It is not hard at all to find corruption in Ukraine. As I searched the web, I found it everywhere, and at all levels of life. In the life of everyday citizens it is pervasive and accepted as normal. This is a different culture, that Americans simply cannot understand. What would any American do or say if when making an appointment at the doctor, they had to pay the nurse a bribe in order to get that appointment? Or how about if you wanted to ride the bus, and the driver demanded a bribe before you could board? Its everywhere. In business its even worse. Want to get a building permit? Pay a series of bribes. Want to ship products to another city? Bribe the driver and hope your goods arrive and are not stolen. Ukrainians cannot escape corruption. In fact, they have become extremely complacent when it comes to corruption. They simply accept it as a way of life. So when it comes to corruption at the upper levels of government, they are simply cynical and feel helpless to do anything about it. It goes on and on, all, with impunity. I might add, that this level of corruption develops slowly over many, many years. If what is happening in America right now, is allowed to continue unpunished, we will wind up just like Ukraine.
To say the government of Ukraine is corrupt is a gross understatement. Let me start with some basic history, just in case you are unfamiliar with Ukraine. Ukraine sits almost in the middle of Europe. Its longest border is with Russia, and it sits on the Black Sea directly across from Turkey. Its capital is Kiev. Prior to 1991, Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union and still has many former Russian patriots living there. Prior to 1991, a great deal of the Soviet Union’s nuclear arsenal was located in Ukraine. In 1994. Russia, Ukraine, and the United States reached an agreement where Ukraine would return all warheads to Russia for eliminating, while the US and Britain would provide certain security assurances. Since then we have conducted a foreign policy to bri
ng Ukraine closer to Europe and out from Russian influence. A series of Soviet style presidents have been “elected” to Ukraine’s highest office since Ukraine became an independent nation in 1991, each one being more corrupt than the previous. In 2004 a man named Viktor Yushchenko was president of Ukraine. His policies like all previous Ukrainian presidents was to cozy up to Europe and move away from Russia. In 2004 a presidential election was held and Yushchenko’s opponent was Viktor Yanukovych….yeah, I know, who can keep these names straight? 
In a close election, Yanukovych, a Russian puppet, won, but huge protests broke out in what became to be called the orange revolution. Under claims of voter fraud and vote rigging, the election results were annulled by the courts, and another election was held. Yushchenko maintained the presidency.
The next election was in 2010, and this time, Yanukovych won outright. You got to know that this truly was Russian interference. During this time Europe was courting Ukraine and talk of entering NATO was prevalent. Yanukovich was ready to sign a deal with Europe for a large aid package in the billions, when, at the last minute, made the decision to accept a loan from Russia instead. You see, it was all a lie, Yanukovych was a Russian stooge. His move sparked an actual revolution in 2014, where he was ousted, then fled to Moscow. There is no doubt that the CIA and what we call the deep state were behind the revolution. The CIA and deep state are singularly laser focused on Russia and doing as much damage as possible to them….they just can’t get out of the cold war.
Before I leave the presidency of Yanukovych, let me give you a great example of the kind of corruption we’re talking about. In order to woo Ukraine under the European/NATO umbrella, Britain, Germany and others made a big deal of helping Ukraine to recover billions of dollars in offshore accounts, thought stolen from Ukraine. In March of 2014, the BNP bank in London received a request from Yanukovych’s lawyers to close an account and transfer the money to the bank of Cyprus. In the scheme of billions, it was a paltry $23 million. Still, a lot of cash. When the transfer was reported to Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) the transfer was placed on hold, pending investigation. Theresa May, the then Home Secretary, decided to make a big statement by holding the money. Yanukovych sued the bank. Investigators in Ukraine informed Britain that the money belonged to Ukraine and should not be released, but after a year, the case came before a British judge and Ukraine changed its story. Higher ups in the Ukranian prosecutor’s office, whose names were not disclosed, sent a letter stating “no crimes have been committed” to warrant the hold. As we will see, this happens a lot in Ukraine, honest investigators and journalists uncover criminal activity only to be ignored or disposed of by others in the government.
Understand that our history with Ukraine is complicated. What I just gave you was a very broad overview. Russia has always thought of Ukraine as part of Russia and so in 2014, when the CIA ousted Yanukovych, they moved on Crimea. Crimea is part of Ukraine and is a strategic Black Sea asset. They soon after, moved on to Eastern Ukraine, where a hot war has been going on since 2014. We are told over and over that Russia is evil and the aggressor, but as in so many instances, it is our CIA that prompts these aggressions by meddling in other countries. But let’s get back to corruption.
Poroschenko became the next president of Ukraine when elected in 2014. He became the face of corruption. Poroschenko was an oligarch in Ukraine, who made his fortune in the candy industry, known as the “chocolate king”. But his fortune was bigger than that. He was in many other industries and agriculture, and had created bank accounts and shell companies all over the world, as he pillaged the national treasury. His candy company was registered in Cyprus, a perennial tax haven. After the voters ousted Yanukovych, Poroschenko picked up where he left off.
Corruption is a strange evil. Like it or not, it is rampant in our society and across the world. Most people, everywhere, seem to take it in stride, and feel helpless to do anything about it. I must say, as a little guy focused on this evil, it is certainly frustrating to know what I know, and yet, nothing is ever done to end it, at least here. If I may wane philosophical, it is human nature to be corrupt, to seek power over others through acquiring wealth…..corrupt behavior is always easier than the hard work it takes to actually build something through effort or to gain power and respect by doing what is right. Especially if those that are to post guard over corruption….law enforcement, are also corrupt.
The story of Ukraine is the pinnacle of what happens to a society that becomes incessantly corrupt. The people are oppressed, poor, and without work. Foreign investment is almost non-existent, and the country is drained of its resources and wealth. every year, an estimated $12 billion dollars exits Ukraine, money that has illicit or unknown origins. To add to that sad story, America has invested tens of billions of dollars in Ukraine since they broke away from Russia. A lot of that money simply disappeared. In one reported instance, $7.2 billion found its way into The US investment fund, Franklin Templeton and another $600 million into the American hedge fund operated by Blackrock Capital. The money reportedly came from the Ukraine Sovereign Fund…..state money…..appropriated by Poroschenko.
There is so much corruption in Ukraine I could write a lengthy book about all the avenues it takes…..I’m not going to do that. But before I get into the Bidens and the corruption people are interested in today as it applies to the current impeachment fiasco, allow me to tell you about a document I found, that I will discuss in part 2 of this post. I had really planned to provide a link to it, so you could see the whole thing, but three days after I downloaded it, it was removed by “foreignassistance.gov”. So I have included two screen shots of the document. I can’t post the whole document because…..get ready….. its a spread sheet with 18,067 rows and 12 columns. Its a somewhat detailed accounting of all the money spent in Ukraine and who it went to. You see, when we think of foreign aid, we believe that the US government is giving tax money to other governments. But that’s not how foreign aid generally works. The money is appropriated by congress, given to USAID, (United States Agency for International Development) the State Department, or other agencies, through budgeting, then USAID or State assigns it to an organization or company to “manage”, who then determines who will get it and how it will be used. Now, I’m speculating, but I can only imagine the vast number of opportunities for this money to be misused or simply stolen. I’ll talk about that in Part 2
If you would like to have that document to analyze ,I’m on messenger and Facebook, or you can e-mail me at Kgeorge152@aol.com, or ask me in the comments below. I will e-mail it to you.
Are the Biden’s corrupt? As much as we’d all like it to be true, after extensive research, I cannot find a shred of evidence that JOE Biden is corrupt. Yes….there is the usual pay for play and access that most powerful senators are all guilty of because of our disgusting campaign financing rules. To be honest, I can’t believe I just said that. It seems I have become complacent, like everybody else, about the everyday corruption in Washington that we all accept. Joe has indulged in this over the years to garner support from unions, banks and the usual villains. But to say he is corrupt would be unfair. His bank records indicate he never really benefitted from his position. However, as much as I don’t want to paint Joe as a victim, he is extremely loyal to his family and its his family that really stinks of illegality. I would say Joe Biden has been protecting Hunter his whole life.
Joe’s brother JAMES Biden was described in one article as a “serial entrepreneur”. That’s a kind way to describe a crook. He has started and closed a dozen companies, mostly in finance. Each one shadier than the previous and HUNTER, his son, was partner to James in many of them. James and Hunter, for years, have used the Biden name and Joe’s position to leverage loans, deals, and contracts. Just how much involvement Joe had is not known. In one venture, Paradigm Global Advisors, a hedge fund accumulator, was acquired by James and Hunter using an $8.1 million promissory note. that in the end, was never paid. According to Politico:
“One former executive said Hunter and James used the assets as a personal account drawing out as much as a million dollars in a single year. At one point, the executive said, Hunter called him and asked him to hand over $21,000 in company funds for a personal mortgage payment. When the executive refused, saying the funds were needed to cover operating expenses, he recalled that Hunter — who recently told The New Yorker he has spent most of his life living paycheck to paycheck — responded that he might lose his house. “Hunter did take substantial dollars out of the company,” said a second former Paradigm executive, describing the withdrawals as a “semi-regular” subject of discussion and concern within the firm.”
Its only speculation, but this also corresponds in a timeline with the severe alcohol and drug habit that Hunter Biden had. It seems like having access to millions of dollars and a drug habit don’t bode well for success. But that’s just me. Politico wrote a very well researched piece on the Bidens and there seedy business ventures. Its rather long, but goes into great detail….you can read it here. Joe is one of the few Washington lifers that never became a millionaire until after becoming VP. For many years he lived a pretty mundane financial life, never amassing a fortune, starting a foundation, or writing a book….oh wait…..he did amass a fortune, but not until after becoming the VP. He did start a foundation in 2017. And it was one of those foundations that purported to solve the world’s problems…not unlike another foundation we all know…..the difference with it, is that he shut it down last year, when he decided to run for president.
You see, being president provides power…..a lot more power than running a foundation. And…. that power provides access to the money. He also did write a couple of books that earned him 7 figures. He now claims $100,000 to speak and has cashed in big after leaving office.
Just to be clear, you’ve all seen the video of Joe bragging about getting the Ukrainian prosecutor general, Viktor Shokin, fired.
The democrat line is that there is evidence that this particular prosecutor was partial to his friends and often slow walked or declined prosecutions of certain “connected” Ukranians. He was considered corrupt by the EU and many other countries. Joe seemed to just be following the crowd as he did most of his career. Putting Joe Biden in charge of cleaning up corruption in Ukraine was like putting Pee Wee Herman in as the starting quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs…..he was out of his league. Joe Biden was made “point person” in Ukraine right after Russia invaded and annexed the Crimea, a sovereign part of Ukraine, in February of 2014. He was to evaluate the situation, coordinate US foreign policy there, and oversee US aid. Two months after that appointment, in April of 2014, a company you will hear a lot about, Burisma, placed Hunter Biden and Devon Archer onto its board. They were each paid a million dollars a year.
Burisma Holdings is an oil and gas company, one of the largest in Ukraine. It is a conglomerate with many subsidiaries, and even though its a Ukrainian company, it is registered in Cyprus. Its sales are undisclosed, but estimated to be in the $4-500 million/year range. As an aside, it does most of its business in Ukraine, but also has holdings and sales in Kazakhstan. This made me think about the 5 part series I did on corruption in Kazakhstan, second only to Ukraine in the levels of corruption. Burisma operates very much like the companies in that country. You can read that series here. Burisma is owned by a Ukrainian Oligarch named Mykola Zlochevsky.
Zlochevsky formed Burisma in 2002. While owning Burisma he became Minister of ecology and natural resources in 2010. Unlike in our political process, there is no divesting of personal holdings while working in the government. So it is alleged that while serving as the minister of natural resources and running Burisma, he illegally transferred exploration licenses to Burisma. When Yanukovych was ousted in 2014, Zlochevsky also fled the country, believed to be living in Monaco. Since that time, investigations into Zlochevsky and Burisma have been on again off again, depending on who was investigating the disappearance of Ukrainian money. In Ukraine, money can buy a lot of silence. This was the backdrop to the 2014 Hunter Biden position.
Enter Rudy Giuliani.
Rudy Giuliani has made a big deal of this firing and the video below is of Giuliani interviewing the prosecutor, Viktor Shokin. This clip I cut from the longer pod cast, is the beginning salvo from Giuliani to reveal the truth. I have to admit that I’m not a Giuliani fan and he’s a little over the top on some of his assertions. But you can at least judge for yourself Shokin’s credibility by watching the 25 minute video. For those of you that don’t here are the highlights. Giuliani asserts that Shokin is not corrupt, that he has never been accused or convicted of anything illegal….hasn’t even ever been in court charged with anything….squeaky clean! I could just shut up know, but I doubt very seriously that there are any individuals in Ukraine that are squeaky clean. However, for me the highlight of the video is a document he obtained that came from Latvia. The document alerts Ukrainian prosecutors of a suspected money laundering scheme taking place. Burisma had diverted $14 million from a Latvian bank to several shell companies, eventually finding its way to Cyprus, then distributed as “board member expenses”. The document names at least 5 board members, including Biden and Archer. the document also lays out individual payments to those board members, ranging from $300,000 to $1.2 million…..all except Biden and Archer. Giuliani asserts that when he asked why, he was told that the US embassy instructed the Latvian government to leave those amounts out. Its to yet to be seen if any of it is true……but any sane individual can only conclude that whatever is going on there with the Bidens is worth further investigation by somebody that’s honest.
Hunter Biden is another whole story…..his whole career was about lying, cheating, stealing, addiction, womanizing and conning anyone that could be conned. He used his father’s position to leverage others to give him money, money he soon spent or lost. A poor, unredeemed, lost sole. James and Hunter are the people they make movies about. Always looking for the next score…the next big deal….another get rich quick scheme, that in the end, never comes. I think looking at the Bidens, however, is looking in the wrong direction for corruption. The corruption in Ukraine is systemic and lots of Americans are involved. In part 2 of this story I will cover how I think the money is moving from your wallet to wealthy elite bank accounts and how the corruption in Ukraine affected the 2016 election.
After spending weeks learning about Ukraine and writing the blog above, new information came out today. (February 7th, 2020) Glenn Beck reported, in his fourth installment on Ukraine, what he thinks is really going on. Its earth shattering. WAR! All these dweebs in our government are funding and conducting an actual hot war with Russia, using Ukraine as a proxy. All without any knowledge of the Congress….at least none that we’re told of. Seems like war with Russia would be something they might want to mention…..just another example of our CIA and State Deparment conducting their own foreign policy. Trump actually wants to stop this crap….so he’s gotta go. So watch Glenn’s video…its crammed with information. I’ll still be reporting on the document I found at a later date….when I have digested it.
KenGeorge.org 