Universally, the public likes soothing interpretations that resolve confusion. The demand is met with the connivance of the manufacturers of fictitious reality. An experience from detention in the Stalin era comes to mind. Once, when a new one “came in” someone called out “give us good news. It does not have to be true”. 

We need to distinguish between several forms of lies. Some are spontaneous and find an eager mass willing to believe and even to invent them. Such is the mediaeval habit to blame the plague on the Jews. Others represent “new truth” in Orwell’s “newspeak” style. These can distract, such as in the case of the Soviet-fed rumor that Hitler is alive. Others might be fables whose acceptance is secured a tyranny. In the early Fifties east Europe’s potato crop failed. The system called the parasite “Colorado Bug” which tied to the “Americans”. As a woman whispered while waiting for rations “if they cannot even overcome their bugs, how will they defeat them in war?” There are also lies that make sense of what is not understood. The role of “international” banks is from this category.

Let us take a few explanations that are, in the service of some purpose, “new truth”. A good one is bin Laden as a CIA and Mossad agent. By implication, Jews, being perfidious, are “behind everything”. This also insinuates that the inferior Jews are terribly clever which might not make everybody’s comfortable. Recently, on air, a “Believer” asserted that the lack of evidence is the proof of the charge. “They” are skilled in hiding complicity from the public’s view.

9/11 as a CIA-Mossad plot is old hat. Those that buy it, pay tribute to the skills of these organizations. Some Muslims “know” that not a single Jew was killed. Making them stay away that day, attributes logistic skills and secrecy that would enable the perpetrators to steal the Kaba stone during the hajj. Shame of the CIA: it failed to make the few Americans that are not Jewish to avoid the Twin Towers. 

America’s favorite plot is JFK’s assassination. An industry has developed around that occurrence. Every story but the truth is welcome. Newly, we know that even Jackie Kennedy believed in VP Johnson’s involvement.

Mentioning assassination brings the Soviet Union to mind. Tsarist Russia invented the most successful conspiracy. The “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” are meant. This invention of the Ochrana, the Romanovs’ version of the KGB, is a blueprint for Jewish world domination. Later, international anti-Semitism, most notably the Nazis, have relied on this evidence. Stalin’s own anti-Semitism relates to that myth, as does the story’s exploitation by Muslim extremists. 

Trotsky’s assassination was a neat plot that is now dormant. The reason could be that it was real. Equally forgotten is the murder of Kirov, Stalin’s genuine competitor. The Guardian of Peace liked to believe in conspiracies that were not his own and invented them when there was none. They excused the liquidation of those implicated. Indeed, Kirov was murdered. The real conspiracy involved the assignment of blame. In reality, Stalin ordered the murder. After the deed, a rightist –Trotskyite conspiracy was uncovered. With that, the Great Purge was on. A byproduct was the inventive official history of the Communist party. The “Short Course” re-wrote the past into interlocking conspiracies that were parried by Stalin. The book became the bible eager survivors. 

Oddly, the master conspirator became the victim of a scheme he believed in but which did not exist. Prior to Hitler’s 1941 attack, everyone, including his own spies warned him. Stalin did nothing because he attributed the warnings to a British trick. Facing Hitler alone, they were trying to spoil Russo-German relations. The consequences were devastating.

As one presents dirty linen, one should not forget one’s own kind. The other day a well read person suggested in a phone conversation that international capital and the banks engineered the current economic crisis. In the background the $ and the € struggle for world supremacy. Rational arguments are of little use against such tales. An illustrative case is that, somewhere in central Europe, an admittedly uneducated person explained that she hates the Jews because they have killed Christ. When told that the Romans did it, the person responded, “then let us kill the Romans”.

Some myths, being expressions of either naiveté or idiocy, have the virtue of being funny. However, articles of fake faith move masses. They also allow the usurper of credulity to kidnap people through the “ersatz” reality that cloud minds. Real danger arises when leaders accept the faked reality as real. The analogy is the actor that plays Superman. He is in trouble if he decides to fly over town from a real skyscraper. 

The cases abound. “Perfidious Albion” was a good slogan. As good as “a nation of shopkeepers”. Believing it proved risky. Having said that, one searches for a contemporary that manipulates through conjured up images while he also believes that the ghost is real. Regrettably, there might be such a candidate.

Putin is capable and often correctly positioned. In his case traditional Slavophil myths that pre-date the 20th century, subsequent Soviet concepts, and modern prejudices amalgamate through his conspirative KGB past. The eternal President goes beyond the exploitation of a global conspiracy against Russia to raise support. Some policies make sense if the fiction is taken for fact. The damage to Russia’s long term interests and to international stability is considerable. Two cases stand out. One is the reaction to foreign and local criticism of the elections (04/12). When Putin attributed the outcry to American inspiration, he reflected the traditional view that all problems come from the “hand of the enemy”. Voicing this has damaged Russia’s image, caused ridicule at home, and impaired Russo-American relations. The costs of the charge suggest that Putin believes what he feeds to others. The upshot is bad policy.

Even more blatant is the second item. It pertains to the missile defense of Europe against Iran’s existing long-range weapons and her coming nuclear capacity. Due to its location and its size, not to mention the reality of the threat to which they respond, the installations do not menace Russia. Overreacting, and to demonstrate power abroad, Moscow staked its prestige on preventing the shield. Lack of success led to throwing another ace on the table. It is a threat to station rockets in Kaliningrad, Russia’s Baltic enclave. A few Russian missiles out of thousands placed a few miles further west will hardly frighten anyone. No one fears these weapons more than the US’ missiles. Here destructive potential is neutralized by the missing intention to use them. 

What has the threat to fend off an imaginary menace by a hostile world achieved? The project continues. On the other hand, the “reset” button has failed. Russia appears to be mercurially led and unpredictable in her demeanor. The resulting reduction of trust and the rising fears of her immediate neighbors lessens her influence and prestige. In conclusion then, when fantasy is confused with fact, the policy that follows converts mirages into a threatening political reality.