The resources of fossil fuels is a blessing and a curse ... many oligarchs switched allegiance from East to West w/o a blink of the eye. Follow the money for the last three decades.

'Sapere aude'

when the utmost question presented by the US for public impeachment --THIS WEEK-- is WHETHER OR NOT perceptible propriety or impropriety, lawfulness or unlawfullness, legality or illegality, of one's capacity in a US public office to proffer ultimatums to induce political agreement from foreign government officials applies both to Joe Biden and Trump.

Neither ARGeezer, Oui, nor rifek respond to material evidence or any legal standard of evidence or law governing the USA.

StillInTheWilderness's opinion, "Biden bragged openly about denying aid unless a criminal investigation of his son was called off" is an example of an ultimatum to induce political agreement from foreign government officials.

Biden testimony, while VP, are memorialized verbatim in Council on Foreign Relations, "Foreign Affairs Issue Launch with Former Vice President Joe Biden,", Tuesday, January 23, 2018, A/V, running time 00:59:49. (3x)

Biden's testimony is said by some US House representatives to be imcomparable to transcript of Trump's phone conversation with Zelensky, because Trump allegedly induced "personal" gain or profit from cooperation from a foreign government official in ongoing US investigation into alleged unlawful activity involving US and Ukraine persons. Material evidence of those facts obtained by US DOJ is not known to the public nor US House committees which is why committee chairs have subpoenaed particular US agencies.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

A Timeline of the Trump-Ukraine Scandal | Lawfare blog |

The chain of events leading up to the inquiry is complicated--and the Washington Post has provided a helpful timeline of its own. To help sort through the story, we have put together a timeline of how allegations of wrongdoing by the Bidens in Ukraine percolated up through right-wing news circles to the president's desk, what the president and his lawyer have said and done about it, what the Ukrainian government has said about the situation, and how Congress has reacted.

Following cries from observers about Shokin's own ineptitude and corruption and pressure from Vice President Biden, among others, Shokin was fired in 2016. Shokin's firing drew praise from Western observers, including from the European Union's envoy to Ukraine, who noted that the firing of Shokin "creates an opportunity to make a fresh start in the prosecutor general's office" and expressed "hope that the new prosecutor general will ensure that [his] office ... becomes independent from political influence and pressure and enjoys public trust."

Let me say the piece written by Joe Biden and Michael Carpenter deserves that description: "vacuity."

From the introduction:

... and more broadly how to respond to the geopolitical challenge that Russia poses to the U.S. interests around the world.

And let me say, I returned from Moscow a few days ago, and I was struck by how limited this relationship is, our bilateral relationship. It's actually less to it right now substantively than it was during most of the four decades of Cold War.

I'm struck, too, by how different our views of the world are, ...

Oh dear, oh dear ... is that the result of not engaging with the Russian Federation after the Boris Yeltsin years of state asset theft?

From one of the U.S. Ambassadors to NATO in the range of Vicky Nuland - Kurt Volker - Ivo Daalder  - :

Just as the United States resolved in the aftermath of World War II to counter the Soviet Union and its global ambitions, Mr. Obama is focused on isolating President Vladimir V. Putin's Russia by cutting off its economic and political ties to the outside world, limiting its expansionist ambitions in its own neighborhood and effectively making it a pariah state.

○ NATO Declares Russia Nr. 1 Adversary, Starts Troops Buildup

and  a former Secretary General of NATO Jaap de Hoop Scheffer:

○ "The West should respect the red lines of Russia."

And where would Wall Street prodigy Joe put the blame for the Cold War 2.0??

○ The Obama administration's decision to isolate Russia is a new version of "containment" | The Nation - May 2014 |
○ Cold War and containment from President Truman and George Kennan - 1947

A good read here @EuroTrib from 2007 ...

○ The dismantling of the Soviet Union, revisited.

'Sapere aude'

"An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.