I'm involved with a business that does quite a lot of work in Russia and neighboring countries (or did until credit markets collapsed there this fall). What I'v

I'm involved with a business that does quite a lot of work in Russia and neighboring countries (or did until credit markets collapsed there this fall). What I've learned is that Russia fundamentally misunderstands the US, and the US fundamentally misunderstands Russia. Our biggest mistake is that we both project our own experiences on the other. This article is a great example of this, as lionheart points out. In the other direction, we were wrong in thinking that the most likely alternative in 1991 to Soviet communism was US-style democracy. While this guy's ideas are laughable, I understand how they could spread. I can imagine a similar book being written in the US about the Muslim world - playing on our fears, outlining some crazy scenario for the Middle East with no real basis in reality, and completely misunderstanding the differences between Iran and Egypt, Palestine and Turkey, etc.