Our Man in Cyprus — The Biden Thriller

If Hollywood ever wants to make a movie about the Biden scandals, we have a suggestion — start it in the Mediterranean island state of Cyprus. That’s our reaction after reading the latest cables from our Anthony Grant. He is based at Athens and has been following the unfolding drama. He notes that Cyprus is known as a haven for money laundering. Cyprus is also where the Ukrainian energy firm Burisma is headquartered.What piques Mr. Grant’s interest is the latest news about one Gal Luft. He is a 56-year-old American-Israeli defense and energy analyst, who was arrested in February in Cyprus on charges of illegal arms trafficking, which he denied. Mr. Luft, Mr. Grant reports, claimed that his arrest was a form of retaliation by President Biden for his having cooperated with the FBI in 2019 in a corruption case linked to Hunter Biden. We don’t want to make too much of this. The story is in an early, somewhat murky, stage, though it’s actively being covered by the Cypriot and Greek press. Neither do we want to make too little of it. Mr. Luft’s attorney in Israel, Mordechai Tzivin, is quoted by an Israeli website, Ynet, as suggesting that his client’s testimony could “bury Hunter Biden” and averring “that’s why they’re trying to bury him first.” And, what do you know but Mr. Luft has vanished.A Greek newspaper, Capital, reports that Mr. Luft failed to appear for a trial scheduled on Cyprus on April 3 and that a sum of 150,000 euros that he had previously paid was frozen. Police seized another 250,000 euros from a guarantor, Mr. Grant reports. Capital surmised that this is what happens when one “messes” with the Biden family. Although Mr. Luft denied all charges, he was, Mr. Grant reports, fearing extradition to the United States.“I’ve been arrested in Cyprus on a politically motivated extradition request by the US,” Mr. Luft tweeted upon his arrest. He added: “I’ve never been an arms dealer.” He also added that “the Department of Justice is trying to bury me to protect Joe, Jim, and Hunter Biden. Shall I name names?” The likelihood of that coming to pass would appear to be diminished by Mr. Luft’s apparently having, as it were, jumped bail.Another plot in this thriller is the potential connection to Burisma. That’s the Ukrainian energy firm whose entanglement with the Biden family sparked the first impeachment of President Trump. In April 2014, the elder Biden, then vice president, fetched up in Kyiv. In May 2014, Burisma put the vice president’s son, Hunter, on its board of directors. Over the next few years Burisma paid him millions for serving on its board. After visiting Kyiv in April, Vice President Biden turned up in Cyprus. A large underwater natural gas field had recently been identified off the island. A former White House stenographer, Mike McCormick, suggests the elder Biden misused tax dollars for his own enrichment during this visit, which, Mr. Grant reports, included a private dinner with the Cypriot president, Nicos Anastasiades, at Limassol, the city where Burisma is headquartered.In 2015, Mr. Biden pere was again at Kyiv to warn, Reuters reports, Ukrainian officials about corruption that was “like a cancer.” Mr. Biden himself later told the Council on Foreign Relations how he threatened to withhold American aid unless a prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, said to be investigating Burisma, was fired. “I’m leaving in six hours,” Mr. Biden recalled saying. “If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money. Well, son of a bitch. He got fired.”This is apparently what prompted President Trump to ask President Zelensky, in the famous phone call, “to do us a favor” and get to the bottom of it. The House eventually impeached him for abuse of power and obstruction. The Senate, though, discovered that he was “not guilty” on either charge. One cannot be as sure that the Bidens’ ties to Burisma are above board — and the uncertainty is deepened by Mr. Luft’s disappearance.Which brings us back to the movie set. Not to make light of the matter, but Peter Lorre would have made a good Gal Luft (our Mr. Grant speculates that Mr. Luft jumped bail by crossing into Turkish controlled Northern Cyprus). Sidney Greenstreet could have played President Anastasiades, who dined in May 2014 with Vice President Biden, who could have been played by Jimmy Stewart. And the anti-hero, Hunter, by Humphrey Bogart.

Our Man in Cyprus — The Biden Thriller

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