it's not even that they're liars, it's that they're such poor liars.

if they were good liars, you wouldn't even know. the russians are a good contrast, as they are excellent liars - you never know if what they're saying is true or not. flip a coin. who knows.

with the americans, it's just a steady stream of constant untruths, so you can get a decent approximation of reality by just negating everything.

the russians keep you guessing; you know the americans are constantly completely full of shit.