When, on August 23rd, I saw the inconspicuous Havas message on the third page of the Eclaireur du Sud-Est, saying that a treaty of non-aggression had been signed between Germany and the Soviet Union, I began beating my temples with my fists.
 [...]
 I tried to explain to her what it meant - to the world in general and to me and my friends in particular. What it meant to that better, optimistic half of humanity which was called the Left because it believed in social evolution and which, however opposed to the methods employed by Stalin and his disciples, still consciously or unconsciously believed that Russia was the only promising social experiment in this wretched century.

I understand that there are quite a lot of people on the left who have quite strong vestiges or echoes of that sentiment about Russia (I can't honestly say I understand why). But I have a question for anyone who recognises themself in that category :

Is there anything that a Russian leader could do, which would provoke that beating my temples with my fists moment?

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}