What Might Not Have Been

I was reading an article in which a person groaned about a foreign policy decision. The supposition was that if that decision had not been made, then things would have been better. 

Given the complexity of the situation, however, we do not know if things would have been better. Events are not frozen. Circumstances change. Personalities can be unpredictable. 

As I reviewed the history and the facts, my own conclusion was the course that was taken, despite its drawbacks, may have saved us from a plausible future that would have been much worse.

The unknowns accumulate and no one has a looking glass.