Whatever the US says, Putin refuses to listen

So bad are relations between Moscow and Washington that it doesn't matter what the US administration says, whether it be about Ukraine or about the appalling terrorist attack at the concert hall which killed 133 Russian people, Putin either won't listen or won't believe what's being said. He just ignores it and goes ahead with what he wants Russians to believe. So he deliberately dismissed the US intelligence warning of an imminent terrorist attack in Moscow as propaganda and made no mention of it in his address to the nation on Saturday night. And even though the US has made it clear it has intelligence evidence that the terrorists were from the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (Isis-K), Putin just persists with his accusation that Ukraine was behind the attack and promptly ordered a mass barrage of missiles and drones against Kyiv and other cities in revenge. Even though the Russian security authorities have supposedly arrested the "four gunmen" involved in the terrorist attack and must already have their names, birthplace, where they went to school, where they trained with Isis-K and how long they have been members, elicited no doubt under some considerable physical pressure, Putin still wants the Russian people to believeuthat Kyiv was pulling the strings behind the terrorist attack. The leaders of Isis-K are probably miffed that Putin won't believe the Americans that they, and not Ukraine, were responsible for the concert hall slaughter. But this is Putin for you. He believes his own propaganda and nothing will change his view that Kyiv was to blame. I hope for the sake of the poor Russian people that there won't be another terrorist attack. But surely it's more important for Russia to act against Isis than take the easy option by blaming Ukraine for everything and retaliating with more and more missile attacks.