Tim Hanke wrote:

Sadly, it seems that many people from the former Eastern bloc countries are
prone to believing fantastic theories of how the world works, perhaps
because life in their own countries was riddled with spies and government
snooping for so long. Such people can be honest and sympathetic figures, but
they cannot be trusted to write good history.

That's for sure.

Although to be fair, it just may be that those of us who have always
lived in more open societies may have a tendency to dismiss such
claims as "fantastic theories." I too, tend towards skepticism when
reading such articles, though I have little evidence other than a
feeling that 'things can't really be that ridiculous!'