Top-5 Fake News. U.S. policy towards Israel irritates other countries

The 71st U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blicken's grandfather had lived in Ukraine but he escaped from there under the necessity, the propagandist of  Belarussian regime Ivan Eismont, who serves as head of the state-run TV channel ‘Belarus 1’, stated on October 13.

“Ironically, I had never known, that, as I understand it correctly, it was a discovery for everyone, that Blinken, who now backs Bandera’s supporters, his grandfather and great-grandfather fled from the very those Bandera’s men so as not to be stabbed with pitchforks. That's what's going on,” Eismont claimed on the air of the program ‘Editors’ Club’. 

Antony Blinken told the Ukrainian television channel ICTV about his roots in May 2021: 

“My great-grandfather and grandfather were born here. Grandfather lived here until he was seven years old, before moving to the United States. He was too young to remember anything.” 

The US Secretary of State's relatives relocated to America in 1904. Stepan Bandera did not yet exist at that time — he was born in 1909. 

The Belarusian government helps mothers more than other countries do, Marina Lavrukevich, host of state-run TV, claimed on October 16.

“In European countries where women were number one in the world in the fight for rights and gender equality, today their maternity rights are not supported everywhere. On average, maternity leave is 14 weeks, and the state only reimburses 70% of wages,”  she said on the air of TV ONT.

In fact, 14 weeks is not average, but the minimum maternity leave in Europe. In Belarus, it is 126 calendar days, i.e. 18 weeks.

Women in most European countries can expect the same maternity leave or longer. For example, in Bulgaria, it is 58 weeks. And most often it is paid in the amount of 100% of the salary, and only in some Eastern European countries — 70%.

Germany meets major economic problems, Vadim Shepet said on October 17 on the air of the Alfa Radio program ‘Weekdays’. According to the host, this fact is evidenced by the number of bankruptcies of enterprises:

“The number of business bankruptcies in Germany increased by almost 20% in September compared to the same month last year. Again, the numbers speak for themselves. Because sometimes some experts are accused that in Europe it's not as scary as they say.

But the process is ongoing, this does not mean that it will happen simultaneously, during the day. But even in such a short term, we have such figures.”

According to official statistics, there are more bankruptcies in Germany in 2023 than a year ago. But its level is still lower than in previous years.

The number of bankruptcies in Germany has been rising since 1992 and reached its peak in 2003—2004. Then about 40 thousand enterprises went bankrupt. After this, the trend began to decline.

In 2022, approximately 14.5 thousand companies went bankrupt. That’s one of the best indicators in the last 30 years.

Thus, the low level of the previous year caused the current growth of the 2023 indicator. German economists explain it by the expiration of the benefits, which helped the state to protect companies during the pandemic.

At the UN Human Rights Council meeting, part of the audience turned their backs to the podium where U.S. Ambassador wrapped up her speech. Such a video was published by propaganda media outlets from Belarus and Russia. 

So, the Telegram channel ‘Belarusian security officer’ reported on October 19 following:

“The footage shows a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. U.S. Ambassador Michelle Taylor came to the podium, and participants began to leave the room. The journalist who published the video says that it’s all because of the US policy on Israel. He also supposed that the Americans begin to lose their influence, irritating more and more countries around the world.” 

The media outlet ‘Rossiyskaya Gazeta’ named the journalist who published the video:

“Participants in the UN Human Rights meeting turned backs during Michel Taylor speech — Ambassador of the United States. She had to speak, looking at the backs of the diplomats. The video of the incident was published by journalist Suleiman Ahmed on the social network X (blocked in the Russian Federation).” 

In fact, Suleiman Ahmed's post refers to the incident itself, but neither claims that it emerged from the U.S. policy on Israel, nor mentions any diplomats involved.

The Associated Press reported that American LGBTQ activists turned their backs as  U.S. ambassador wrapped up her speech. 

The protest came as Taylor said the U.S. commitment to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights was “a moral imperative at the very heart of our democracy” and her country “leads by example through our transparency, our openness and our humble approach to our own human rights challenges.”

Activists have been outraged. Jamil Dakwar, director of the human rights program at the American Civil Liberties Union, said the U.S. delegation “decided to stick to scripted, general, and often meaningless responses” to questions from the committee.

“At times it seemed that AI generated responses would have been more qualitative,” he said in a comment.

Aleksandr Lukashenko visited trout production in the Mogilev region at the end of September, where he learned about the construction of new fishing complexes.

Following this event, many state media extensively reported on how successfully the fishing industry was developing in Belarus. 

“The Ministry of Agriculture and Food considers the cultivation of valuable fish species to be a promising area. <…>

 In the Mogilev region in 2024–2026, projects will be implemented to create three fish hatchery complexes. It is planned that fish production there will increase to 18 thousand tons per year by 2027,”  the propaganda newspaper ‘SB. Belarus Today’ reported on October 14. 

According to the Belarusian state program for the development of fisheries activities, 18 thousand tons mentioned above is the amount of all the fish that should be produced throughout the country in 2025, and not in the Mogilev region alone. Of this amount, the share of valuable fish, i.e. trout and sturgeon, consists of 1.2 thousand tons. 

“There are 16 organizations in Belarus that are engaged in growing fish. They produce 15 thousand tons per year, including up to 800 tons are valuable fish species,” the state-run news agency BelTA said in their story on October 18.

Actually, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, in 2022, 12.6 thousand tons of fish were produced against 17 thousand tons planned. Belstat reported that in 2022, not 800, but 326.8 tons of valuable fish were caught. 

The production level has been declining since 2019. It's going on because they sell fry for breeding to Russia instead of raising trout for sale on the domestic market, the magazine ‘Problems of Fisheries’ explains.

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