United States
Sunday 12 July 2020
-
![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. -
![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.” -
![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. -
![Dmitry Peskov]()
Dmitry Peskov
Russian presidential spokesman
"We do not know about any oligarchs, or about their existence."
Read more...The names may have changed since Russian tycoons rallied around Boris Yeltsin in the early post-Soviet era, but there are still Russian oligarchs aplenty, and they have clout. -
![Xinhua News]()
Xinhua News
State-run news agency
“Ma Xiaowei, director of the National Health Commission, said there is ‘no delay or cover-up’ in the Chinese government's response to the COVID-19 outbreak.”
Read more...Evidence shows Chinese authorities initially covered up the outbreak, even censoring citizens who discussed the disease on social media. -
![Hua Chunying]()
Hua Chunying
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman
“All lives matter. We stand firmly with our African friends. We strongly oppose all forms of racial discrimination and inflammatory expressions of racism and hatred.” (Regarding the death in U. S. police custody of George Floyd, an African American.)
Read more...During the COVID-19 pandemic, African expats and students in China experienced discrimination from the state and ordinary citizens. China has sent more than a million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities to detention camps. -
![Komsomolskaya Pravda]()
Komsomolskaya Pravda
Russian national tabloid
"In the news, they are now are talking about the first people killed and even raped in Minneapolis."
Read more...There are no records of rapes in the Minneapolis protests over the death of George Floyd, and only one person died. The claim is consistent with the negative spin Russian media and officials historically have applied when civil crises erupt in the U.S. -
![RIA Novosti]()
RIA Novosti
Russian state-owned media outlet
“Bogdan Vechirko, who rammed a crowd of rebelling Americans in Minneapolis with a truck, served in the Ukrainian Armed Forces and was an ardent fan of Donald Trump, writes Strana.ua.”
Read more...The truck driver and the Ukrainian soldier are two different people using the same name. There is no evidence the soldier ever visited the United States, and Ukraine’s military denounced any connection. -
![Donald Trump]()
Donald Trump
U.S. President
“The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization.”
Read more...There is no such thing as a designation for domestic terror groups, although the Justice Department and FBI can and do work with state and local law enforcement officials to investigate groups suspected of criminal activities.
