[glinert]

I have finished reading book on American history specifically George Washington and Founding fathers. I found it very interesting and tried to apply to what Russia now going through. It seems, as happened in America, things will get better.

Personally I find George Washingtons personality to be most interesting. He opposite of John Adams. JOhn Adams was very outspoken and loud man while George Washington was soft spoken and modest. John Adams was egotistical.

George Washington was not America's smartest man but he could unite people. He was not America's bravest or greatest military strategist but he could bond with common soldiers.

[Comrade Ogilvy]

I don't think the history of the colonists is particularly comparable to Russia today, Glinert. Colonial America was a land full of prosperous, virtuous people. Russia today is full of destitute people who have recently thrown off the yoke of socialism, only to suffer criminal mismanagement under Yelstin. Russia today is perhaps most comparable to Turkey after World War I. The Ottoman Empire, which had ruled for over seven hundred years, collapsed. Chaos and anarchy reigned. A great man, Kemal Attaturk, united his people, drove out the Greeks, and built a modern, secular republic. Unfortunately, a middle class has never been built and Turkey is an economic failure. Another correlary could be China after the collapse of the Han Empire, though the former states of the USSR don't seem to be duking it out.

What book did you read?