Thread by @MsAmyMacPherson

1/26 🧵#CDNpoli #2Michaels #Elxn44

It's been hard for me to watch #CDNmedia coverage of the 2 Michaels, knowing there's a pointless media blackout that's resulted in widespread #disinformation & exploitation by partisan actors

This #thread is RE Spavor

2/26 🧵#CDNpoli #2Michaels #Elxn44

Canada has become a laughing stock to our global partners due to #CDNmedia suppression of facts about Spavor & Kovrig, that are available to everyone else in the world, including 🇨🇦, if we only bothered to google

►archive.is/9IxGI

3/26 🧵#CDNpoli #Elxn44

I've known facts about the #2Michaels for some time & I declined to share earlier so it wouldn't impact Spavor & Kovrig's trials in #China. But that collective ignorance is being weaponized against voters & both sides have been disingenuous in recent news

4/26 🧵#CDNpoli #2Michaels #Elxn44

When I say 'both sides' have been disingenuous, I mean #CDNmedia & Chinese media

There are surely #NatSec reasons why the Canadian govt wasn't forthcoming initially, but I'm about to show you how deceptive the Fourth Estate behaved throughout

5/26 🧵#CDNpoli #2Michaels #Elxn44

Time & again Canadians were told we didn't know anything about the 2 Michaels but that's, quite simply, false. The details I'm about to share RE Michael Spavor were previously published, at least in part, in both the BBC & National Post

6/26 🧵#CDNpoli #2Michaels #Elxn44

It's a #NatSec issue in & of itself that partisans, from the former PMO & leaders of right-wing parties, are able to steer #CDNmedia

1►archive.is/azJcC
2►archive.is/jZKJv
3►archive.is/MWseU
4►

7/26 🧵#CDNpoli #Elxn44

What Canadians don't understand is that we're in a delicate predicament with #China RE the #2Michaels, so every time the #CPC & #NDP push for harsh retaliation, they're gambling recklessly with the lives of Spavor & Kovrig

This behaviour must stop

8/26 🧵#CDNpoli #2Michaels #Elxn44

Here's what voters don't know, but #CDNmedia & politicians did know or ought to have known, with bare minimum of help from an internet search engine. All they had to do was enquire

Michael Spavor befriended North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Un

9/26 🧵#CDNpoli #2Michaels #Elxn44

Canadian Michael Spavor is the person who facilitated visits to North Korea by Dennis Rodman, Donald Trump, & Mike Pompeo #USpoli

He also arranged a hockey game with anonymous ex-NHLers under the guise of tourism

►archive.is/sEdy1

10/26 🧵#CDNpoli #2Michaels #Elxn44

Michael Spavor was also part of the historic meeting between North & South Korea (another Trump mission) . Many photos have been deleted since his trial but I had copies before that happened

Article
►archive.is/p8nLm

Missing photos:

11/26 🧵#CDNpoli #2Michaels #Elxn44

Just so we're clear about how closely Michael Spavor was involved with Kim Jong Un & subsequently Donald Trump/Mike Pompeo, here are a few more pictures from the past decade (that were certainly connected with the US State Dept):

12/26 🧵#CDNpoli #2Michaels #Elxn44

Canadian Michael Spavor was further connected with the Govts of #China & #SouthKorea, as well as #NorthKorea's military & Kim Jong Un's lover. Please see additional photos:

13/26 🧵#CDNpoli #2Michaels #Elxn44

Michael Spavor was instrumental to developing biz investment on behalf of Kim Jong Un. Though Canadian voters believe that #NorthKorea is constrained by sanctions, billions of dollars are still flowing

Article
►archive.is/6gvVj

Pix:

14/26 🧵#CDNpoli #2Michaels #Elxn44

Via Citibank

'It would open the north’s mineral wealth to exploitation: deposits of 200 minerals, including the world’s 2nd largest deposit of magnesium & rare metals thought to be worth $10 trillion'

Article
►archive.is/SOKlm

Pix:

15/26 🧵#CDNpoli #2Michaels #Elxn44

With a microchip shortage killing biz in 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇧, the rare metals in #NorthKorea are coveted, but #China & #Russia are already building the #SilkRoad railroad (G7 versus BRICS)

Article
►archive.is/SOKlm

Spavor inspected that operation

16/26 🧵#CDNpoli #2Michaels #Elxn44

At the border between #NorthKorea & #China there's been a building boom that Michael Spavor addressed with foreign media. He was often interviewed & cited by Asian Pacific press as the primary regional expert

aljazeera.com/videos/2018/7/…

17/26 🧵#CDNpoli #2Michaels #Elxn44

Michael Spavor established his biz HQ at that tenuous border between #China & #NorthKorea, on the Chinese side. It provided a good view of the space where Kim Jong Un tested nuclear missiles (he spoke about the vibrations at least once)

18/26 🧵#CDNpoli #2Michaels #Elxn44

Michael Spavor & Michael Kovrig are friends & they were sometimes quoted in Asian media together, as seen in this link about North Korea’s Special Economic Zone with mining considerations

Article
►archive.is/kGzFr

Spavor/Kovrig post:

19/26 🧵#CDNpoli #2Michaels #Elxn44

Michael Kovrig was a Canadian diplomat who traded the safety of his credentials to work for Crisis Group on de-escalating tensions between Washington & Pyongyang, as well as the Koreas

x1►archive.is/Tb4Ji
x2►archive.is/GBqOD

20/26 🧵#CDNpoli #2Michaels #Elxn44

Both Michaels were at the mercy of Trump's foreign policy & petulant tantrums on Twitter, that in many ways resembled the unpredictability of Kim Jong Un's luxury resort where he often tested bombs

See Spavor quotes
►archive.is/tHWW6

21/26 🧵#CDNpoli #2Michaels #Elxn44

Michael Spavor himself was torn between a restive future & reality of current military angst

On one hand he pushed investment
►archive.is/LMJjU

On the other he defended military drills scheduled at same time
►archive.is/D9f9K

22/26 🧵#CDNpoli #2Michaels #Elxn44

Michael Spavor had prized access to NE Asian markets due to his Canadian passport

In the months preceding his detention by #China, he attempted to organize a North Korean delegation to Canada (regarding energy that competes with Russia)

23/26 🧵#CDNpoli #2Michaels #Elxn44

But something had Michael Spavor spooked surrounding a military parade in North Korea that he planned to broadcast on social media

He posted his passport on Instagram & noted concerns related to his taxi driver

24/26 🧵#CDNpoli #2Michaels #Elxn44

Nevertheless, Michael Spavor recorded the North Korean military & posted his images to public social media accounts

He can/could be found on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, & Facebook (I have some videos but files are too big for this format)

25/26 🧵#CDNpoli #2Michaels #Elxn44

Michael Spavor has posted numerous pix to his social media accounts & #China has accused him of sharing "second tier" security intelligence with Michael Kovrig, by transmitting vaguely defined prohibited photographs

►archive.is/Dfqux

26/26 🧵#CDNpoli #2Michaels #Elxn44

All this time these stories have been available to #CDNmedia & it's time for CPC/NDP to drop the act, because pretending to have amnesia to crucify the govt may get somebody killed

NatPo
►archive.is/rcsHi
BBC
►archive.is/Qs3lF