Today morning I opened the Reuters “World News” page to scan through the headlines. The only news that was repeated three times on the first page was about “Russian opposition” fighting in Belgorod region.

Russian governor says Ukrainian ‘saboteurs’ cross border, Ukraine credits partisans

Ukrainian military intelligence: Russian groups behind incursion

Russia fights cross-border raid that Ukraine says is Russian opposition

Any half-brain could ask himself: if there is an armed and organized opposition in Russia, would it be really fighting near Russian-Ukrainian border, or would it blow some weapon factories in Siberia or raid official buildings in Moscow? Why in the border Belgorod region, there the military and security forces presence is higher due to Ukrainian attacks? This makes no sense at all, hence it’s a lie.

Obviously, this is not a Russian opposition or insurgency. They came from UA, under the orders by Ukrainian officials. They may be organized, trained and equipped as “Russian” units in UA, as “Belorussian” or “Georgian” or “Chechen” units, which are made of criminals, mercenaries or just idiots who left their countries to kill their countrymen. They are not “insurgents” nor “opposition” in any normal sense. No more than any French or Canadian or Breton serving in UA military could be called “opposition” or “insurgent”. They are a part of Ukrainian military and security services.

So why does Reuters that post on each of its articles their “principles”:

Thomson Reuters is dedicated to upholding the Trust Principles and to preserving its independence, integrity, and freedom from bias in the gathering and dissemination of information and news.

Reuters (as one example among many others) not only publishes obvious lies, but also floods their main “World News” page with them.

We could guess the reasons for this insanity. The mass-media handlers push for a diversion from real issues, which are: the Great spring offensive has produced embarrassingly little so far, and the fall of Bakhmut/Artemovsk.

If those two headlines were dominating (as they should) in the World News section of mass-media outlets, the public dismay would be significant. That is why even the obviously erroneous claims, embarrassingly covered by “Ukrainian official” sources, still could serve this goal. “Don’t think about Bakhmut, don’t think about spring offensive — chew on this with BS instead”.

I head somewhere that such level of propaganda is indicative of the later stages of falling empires. Too much lies are spilled onto regular citizens in order to keep them calm. Eventually, it will only make the people to distrust any information coming from official channels, make them open to underground or alternative media (which isn’t any better in most cases), and thus hasten the collapse of the establishment.

I’m not sure I subscribe to that notion. It very well may be that the total disinformation is the root reason for political collapse of a state. While all the other problems are only extensions of this root cause. If people would be kept informed, all the rest of the symptoms would be dealt with by the officials in order to remain in power. Little by little, officials are learning to manipulate their people better so to give themselves more space for corruption. As corruption grows, so does the appetite for more corruption, and so does the need for more disinformation. Up to the point it becomes obvious to the critical mass of population, but it is already too late to try and fix it. If officials would reverse this trend and start telling the truth, they would lose their power, and maybe criminally persecuted. So they see no choice but to push forward, while trying to suppress growing opposition.

This isn’t happening in the West alone — it happens in Russia and many other places as well. The difference is that unlike in Russia, Western public was nurtured on the tales of democracy, freedom of speech and free press. So the realization of the truth is coming with higher price, leaving a deeper wound and causing more severe danger.

The Truth is the basis of stability for any political structure, especially a democratic one. The more lies are being pushed into the public to manipulate them, the less stable government becomes.