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Jared Kushner, son-in-law of former US President Donald Trump: “Excited to share a few designs”
Photo:
Jason Scenes / EPA-EFE
In 1999, NATO carried out air strikes against Yugoslavia for months to force ruler Slobodan Milošević to give up the war in Kosovo.
The headquarters of the Yugoslav army in Belgrade was also destroyed.
A ruin still stands at the former location in what is now the Serbian capital.
But that could now change.
A few days ago, Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner made two large-scale real estate projects public in a posting on the from Belgrade.
Kushner doesn't write anything about the planned location in the city, but an illustration shows skyscrapers where the ruins of the army headquarters are today.
Kushners published his plans on the same day that an investigation by the New York Times appeared, according to which, among other things, a luxury hotel and a museum are planned for the location in question.
Meanwhile, Serbia's Infrastructure Minister Goran Vesić confirmed that the Serbian government had authorized him to sign a memorandum allowing the site to be awarded to American offshore companies.
According to the report in the New York Times, the deal is largely due to the mediation of Richard Grenell.
Grenell was US ambassador to Germany under Donald Trump - and for a while also Trump's special envoy to the Balkans.
Through his connections, Kushner may have had an insider overview of the situation regarding investments in the Balkans.
He also privately expressed ambitions for the post of Secretary of State under President Donald Trump, the paper reported, citing a source close to him.
The destroyed former headquarters is a well-known place in Belgrade: As in other places in the city, even today, a quarter of a century after the NATO air strikes, several ruins have not yet been removed, and at the same time many Serbs see themselves as victims of the transatlantic defense alliance .
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić still speaks of events today as “NATO aggression.”
So if a man from Trump's entourage wants to replace the war memorial with a luxurious tourist building, that shows at least little historical sensitivity.
But one could also interpret the plans as a symbolic act with which the Trump family is siding with the NATO-hostile part of the Serbs.
NATO states are worried about Trump
Trump himself has made it clear several times how critically he views NATO.
At the beginning of February, he said that he would refuse American military aid in the event of a Russian attack - at least to those NATO states that "did not pay."
He did this with a view to the agreement according to which the members of the alliance should invest two percent of their economic output in national defense capabilities.
Since then, observers have been worried about the future of NATO if Trump wins the US election.
At the same time, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and his government are being criticized by European politicians for not taking part in the sanctions against Russia.
Criticism of Vučić and his SNS party's style of government is growing; in December there were massive protests following allegations of manipulation in the local elections in Belgrade.
Sol