From what i get from this article, this is technically true for one tree, but not for the forest, for which there is a peak in carbon capture at some point (when the canopy closes says the article), and then it can either stabilize either slowly decline. There are other huge advantages to keeping old forests intact though, especially regarding biodiversity.

Clearly, and i never said the opposite.

Iran which was tolerable to media a few months ago

In what parallel reality do you live in ? It has been classified as one of the worse country for press freedom since years by RSF, they shutdown internet when things get out of hand and banned a lot of social medias.

Tbf, that's the case for a lot of countries, so Russia is not so far ahead, though it sure is!