Category USA

J.D. Vance says transgender rights drives looming conflict in Ukraine

Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance said the State Department's focus on transgender rights is inflaming the conflict with Russia in Ukraine.

Russia has placed as many as 150,000 troops near Ukraine's borders.

Russia has said Ukraine's ties to NATO are a key threat to Russia's national security.

Our ruling
Vance said that Biden risks war with Russia because Putin doesn't "believe in transgender rights."

There is a risk of war, but it is because of Russia's focus on Ukraine's ties to the west and the buildup of Russian forces along Ukraine's border.

The State Department noted the threats against transgender people as one issue among many in a report on human rights. It gave much more space to the danger posed by Russia's military policies in its most recent annual threat assessment.

The risk of war in Ukraine is not affected by Putin's attitude toward transgender rights.

We rate this claim Pants on Fire.

Update: This story has been updated to include a response we received from the Vance campaign shortly after initial publication.

Read MoreJ.D. Vance says transgender rights drives looming conflict in Ukraine

Countering disinformation on German reunification and NATO enlargement – Friends of Europe

NATO enlargement has been at the heart of several heated security debates. Pundits and scholars alike have conflated several 'promises' not to extend NATO eastward. Much of their arguments draw from the Baker-Gorbachev and Kohl-Gorbachev discussions of the early nineties.

There is only one little problem with this wonderful saga of so-called 'promises' - it's just that, a saga, not a fact. Here's what actually happened: there were two separate negotiations. One for German reunification in 1990 and a second, separate negotiation for the post-1991 opening of NATO. Conflating the two negotiations is an analytical mistake that leads to spurious conclusions.

Read MoreCountering disinformation on German reunification and NATO enlargement – Friends of Europe

Mikhail Gorbachev: I am against all walls – Russia Beyond

As the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall approached, Maxim Korshunov of RBTH sat down with Mikhail Gorbachev, the first and last president of the Soviet Union, to discuss the historic rapprochement between East and West and the prospects for a new Cold War.

Read MoreMikhail Gorbachev: I am against all walls – Russia Beyond