Americans in general have a perception that the rest of the world would like to be westernized. This dogmatic thinking has its roots in the post-WWII era when the allies conspired and formed the IMF and World Bank: these institutions emerged out of the Breton Woods Conference of 1944, and their stated purpose was as follows:
The nations should consult and agree on international monetary changes which affect each other. They should outlaw practices which are agreed to be harmful to world prosperity, and they should assist each other to overcome short-term exchange difficulties.
The fall of the Berlin Wall signaled the demise of Soviet-style Communism and hence, Capitalism became the sole dominant global economic system. I feel their is an important relationship between how the IMF and World Bank approached the privatization of Russia (and other East Asian countries), and how the United states has approached the war in Iraq.
The IMF and World Bank prematurely forced Russia to open up its markets; privatize, privatize, privatize they cheered! This has since become coined the "Washington Consensus", the policy that defied rational behavior and thought. How can one force a country like Russia to privatize without the proper institutions in place that would be necessary to ensure an equitable distribution of states enterprises? The same way a war in Iraq can be waged without thinking about how to manage the aftermath(ie, how should Iraq's oil revenues be dispersed....?). How can one declare Russia a success story after the IMF reforms were in place? For the same reasons the President prematurely declared our troops victorious in Iraq. How can one assume Russia would even do well under American style capitalism? For the same reasons Americans thought Iraqis would prosper under American Democracy (we all know what a joke that is).
The compelling theme here is one of American ignorance; Ignorance clouds reason and leads to irrational decisions. I beg Americans, as Peter Singer has asked, to rethink your role as a "global citizen" and view the world's people standing in the shoes as if you were an impartial spectator. The world as we all know is changing, in many ways for the better, however one thing remains constant; Americans perception that the rest of the world wants to be just like them. This train of thought has its origins in our economic institutions and the subsequent dominance of Capitalism. A corollary of these changes are the politically derived wars, A.K.A. Iraq.