Well put. I'm definitely a "never assume the government is telling the truth" person, but even if finishingmove were right in this case (I don't think the idea

Well put. I'm definitely a "never assume the government is telling the truth" person, but even if finishingmove were right in this case (I don't think the idea that wealthy governments release false data explicitly for the purpose of misleading people when they could just not release it is compelling, but hey, they've probably done stranger things), the GP hasn't even hinted at context or support for such a statement here.