FORESIGHT There are times when we get the feeling we should have known would happen. I am not speaking of clairvoyant experience or of any magical potient or words or anything of that nature which is so often paired with any such skills of prophecy.
It is more, I suppose as the old folks used to say so often: "I should have known better!"
If we are truly aware of of exactly what has happened to us in the past a willing and capable of admitting any individual errors which led us to make any misjudgment when we had such an opportunity for choice and change.
It is not to learn to change events, but rather that we might make better use of those elements which may work best with our plans for advancement.
I suppose we might think of it as a sort of preview of a preface or a glimpse of a tentative sketch of the concept to be developed with Time. Hindsight often tells us we have missed like opportunities in the past concerning such adventures in living.
It occurs to me, now that the U.S.S.R. has broken up, and other regimes of a like nature show evident signs of doing the same sort of thing, that we should have anticipated what was going to take place in the U.S.S.R. years ago.
When any communist state begins a series of repressive measures within their own area designed to strengthen their hold on the people, we should look at such a campaign as one indication of doubts and weaknesses within the governing body of that state. They are showing doubts by insisting on "purification" of the basic tenets by which they have hold power. The only reason a dictatorial state has to declare a need for purification is the fact that ideology cracks and crevices are beginning to show. There is always a reason for someone being especially "good" when that has not been their demeanor most of the time. It is much like a child who anticipates the arrival of Santa Claus bearing gifts well in advance of the holiday season and who earnestly tries to improve his or her behavior to merit special gifts.
In 1979-80, when Kosygin was Premier in the Soviet Union, he ranted at great length upon how improvements could only be brought about by more diligent adherence of the people to the old Marxist-Leninist package. The fact that such an emphasis was deemed to be necessary should have told us that the economic conditions in Russia were in a ferment and that people were discontent and complaining. Leonid Brezhnev was quite ill for a time and the power struggle that went on in the Kremlin should have been a textbook to us at the time concerning the future of the Soviet Union, but we failed to read it all properly, I suppose.
Returns to Stalinist terror techniques were tried before the Politiburo realized that counter-offensive action was needed to muddy the public opinion waters a bit more throughout the Soviet Union. It was evident the public was getting to know too much and the old rules would take care of that - they thought. Happily for the world they proved to be in error. I dare say the advances in our communications systems had a great deal to do with the demise of the old Soviet system. Year by year the Soviet citizenry has become more and more aware of what goes on in the world. The Kremlin had to loosen it's traditional grasp on sources of information because it became more and more evident that the people actually knew more than officials thought they did about world events. They questioned the tinted versions they had been receiving
Right now we are attempting to "read" what some people see as "Putin's doubts".
A.L.M. May 12, 2005 [c601wds]
