By requiring their diplomats to limit their contacts with “alternative” sources of information in a country, in order to avoid antagonizing despotic regimes, governments irremediably limit diplomats’ ability to see change coming, even when it is so close that nothing can be done.
由于要求外交官为避免惹恼专制政权而限制与所在国“非传统”信息来源的接触，政府不可避免地限制了外交官预见变革的能力，即使这种变革已经无法挽回。