Recently, Jurģis Liepnieks expressed surprise on Twitter that, through conversations with Russians at the gym, he discovered that 8 out of 10 of those he spoke with support Putin's war in Ukraine. I, for my part, am surprised that anyone is surprised by this. When I explained in 2010 how dangerous Russian propaganda and disinformation were—which a segment of Latvia's Russian-speaking population was consuming by the spoonful while watching the Kremlin's channels of lies—a well-known politician in Latvia said that liberal democracy would handle the flow of lies itself and that nothing special needed to be done.

That was the prevailing mood of the political mainstream in Latvia for several years. This position is anti-scientific. Thank God for the opportunity during my doctoral studies at the University of Latvia's Faculty of Social Sciences to attend Professor Jurģis Šķilters' lectures on cognitive science. It is a multidisciplinary approach that combines psychology, communication science and brain research. With its help, we study the peculiarities of our thinking and perception. Insight into this field increased my pessimism regarding man's ability to always judge rationally. The truth is that we can be manipulated, and we must be very well prepared to prevent that from happening. In the rapid pace and busyness of life, many do not have the time to verify the veracity of news with the help of several reliable sources. Therefore, let us not be surprised that propaganda works and disinformation leaves an impact.