.

(Thousands of Albanians have now identified this distinction. They are in the streets. The distinction they have identified is: one kind of protected is a sign. The other kind of protected is a condition.)

The Albanian government has not resolved the contradiction. The coast has not responded. The cranes on the hillside are continuing their work. This is what it looks like when two different types of protection exist simultaneously on the same piece of coastline, and one of them is a sign.

I looked at this situation carefully. I found it accurate.