"Trust, but verify"

We are living in very strange times, indeed. In a Seinfeldian context: up is down, black is white, good is bad and day is night. Simplified messages are in circulation and you have to, more than ever, check the facts. The proverb "trust, but verify" is attributed to president Ronald Reagan (1911-2004), who used it on several occasions in the context of nuclear disarmament discussions with the Soviet Union. Not many people know that "trust, but verify" is a Russian proverb, which rhymes in Russian (romanized: doveryay, no proveryay). The origin of the proverb is not clear, but it must have been originated relatively recently. Hardline communist leaders Lenin and Stalin voiced similar ideas. "Trust is good, control is better" is attributed to Lenin, but there's no evidence that he ever said that. "Healthy distrust makes a good basis for cooperation" is attributed to Stalin, a proverb that is backed up by historical evidence. Neither of them practised trust-based leadership. On the contrary, paranoid leadership. Blind trust leads to disappointment. Distrust leads to unease. The golden middle way is the desirable middle between two extremes. Healthy skepticism is a good compromise between gullibility and cynicism. It's an irony of history, that president Ronald Reagan became so utterly amused by Soviet exercise of power and dictatorial language. But, hasn't the world always been directionless, equivocal, intermediate and timeless?