...But shortly before, I had told him that the American media & publications were focusing on him, that his photo was on the front pages, and that he was presented as “the irreplaceable General”. This was media and political preparation for his assassination. Of course, the Hajj Qassem laughed, and replied that he hoped so, asking me to pray for his martyrdom. When we were talking about Kerman’s failed attack, I used to say to him, “Praise be to God, He saved you”, but he replied that he had lost an opportunity (to find martyrdom). This was his way of seeing things.

A family unit focused on self-protection and survival is your best option. If everyone is trained in survival skills, including marksmanship, and all members are equipped with everything they need, you should be prepared for almost anything coming your way. If society falls apart, or a government, foreign or domestic, imposes itself on the population, your group will have the option of joining with others if you so choose.

Despite having loyal spies in high places in governments around the world, whenever an agent provided information which seemed “too good” or conflicted with the preconceived notions of KGB senior officials or Party leaders, it was likely to be dismissed as disinformation, often suspected to have been planted by British counterintelligence, to which the Soviets attributed almost supernatural powers, or that their agents had been turned and were feeding false information to the Centre.

Further, throughout the entire history of the Soviet Union, the KGB was hesitant to report intelligence which contradicted the beliefs of its masters in the Politburo or documented the failures of their policies and initiatives. In 1985, shortly after coming to power, Gorbachev lectured KGB leaders “on the impermissibility of distortions of the factual state of affairs in messages and informational reports sent to the Central Committee of the CPSU and other ruling bodies.”