All posts tagged: Fact Checks

Facing interference accusations, Russia falsely declares Moldovan elections ‘undemocratic’

Facing interference accusations, Russia falsely declares Moldovan elections ‘undemocratic’

Published by Sam

Facing accusations of massive interference in Moldova’s presidential elections, Russia declared the voting “undemocratic and unfair.” The current head of state, pro-Western politician Maria Sandu, won her second term in office over a pro-Russian opponent, Alexandr Stoianoglo, in the second round of voting on November 3. On November 5, the Kremlin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov asserted that Moldova’s presidential elections were not democratic: “These [Moldovan presidential] elections were neither democratic nor fair. They were full of electoral manipulations.” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that “violations during the election process were so widespread and obvious” that even the observation mission of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) “could not turn a blind eye to them in its preliminary conclusions.” Both the Kremlin’s and the Foreign Ministry’s claims are misleading. OSCE/ODIHR reported that Moldova’s November 3 presidential runoff was efficiently and professionally conducted, providing voters with genuine political alternatives. Additionally, candidates were able to campaign freely. The presidential race saw increased negative …

Burkinabe junta’s denial of atrocities fails verification

Burkinabe junta’s denial of atrocities fails verification

Published by skeptic

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) last week accused soldiers of the Burkina Faso junta of extrajudicial executions of 223 civilians, including at least 56 children, in Nondin and Soro villages on February 25. The junta denied the accusations, blocked the HRW website, and barred domestic media from reporting the watchdog’s findings. On April 27, the junta’s Superior Council of Communication suspended the Voice of America and BBC radio networks from broadcasting in the country over their coverage of the HRW report. On April 29, the Burkinabe military government suspended another five Western news outlets over the HRW report. Burkinabe Communications Minister Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo issued a decree, condemning the HRW report as “baseless” and accusing the rights watchdog of “orchestrating” media coverage to “undermine the image of Burkina Faso.” “HRW alleges that the Burkinabe army deliberately massacred 223 civilians including more than 50 children in the villages of Nodin and Soro on February 24,” he said. “The government of Burkina Faso firmly rejects such baseless accusations. The media campaign around these accusations clearly demonstrates …

Kenyan first lady tries hushing fake fertilizer scandal by claiming prayers are best fertilizers

Kenyan first lady tries hushing fake fertilizer scandal by claiming prayers are best fertilizers

Published by skeptic

The administration of Kenya’s President William Ruto is facing scrutiny amid a fake fertilizer scandal involving senior government officials. The storm unfolded after the Kenyan Bureau of Standards tested the government-subsidized fertilizer distributed to farmers across the country. The results showed the fertilizer was counterfeit: It turned out to be diatomite packaged in government-branded bags and sold to unsuspecting farmers by the National Cereals and Produce Board, at the Agriculture Department. The Kenyan Parliamentary investigation revealed that top government officials have been using the KEL Chemicals company to sell real fertilizer to farmers during the planting season. On April 8, Ruto ordered his agencies to compensate all farmers who bought fake fertilizers under the government’s fertilizer subsidy program. He also instructed the nation’s law enforcement to identify and prosecute those involved in the corruption scheme. Ruto came to power in Kenya with a pledge to uproot decades-long government corruption in this East African nation, which had lost billions of dollars through illicit deals across critical state agencies. Kenya’s first lady Rachel Ruto took a different …

Did Russia’s top diplomats walk out on Israel’s UN representative?

Did Russia’s top diplomats walk out on Israel’s UN representative?

Published by skeptic

On April 18, the United States vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have been a major step toward full Palestinian membership in the United Nations. Twelve of 15 council members voted in favor, Britain and Switzerland abstained, and the U.S. voted against. U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood reaffirmed the United States support for Palestinian statehood conditioned on eliminating the militant group Hamas control over the Gaza Strip. “We have long called on the Palestinian Authority to undertake necessary reforms to help establish the attributes of readiness for statehood and note that Hamas – a terrorist organization – is currently exerting power and influence in Gaza, an integral part of the state envisioned in this resolution,” Wood said. In Russia, the state-owned news outlets and agencies emphasized Moscow’s support for the Palestinian membership and the U.S. and Israel’s “complete isolation” at the United Nations. Featuring a fragment of the video recording from the UNSC meeting, the Russian media reported that Israel’s representative Gilad Erdan had to address a “half-empty hall” because “half of those …

Moscow distorts UN report on human rights situation in Ukraine

Moscow distorts UN report on human rights situation in Ukraine

Published by skeptic

On March 27, Russia’s RIA Novosti state news agency published two articles about the United Nations’ most recent report on the human rights situation in Ukraine, which covered the period December 1, 2023, to February 29, 2024. While most of the U.N. report was devoted to Russian human rights violations in Ukraine, RIA Novosti ignored that, focusing only on the U.N. report’s criticism of violations by the Ukrainian side. In particular, the Russian news agency reported that 13 Russian POWs interviewed by U.N. officials claimed their Ukrainian captors tortured them during interrogation. On March 28, RIA Novosti published an article headlined “Peskov commented on the UN report on the torture of the Russian servicemen in Ukraine,” which cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “Peskov, commenting on the U.N. report on the torture of Russian prisoners of war in Ukraine, said that this is not news for Moscow, all crimes of the Kyiv regime are documented,” the RIA Novosti article stated. It also quoted Peskov as saying: “Of course, we will ensure that those who are behind …

Accused of Rights Abuses, Corruption, Ugandan Parliament Speaker Misleads on US Travel Ban

Accused of Rights Abuses, Corruption, Ugandan Parliament Speaker Misleads on US Travel Ban

Published by skeptic

In an online protest campaign run under the hashtag #UgandaParliamentExhibition, Ugandans accused Anita Among, speaker of Uganda’s National Assembly, of embezzling millions in public funds. Protest organizers shared documents leaked to journalists and human rights activists by members of parliament. The leak incudes official documents from the internal financial intelligence agency and expose the rot in parliament and other government institutions in Uganda, the activists say. One of the campaign organizers, Jimmy Ssentongo, said in a post on X that Among used private bank accounts to divert enormous amounts of government funds between April 2023 and January 2024. On March 15, lawmakers at the Ugandan parliament put other house businesses aside to discuss the online protest. Representative Theodore Ssekikubo told Among: “… this house has been engulfed in unprecedented abuse, honorable speaker. You say we debate other things on papers when the credibility of this house is under challenge. “We are having a major problem,” Ssekikubo added. “We cannot sit here as if nothing wrong has happened.” Among dismissed allegations as rumors and used derogatory …

China’s Denial of TikTok Security Threat is Patently False

China’s Denial of TikTok Security Threat is Patently False

Published by skeptic

On March 13, the United States House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed bipartisan legislation that gives ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, six months to sell the TikTok app to a non-Chinese owner. A failure to comply would lead to TikTok’s ban from app stores and webhosting services in the U.S. The U.S. lawmakers say ByteDance may be using the app to collect data on Americans and pass it on to the Chinese government. The app’s algorithms also are capable of influencing public opinion in the United States, where the platform has about 150 million users. ByteDance, which spent about $21.3 million on federal lobbying trying to influence Washington decision-making, denies any connection with the Chinese government and will likely oppose the bill in court, claiming it violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (freedom of speech). The legislation’s “fate in the Senate is uncertain,” as it has both supporters and opponents who raise concern the ban could be seen as an act of censorship, The Wall Street Journal reported. “This bill is not …

Iran’s Fars News Agency Stirs Misinformation About Leaked Hospital CCTV Footage

Iran’s Fars News Agency Stirs Misinformation About Leaked Hospital CCTV Footage

Published by skeptic

On March 3, Iran International, a London-based Persian-language news television channel, shared CCTV footage taken inside a hospital in the Iranian city of Qom, causing heated discussions both inside Iran and online. The video shows a brief conflict between a young woman and a man dressed in a robe traditionally worn by Islamic clergymen in Iran. While the CCTV footage does not show what caused the conflict, Iranian media news reports, as well as captions added to the same video clip posted on X and YouTube, indicate that the woman was cradling her sick child when her hijab slipped down her shoulders and the cleric started recording her on his mobile phone. The woman protested being recorded and asked that the footage to be deleted, which the man refused to do. In a March 10 piece headlined “Who is the main culprit in the story of Qom clinic?” the “Political group” of the Fars News Agency, controlled by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), “examined” the incident. The piece praised the cleric’s behavior, identifying him …

Putin Distorts Russia’s Plans for Nuclear Weapons in Space

Putin Distorts Russia’s Plans for Nuclear Weapons in Space

Published by skeptic

The United States privately warned Russia not to deploy nuclear weapons in space, The Wall Street Journal reported on February 22. The warning followed media reports citing U.S. intelligence sources as saying that Moscow’s plans to develop a nuclear space weapon pose a serious threat to U.S. national security. The warning to Russia is “part of a diplomatic campaign that the Biden administration is mounting to head off the threat that also involves approaches to China, India, G-7 nations and other close allies that have interests in space and channels to Moscow,” the WSJ wrote. While the details of the U.S. intelligence findings remain classified, the White House said Russia is seeking to put a nuclear weapon into space for possible use against satellites. Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed the allegations as “unfounded, fake and false.” Addressing Russia’s parliament on February 29, Putin said Moscow has no plans to deploy nuclear weapons in outer space and accused the U.S. of blocking a Russian-drafted agreement that would ban such deployments: “They [the U.S.] have recently made …