V-Grams

V-Gram 43

May 27, 1997


A Midsummer Nightmare

The other night I dreamed that Russian leaders held a meeting late in 1989 to figure out how to deal with America's unbeatable advantage. Recalling that General Kutuzov torched Moscow in 1812 to deny it to Napoleon, they decided to shut down the Soviet Union for the time being. Working with the best of the KGB, they fanned out to become celebrated lunch-time speakers all over America, while the U.S. dismantled its defenses and poured billions of dollars into a "Russian reconstruction."

They didn't know how long it would take, but given the excellent progress they had made at American universities as well as in Hollywood and in the U.S. news media, they figured that sooner or later there could be some people in the White House who would see things their way. In England, too, Socialists were bound to come back one day. The trick was to sing a coordinated tune in praise of "free markets and democracy." Conservatism? Whatever, if the path led to a new Socialist International.

I woke with a start and reached for the morning paper. The front page told of the U.S. president attending a meeting of the British Cabinet, now chaired by the new Socialist prime minister. An historic first, yet a mere stopover for the American president on his way back from a summit with the Russian leadership where he had just handed Russia a permanent voice in the affairs of Europe... - I'd better go back to sleep.