There has been much political hand-wringing – expected by Republicans but also among Democrats - concerning President Biden’s “full and unconditional” pardon of his son, Hunter. Precedent-setting, perhaps, but certainly consistent with the recent Supreme Court decision to grant the American presidency absolute immunity from prosecution for all official acts.
In my view, we need to assess the net effects of such a
move: Hunter Biden gets to live a a life not consumed by personal and legal troubles and
away from the dubious intentions of the incoming Trump presidency. Compare this to George Bush (the lesser), who
launched the Iraq War ostensibly to defend the honour of George H. W. Bush Sr.,
whose life had been threatened by Saddam Hussein in retaliation for the Gulf
War. Thousands of American and countless
Iraqi lives were lost. In other words, people
died in this instance, at least in part, because of a father and son
relationship.
Another interesting comparison is Stalin and his son Yakov
Djugashvili, who ended up in a German POW camp after he was captured in
1941. By virtue of being Stalin’s son he
was considered a “valuable hostage”.[1]
A prisoner swap was proposed but Stalin washed his hands of him in part because
– in Stalin’s mind – being a POW was a dishonour to the nation: better to fight
to the death. Stalin was also constrained by the fact that millions of Russians
had died in the war, and he could not be seen to be giving his own son
preferential treatment.[2]
Yakov was dead in a POW camp by April 1943.
It was believed that Stalin was informed of his son’s death by
intelligence services, but he kept it secret.
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