According to this morning’s Wall Street Journal, Hunter Biden, Vice President Joe Biden’s younger son, has joined the board of a Ukrainian gas company. The gas company, Burisma Holdings Ltd., is controlled by Nikolai Zlochevsky, who was a top security and energy official in the government of former Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych. Mr. Zlochevsky was also a member of Parliament for former President Yanukovych’s party.
Former President Yanukovych was forced from power earlier this year by pro-Western demonstrators in Kiev. He is now is Russia, where Vladimir Putin has invaded and annexed Crimea and has sent his special forces into eastern Ukraine to stir up troubles. And now Vice President Biden’s son is getting paid by a former top official in Mr. Yanukovych’s government.
While it may be technically true that, as both the White House press office and Vice President Biden’s office said, in the words of The Wall Street Journal, “Hunter Biden's activities [are] those of a private citizen, bearing no endorsement of the U.S. government”, that doesn’t make it right.
I understand that Hunter Biden is a private citizen, but he is also the son of the Vice President. What he does affects his father. Germany has the problem of former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s ties with Vladimir Putin. After being defeated in 2008, Mr. Schroeder accepted Gazprom's nomination to be the head of the shareholders' committee of Nord Stream AG, a gas pipeline venture owned 51% by Gazprom. (Gazprom is majority-owned by the Russian government.) (See also, inter alia, here.)
Now Germany is not alone. We have the Vice President’s son being paid by an associate of the Russian-backed former President of Ukraine. Let me note, however, that isn’t the fact that Hunter Biden is being paid by the Russian-backed side that is the problem. It would be just as bad if he were being paid by somebody connected with the pro-Western government in Ukraine. He shouldn’t be employed by any side in Ukraine.
Maybe this doesn’t seem fair, but if your father is Vice President, there are some things you shouldn’t do. Among those is getting paid by companies connected with foreign government officials, whether current or past. Especially in countries such as Ukraine right now. The conflict of interest is troubling and obvious. I don’t understand why Hunter Biden did it, and why Vice President Biden didn’t try to get him to not do it. It doesn’t speak well of Hunter Biden, Joe Biden – or the Obama administration.
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