Now how likely is it that the C-in-C of a totalitarian state will absent himself from that state? Can you imagine Stalin turning to Beria in the early days of WWII and saying, “Here Lavrenti, the big key opens the Kremlin, the little one opens the dacha, the really little one opens the Gulag. (It doesn’t work–ha! ha! ha1). I’ll be at Lake Baikal for oh, maybe three or four years. Keep an eye on things, call if they’re problems, and–keep my seat warm!”