Topics
Sunday 12 July 2020
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![Carrie Lam]()
Carrie Lam
Chief Executive of Hong Kong
“[The national security law] will only target an extremely small minority of people who have breached the law, while the life and property, basic rights and freedoms of the overwhelming majority of Hong Kong residents will be protected.”
Read more...Lam minimized the potential impact of Hong Kong’s new Chinese-written security law before it took effect. Once it did, arrests and charges under the law were immediate. -
![Vladimir Putin]()
Vladimir Putin
Russian President
“In Russia, there has not been, is not, and will not be anything that is associated with restrictions on rights based on race, sexual orientation, nationality, or any religious grounds. This has never happened in Russia and never will.”
Read more...Under Vladimir Putin, Russia has changed its criminal code to allow targeting and prosecuting minorities and amended the constitution to outlaw gay marriage. -
![Carlos Bolsonaro]()
Carlos Bolsonaro
Rio de Janeiro city council member, son of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro
"You won't see this type of information in most TV stations … and even less in the posts of the ‘journalists’ of the affiliates of those who always raped the country:"
Read more...On the defensive for mounting coronavirus cases in Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro now has the virus himself. His son, the local politician Carlos Bolsonaro, promoted misleading data to argue that things are better than critics claim. -
![Maria Zakharova]()
Maria Zakharova
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman
“The appearance of this book testifies to the increasing desire of the Malaysians to form their own opinion about what happened. We believe that the latter is especially important, given how one-sided and engaged in the West this tragedy has been illuminated for years.”
Read more...The author of the book is a Malaysian conspiracy theorist. Based on the title, the work appears to blame the MH17 shootdown over Ukraine on the “Jewish antichrist Illuminati.” -
![Fu Cong]()
Fu Cong
Director General of the Department of Arms Control, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, People’s Republic of China
“Some glaring omissions in the US Annual Arms Control Compliance Report: Withdrawal from ABM, JCPOA, INF, Open Skies Treaty …”
Read more...Fu Cong’s tweet, prompted by talks to extend a key U.S.-Russian arms treaty, is a mashup of misleading and partly true assertions about the Trump administration’s arms control posture. -
![Press TV]()
Press TV
Iranian state TV channel
“A senior Iranian judge says INTERPOL Red Notices have been issued for the prosecution of dozens of military and political officials of the United States, including President Donald Trump, on charges of planning and implementing a terrorist attack in the Iraqi capital that assassinated Iran’s top general Qassem Soleimani and his companions.”
Read more...INTERPOL has denied receiving the request and stated that it does not consider requests for red notices that it believes are “political.” -
![Qatari Ministry of Interior]()
Qatari Ministry of Interior
“EHTERAZ is your trusted smart application to follow up on the latest updates of COVID-19 Coronavirus in Qatar.”
Read more...The Qatari government’s COVID-19 app has been named among the “most dangerous for privacy” by the Amnesty International Security Lab. It’s not alone. Bahrain, China, Iran, Kuwait, Norway and Russia have suspect apps, too. -
![Nicolás Maduro]()
Nicolás Maduro
President of Venezuela
"Every day we protect the health of our people, without slowing down for a second the production of goods and services, construction and renovation of important works and always in defense of the national peace. Venezuela moves forward!"
Read more...Maduro’s praise overlooks the widespread fragility in the country’s response to COVID-19, all intensified because of the chronic economic, political and humanitarian crises that have persisted under his government. -
![Vladimir Putin]()
Vladimir Putin
President of the Russian Federation
“[I]t is unfair to claim that the two-day visit to Moscow of Nazi Foreign Minister Ribbentrop was the main reason for the start of the Second World War. All the leading countries are to a certain extent responsible for its outbreak.”
Read more...Putin’s view is not shared by most historians. The subsequent Molotov-Ribbentrop pact between the USSR and Germany triggered the Nazi invasion of Poland, and it provided Soviet economic aid that made German conquests possible. -
![Dmitry Peskov]()
Dmitry Peskov
Russian presidential spokesman
“No, Russia doesn’t have any territorial claims against its neighbors.”
Read more...In 2014, Russia invaded the Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and, after a “referendum,” brought it into the Russian Federation. Moreover, Russia maintains effective control over separatist territories in former Soviet states without annexing them. -
![Majid Takht Ravanchi]()
Majid Takht Ravanchi
Iran’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations
"‘Iranian origin’ of arms is a fallacy. UN Secretariat lacks capacity, expertise & knowledge to conduct investigations."
Read more...A United Nations report found that missiles used to attack oil facilities last year were similar to Iran’s. Analysts say the U.N. investigators do, in fact, have the necessary expertise. -
![Mike Lee]()
Mike Lee
U.S. Senator, R-Utah
"The Supreme Court held today that President Obama’s DACA program is clearly illegal."
Read more...The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that Trump administration’s effort to rescind the Obama-era program didn’t meet required legal justifications. While the administration has the right to repeal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the court didn't rule on the legality of the program itself.
