«How to distract society best from the desire to know what happened. A suspected Chinese balloon appeared, flew over Canada, and flew to the USA. Either it's aliens or a balloon threat, or a spy balloon. What is it?” Mr. Mikhalkov said.

“We are aware of China's statement. However, the fact is that we know this is an observation balloon,” he claimed. 

All attention previously paid to the terrorist act that was committed by the United States not only against Russia but also against their ally, Germany, all this dissolves gradually in infoglut».

In fact, balloons have been flying over America since February. The first balloon was seen on February 1st. And it was shot down three days later. 

Meanwhile, Seymour Hersh published his investigation into the Nord Stream explosions only a week later. Worth noting, it’s based only on quotes from some anonymous source. 

Hersh's investigation into CIA spying on anti-war activists made him famous. 

В 1970 году он получил Пулитцеровскую премию за расследование массового убийства сотен мирных жителей во время войны во Вьетнаме. 

In 1970, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his investigation of The Mỹ Lai massacre during the Vietnam War. It was the mass murder of unarmed South Vietnamese civilians by United States troops in Sơn Tịnh district, South Vietnam.

But his later works caused criticism in the investigative community for conspiracy theories based on anonymous sources.

US earthquake aid to Syria is not significant  

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is on his Middle East tour aims to discuss countering Iranian influence with Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, and Israel.

Thus, the US tries to destabilize the region, Belarusian MP Oleg Gaidukevich said on Belarus-1 TV.

He added some words about the earthquake assistance that the US allegedly did not provide to Syria. 

“We have to remind you again. Earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. The most cynical, of course, is what they did to the Syrian people, who are not to blame for anything. They just didn't find those people in trouble worthy of attention.

They simply closed their eyes and did not provide any significant assistance to them.

Instead, billions of dollars, millions, were directed to destabilize Georgia, but not to the Syrian children dying under rubble.

But Belarus and Russia helped. China, as far as I know, helped. All these countries care about world peace.”

The West had ignored Syria, a host on Belarus-1 TV claimed before.

«Only a few countries provide assistance to the victims in Syria. These are Iran, Russia, Belarus, China, and the UAE. The list is not wide. But these countries are so surprisingly not included in the coalition of Washington minions.» 

All that is not true.

There's one report about the humanitarian aid from Belarus to Syria on the website of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Belarus. On February 12, a plane with 25 tons of cargo was sent there. 

State-run news agency BelTA also reported that military doctors had been sent there.

As of the end of February, Egypt had provided 1,500 tons of humanitarian aid to Syria.

Now in monetary terms.

China has given $4.4 million in aid, the UAE has first provided $50 million, then another 50 to earthquake-hit Syria. That is 100 million dollars in total.

Germany announced 50 million euros to commit for Syria, France — more than 12.  

EU institutions have already committed 10 million euros for the urgent needs of Syria and about 12 million for Turkey.

And on March 20, the EU held a Donors' Conference to facilitate further help providing for the people of Türkiye and Syria. It was similar to the previous Conference for collective assistance for Ukraine.

Washington said it has provided $50 million to meet urgent humanitarian needs in northern Syria. 

UN announced that nearly $400 million is needed and more than half of the required amount has been raised so far.

Bashar al-Assad and his government have allowed the use of several border crossings to supply areas under the control of Syrian rebels, hardest hit by the earthquake, with international aid.

In turn, Washington has temporarily eased sanctions on the authorities of Bashar al-Assad, in an effort to speed up the delivery of aid to the northwest of the country by 180 days.

It turns out that the Belarusian part of this general international assistance is hardly noticeable,

and the US is one of the leaders in providing earthquake aid to Syria.

China is 50 years ahead of the US in AI 

The US had been outright beaten by China in the AI development race, 

loyal political analytic Alexey Avdonin claimed on the Youtube channel Minsk News. It was released after China’s Global Security Initiative Concept publication.  

“They realize that they have already lost. Remember, at the end of 2021, a former Pentagon specialist said in the media that, for example, China was already 50 years ahead of the US in AI. He said that the US was already behind them so far that they would never catch up,” Avdonin said.

Indeed, both the US and China are now in an AI arms race. Who will be the first to know how AI could be used best in warfare?

As for the Financial Times interview with the Pentagon's chief software engineer, here's what was really reported:

“The Pentagon’s first chief software officer said he resigned in protest at the slow pace of technological transformation in the US military, and because he could not stand to watch China overtake America.  

In his first interview since leaving the post at the Department of Defense a week ago, Nicolas Chaillan told the Financial Times that the failure of the US to respond to Chinese cyber and other threats was putting his children’s future at risk”.  

“We have no competing fighting chance against China in 15 to 20 years. Right now, it’s already a done deal; it is already over in my opinion,” he said, adding there was “good reason to be angry”. 

That is, he did not say that the US was half a century behind China. In fact, he said that in 15-20 years at the current pace of scientific progress, the US would no longer be able to catch up with China. 

According to the expert, China is ahead because it forces its IT companies to cooperate with the state. And for instance, Google does not want to cooperate with US intelligence agencies. Also, American progress is slowed down by ethical restrictions on the use of AI arms. Beijing has no such problem. 

Washington wants to increase funding for AI research, but they aim to do it ethically, the US secretary of defense then said.

This year, experts are about China overtaking the US in some aspects of the AI race. But not for half a century, as Avdonin says.

Ukraine does not have its own military technology

After the Russian aircraft A-50 sabotage explosion 

Kirill Kazakov, editor-in-chief of the Minsk Courier newspaper, made several statements on the air of Radio Minsk. He said that Ukrainians couldn't fight on their own. Drones for sabotage were used by the Chinese, the operation was developed by the British and Americans. And even they didn't use their own weapons on the battlefield.

“NATO hardware is fighting on the battlefields in the east of Ukraine; there is not a single development of a “great” country with a thousand-year history. The Russians are liberating with their own weapons,” he claimed.

The first is the fact, that Ukraine fights using its developments in addition to Soviet and Western military tech. The Ukrainians have their own high-precision Stugna anti-tank missile system and Corsair missile system, which used to be exported.

Second, they also have Cossack armored vehicles, which are 70% made from domestically produced components. 

Thirdly, Ukrainian companies have increased the production of unmanned combat air vehicles.

Only at the end of last year, the Armed Forces of Ukraine accepted into operation seven samples of Ukrainian-made unmanned aerial vehicles.

Fourthly, Ukraine has its own Vilkha multiple rocket launcher.

And now missiles are being developed for it, which will be able to hit targets further than the Himars, according to forecasts. 

And, of course, one cannot but recall Neptune subsonic anti-ship cruise missile complex, which became famous after the successful sinking of the cruiser Moskva.

This anti-ship missile flies at low altitudes and can maneuver during the flight. And in addition to the sea targets, it destroys ground ones at a distance of up to 280 kilometers.

As a newsman, Kazakov could hardly have been unaware of these weapons.

Ukraine allegedly exports its fertile layer of land abroad

Black soil had become an export commodity in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin claimed at a meeting with young people in early February. Then it was spread by Russian and Belarusian media.

Here is what was written by the columnist for “SB.Belarus today” state-run media Andrei Mukovozchik.

“After the servants of the people (parliament) adopted, and the servant of the people (a nit) signed the law on the sale of land, black soil is taken out of Ukraine by trucks. Because not everything is sold yet, gentlemen, oh, not everything,” he wrote without providing any evidence.

A couple of days before that Rossiya 24 TV channel covered the same topic, even providing some evidence, unlike Mukovozchik. 

“At the same time, black soil is disappearing from the fields. Who laid eyes on the main wealth of Ukraine? You will learn from our report. 

— What is the export and to where is the export?

— Locals are at a loss. What is going on? Who, where, and why is exporting a layer of fertile soil from Ukraine? And the answer lies on the surface. You can easily find it on social media. Here, for instatnce, a Polish worker tells on his page what he did for a whole week in the Kherson region. Without knowledge of the Polish language, it is not difficult to guess from one video sequence: a business trip to the Independent was fruitful.”

The story consists on several video sequenses from the Internet against shown the background of this voice acting. These videos don't confirm the export of black soil from Ukraine, but rather testify to the deliberate deception of viewers by Russian TV.

The first sequence is from YouTube channel called Vadim Gorobets. There are only 2 scenes. The first shows the hero outraged that trucks were transporting land somewhere.

«What is the export and to where is the export?», he said.  

But by the way, the video demonstrates the moment of unloading but not loading. 

“Come on, truck. Oh, you're unloading,” the hero said.

In the second video, he gives more details: 

“I am a resident of Zelenoe village. I'm going along the dam now. Trucks carry black soil from the BCP quarry. And they take it out to the field to fill up the landfill.” 

That is, he was outraged by the fact that the locals have been promised that the black soil would remain on the territory of the quarry, and then this quarry would be filled in for them. But in fact, at that moment, a landfill had been covered with black soil.

The BCP is apparently the Belyaevka concentrating plant, which really has a kaolin quarry near the Zelenoe village, Volnyansky district, Zaporizhia region.

In general, it turns out that there is nothing about the facts of the export of black soil outside Ukraine in the first video. 

The second video, allegedly filmed by a Polish worker, appears to be a fake.

Firstly, because no facts of export of anything were recorded here. Just a sequence of different plans is shown.

And secondly, we found that some footage came from a Russian-language channel run by an excavator operator. And he published his video in April 2022. 

Further in the report.

“The process of large-scale export of black soil was launched by the post-Maidan authorities. Now the propaganda media of the Kyiv regime, of course, keep quiet. But stories dedicated to this problem slipped on local television before,” the Russian news program claimed and showed Ukrainian TV footage. 

“Black soil is being taken out from the Kharkiv fields. Illegal business brings in millions of dollars, activists of public organizations calculated.” 

There is caption on the top "Ukraine 2016". But in fact, this video was filmed back in 2011 and had nothing to do with the post-Maidan authorities.

The plot really talks about the uncontrolled removal of the fertile layer of the earth. But this is an internal Ukrainian problem. They did not talk about the export of black soil. 

“Advertising newspapers are full of ads for the sale of black soil. We call one of the numbers. The manager offers to deliver any number of trucks with earth even today,” Russian propaganda said.

But those who export the soil abroad do not advertise it in Ukrainian newspapers. So, although the stories slipped on the local Ukrainian media, they were also not about the export of the land.

Thus, all three proofs of the alleged sale of Ukrainian black soil abroad turned out to be false.