A friend once told me a story about her troublemaker of a brother. One day, as a young kid, the dog came running into the house whimpering, and my friend’s brother immediately exclaimed, “I didn’t stab him!” Since no one had accused him of doing such, and since no one had yet realized that the dog had, indeed, been stabbed, his attempt at proclaiming his innocence ended up being a guilty plea.

It’s easy to dismiss as something little kids do, but I think the same sort of thing is happening in world politics. Every time North Korea releases a story about how great Kim Jong-il is doing, the fact that he’s most likely terminally ill becomes even more apparent. (And, by launching a ton of rockets into the ocean, they’re drawing still more attention to their leadership.) And you could say the same sort of thing about Iran: everything they say about being stable and thriving seems to be a pathetic attempt at denying the reality. Or like when the police investigating Rihanna’s beating had the police photos leaked to the press, and came out saying that they wouldn’t confirm whether they were real or a hoax, but that they would fire whoever leaked them to the press.

I’m a bad liar. The uneasiness in my voice and my panicked, paranoid look gives me away almost every time. But it sometimes seems that I can do better than the propaganda departments of some countries.