Paul Krugman, in Pop Internationalism (MIT Press, 1996) has an essay on the similarities between the Western reactions to the Soviet Union in its prime and to the modern, authoritarian, high-growth states of East Asia, both of which (as Krugman does not note) resemble notions the British and French entertained about Prussia and Germany towards the turn of the century, vide Paul Valéry, The Outlook for Intelligence. The gods alone know what this means.