Regarding the issue with the baskets:
good changes for me:
tax rate decreased by about 0.8
pacifism 10 -> 14
toxicity 27.513 -> 27.313
bad:
defense forces 22 -> 19
weaponization 19.861 -> 19.761
primitiveness -45 -> -39

Yes, Kosha, you are right, nothing particularly good :( 4 points of pacifism weren't worth -3 points of defense and +6 points of primitiveness.
Although, who knows, maybe other points were even worse.
This is the same issue in which Ples sent an assassin with a sniper rifle instead of the baskets.