Was A Country Destroyed, Too?

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Yes, Paul Manafort is on trial for crimes in the U.S. But his work in Ukraine helped to destroy a country.


By Diana Pilipenko
August 17

Diana Pilipenko is the associate director for anti-corruption and illicit finance at the Center for American Progress.


During Paul Manafort’s trial for tax evasion and bank fraud, the public has heard over-the-top tales of illicit trysts in London, ostrich leather jackets and overpriced antique rugs. Bankers, IRS agents and accountants have testified at length about how Manafort defrauded financial institutions and the U.S. government. Yet little attention has been paid to the constituency that perhaps suffered most from Manafort’s deeds: the people of Ukraine.

I grew up in Ukraine, and reading the court documents detailing Manafort’s work for the country’s former president, Viktor Yanukovych, left me disgusted and depressed. The people who suffered from Yanukovych’s corrupt regime are my relatives, my friends and my former neighbors. They are not abstractions or numbers on a ledger, and under Yanukovych their lives took a back seat to state-sponsored greed.

Full Op-Ed: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/democracy-post/wp/2018/08/17/yes-paul-manafort-is-on-trial-for-crimes-in-the-u-s-but-his-work-in-ukraine-helped-to-destroy-a-country/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.5a4692980600


I posted a few weeks ago (https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210945485) about the eerie similarities between Hillary's campaign experiences and those of Yulia Tymoshenko, referred to as "Ukraine's Hillary" by some. As mentioned in my post, one difference is that even though both candidates were threatened with the vicious "lock her up" mantra, they actually did lock up Yulia, and her husband went into exile. https://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/ukraine-politics/tymoshenko-husband-attacks-yanukovych-from-exile-u-120253.html

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. ... and helped Putin steal Crimea. . . . nt

[dalton99a]

2. Yep.

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3. Yes, Indeed