comes to mind

Nothing to see here...just move along...


------

Sonja Jo @Sonja_Jo
Follow

White House officials declined to comment on Hunter Biden's association w/ Burisma & the company's holdings in Crimea & east Ukraine. @AP

----------------

The Guardian:

Isn't that a bit fishy? Why do you say that?

Because he's the vice-president's son! That's a coincidence. "This is totally based on merit," said Burisma's chairman, Alan Apter.

He doesn't sound very Ukrainian. He's American, as is the other new board member, Devon Archer.

Who? Devon Archer, who works with Hunter Biden at Rosemont Seneca partners, which is half owned by Rosemont Capital, a private equity firm founded by Archer and Christopher Heinz.

Who? Christopher Heinz … John Kerry's stepson.

-------------

aka corruption

The REAL Dirt On Bush/Harken Scandal

Arbusto is an oil company Bush ran into the ground and it was acquired by Spectrum which, Bush ran into the ground and it was acquired by Harken. Bush is as "inside" as a trader gets.

by Mediafilter.org
Friday Jul 5th, 2002 8:46 PM

GEORGE JR.'S BCCI CONNECTION

"This is an incredible deal, unbelievable for this small company," energy analyst Charles Strain told Forbes magazine, describing the oil production sharing agreement the Harken Energy Corporation signed in January 1990 with Bahrain.

Under the terms of the deal, Harken was given the exclusive right to explore for gas and oil off the shores of the Gulf island nation. If gas or oil were found in waters near two of the world's largest gas and oil fields, Harken would have exclusive marketing and transportation rights for the energy resources. Truly an "incredible deal" for a company that had never drilled an offshore well.

Strain failed to point out, however, the one fact that puts the Harken deal in focus: George Bush, Jr., the eldest son of George and Barbara Bush of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC, is a member of Harken's board of directors, a consultant, and a stockholder in the Texas-based company. In light of this connection, the deal makes more sense. The involvement of Junior-George Walker Bush's childhood nickname-with Harken is a walking conflict of interest. His relationship to President Bush, rather than any business acumen, made him a valuable asset for Harken, the Republican Party benefactors, Middle East oil sheikhs and covert operators who played a part in Harken's Bahrain deal.

In fact, Junior's track record as an oilman is pretty dismal. He began his career in Midland, Texas, in the mid-1970s when he founded Arbusto Energy, Inc. When oil prices dropped in the early 1980s, Arbusto fell upon hard times. Junior was only rescued from business failure when his company was purchased by Spectrum 7 Energy Corporation, a small oil firm owned by William DeWitt and Mercer Reynolds. As part of the September 1984 deal, Bush became Spectrum 7's president and was given a 13.6 percent share in the company's stock. Oil prices stayed low and within two years, Spectrum 7 was in trouble.

In the six months before Spectrum 7 was acquired by Harken in 1986, it had lost $400,000. In the buyout deal, George "Jr." and his partners were given more than $2 million worth of Harken stock for the 180-well operation. Made a director and hired as a "consultant" to Harken, Junior received another $600,000 of Harken stock, and has been paid between $42,000 and $120,000 a year since 1986.

Junior's value to Harken soon became apparent when the company needed an infusion of cash in the spring of 1987. Junior and other Harken officials met with Jackson Stephens, head of Stephens, Inc., a large investment bank in Little Rock, Arkansas (Stephens made a $100,000 contribution to the Reagan-Bush campaign in 1980 and gave another $100,000 to the Bush dinner committee in 1990.)

In 1987, Stephens made arrangements with Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) to provide $25 million to Harken in return for a stock interest in Harken. As part of the Stephens-brokered deal, Sheikh Abdullah Bakhsh, a Saudi real estate tycoon and financier, joined Harken's board as a major investor. *5 Stephens, UBS, and Bakhsh each have ties to the scandal-ridden Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI).

CONTINUED...

https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2002/07/05/1362451.php

Would that these crooks could be prosecuted for inside trading and using their offices and privileged positions for personal gain. Oh well, that's what happens when the sheriff and the crooks are the same people.

after decades of abuse and lack of prosecution that I wonder that it isn't just the "New Normal," that people are so accepting that it's "just business as usual."

Even the RW won't touch this because they are in on it with John McCain's appearance in Ukraine followed by Nuland and then father Biden making his address there just before his son got on the Board and then our own President goes to speak with the newly "elected" head of Ukraine showing support.

That they are so "in your face" with their interests in Ukraine seems to say this will go down the memory hole since "they all do it." Better to blame vilify Putin and start Cold War II to get the public whipped up that the Russian's want an Empire and are a threat to USA's interests. After all the public doesn't get into "details" about international relations. It's just too complicated and if both parties favor a policy...what's to complain about.

Once Again....it's about Oil and Gas interests stirring up unrest and creating revolutions. With Monsanto, DuPont sure to follow.

I didn't know Kerry's stepson is profiting from this disaster as well. The neoliberals are just as dangerous as the neocons. I can't wait to hear the Tiger Beat crowd explain it away.

And, this is so hard to explain after being told we had no influence in the Ukrainian Coup/Overthrow that it's not likely the "Tiger Beat" want's to do anything but ignore it. And, they have.