And we cannot forget Golitsyn's fatal flaw. Just as Marx discounted human nature, Golitsyn's theories on faux-perestroika come to naught as he has forgotten the element of human nature. If we were to believe Golitsyn's conspiracy theory the Russians, the Poles, the East Germans, the Czechs, the Slovaks, the Kazakhs, the Uzbeks, the Belarusians, the Tadjiks, the Hungarians, etc., etc., would all have to be willing to participate in this great plot. They'd have to be willing to give up their freedoms of speech, travel, consumerism, etc.
Unfortunately for you Golitsynites, and fortunately for the rest of us, Ronald Reagan was right about the Evil Empire not being able to live on. It's dead and the only ones in the FSU and former Warsaw Pact who dream of the possibility of Golitsyn actually being right are those who are dying off day-by-day - the unrepented communists whose only bit of resistance they can offer is to march feebly across Red Square on Lenin's or Stalin's birthday. Kind of puts you guys in strange company - old diehard Communists would love for Golitsyn to be right, just as you do -for it would vindicate the countless hours you must spend preparing for the day when the Old Red Bear rises again.
To me, Golitsyn and other defectors and emigres serve as a small set of data. There are many other sources of data. It is wise to take a broader view. Whether or not the Golitsyn thesis wholly describes a geopolitical trend, or it partially describes it, or fails to do so, it leads to at least some very good devil's advocate analysis. Let us assume for the sake of argument that Golitsyn missed completely and turn our attention to present geopolitical issues. Russia continues a support pattern vis a vis rogue states, terrorist sponsoring states and other centers of anti Westernism. An interesting set of treaties and agreements has been made between Russia and the PRC. Other observations can be made. So even if Russia has become a neo Czarist, hyper capitalist haven, she still possesses the means to inflict serious harm on the West. As Kagan and Kagan wrote in "While America Sleeps", Russia is restive. This alone merits our continued vigilance.