As a reminder, this story began in 2014 in the aftermath of what we might think of as a US-backed coup in Ukraine. During 2013 the US/EU was negotiating with Ukraine for the country to shift focus to engagement with the West, but in late 2013 then-Pres. Yanukovych suddenly flipped towards Russia. That led to the massive Maidan protests during the winter, including allegations about US involvement in promoting certain groups during the protests, and these protests ultimately led to Yanukovych fleeing Ukraine and the government switching to one friendly with US/EU interests. In the wake of that coup, or what might be called an uprising, the US and EU brought in assistance to attempt rebuilding the Ukraine government, and the US lead for this effort was then-Vice President Joe Biden. One of the side details to this was the largest natural gas company in Ukraine, The Burisma Group, and how Hunter Biden (Joe Biden’s son) and associates were appointed to the Board of Directors of Burisma.
I reported on all that in 2014, but now the story is back in part thanks to Joe Biden deciding to run for President. A couple weeks ago there was new reporting focusing on Joe Biden having bragged about arranging for the ouster of the Prosecutor General in Ukraine who had launched an investigation into the Burisma Group, and Hunter Biden in particular.
Now there is some more reporting – which I hesitate to spend much time on because this no longer has relevance to the topic area of The Long Tail Pipe. Primarily this story is of interest only to demonstrate the amount of work, and money, and political power, and corruption, that is involved in preserving the fossil fuel system.
NY Times: Biden Faces Conflict of Interest Questions That Are Being Promoted by Trump and Allies
– This is a very good summary of what happened, including plenty of links to background material.
It says Hunter Biden resigned from the Burisma Board a month ago. Hurm – and Joe Biden began seriously talking about launching his Presidential bid about that time. Reading between the lines one might think the two are connected. The article says Hunter stepped down because his term expired, but the timing is coincidental.
The article claims that renewed interest in this story is being fanned by allies of President Trump. The purpose being to smear and possibly take down a potential political rival.
It is claimed the report in The Hill behind my earlier blog post was pushed by Pres. Trump’s lawyer Rudolph Giuliani. I did not know of The Hill being a Conservative news outlet, however their report (whether inspired by Giuliani or not) raised some interesting points of data. If indeed Biden twisted the arm of the Ukraine government, then is he fit to be President?
The Hill’s report claimed Biden pressed for the dismissal of the Prosecutor General to protect Hunter Biden. The NY Times notes that this Prosecutor General had long been criticized by Western nations and international leaders over turning a blind eye to corruption in his own office and among the political elite of Ukraine.
Where the NY Times article says this story is being fanned in the Conservative press seems accurate. A Google News search for “Biden Ukraine” turns up plenty of stories in news outlets with obvious conservative slant.
In part what’s happening is these same folks are trying to protect Pres Trump from allegations of conspiracy/collusion with Russians.
One article I read in The Hill discussed efforts by Ukrainians to sway the 2016 Presidential Election to Clinton, and made the allegation of opposing efforts from Russia and Ukraine to elect preferred candidates.
All this is interesting and alarming at the same time, but it has scant little to do with the focus of The Long Tail Pipe.
The only connection is that it gives us a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes stuff behind how big business decisions are being made. In this case the original intent behind covering this story in 2014 was that Ukraine was being made a pawn of geopolitical power brokers who sought to undercut Russia’s dominant role in supplying fossil fuels to Europe.
A part of that effort were plans to initiate Fracking in certain shale fields in Romania, Ukraine and Poland. That would result in natural gas and crude oil supplies in Europe not under Russia’s thumb.
Where The Long Tail Pipe comes in on this is the geopolitical efforts and human efforts and the corruption going into preserving the fossil fuel system, versus — hey, what if we all just adopted renewable energy systems?
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