A story by Bruce Sterling called "We See Things Differently" appears to be from the 80s but brings up some ideas that are especially interesting in this post-Soviet age where the big bogyman is Islamic terrorists. It posits a world where the Afghan Mujahadeen nuked Moscow and removed the USSR from the world power struggle. Meanwhile the Arabs formed a theocratic mega-state that somehow manages to separate itself from the global economy, and the U.S. gets economically pummeled by Europe and Japan.
I've always liked Sterling's writing and this is a great short story that looks at another possible world where the U.S. is no longer dominant.
(thanx to mykle , who told me this was on metafilter recently.)
Posted by steev at Octubre 13, 2005 09:30 AM