As a retired oilfield training engineer, I have traveled to 38 different countries.  I have worked in Russia and China.  I have never been in Ukraine, but I have been in Romania, which is just across the border.  Not once in my travels to these countries has any of their citizens come to me and said, "We love Americans and want them to like us.  To promote greater friendship with America, we make American visitors feel welcome.  To do so, we give them large sums of money.  We would like to give you three million dollars.  Yours is in this package.  We hope you enjoy it and remember your friends here."

It's different when you're Hunter Biden.  Hunter, who had little or no experience in management and none in the oil industry, went to Ukraine, and a Ukrainian oil company instantly hired him with a salary of eighty thousand dollars a month.  While Hunter was there, then–vice president of the United States Joe Biden happened to notice that the Ukrainian government was investigating the oil company his son worked for.  Joe felt that the investigation was unfair and brought pressure on the Ukrainians to stop and fire the investigators.

Next, Hunter happened to make friends with some Russians and meet the Moscow mayor's wife.  Hunter, who is an outgoing man, impressed her.  She felt sorry for him having to struggle through life on eighty thousand dollars a month, so she reached in her purse and handed him three million dollars.  She didn't have any spools of thread in her purse, so there were no strings attached.

Back home, Hunter's Daddy Joe was getting ready to make a trip to China.  There was plenty of room on the plane, so he asked Hunter to join him on the trip.  Hunter, thinking the trip would give him the opportunity to have a few drinks and an authentic Peking duck dinner, gladly accepted the offer.  While Hunter was walking around looking in the Forbidden City, he happened to meet some Chinese who out of kindness gave him thirty million dollars.

Image: Biden's inauguration.  (Note: It's extremely difficult to find videos of Joe and Hunter together.)  YouTube screen grab.

Hunter told friends that he gave half of the money to his dad, the "Big Guy."  The Big Guy, though, has said he didn't know anything about Hunter's business operations.  As the father of two engineers who make decent salaries, I believe I'd start asking questions if either one of them came to me and said, "Dad, I've really been lucky and made a lot of money.  I want to give you a few million dollars."  Of course, Joe is a bit senile, so it may not have occurred to him to ask where the money came from.

Now let's update the Biden experience.  Putin started moving troops to the Ukrainian border, and it looked as if he was planning a military operation against Ukraine.  We don't know if Biden asked Putin to stop the operation or not, but he didn't have sufficient influence to get Putin to stop.

In his next move, Biden went to his friends the Chinese, who are on good terms with the Russians, and asked them to talk Putin out of invading Ukraine.  The Chinese, who would not be affected by a Russian military operation in Ukraine, promptly went to Putin and told him that Biden had told them he wouldn't do much about it if Putin invaded Ukraine.

Now Putin has invaded Ukraine, and Biden hasn't done anything that could be regarded as more than a slap on the wrist, and people can't understand why.  Here's why: Biden can't do anything: because he has painted himself into a corner.  If he makes any serious moves affecting either Russia or Ukraine, there are three nations that have the ability to air the dirty laundry about how the Biden family gained its wealth.  This would lead to Bidens's impeachment and several members of his family going to prison.