A particular danger for dissidents or rebels is a technique I call the Quad Cross Screw-Over: Two (or more) governments can secretly cooperate at the top and use it to trick and destroy all the rebellious dissidents.

• The government of country A, with the consent of the government of country B, lets its secret services mingle with the rebellious dissidents of country B.
• Conversely, the government of country B is allowed to let its secret services get involved with the dissidents of country A.
• The secrets of the dissidents of country A end up with the government of country A through the secret services of country B.
• The secrets of the dissidents of country B end up with the government of country B through the secret services of country A.

I suspect this Quad Cross Screw-Over very strongly with the USA and Russia. The CIA has always cheered and supported dissidents in the Eastern Bloc, but always let them down at the crucial moment. The KGB has traditionally cheered and supported dissidents in the West, but when it came push to shove, the dissidents didn’t get what they wanted.

Today’s Western dissidents want to lick Putin’s boot and see him as a savior. In so doing, these dissidents get compromised, open to legal problems and discredited. The dissidents in Russia muddle around a bit with the CIA, but nothing really comes of it. We have 20 years of Putin’s rule. It could be close to 40 when he’s dead. Whenever it mattered, the West let the dissidents in Russia down.