The fate that befell the once mighty Soviet Union is no more surprising than the fate of the 1792 republic in France, which befell it after 1815. In both cases, this turn of events was not inevitable - such inevitability has no real basis - and the story did not end in 1815 or 1989, or with the death of Mao Zedong and the victory of Deng Xiaoping in China. Don't be in a hurry. As I walked in the jungle on my aching knees, I tried to remember when I first heard the famous answer that Zhou Enlai supposedly gave in response to the question of what he thought about the outcome of the French Revolution.

• It's too early to say.

Many have argued that he didn't actually say that. I was going to ask him about it when we met, but somehow I didn't have to. Of course, this is the correct answer.

Jan Myrdal (19 July 1927 – 30 October 2020)