HAPLESS UKRAINE TODAY

I have written a lot about Ukraine.*  My comment previously that summarizes up my opinion of Ukraine was published in July of 2018:
"The politics of Ukraine is so corrupt, that I doubt they deserve to remain a nation."*

At one time, Ukraine was a wealthy country:
On the other hand, Ukraine is fairly rich in natural resources (especially much excellent farmland) and they do have industry,*but the management makes them one of the poorest countries in Europe.  In fact, people run benefits to help support their army!  Former Prime Minister and current Presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko said she will donate her campaign money to the Ukrainian military!  That is how sick the country is. 

Four of my previous discussions of Ukraine were before the Trump Presidency, but Ukraine seems to be a part of the news ever since Donald Trump was elected President.  Paul Manafort came to light when he volunteered to help the Trump campaign for President for free.**  It was known that Manafort was involved in Ukrainian politics big time and was in debt to one of the Russian oligarchs.  I felt at the time of Manadort's appointment to the Trump campaign that he was a Russian plant (as was his sidekick Rick Gates who I learned of later).  Perhaps the Trump campaign was fooled by the fact that Manafort had been involved in presidential elections previously.  When Manafort was terminated about 3 mo. later, I thought that the Trump campaign had figured out that Manafort was a Russian plant and let him go.  Gates, however, stayed on.

Things quieted down for a while regarding Ukraine in 2014, but recently former Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, of all people, was found to have been on the Board of Directors of a Ukrainian natural gas company called Burisma Holdings in April 2014, heading their legal affairs unit.***  His term ended in April 2019.***  He is not accused in Ukraine of doing anything wrong.  Still, Hunter has capitalized on his father's political career.  While capitalizing on your father's political career is not unusual, these seem to be big-time financial positions one would associate Trump.

Some Republicans have wanted to equate Biden's threat to withhold a billion dollars of aid from Ukraine with Trump's withholding of nearly $400 million of armaments; however, Biden's case did not involve getting Ukraine into Presidential American politics whereas Trump's case did.

So President Trump held up on nearly $400 million in defensive armament to Ukraine until they found some dirt on Joe Biden or his son.  Trump did finally relent after some time and let the aid go ahead.
Congressional officials were notified twice this year, on Feb. 28 and again on May 23, that the administration intended to release large tranches of military aid to Ukraine. Congress approved two large pots of military aid for Ukraine during fiscal 2019: $250 million, to be managed by the Pentagon, for equipment such as sniper rifles, counter-artillery radar systems, ammunition and grenade launchers; and $141 million, to be funneled through the State Department, for maritime security, NATO interoperability and various initiatives to help Ukraine’s military fend off Russian aggression.

Despite those notifications, the money was not transmitted until this month (September). (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-ordered-hold-on-military-aid-days-before-calling-ukrainian-president-officials-say/ar-AAHJWJb)

Though the situation is still in flux, House Democrats have issued the beginning of formal impeachment hearings.  A whistleblower complaint has also surfaced about telephone calls between Trump and the new Ukrainian President.****  The White House has now released the transcripts of a telephone call with Zalenskyy, the Ukrainian President, and the Whistleblower charge has been declassified.****  As I type this, hearings have been going on in the House.  The morning session was on TV.  Why is the White House doing this release of damaging documents?  They may feel that it is better to get an impeachment out of the way as soon as possible so people have time to forget about it by the time of the 2020 election next November.  Cracks are beginning to show amongst Republicans.

Trump has mentioned that Vice President Pence should be investigated too.  Wait.  I have a vision but it is murky.  Now it is getting a bit clearer.  Can it be?  Can it really be?

                                     "Welcome, President Pelosi!


* http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/search?q=failed+state  (July 2018)
http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2014/03/ukraine-politics.html
http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2014/03/ukraine-failed-state.html
http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-breadbasket-of-europe-is-now-basket.html
http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2014/08/ukraine-and-korea.htm**
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Manafort
*** https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27403003
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_Biden
**** https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/26/biggest-bombshells-in-trump-whistleblower-complaint-cover-up.html
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2019/09/politics/trump-ukraine-transcript-annotated/
http://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/editorialfiles/2019/09/26/20190812whistleblowerComplaintUnclass.pdf