The writer is an FT contributing editor, chair of the Centre for Liberal Strategies, Sofia, and fellow at IWM Vienna
“A bit like talking to a mirror” is how diplomatic historian Sergey Radchenko describes Nikita Khrushchev’s preparation for negotiating with Dwight Eisenhower following the death of Joseph Stalin. The Soviet leader imagined what he would tell the US president, how Ike would at first reject his arguments but then yield to their logic as the only working solution.
“The difficulty of speaking to imaginary opponents,” writes Radchenko, “is that we unconsciously make them say what we want them to say.” We do not think what would happen if the other side resisted our logic.
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