Fact Checks
Wednesday 3 July 2024
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“Zelenskyy's wife bought one of the most expensive supercars in the world, media learned.”
Russian propagandists used a tactic called disinformation laundering enforced with generative AI technology to fabricate fake news that seems believable. Bugatti told Polygraph.info that Olena Zelenska is not their customer, and she did not purchase a supercar. -
“The genuine and direct role of the people in determining their political destiny in the Islamic Republic of Iran is an obvious principle and has always been proven in practice.”
Authorities severely curtail civil liberties necessary for free elections, while power ultimately lies in the supreme leader’s hands. -
“Tibetan culture and religious activities are protected and respected.”
The U.S. Resolve Tibet Act accuses China of “suppressing the ability of the Tibetan people to preserve their religion,” a claim supported by U.N. experts, Human Rights groups and media reports. -
“…for the Congolese leadership the fact of seizure of North Kivu mines in favor of the US by Rwandan proxy forces represented by the M23 group has long been no secret. In this way, the U.S. authorities keep an acceptable price for the resource, preventing the country from becoming a regional leader."
The U.S. and U.N. condemned Rwanda and sanctioned the M23 rebels it backs for committing widespread human rights abuses. The 2010 Dodd-Frank law bans U.S. companies from funding armed groups or human rights abusers by buying minerals from them. -
“As you know, in February and March 2022 our troops approached Kiev. … but there was no political decision to storm the city with three million people ...”
In his “peace plan,” the Russian president repeated all the false excuses he used to start the war in Ukraine -
"The only logical conclusion that we made as a result is that the Zelenskyy regime is incapable of negotiations."
Kyiv was willing to negotiate peace but could not accept the terms giving Moscow a veto over allies defending Ukraine if Russia invaded again. -
“Hezbollah has just hit Israeli city Haifa with Missiles … For the first time ever, Hezbollah has unleashed chaos by striking Haifa's port — the beating heart of Israel's economy Israel is starting to fall …”
The picture shows a Turkish ship with smoke, likely after a fire started in its engine room, not from a Hezbollah rocket. -
‘’…because of the sanctions we are more focused on our domestic resources to grow our economy and modernize our economy and we are doing better in the entire region in our economic growth year by year because of sanctions. Those countries without sanctions in our region are not doing better as we are doing."
The World Bank and other international bodies rank the Zimbabwean economy among the lowest in the region. The country has one of the highest extreme poverty rates and fails to pay on its more than $14 billion in external debts. -
"We have to say that the European elections took place under conditions of severe restrictions, lack of fair competition, cleansing of the information field from alternative sources of information and rampant anti-Russian campaign.”
With a robust field of candidates representing a spectrum of political ideologies and a highly diverse media environment across 27 states, European Parliament elections were genuinely competitive and fair. -
"President Raisi treated people who had harmed him with dignity. His response to people who had even insulted him was never harsh, ugly, or bad-tempered."
Throughout decades of his serving among Iran's ruling clique, late President Ebrahim Raisi engaged in mass human rights violations, earning the nickname the "butcher of Tehran." -
“The sanctions are unjust. They are punitive. They are bullish because they know that we cannot do anything against it. And it’s just deliberate to punish the speaker for her role and leadership to fight LBGTQ and homosexuality in Uganda.”
The U.S. imposed another round of sanctions on top Ugandan officials, including Speaker of Parliament Anita Among for their alleged involvement in corruption. The U.S. and U.K. also sanctioned a serving minister and two former ministers for misuse of resources in the poorest Karamoja region. -
“What Western Media Isn’t Telling You About North Korea’s Trash Balloon Campaign.”
Sputnik rehashes North Korean talking points reported in Western media, while missing the regime insecurity that’s driving Pyongyang’s trash balloon campaign.