Having just read Midnight in Chernobyl, I have been forcefully reminded of a truism I try to bear in mind at all times.

Totalitarian regimes lie. Always.

Why am I bringing this up now?

First off, a brief outline behind the truism.

In the book I have just been reading, Midnight in Chernobyl, the very first reaction of the Communist Regime to the disaster was keeping control of the information and to attack any reporting from outside the Soviet zone that portrayed Chernobyl as a disaster of huge proportions as “western propaganda”.

That was their FIRST priority.

The NAZIs blamed the Jews for the economic collapse of Germany. And then denied that they were exterminating them.

North Korea spends a lot of time telling their own people that the outside world wishes to crush them and that they have never had it so good.

There really isn’t enough time to go into the vast amount of time and energy totalitarian regimes spend (with a profligacy that belies their usual message of austerity) on covering up every bad aspect, no matter how small, of their state’s existence.They will employ hundreds and thousands of “agents” to surveil and to report on every possible disloyalty. They will employ thousands more to check on whether the edicts are being done. They will employ ever more numbers to report on everything. Each of those employees has to justify his or her employment. Agents that cannot find disloyalty don’t remain agents for very long. And those agents have to be watched…

The NAZIs had the Gestapo, the SD (Security service) and a lot of other policing agencies. The Soviets had the KGB and the GRU and a whole host of policing agencies. North Korea has its security apparatus and a huge standing army.

Given the history of such countries and governments – why on earth does ANYONE believe a thing the Chinese Government says?

The Chinese government is a totalitarian government. There is no doubt about it. It has been “praised” by some economists and talking asses in the west because it projects an aura of “efficiency”. In fact there was much gushing about the Chinese governments commitment to the Climate Change shared Fantasy.

But when China carried on commissioning coal fired power stations – did those very same gushing spoke asses in the media react? Nope.

Then China announced large scale re-education center for an entire population of people – Uighur Muslims , has caused nary a ripple in the leftist support claque for Muslims. In the meantime the Chinese givernment first denied it, then explained it away and then continued – and is still doing it. Look in vain for comments on the record by Ilhan Omar, Rashida Talib about this – though they seem very concerned indeed about US “oppression”.

So why do people believe this oppressive, lying, polluting and exploitive totalitarian state?