Thread by @KingBaeksu

I have known Michael Spavor for years. The Western MSM are exaggerating his "closeness" to Kim Jong-un. Skepticism is advised.

His detention may linked to the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, but there could very well be other reasons.

Cold War 2.0 intensifies.
globaltimes.cn/content/113178…

“He was the only white guy at the border area. Clearly the Chinese don’t like these guys being in that sensitive region and maybe used this opportunity to get rid of him.”

Rubbish. There are many English teachers in Dandong, and heaps of Western tourists.
ft.com/content/269c40…

"In 2014, Kevin and Julia Garratt, a Canadian couple who ran a coffee shop in Dandong, were held on suspicion of spying and stealing state secrets."

They were also Christian missionaries illegally proselytizing to North Koreans. Why is this not mentioned?
scmp.com/week-asia/expl…

"Canadians Kovrig and Spavor sit in Chinese jail cells, detained in a clear act of retaliation by the Chinese government."

Clear to you.

"By essentially kidnapping two Canadians, the hard men of Beijing have shown their true faces."

Kidnapping? Chill.
theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editor…

"Kovrig was working on a report on China’s relations with North Korea at the time of his detainment."

Globalist Alexander Soros sits on the President’s Council of the Crisis Group, Kovrig's employer.

Why is the Crisis Group meddling in PRC-DPRK affairs?
nytimes.com/2018/12/14/wor…

"The unjustified detention of my countrymen hurts China’s stature."

One wonders how Crisis Group Trustee Frank Giustra knows the detention of Michael Spavor is "unjustified."

And why does he not mention @MichaelKovrig's Crisis Group work on North Korea?
theglobeandmail.com/opinion/articl…

To review:

1. Kovrig and Spavor have communicated on Twitter, and Crisis Group Trustee Frank Giustra now publicly defends Spavor.

2. Canadian diplomats have met with Spavor, but Global Affairs Canada has been tight-lipped on these contacts.

3. Spavor's Twitter account is gone.

Sarah McIver, who was arrested in China earlier this month for illegal employment, is already safely back home in Canada.

Given this, we can conclude that Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor are being held on charges more serious than mere visa violations.
theglobeandmail.com/canada/article…

Western-media coverage of the detention of Kovrig and Spavor has been suspiciously slack.

This @Reuters story on Spavor's social-media activity ignores the vanishing of his Twitter account just before Christmas.

Who deleted it and why? Why not ask @jack?
ca.reuters.com/article/topNew…

This article in the @globeandmail is also dubious.

In it, Andray Abrahamian claims that Spavor "lives in Canada" when he has resided in China for years. Why lie?

Meanwhile, Andrei Lankov insists that Spavor was an "innocent bystander." How would he know?
theglobeandmail.com/world/article-…

More selective reportage, this time from @CBCNews.

In the section "What Canada's Saying," we have a protest by Global Affairs Canada made on 21 December 2017, and little else.

Ambassador McCallum met both Michaels well before that. Why not interview him?
cbc.ca/news/politics/…

This recent tweet by Ankit Panda, a prominent "North Korea security expert," is hysterical propaganda.

The linked article clearly states: "The number of detained Canadians has remained relatively stable, without a marked increase or decrease in recent years."

He's shameless.

Despite his favorable surname, Panda is so concerned about China's "authoritarian turn" that he has cancelled an upcoming trip there.

His friendship with Kovrig is noted, as is his acquaintance with Spavor mentioned later in the thread. Does he have something to hide?

Panda is one of countless "security experts" who earn a crust by telling us all how much of a threat the DPRK is to the US:

"Nuclear first-use remains a possible rational choice for Kim."

It's only rational if you think Kim is suicidal. Evidence, please.
foreignaffairs.com/articles/north…

Panda has worked and written for the neoconservative CFR and many other globalizing operations.

On his personal Web site, he obscures his background. In fact, he was born in India and as of this writing is not a US citizen.

Like Bruce Ohr, he is yet another Servitor of Empire.

What is remarkable about Western MSM coverage of the detention of Kovrig and Spavor is the uniformity of messaging:

They are entirely innocent and this is a tit-for-tat reprisal for the arrest of Meng Wanzhou.

How is the former inferred from the latter?
smh.com.au/politics/feder…

We should recall that the ICG had been forced to close its Beijing office in 2016 after passage of the "Foreign NGO Management Law," which requires overseas NGOs to have local partners.

If Kovrig was engaged in NGO work in China, how "innocent" was he?
scmp.com/news/china/dip…

In 2009, I recorded an in-depth interview with Michael Spavor at an Indian restaurant near Ewha Womans University in northwest Seoul.

As it was a confidential exchange, I cannot disclose its contents for now. However, more can be said about his case.
scmp.com/news/china/dip…

In the summer of 2010, I went out clubbing with Spavor and several other South Korea-based expats in Shenyang, in Northeast China.

I myself was living and working there at the time, and they had just returned from a trip to the DPRK.

And in late 2015, I met him several times in Yanji, in Jilin Province, where he was then living alone in a large, well-appointed apartment in the center of town.

Again, we wound up at a local nightclub one night after imbibing heavily at a local Chinese-style BBQ restaurant, and then at a "tabang" or teahouse whose Korean-Chinese madam I happen to know.

My impression of Spavor during those meetings was that he was living quite recklessly, and was well-lubricated more often than not.

While I cannot say whether he was Western-intelligence "asset," I feel that if he was, it was a rather poor choice on the part of his handlers as heavy drinkers tend not to be reliably discreet.

It also seemed that he was having financial difficulties when I met him in 2015. Would this have made him a "softer" target for Western spies seeking access to his contacts in North Korea?

My intention in posting these details is not to cause further harm to Spavor.

Rather, it is motivated by my desire as an American to suggest that Western intelligence agencies cease their imperial meddling in this part of the world – the dirty, rotten @CIA in particular.

@CIA Both the DPRK and the PRC are sovereign nations, and it is not our business to interfere in their internal affairs.

If indeed Spavor and Kovrig were in the employ of Western intelligence, then we must blame the West and not China for whatever dark fate they may happen to meet.