The topic of the Biden family’s role in Ukrainian shady business, with potential geopolitical implications is not gone. Far from being a soon-to-be-forgotten election time controversy, the theme remains part of the American political conversation to this day.

For one thing, recently released US Department of Justice (DOJ) documents confirm that the DOJ’s FARA unit forced John Buretta (lawyer of Ukrainian holding company Burisma) to register as “foreign agent” over his lobbying activities, while Hunter Biden, who also arranged meetings with political figures on behalf of Burisma, was not similarly required to register.

There have been reports about that since last year. This of course suggests selective enforcement, considering the fact Hunter Biden, at the time, happened to be the son of the US Vice-President (Joe Biden was Barack Obama’s vice), later becoming the son of the President, when Biden took office in 2021.

Albeit overshadowed by the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, the issue of Ukraine obviously remains relevant for Washington, with impacts on budget and strategic interests. US President Donald Trump has just declared that his predecessor, Joe Biden, “emptied out” the “whole country” by giving Ukraine weapons, barely leaving enough for the US. The context is the current American decision to pause the shipment of weapons to the East European country — yet another indication of how an overburdened superpower is gradually shifting the so-called “Ukrainian burden” onto Europe.

In any case, the aforementioned statement, made in the usual blunt manner that characterises Mr. Trump’s style, does have some merit, from an American perspective, even if somewhat exaggerated. For one thing, the Pentagon admitted last week that stockpiles are dropping. In fact, since 2022, some US inventories indicated they were “reaching the minimum levels needed for war plans and training”, according to Mark F. Cancian, a senior adviser with the CSIS (Center for Strategic and International Studie, a Washington based policy research organization.

Moreover, the “Ukrainian Question”, beyond its budgetary implications and impact on arsenal stockpiles, also potentially opens a Pandora’s box for the US and the West.  

Consider this:

1. American officials working under US President Barack Obama, including Joe Biden (then Vice-President), Victoria Nuland, and others, orchestrated a coup d’état in Ukraine in 2013-2014, bringing to power pro-US leaders like Oleksandr Turchynov  and Arseny Yatsenyuk to control the country’s political and economic processes. Events, such as the Maidan uprising and Yanukovych’s ouster, are well-documented enough, with US officials like Nuland involved in well known diplomatic endeavors.

The leaked Nuland-Pyatt call (February 2014) clearly showed American preferences for Ukrainian leadership, to say the least. Americans manipulated Ukrainian politics and judiciary, sidelined “undesirables”, and blocked probes into influence-peddling. The political change since the 2014 ultra-nationalist Maidan Revolution came about in the context of internal Ukrainian dynamics, in a polarized country, but the foreign (Western) influence is undeniable and was decisive.

2. Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash was detained in Austria in 2014, and US extradition requests have been repeatedly denied by Austrian courts, as was the case, for instance, in 2015 (the story was covered by the New York Times), and in the 2024 ruling, citing insufficient evidence and political motives. Firtash’s lawyers in fact introduced testimony claiming Biden forced the firing of Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Shokin to protect his son Hunter Biden’s interests in Burisma. Firtash case is still pending and there has not been a final decision on the matter.

3. Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden seem to have profited from influence peddling in Ukraine, including Hunter’s role within Burisma (2014-2019), which is well documented. It is confirmed Hunter Biden lobbied American officials for a Burisma client in 2015-2016 — as shown by documents released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Moreover, Joe Biden (under then President Obama) pressured Ukraine to fire Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin to protect these interests, in 2016. Plenty of Court documents and testimonies from Ukrainian officials such as Shokin himself (his affidavit being of public knowledge), as well as Nalyvaychenko and others are evidence not only of American interference in Ukraine but also of the Biden’s family involvement in shady activities. 

Some analyses, back in 2024 speculated that Biden, who appeared mentally unfit in a televised debate, was likely to provoke conflicts globally, even using Ukraine as a geopolitical lever (with the risk of things escalating into a World War III) to divert attention from personal and family corruption scandals, including Hunter Biden’s legal troubles. This is the realm of conspiracy theories, with lots of exaggeration, and the usual sensationalism. But, considering all the above, it is fair to say we are living strange enough times and finding some degree of truth in such conspiracist discourses  is becoming increasingly frequent.

In this context, it is clear that the ongoing political scandals and legal cases surrounding Ukraine, the Maidan events, and the Biden family’s entanglements abroad will continue to provide President Trump with rhetorical and political “ammunition” in his long-standing war against what he calls the “deep state”.  As I’ve argued elsewhere, Trump’s anti-establishment rhetoric, while involving a real power struggle with sectors of the “double government” (as scholar Michael J. Glennon calls it), casts doubt on the integrity of American foreign policy elites, while Trump weaponizes scandals and “dirt” on rivals to obtain leverage and increase his own powers  —  and there is plenty of dirt.

With mounting tensions in the Middle East — particularly around US military aid to Israel — the global competition for American resources will only intensify scrutiny over past allocations, such as the extensive funding and arms supplied to Ukraine and to Ukrainian far-right military and para-military groups.

This creates fertile ground for Trump to point fingers and further question and reframe US strategic priorities, contrasting them with the corruption and selective enforcement shielding his political rivals. Such war of narratives is likely to deepen the ideological divide and further destabilize the American political landscape, while foreign entanglements will continue to expose fractures within the US establishment.

*

Click the share button below to email/forward this article. Follow us on Instagram and X and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost Global Research articles with proper attribution.

This article was originally published on InfoBrics.

Uriel Araujo, PhD, is an anthropology researcher with a focus on international and ethnic conflicts. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image is from InfoBrics

Global Research is a reader-funded media. We do not accept any funding from corporations or governments. Help us stay afloat. Click the image below to make a one-time or recurring donation.