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About this quote

What does it mean?
Mikoyan asserts the Soviet Union has no hidden US flyers since bodies were returned and no others exist.
In plain terms
The Soviets say they are hiding no American flyers.
What can you take from it?
Denials of hidden prisoners rely on transparency claims.

Where it applies

  • media inquiries
  • diplomatic disputes
  • public statements

Putting it to work

  • press briefing
  • investigative journalism
  • policy statement

Questions to consider

  • How do you prove a negative in politics?
  • Is transparency always voluntary?

Another view

A denial does not inherently prove the absence of hidden individuals.

More from Anastas Mikoyan

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  2. One former member of [the antiparty] group [Molotov] became an ambassador. True, the country [Outer Mongolia] may not be large, but it is an ambassadorship. I …

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  3. We are accused of all sorts of terrible things, of us wanting to undermine your market, of dumping and so forth. There was no such talk before, but when you ha…

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