A convincing lie in diplomacy outperforms truth in building trust.

Evidence

Goebbels’ notion of the role of diplomacy in politics is characteristic: “There is no doubt that one does best if one keeps the diplomats uninformed about the background of politics… Genuineness in playing an appeasement role is sometimes the most convincing argument for their political trustworthiness” (op. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 2692

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the ‘lying’ vs ‘truth’ inversion noted in the Kravchenko quote and to totalitarianism’s characteristic collapse of distinction between honesty and deception. — connects to: An adversary’s involuntary praise is the strongest possible witness to truth