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Page added on May 13, 2014
Joe Biden’s Son Appointed to Board of Ukraine’s Largest Gas Producer
Hunter Biden, the son of Vice President Joe Biden, will lead the legal team of Burisma Holdings, the largest natural gas producer in Ukraine.
According to The West Wire News, Burisma Holdings is a considerable player within the Ukrainian natural gas and oil industry. It holds licenses covering the Dnieper-Donets, Carpathian and Azov-Kuban basins and has considerable reserves and production capability.
“Burisma’s track record of innovations and industry leadership in the field of natural gas means that it can be a strong driver of a strong economy in Ukraine. As a new member of the Board, I believe that my assistance in consulting the Company on matters of transparency, corporate governance and responsibility, international expansion and other priorities will contribute to the economy and benefit the people of Ukraine,” the Burisma Holdings website quotes Biden.
Biden is a lawyer with insider connections to the financial industry and government. In addition to holding directorship for the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition and The Center for National Policy, he sits on the Chairman’s Advisory Board for the National Democratic Institute (NDI). The NDI is a project of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the taxpayer funded organization that does what the CIA did covertly 25 years ago, according to one of its founders, Alan Weinstein.
For more on the role played by NDI, NED, George Soros and the State Department on the overthrow of the elected government of Ukraine and the installation of the current junta led by banker Arseniy Yatsenyuk, see our Nuland Audio Reveals State Department Role in Undermining Ukraine and Wayne Madsen’s Crisis in the Ukraine: USAID Support for Destabilization of Russia.
In March J.P. Sottile wrote about the economic interests of large transnational corporations in Ukraine. In addition to corporate agricultural giant Cargill’s buyout of UkrLandFarming, the world’s eighth-largest land cultivator and second biggest egg producer, Monsanto has expressed a “commitment to Ukraine” and “the importance of creating a favorable environment that encourages innovation and fosters the continued development of agriculture.”
The effort to improve the investment climate for large multinational corporations on the Russian border is spearheaded by the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation, a non-profit NGO funded in part by ExxonMobil, Coca-Cola and Raytheon.
In April Hunter’s father trekked to Ukraine to show support for the junta led in part by fascists and ultra-nationalists. “There are currently ongoing threats to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the most effective response to that is for all of Ukraine to pull together,” an Obama administration said prior to Biden’s mission.
Beyond the standard rhetorical flourishes about democracy and freedom, Biden Senior’s trip was about securing a proper investment climate in Ukraine.
From The Washington Post on April 21:
The official said the U.S. energy consulting team will travel from here to Slovakia and Hungary to work on ways of reversing the flow of some of Ukraine’s pipelines now supplying Europe. Over the longer term, the official said, the U.S. government will work with Ukraine to help the government increase domestic gas production.
12 Comments on "Joe Biden’s Son Appointed to Board of Ukraine’s Largest Gas Producer"
rockman on Tue, 13th May 2014 9:06 pm
I have to wonder if this was a requirement by the EU, US and IMF as part of the terms in order for the Ukraine to get the $18 billion IMF loan? Lots of scuttlebutt about how corrupt the Ukrainian gov’t has been in such matters. With young Biden keeping an eye on the money perhaps most will reach it’s intended purpose.
dissident on Tue, 13th May 2014 9:29 pm
Good luck keeping the money from flowing into corrupt oligarch pockets. This nepotistic appointment isn’t going to cure Ukrainian corruption. Later this month we will have the crowning of an oligarch crook. Poroshenko, as president of parts of Ukraine that bother to vote. The runner up is Timoshenko the “gas princess” and another oligarch crook. All the candidates that represent over half of the population have been coerced out of the presidential race.
GregT on Tue, 13th May 2014 9:30 pm
Since when do these people travel around the world spreading peace on earth, good will towards men, peace, liberty, justice, and freedom? If there isn’t a political ideology to overthrow, or more importantly, greed to be satisfied, these people simply don’t get involved.
The US has it’s own problems, as does the EU. I don’t see TPTB focussing on the well being of the populations that they are fleecing money from, rather, all I see is the same old corporately controlled conquest to control the world.
This is no longer a proxy war that we are talking about here, this is a direct confrontation of the world’s largest ‘super powers’. I highly doubt that Washington would be playing this highly dangerous ‘game’, without years of preparation, and massive amounts of US taxpayer’s money.
The question remains, what is the actual ‘intended purpose’ of 18 billion dollars of debt?
Boat on Tue, 13th May 2014 9:32 pm
dissident,
Isn’t there oligarchs on both sides?
Plantagenet on Tue, 13th May 2014 9:37 pm
Is Joe Biden jr. a logical person to be hired by a Ukrainian company to sit on their Board of Directors, or did the Ukrainian company hire him to lobby his dad, VP Joe Biden?
One has to suspect its the latter.
rockman on Tue, 13th May 2014 9:57 pm
Dis – “Good luck keeping the money from flowing into corrupt oligarch pockets”. Actually it can easily be one if you have the leverage. Seen it one many times in the US: the money borrow never actually receives the funds: the go directly from the lender to the third party being paid. As an example let’s assume the $1.7 billion the EU jut agreed to “lend” the Ukraine is used as the NG pre-payment requirement demanded by the Russians. The money is imply wired directly from the EU bank to the Russian bank. No one in the Ukraine has the opportunity to steal a single $.
Such arrangements are actually common in international transactions and almost always one at the insistence of the lender.
GregT on Tue, 13th May 2014 11:29 pm
Which should beg at least a couple of questions.
If the Ukrainians are already in debt, what good can possibly come from becoming even further in debt?
And
Where did all of the money (debt) come from in the first place?
MKohnen on Wed, 14th May 2014 1:04 am
Whether Jr. Biden can do any good or not is way beyond the question. This appointment is an open provocation to the Russians. Gazprom is a business, so it might not phase them much. But to the Russian people, this appointment shortly after Biden Sr. went to the Ukraine and apparently gave the green light for military backed “anti-terrorist” operations to begin, this will probably look like the US stepping directly in to take control of the Ukraine. And, personally, I would think so, too. If it was on the mind of anyone in the US to find a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine’s problems in the east, this will assuredly help to scuttle that. As for the US government, peace is clearly not on their mind. When is Obama going to end this ongoing mockery and give up the Nobel Peace Prize? At least be a little bit honourable!
Davy, Hermann, MO on Wed, 14th May 2014 6:33 am
MK, US will push this until it causes economic pain at home which will happen within months. This crisis is precisely a “black swan” that can ruin the global economy rapidly. Let us hope this brinkmanship on both sides yields to the reality of “business arrangements”. We know that it all comes down to business and trade in the end globally. A global civil war is what we are talking and that will immediately hurt with the usual initial step of trade wars. The US TPTB are mistaken in thinking this won’t. They still believe in the invincibility of the US economy and political system. Russia is hell bent on a restoration of pride and power through nationalism. Both of these motivations are very dangerous in the precarious economic state we are in. Maybe TPTB globally see the end in sight and figure there is no hope anyway so they are “going for broke” but I doubt it. The global TPTB’s thinking is too warped by status quo BAU.
Makati1 on Wed, 14th May 2014 8:53 am
Biden is another blood sucker and will skim all he can get out of the Ukraine before it collapses. Or so it appears to me.
Davy, Hermann, MO on Wed, 14th May 2014 6:35 pm
Rock, you made a good point why Jr. was put on the board. It is conceivable that he is providing oversight for the West’s investments like you mentioned. If you think about it there are so many other companies he could get on with globally and do the normal skimming some have alluded to here. I am sure Ukraine is not high on his list of destinations unless he has a higher purpose.
Davy, Hermann, MO on Fri, 16th May 2014 7:39 am
Rock, I have some gas numbers for comparison. Russia wants to charge Ukraine this amount:
Gazprom now charges Ukraine $485.50 per 1,000 cubic metres – the highest rate of any of its European clients.
The Russian China deal is looking at these numbers:
Russian business daily Vedomosti reported last month that the companies were negotiating a price in the range of US$360 to US$400 per 1,000 cubic metres.
I wonder what Ukraine charges for pipeline use?