Before we posit the soul-shivering question promised in the headline above it is necessary to set the stage for what is undeniably a prickly discourse. A review of the fraught but relevant events of the last fourteen months leading up to the Russian invasion of Ukraine is as follows.
In January of 2021 shortly after taking office, President Biden canceled the Keystone Pipeline. He also announced that the U.S. would not be issuing any more drilling permits for oil production on federal lands. New permits for offshore drilling would be restricted as well. This resulted in a major reduction in energy output in the United States. It also resulted in the loss of thousands of high-paying jobs for American workers.
Biden then asked the Saudis to increase their oil production to offset what was being lost in U.S. output. But the Saudis declined. It was then necessary for the United States to begin buying oil from Russia to make up the difference. Under the Trump administration the U.S. had been energy independent, but no more.
The price of oil has skyrocketed as a result of these shortages. This created a major windfall for Vladimir Putin and his geopolitical ambitions.
The purpose of reducing U.S. oil and gas output was to protect the environment. However, it is difficult to see how the same amount of oil being pumped in Russia or Saudi Arabia reduces overall emissions for the protection of the planet.
On May 19, 2021, Biden also removed sanctions of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The new pipeline, now complete, has allowed the shipping of natural gas more directly from Russia to Western Europe. Before the completion of Nord Stream 2, the main pipeline for shipping natural gas to Western Europe was through Ukraine. That would have made an invasion of Ukraine problematic.
Critics claimed the approval of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline facilitated the Russian invasion. A letter signed by sixty-eight Republican members of the House of Representatives asserted that the president was very unwise for waiving sanctions against the pipeline. The letter said:
“The completion of Nord Stream 2, which was slowed during the Trump Administration, will be a gift to Putin and his efforts to increase geopolitical influence in Europe.
“Waving sanctions for Nord Stream 2 … is the wrong message to our allies and partners and undermines our credibility and global leadership.” The letter also pointed out that Russia being able to pump more natural gas to the rest of Europe will cost American jobs and reduce ”America’s geopolitical influence.”
It is also important to keep in mind that the United States has more total energy resources than any other nation in the world, more than even Russia or Saudi Arabia.
The Biden Family has received tens of millions of dollars from both the Chinese and the Russian governments. The New York Post quoted a purported email from Hunter Biden in August of 2017 in which he said that he was receiving $10,000,000 a year payment for “introductions alone.” The payments were coming from a Chinese billionaire. It was not clear exactly who was involved in the introductions. However, at $10,000,000 a year, they would seem to be people of serious importance.
In still another email which Fox News said that it has confirmed, Hunter Biden allegedly refers to a deal with China’s largest private energy company in which he states that “10 held by H for the Big Guy.” In the presidential debates Donald Trump asked Joe Biden if he was the “Big Guy?”
Biden offered no answer.
Hunter Biden also received $3,500,000 from the wife of the mayor of Moscow. In exchange for what has never been explained. Again this is very serious money.
It might be fair to assume that only a limited amount of these cash transfers have ever become public. The vast majority of the transfers could be presumed to be sub rosa. Only by accident have some of the transactions spilled over into public knowledge. (The recovery of Hunter Biden’s forgotten laptop being one source of the embarrassing information.)
It is fair to point out that no one, especially not President Xi or Vladimir Putin, pays out tens of millions of dollars and expects nothing in return. This of course then raises the question of what did they expect and what did they in fact receive in exchange for all of their emoluments?
And now we come to our stab-to-the-heart, key question: Did the Biden Family and perhaps Joe Biden himself, “the big guy,” receive payments and compensation from the Chinese and/or Russian governments in exchange for favorable rulings or actions on the part of the White House?
There is a second prong to this edgy question. If Biden did take money under compromising circumstances could he be blackmailed for doing so? In other words, do the Chinese and/or the Russians have something on him?
To be fair it should be said that there is serious evidence that the Bidens took money under very suspicious circumstances. However, so far there is no direct evidence that connects the money to any treasonous behavior. That is only speculation. But inquiring minds the world over want to know.
Jared Knott, author of Tiny Blunders/Big Disasters: Thirty-Nine Tiny Mistakes That Changed the World Forever. Knott was a decorated combat infantry officer in Vietnam in the First Air Cavalry Division.
