Verdicts
Wednesday 5 December 2018
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“At the age of 94, George Bush Sr. died - the man who started the Gulf War, marking the beginning of the current chaos in the Middle East.
If we say nothing but good about the dead, about Bush Sr. say nothing.”
While many have criticized President George H.W. Bush for an inconclusive outcome of the Persian Gulf War, it is simplistic and misleading to attribute Middle Eastern conflicts, or “current chaos” to Bush’s actions in 1991. -
“We drew attention to information about the growing number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan as a result of the actions of foreign troops. A recent example is the airstrike by international forces in Garmsir district, Helmand province, which killed 23 civilians and injured 3 others. According to preliminary data, eight women and 10 children were among the victims.”
With U.S. Air Force statistics showing the U.S. has dropped more bombs on Afghanistan than at any point since 2006, the civilian causalty count from airstrikes is growing. But it remains unclear if the total number of civilians killed and injured by actions of international forces is rising. -
“It’s believed that rap as a culture came from Black America. We got it in the 1990s. That’s not entirely true, however. The precursor of the Russian rap poetic tradition was Vladimir Mayakovsky, of course.”
Russian hip-hop has two main sources, both Western: American rap and Jamaican Rastafarian music. -
“Two little cutters that the United States gifted Ukraine didn’t pass through the Kerch Straight, and you want a nuclear submarine visiting our base?! A bad film.”
Vladimir Putin mocked the idea of a U.S. submarine visiting a Russian base like in the Hollywood film “Hunter Killer,” saying the recently seized Ukrainian ships “gifted by the U.S.” couldn't even traverse the Kerch Strait. But like the film, the claim those boats are from America is fiction. -
“And, with reports that she will be granted American citizenship after months of torture in an American prison, I feel ashamed for my Fatherland.”
With a new court filing alluding to a possible plea deal, a Russian journalist has claimed without evidence that indicted Russian agent Maria Butina will be granted U.S. citizenship after being tortured in prison. But Butina’s solitary confinement does raise troubling questions. -
Several of Putin’s claims are false, one is unclear, and one may be true, but not in the way the president of the Russian Federation puts it.
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Video title: Russia: Coast Guard traces Ukrainian vessels after breach of Russian waters
A maritime expert says the Ukrainian ships were in international waters – a key detail since a treaty between Ukraine and Russia provides for freedom of movement the Kerch Strait. The original video shows the Russian vessel holding on course into the ramming, and Ukrainian patrols responding. -
"Martial law, which must be approved by the [Ukrainian] Parliament and which now can be introduced for 60 days, entails a series of possible infringements of the rights and freedoms of citizens and restrictions, the possibility of the seizure of property, vehicles and fund for the state and army.”
The potential of martial law in Ukraine following the escalation between Moscow and Kyiv in the Azov Sea opens up the possibility that civic rights and press freedoms will be restricted. -
“Five years on, what has become of the protesters’ dreams to rid Ukraine of corruption and build an equal, transparent and functional democracy? The sad answer is that Ukraine’s revolution was a disaster which left the country teetering on the edge of becoming a failed state.”
Apart from the usual conspiracy theories and false claims about Maidan being a coup, the article omits important facts that explain why Ukraine has struggled to realize the goals of 2014’s Maidan revolution. -
“I insist: in this primate way [British Prime Minister Theresa] May’s government tries to play down the agenda of Brexit and the discussion of their own resignation. Too banal? It’s the best that they can do.”
As Britain releases more surveillance footage placing two alleged Russian agents at the scene of the attempted assassination of a former spy, Moscow now claims that the poisoning plot has been cooked up to distract from Brexit. -
"Sanctions conform to international law. In this case, we don’t recognize those unilateral restrictions as legitimate sanctions because we deem them to be illegal. So it will probably be more correct to say ‘limitations’ or ‘restrictions,' but not sanctions.”
Moscow has challenged the legitimacy of the term “sanctions” regarding Western measures to counteract Russian actions in Ukraine and beyond, calling them illegal. But when it comes to being an actor on the international stage, the law is something that Moscow appeals to selectively. -
“The media in Germany is largely dependent on their owners in the United States. Today, none of the chief editors of leading media organizations can be appointed to the position unless they have completed a half-year internship in the American media outlets.”
The senator makes his claim without evidence. The facts on media ownership in Germany and the experience of prominent journalists and media owners prove the claim is false