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With the impeachment hearings starting today it's a good idea to take a look back on recent history involving Ukraine, Russia, Paul Manafort, and Trump.
Everything goes back to the fact that Putin wants to make Russia into a superpower again the same way the USSR was.
Everything goes back to the fact that Putin wants to make Russia into a superpower again the same way the USSR was.
In the 2000s, Putin set his sights on taking over Ukraine after Russia lost it in the breakup of the USSR.
He used organized crime/violence, sophisticated propaganda, and hired Paul Manafort to set political strategy for Viktor Yanukovich, his puppet politician in Ukraine.
He used organized crime/violence, sophisticated propaganda, and hired Paul Manafort to set political strategy for Viktor Yanukovich, his puppet politician in Ukraine.
The US and EU wanted Ukraine to become part of the western world, a democracy, and Putin saw that as an unacceptable threat to Russian power.
Manafort used all his dirty tricks and oligarch money and eventually he got his man Yanukovych elected as president of Ukraine in 2010.
Manafort used all his dirty tricks and oligarch money and eventually he got his man Yanukovych elected as president of Ukraine in 2010.
Yanukovych was president from 2010-2014. During that time, he and his Putin-connected oligarchs stole billions from the Ukrainian people until they took to the streets and forced him into exile.
So the Ukrainian people threw Putin's puppet out of power and that was not acceptable to Putin. He invaded the Crimea and took it over, against every international law.
That's when the sanctions went into effect. We made it hard for Putin/oligarchs to move money around the world
That's when the sanctions went into effect. We made it hard for Putin/oligarchs to move money around the world
Putin needs to be able to move his dirty money around, so ending those sanctions has been his top priority since they went into effect.
That's why he ordered the operation to help Trump get elected, because he knew Trump would try to end the sanctions if he could.
That's why he ordered the operation to help Trump get elected, because he knew Trump would try to end the sanctions if he could.
But Putin got caught. US intelligence figured out that the Russians were behind the DNC hack and made it public.
That information made it impossible for Trump to end sanctions without looking like he was working for Putin. And so the sanctions are still in place.
That information made it impossible for Trump to end sanctions without looking like he was working for Putin. And so the sanctions are still in place.
Russian intelligence *and* Trump both need someone else to blame the DNC hack on. So who do they blame? Ukraine.
That's where Rudy's "Ukraine hacked the DNC to frame the Russians" conspiracy theory came from. It's Russian propaganda, and it's all about ending the sanctions.
That's where Rudy's "Ukraine hacked the DNC to frame the Russians" conspiracy theory came from. It's Russian propaganda, and it's all about ending the sanctions.
So then Trump and Rudy tried to use military aid to Ukraine as leverage to get them to back up the conspiracy theory that Russia didn't really hack the DNC or help Trump get elected.
That's what led to the phone call, the whistleblower, and now the impeachment.
That's what led to the phone call, the whistleblower, and now the impeachment.
The bottom line is that this whole thing started because Trump and Giuliani were trying to blame Ukraine for the Russian attack on the 2016 election and then end sanctions on Russia.
That was the deal the made to get help in 2016 and they're still trying to deliver on it.
That was the deal the made to get help in 2016 and they're still trying to deliver on it.
The Hunter Biden angle was really just an added bonus. Trump and Giuliani thought they had leverage, and if they could get Ukraine to announce that they were investigating the Bidens, they would have used that to attack him throughout the 2020 election.
