True
Friday 9 June 2023
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“The deployment of any kind of nuclear weapons in Belarus is not only a violation of international commitments such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Budapest Memorandum of 1994. It also violates our non-nuclear status under the Constitution...”
Belarus’ international obligations and its 1994 constitution prohibit deploying nuclear weapons on its territory. -
“The forced recruitment of ‘comfort women’ is a grave crime against humanity committed by the Japanese militarism. It is a historical fact with iron-clad and undeniable evidence.”
The Imperial Japanese Army’s involvement in sexual slavery is a matter of historical record. -
“[T]he C.36.3 variant was detected in Thailand. Nonetheless … the variant had actually been found in a person who traveled from Egypt.”
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“I saw someone post this and I couldn't believe it. McDonald’s Azerbaijan's official account promoting the military taking of Nagorno-Karabakh.”
This is a verified McDonald’s Instagram account that posted pro-military pictures about Nagorno-Karabakh. The posts are now removed. -
“In Serbia, the #Covid19 curfew means we can’t walk our dogs for up to 14 hours at a time. It causes so much unnecessary suffering.”
On March 28, the Serbian government revoked its decision to rule to let people take pets out for a 20-minute evening walk during overnight coronavirus curfew hours. -
“According to the minister, Iran's decision to start uranium enrichment above the level of 3.67%, which is provided for by the nuclear deal, does not violate either the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons or the safeguards agreement with the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency], or the additional protocol to that agreement.”
The Russian foreign minister is correct that Tehran’s decision to enrich uranium above 3.67% does not violate the two agreements and a protocol he named. However, it breaches the one agreement Lavrov failed to mention – the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). -
“If we take the period from 1999 to 2008, the average annual growth rate for this decade was 6.9%. This is a normal rate for doubling GDP in 10 years, and we were growing at this rate. But, over the past six years, our GDP has grown by only 3% -- that is, less than 1% per year. That was affected by sanctions, and oil prices fell.”
Russia’s economy grew “less than 1% per year,” as Kudrin noted in his interview. In the 2000s, Russia's economic growth was 1.5-2 times higher than the world average. -
“In terms of public debt, its value, we are just different from the whole world with [our] low debt. Russia's debt will be much more expensive than that of other countries, so we need to be more careful than other countries, and not to compare ourselves in terms of [debt] size. We definitely need to have less (debt)."
Of the 180 countries reviewed by the IMF, only four have less public debt that Russia and it is the lowest among G20 countries, in percentage of GDP. Yet, Russia is among the bottom five countries in the G20 in bond yields. -
Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets says the salary of women in Russia is 70% that of men. If so, the "wage gap" in the country has grown larger recently.
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"It is specified that an anti-aircraft mount (ZU-23), a BTR-70 [armored personnel carrier] and one armored reconnaissance-patrol vehicle (BRDM-2) were found there [in Donbas] during the monitoring."
The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission report for January 22-23 does mention these vehicles, but they are all light armored vehicles that do not violate the Minsk agreement. -
“... We know the largest American base has existed on Okinawa for a long time, for a decade now … the Governor of Okinawa is against ... its expansion. He's against it ... And the people who live there are against it.”
Okinawa hosts 32 U.S. military facilities – the highest concentration of the American military bases in Japan. The local government and population oppose the presence of those bases, citing environmental pollution and economic losses. -
“...there are also inscriptions in Russian with errors (‘ddiplomatic history’, ‘new era’ (incorrect Russian grammar) and 'Helpinki summit')."
The Helsinki commemorative coin contains two major spelling mistakes and one grammar mistake. Yet the White House Gift Shop shows no inclination to withdraw the coin.