Thread by @tomiahonen

Ukraine Thread 1/

As Ukraine is trending with topics like WWIII and World War 3 - certainly we all hope that ongoing conflict will not escallate, let's do a Thread on Ukraine. There is probably a lot in this, you did not know, and that gives a new light to this conflict

Ukraine Thread 2/

Ukraine is a large European country on Black Sea, a bit bigger than France, with a population about size of Spain. Big agricultural nation, also major industry like Antonov maker of world's largest production airplane, or shipbuilders who make aircraft carriers

Ukraine Thread 3/

Ukraine was briefly independent after WW1, then Soviet Union (=Russia) took Ukraine. They gained their independence 30 years ago, in 1991. The fledgling democracy in its infancy had its share of problems, including dictator Yanukovych who tried to end democracy

Ukraine Thread 4/

Where do we remember that name from? Yanukovych, Yanukovych.. Viktor Yanukyvch? Wait.. wasn't he one of the many brutal dictator clients of MANAFORT - the most evil American ever to have lived. Yes. Convicted criminal Paulie Ostrich-coat who Trump then pardoned

Ukraine Thread 5/

Yanukovych was a Putin stooge who tried to sell the nation of Ukraine to Putin as a slave-state (similar to the crooked deals Putin has with Dictators of failed democracies, Belarus and Kazakhstan). A revolution in 2014 ended that, and Yanukovich fled to Moscow

Ukraine Thread 6/

Then Putin annexed Crimea

Annex means to steal territory

Imagine Canada sending in its army to take Alaska and declare it belongs to Canada. If you're an American, you would be livid. Imagine if this happened just 7 years ago

You'd still want Alaska back now

Ukraine Thread 7/

Czar Vladimir the Smug sent in his Spetsnaz units (elite troops like US Army Rangers, SEALs, British SAS) into Crimea dressed as civilians, and some wearing random military-style outfits without identifying unit insignia. And took Crimea in a daytime heist

Ukraine Thread 8/

Like your standard bank robbery heist Hollywood movie, but done to a territory the size of Massachussetts. Civilians walk in, suddenly they have guns, say, everybody freeze! This is a heist

But instead of the money in the bank, they take THE WHOLE COUNTRY

Ukraine Thread 9/

The world was horrified. That was an INVASION. And Putin kept saying, no no no! They are not my soldiers! They are just freedom-loving Crimeans who want independence. I have nothing to do with them

(later Putin admitted and laughed, yes they were his soldiers)

Ukraine Thread 10/

This was seven years ago. Vladimir Putin stole land, the size of Massachussetts, from Ukraine. He then flew up the Russian flag there, and claims it now belongs to Russia. This is not right. The Ukrainians, and most of the world are against it, & want him out

Ukraine Thread 12/

Putin was not done with Ukraine. He wants more. If you did not know, a shooting war has been simmering for seven years in the Donbass region of Ukraine (Eastern Ukraine, the Russian border). These are the Russian-backed rebels who shot down KLM flight MH 17

Ukraine Thread 13/

What did the West do? Ukraine is not part of NATO. There is no obligation by NATO or USA to go fight a war there, to take back Crimea. But Obama slapped the biggest sanctions in world history, against Russia. Bigger than Reagan when Soviets invaded Afghanistan

Ukraine Thread 14/

Those sanctions had real bite, because they ALSO targeted Russian oligarchs (criminal mafia-style feudal lords, mostly Billionaires, who each control some economic part of Russia, and obey Putin)

These sanctions were SEVERE pain to Putin's gang

Ukraine Thread 15/

Sanctions were working, but there were faults in the sanctions regime. At least one bastard sleazebag scumbag American serial con-artist was laundering Putin's money. He was engaged in 'sanctions-busting'.

You might have heard of this traitor: Donald Trump

Ukraine Thread 16/

Yes. BEFORE Trump ran for President, he was laundering Putin's money, against US sanctions. He was aiding an ENEMY of the United States. It is a TREASONOUS crime

Sanctions busting is federal crime with Life without parole. Weisselberg was Trump's point man

Ukraine Thread 17/

In 2015, when all of American foreign policy opinion, from left and right, Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, military and civil, all agreed SANCTIONS ARE NECESSARY - one MAD voice was asking to REMOVE sanctions against Putin

It was Trump

Ukraine Thread 18/

In 2016 when Trump campaign was bankrupt, Trump brought in a new Campaign Chairman, Paul Manafort. He 'worked for free'. Nobody works for free. Paulie the Creep was paid by Putin. Manafort brought Putin millions to Trump & the GOP, laundered through the NRA

Ukraine Thread 19/

The Republican Party platform in 2016 included a plank demanding Vladimir Putin gets out of Crimea. What happened? Manafort happened. That demand was REMOVED. And the love affair between Putin and the GOP started to develop. Thank you Manafort

Ukraine Thread 20/

When Trump tried to reduce the sanctions on Russia in 2017, a Republican-held Congress voted to CODIFY the Obama-era sanctions eliminating the ability for Trump to unilaterally cut the sanctions he had been threatening to do. That is how out of synch Trump was

Ukraine Thread 21/

We saw the horror of the Helsinki Hostage Summit, where Trump declared he trusts mass-murdering dictator, former KGB colonel Vladimir Putin more than the info he gets from the very US government he himself ran, and their Republican heads he himself appointed.

Ukraine Thread 22/

In 2019 Trump sent his A Team to Ukraine to manufacture dirt on Trump's 2020 rival Joe Biden. This dream tream of Lev Parnas (convicted criminal) & Igor Fruman (convicted criminal), was led by notorious serial butt-dialer Rudy Giuliani (office raided by FBI)

Ukraine Thread 23/

As Trump is a fake Billionaire (he is in reality a Debtonaire) he had no funds to pay for Rudy's Ukrainian Adventure, so Putin paid for it, via his Ukrainian oligarch Firtash (in house arrest in Austria). Putin wanted Rudy to remove US Ambassador to Ukraine

Ukraine Thread 24/

As we learned in Impeachment 1 hearings, Giuliani did just that. Got US Ambassador Marie Yovanovich fired. Rudy confessed to it on CNN. This is a treasonous act, so severe, Giuliani may face death penalty for this rogue foreign policy he ran on behalf of Putin

Ukraine Thread 25/

Trump was afraid his Putin connection would be exposed by Mueller's investigation. So he tried to terminate the Mueller investigation, then hired corrupt Attorney Bill Barr to stiffle Mueller. Mueller DID get criminal investigations started, for example in NY

Ukraine Thread 26/

Trump was afraid his money laundering for Putin would be exposed, via the Deutsche Bank records, so he sued all the way to Supreme Court to block that information being handed to investigators. He lost the case unanimously. Now the prosecutors know

Ukraine Thread 27/

The banker handling Trump's money-laundered loans at Deutsche Bank was SCOTUS Justice Kennedy's son. Trump forced Kennedy to resign

Then Trump sold that seat to Kavanaugh, for a bribe probably worth $10 million (some rich Republican now owns a SCOTUS judge)

Ukraine Thread 28/

Meanwhile Stable Genius Boy decided to extort Ukraine in a 'perfect phone call'. That finally got some inside his White House to blow the whisles, which led to Impeachment 1. Even though Senate did not convict, many Republicans agreed it was a criminal act

Ukraine Thread 29/

The FBI wanted to raid Rudy Giuliani for his rogue foreign policy and crimes against the USA. A corrupt Bill Barr intervened and blocked that raid, and told Trump. So the raid of Giuliani only happened now last year, under Garland in April 2021.

Ukraine Thread 30/

The Donald Trump corruption related to Ukraine runs very deep for years. Why is it? Why Trump thinks Putin should get to keep Crimea?

Almost like Trump and Ivanka had tried to put up a Trump Tower into the Yalta, a city in Crimea. With this creep, Felix Sater

Ukraine Thread 31/

In 2014 there was NO DIVISION whatsoever in American foreign policy, left or right, that Vladimir Putin is a criminal thug, for stealing territory from his neighbor.

Today Tucker Carlson is on Fox, siding with the Russian propaganda & Putin

Astonishing

PS to all in this Thread

THANK YOU. In the first 12 hours, you have spread this Thread so widely, it has been read by 215,000 people. That is near twice as much as my TOTAL reach. Those of YOUR Tweeps who read it, got it only because you shared it

THANK YOU so much

To all in this Ukraine Thread:

THANK YOU. You have spread this Thread so widely, it has become one of my most read Threads. Over 450,000 people on Twitter have already read it. We are helping inform people

THANK YOU