An uncomfortable alliance

As President Putin sits uncomfortably on stage with the equally uncomfortable President Obhama there is a cultural schism between them that has been a gulf between not only the Russian nation and the USA but between the Slavic experience which represents the reality of their life and the one we, the nations in the West have embalmed ourselves in.
The American dream was an export that was designed to encourage a lifestyle through which, capitalism flourished. The values that were consumed by the nations of Europe. The house as a symbol not just a home, the car to signal how well we had done in the money accumulation scheme, the dress code and the holiday destination was all part of the consumerist package that we mistake for life's purpose. Capitalism had provided, for a few, untold riches and for the many, the dream to be there.
Russia under Communism and, before communism, under the Autocracy of the Tsar and the ruling establishment dealt a hand to the majority, of austerity and hardship. The years of eking out basic survival under harsh conditions has toughened the mind of the Slavic character to the extent that the bourgeois ideal is not a concept that their equivalent in Russia can come to terms with. Concepts which underpin the thinking within a society are the basis for the actions of the leaders of that society.
The Germans for instance are a complicated, single minded success by uniting and subjecting the personal for unquestioned strong leadership.
The French question their leadership and philosophically pronounce their independence on everything.
The English, having been protected as an island race, remain in their adolescence, not having had to face the sharp edge of history, their understanding is, everything is possible.
The Americans have yet to reach adolescence, like children they demand attention expecting that money will buy what they desire and are dangerous when denied.