History Main / TheGreatPoliticsMessUp

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[[caption-width-right:350:Presence was, [[Creator/JeffGoldblum uh]], [[{{Pun}} absent]] '''way''' too long.]]

->'''Basil Exposition:''' A lot's happened since you were frozen. The Cold War is over!\\
'''Austin Powers:''' Finally those capitalist pigs will pay for their crimes, eh? Eh, comrades? Eh?\\
'''Basil Exposition:''' Austin...we won.\\
''[{{beat}}]''\\
'''Austin Powers:''' ''[with feigned enthusiasm]'' Oh. Smashing! Groovy! Yay, capitalism! ''[chuckles nervously]''
-->-- ''Film/AustinPowersInternationalManOfMystery''

Many events and changes in history catch almost everyone by surprise.

One of the most notable of these was Christmas Day, 1991: the end of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar.

Prior to UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, it was common to hear experts claiming that [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn the Soviet Union]] was about to fall in a matter of years. During the first five months of the Soviet-German War, some in the U.S., Britain and Germany believed it would collapse within months. But from the winter of '41–'42 onward, the Soviet Union acquired most of its fuel and war material from the U.S. via UK/USSR-occupied Iran, and by the war's end the opposite mood had set in. Many thought the Soviet Union would last forever, or long into the foreseeable future, and maybe even win the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. It was thus assumed that the end of the USSR could only come as part of the general [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt End of Everything]] -- most likely as a result of [[WorldWarIII nuclear war]]. The relatively peaceful end that took place at the dawn of TheNineties was unexpected and [[WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell even mourned]] [[TooGoodForExploiters by some]].

Naturally, there will be many references to divided Berlin and divided Germany in any genre of fiction set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture but written before 1989. A lot of fiction written shortly before the unexpected events and set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture without those vital events in place can seem [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece funny in hindsight]].

Of course, the Soviet Union isn't the only major political entity subject to this trope. Because of the constantly-fluctuating nature of the world political stage (and even domestic political stages), there's bound to be a large number of works whose assumptions about politics in the future will end up becoming woefully obsolete within due time. Consequently, they accidentally become AlternateHistory stories by the sole virtue of having gotten their predictions about history wrong.

Compare ScienceMarchesOn, FutureSocietyPresentValues, and EndOfAnAge. See also IWantMyJetPack, FailedFutureForecast, and {{Zeerust}}. See also MakeTheBearAngryAgain if the mess-up is somehow reversed, and {{Jossed}} if this trope applies to canonical changes.

Contrast WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell and DatedHistory.

''Note: This trope has been subject to a fair bit of misuse; it is not a synonym for the Cold War, or the transition period between the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. This is for when writers make assumptions about political situations when writing works about the future, only for that situation to change, retroactively turning the work into an AlternateUniverse. The main reason why the Soviet Union gets so much focus here is because it is simply the most prominent example, the reasons for which are explained above.''
----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Advertising]]
* British insurance company Norwich Union released an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7S-sOvGHPU advert]] in 1989 which suggested the barriers between East and West might soon come down. When they did, they released a [[http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=sxH06HrQxoE second advert]], taking credit for their prescience.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Manga/AngelDensetsu'': When Kuroda catches sight of [[IntrepidReporter Kaburagi Kiyomi]] crawling rapidly and sneakily across the grass in an attempt to get a picture of Kitano, Kuroda gets increasingly paranoid and comes up with the theory that she's a Soviet assassin sent to their high school to help start an invasion of Japan. Kitano points out that the Soviet Union isn't around anymore (this episode was written in the mid-90s, several years after the fall of the USSR). Kuroda then speculates that she was with the KGB instead, only for Kitano to note that ''they'' are obviously gone too. It's all meant to emphasize that Kuroda is a DumbMuscle with a very poor grasp of history and current events.
* An episode of the original ''Anime/BubblegumCrisis'' revolved around a stolen super weapon that a minor villain had been going to sell to the East Germans. On the other hand, [[AllThereInTheManual supplemental materials]] references to the fall of the Soviet Union and other political changes are pretty much spot-on (though, BGC [=OVAs=] being in development in from 86 through 92, it might've just been a later addition).
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' has a brief mention of the IRA declaring a ceasefire in the far future (after 2300). This already happened in real life, in 2005, 2 years before Gundam 00 was even announced, however, the organisation that declared a ceasefire was the "Real IRA", presumably some sort of spiritual successor, although there is a real "Real IRA".
** Same with the Sri Lankan Civil War. In the series, Celestial Being did an intervention to stop the war... which basically just ended in 2009. But it's one of those wars that may or may not come back with new force after a few years, depending on whether the Sri Lankan government is magnanimous in victory and helps the Tamils get back on their feet and addresses the grievances that caused the conflict.
* ''Anime/GunBuster'', made in 1988 but set in 2023, had Jung Freud, one of the Soviet Union's ace pilots. Presumably she was from UsefulNotes/EastGermany.
* ''Manga/GhostInTheShell'':
** The Soviet Union is still going in 2030, though revisions and reprints made after 1992 by Shirow Masamune himself changed this to reflect their downfall. The establishment of the Soviet Union still existing in the future was made in the ''Manga/{{Appleseed}}'' series during the 80s. ''Ghost in the Shell'' is a sister series that takes place almost a century before ''Appleseed'', but was written in the early 90s.
** There were some other mess ups in-universe that were mostly corrected. There was a WorldWarIII during the mid 90's, and a Non-Nuclear [[WorldWarWhatever World War IV]] in 2019-2020, and the United States was separated into three countries after a civil war that took part during World War IV (of which most of the main characters are veterans).[[note]]The American Empire AKA Imperial Americana makes up the largest part of the country, with all the states east of New Mexico, south of South Dakota, and south of the New England area, including Washington D.C. The still democratic United States of America was reduced to the states of Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and Wisconsin. The New England states, California, Oregon, Alaska, and Hawaii became the socialist Ameri-Soviet Union (revised to the Russo-American Alliance after 1992).[[/note]] And as a side note, Berlin was mostly bombed to pieces in the latter two wars.
* The story of ''[[Anime/BlueCometSPTLayzner SPT Layzner]]'' features students from both sides of the Iron Curtain traveling to the moon together on the equivalent of a field trip. At least it actually predicts that the conflict between both sides will end, just much slower than it actually did. Also, the potential end of this Cold War is the stated reason that the ''aliens'' show up in the first place, to take over the world before the two sides work together well enough to take over their planet, which they have no idea exists in the first f-ing place.
* ''Anime/TransformersSuperGodMasterforce'' refers to Ginrai traveling in West Germany; ''Masterforce'' was made in 1988 but set some time after 2011.
* ''Anime/{{Patlabor}}'', created in the late '80s but taking place in the late '90s has this. The Brocken military mech that shows up to cause trouble for the Mobile Police in every continuity was said to have been commissioned by West Germany's border guards and the OAV episode featuring it has it "accidentally" falling into the hands of communist sympathizers as part of some kind of ill-conceived WarForFunAndProfit scheme by the manufacturer. A memorable episode of the TV series involved a Soviet defector bringing an experimental mech to a Japanese seaside resort town where everybody was actually a spy of some sort. The second movie mentions the end of the Cold War, but it's uncertain if this is a {{Retcon}} or if it happened sometime between 1998 and 2002 in the movie-verse.
* ''Anime/AngelCop'' suffers from this as it takes place under the belief that the Japanese economy would continue to grow; instead, the economic bubble popped in the mid '90s.
* ''Anime/GoLion'' started with Earth being destroyed in World War III, when the east and west finally launched their missiles at each other in 1999.
* ''Manga/ZeroZeroNineOne'' the anime takes place in an alternate world where the Cold War continues... because the original manga was made in the 1960s and used the Cold War.
* In ''Anime/OtakuNoVideo'', made in 1991, the Iron Curtain still exists and Gorbachev is still in power in 1997.
* In ''Manga/{{AKIRA}}'', set in 2030, a Soviet Navy helicopter transports scientists to an American aircraft carrier.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* In the comic ''ComicBook/Camelot3000'', Myth/KingArthur and Myth/{{Merlin}} are resurrected and their knights reincarnated in the year 3000. Almost nothing has changed politically since the 1970s or early 80s, except that there are now four power blocs. The USA has a UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan-esque president who dresses as a cowboy and carries authentic sixguns. The USSR is led by Comrade Yazof, a Brezhnev lookalike; China is led by Chairperson Feng (a lady Mao); and Africa by The Supreme Rakma, an Idi Amin type. Apartheid also still exists, and Gawain is reincarnated as a black South African. And this is ''after'' a nuclear war that blasted man back to the medieval period.
* The Creator/MarvelComics group called the Soviet Super-Soldiers is an unusual example because stories set in the present were affected. This happened because ComicBookTime slowly pushes forward the date of any present-day stories. Several years after the breakup of the USSR the group not only wasn't Soviet, but none of its previous adventures were either. This resulted in an embarrassing time period when it was carefully left unnamed every time it was used, until Marvel finally settled on "Winter Guard" as the name it [[RetCon always had]].
* An early issue of ''Comicbook/UltimateXMen'' featured the X-Men foiling a plot by the Provisional IRA. At the time, the 1998 Peace Agreement was still young, and many suspected it might not hold. It did, and the Provisional IRA destroyed its last weapons and ceased to exist some time around 2005.
* ''Comicbook/AmericanFlagg'' dances on the verge, but still manages to fall into this pit, though it falls very gracefully. The sight of ultra-capitalist Soviets and "Stalinland" theme parks fifty years in the future (in a mid-to-late 80s comic which ended just as the Berlin Wall fell) seems ''almost'' like a foreshadowing.
* In early ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' comics, the Soviet Union is depicted as surviving into the 22nd century, having been renamed as the 'Sov Blok', and is depicted as the main villain in the Apocalypse War storyline. In later comics, it enters a Glasnost period, before reverting back to its previous militaristic self, although it uses the Judge System instead of being communist. By extension, this occurs in other strips which take place in the shared universe, such as ''ComicBook/HarlemHeroes''.
* In IDW's ''{{Transformers}}: Escalation'', much of the plot during the second half or so consist of the Decepticons trying to stir up conflict between the Soviet Union and a breakaway republic called Brasnya. This was written in 2006. They started referring to Russia (and Brasnya as a "former Soviet republic") from issue 5 onward, and Simon Furman [[WordOfGod admitted]] the Soviet references in the earlier issues were errors.
* ''Nexus'', set in the 25th century, really got hit by this, since the ongoing UsefulNotes/ColdWar between the Sov and the [[EagleLand Cohesive Web]] was a significant plot point of the story. The writers had the good sense, though, to just say that, well, at some point between now and then, the Soviet Union was reestablished and in turn established an interstellar colonial empire to rival America's. The funny part is that the story, including the ones written back in the seventies, repeatedly refers to the Sov as being in decline and on the brink of collapse.
* While the present day period of ''ComicBook/NthManTheUltimateNinja'' is never established, it's suggested to be on or near 1989, when the first issue was published. Reading it in hindsight can feel rather anachronistic, given how much of the story relies on UsefulNotes/ColdWar tensions and the RedScare (particularly an exchange of warheads between the US and the USSR).
* In ''ComicBook/{{Kamandi}}: The Last Boy On Earth'', the map of the UpliftedAnimal-controlled [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]] Earth shows that Siberia is now the "Communi-Bear Silo State". Human civilization has collapsed ''entirely'', but Russia is still communist.
* ''ComicBook/StrikeforceMorituri'' managed to get things wrong in both directions at once. The story is set in 2072, but the Soviet Union still exists under the "Paideia" OneWorldOrder. However, a memorial seen in one panel implies that South African [[UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra apartheid]] collapsed in 1989, a few years too optimistic a prediction.
* This is why Comicbook/BlackWidow was {{Retcon}}ned into possessing [[OlderThanTheyLook slowed aging]]. Marvel wanted to keep her Cold War ties and her back story as a Soviet super spy without having to retroactively make her appear decades older.
* ''ComicBook/{{Grendel}}'' has the USSR still existing in 2120, at which point the simultaneous assassination of both its Premier and the US President at a summit ignites WorldWarIII. (After this, the Soviet Union doesn't exist any more, but [[AfterTheEnd neither does most of the USA]].)
* In the universe of ''ComicBook/TheUniques'', the Cold War lasted until at least 1993, thanks to the Uniques replacing conventional weaponry. Among other effects, this has resulted in the Republicans maintaining their hold on the White House; it's mentioned that in 1996, when the story opens, Newt Gingrich is the President. It also resulted in an overabundance of unaffiliated Uniques serving as either vigilantes or supervillains.
* ''ComicBook/Armageddon2001'': In ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' Annual #3, Superman destroys the nuclear arsenal of several nations in 2001, including the Soviet Union. The USSR was dissolved only months after this crossover event was published in 1991.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* Parodied in ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager'', a ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' fanfic written InTheStyleOf a 1950's sci-fi magazine pulp. Not only is there still a "Sino-Soviet Union", it's racing ahead of the West in the development of electronics, computer technology and the [[UsefulNotes/{{Chernobyl}} safe production of atomic energy]] (a riff on the FailedFutureForecast of Creator/MackReynolds that a centrally-controlled Soviet economy would be more efficient than a Western capitalist one). Some members of the crew come from countries that no longer exist in the year that it's set, including East Germany, South Vietnam, and Yugoslavia, while Seska is an expatriate Soviet Communist and suspected KGB agent.
* In the Literature/{{Discworld}}, canonically there is a Russia-like region on the fringes of Überwald which is a remnant of some unspecified political catastrophe that caused an Evil Empire to shatter into fragments. In the stories of Creator/AAPessimal, there is a growing Pan-Rodinian nationalism which is causing the rulers of Zlobenia, Mouldavia and Borogravia some concern and sleepless nights. Vetinari is forthright.
--> The Rodinian Bear is currently hibernating in a deep dark cave. I am happy to leave it there and not, for instance, to go in there to prod it with a sharp stick.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* In ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' the Soviet Union was certainly around, evidenced by Dr. Heywood Floyd's meeting with some fellow space scientists from the Soviet side on his way to the Moon. The book also detailed a USA–USSR pact opposing China, which is the opposite of what happened in real life, but was plausible in the 1960s when written due to border clashes between China and the Soviet Union (Creator/HunterSThompson was writing about the possibility as late as 1974, although that's partly [[AuthorTract because of his conviction]] that UsefulNotes/RichardNixon was the Devil).
* By contrast, the plot of ''Film/TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact'' revolves almost entirely around UsefulNotes/ColdWar tensions between the Soviet astronauts piloting the ''Alexei Leonov'' and the Americans who need their help to reach [[spoiler:the wreck of the ''Discovery'']]. Although not the book's, which is why a few lines about peace are tacked on with the message at the end of the film.
* Spoofed in ''Film/AustinPowersInternationalManOfMystery''. The title character, after being frozen in 1967 and unfrozen in 1997, is shocked at the presence of a Russian intelligence officer. When he is told that the UsefulNotes/ColdWar ended, he initially assumes that the Communists won.
* Ditto in the surprisingly entertaining Brendan Fraser film ''Film/BlastFromThePast''. After emerging from their fallout shelter after three or so decades, the father (Christopher Walken) refuses to believe that the Soviet Union collapsed without a fight. "I bet they asked us for aid!" It's all an EvilPlan to get our money! DirtyCommunists! At the end, he's setting up to build another bunker, convinced they never ''really'' collapsed.
* In ''Film/{{Underground}}'', a group of Serbian war refugees is duped into spending 20 years below ground making weapons to fight the Nazis, being told that the war continues to rage above their heads. When a few escape, they're quite confused.
* Averted in ''Film/AGoodDayToDieHard'', which includes a scene where John [=McClane=] and a friend talk in an NYPD shooting range with a picture of President Obama in the background. The film was released in 2013 but filmed prior to the 2012 presidential election. Therefore a second version of the scene was shot with a picture of Mitt Romney in the background as insurance in case of a Republican victory.
* ''Film/RoboCop1987'', set at some unclear future date after 1987, implies that the UsefulNotes/ColdWar is still going on, with references to SDI and the MX missile. The latter, which became the Peacekeeper, has now been scrapped. References are also made to the South African apartheid government which is not only still in power (albeit reduced to a single city-state), but actively threatening to deploy a NeutronBomb against insurgents, thus promoting them from racist assholes to cartoonish supervillains (although, in RealLife, they did have nukes).
* In the film version of Pushkin's poem ''Literature/{{Onegin}}'', there is a throwaway line about communism, which is pretty good going for a story published 16 years before the Communist Manifesto. A less egregious example of this as regards foresight about 1917 comes in the 1990s Sean Bean/Sophie Marceau version of ''Film/AnnaKarenina'', where Vronsky is the one making throwaway remarks about the coming of communism in the 1880s, when such fears would have been more realistic, though still slightly misplaced. It seems from historical films about Russia set in the 19th century that the whole country had nothing better to do than to muse upon its ultimate 20th-century fate.
* This is what Creator/BillyWilder's ''Film/OneTwoThree'' suffered from. Originally a light-hearted comedy with {{Dirty Comm|unists}}ies, it became a massive case of having to be DistancedFromCurrentEvents when the UsefulNotes/BerlinWall was built (during filming!). Before August 1961, people could cross the border between West and East Berlin quite easily - which millions of East Germans used to move to the golden west. The movie was based on this premise and suffered when the wall was built.
* In ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'', during a global loss of power, Leningrad's power grid is described to have collapsed. Leningrad reverted in 1991 to its pre-revolutionary name, St. Petersburg. The name of the oblast, on the other hand, is still Leningrad. If the power grid includes the entire area, the statement is technically correct.
* ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'' was made as a commentary about the Cold War winding down, though it came out a few weeks before the Soviet Union actually collapsed. Its ''Star Trek'' counterpart, the Klingon Empire, does not.
* Averted with ''Film/LicenceToKill'', which came out just before the Soviet collapse. The film-makers weren't sure whether the USSR was still going to be around by the time the movie was finished, so they purposely crafted the plot around something completely unrelated to Communism.
* An inversion of sorts. The DVD menu for ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'' includes [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5733oQiaFI&t=0m11s a shot of a world map]]. It's a post-Cold War map, even though the movie is set in 1957 and the Soviets are the main villains.
* Played straight in 2007's ''Film/PlanetTerror'', in which the leader of the infected soldiers claims ''his'' team had already killed bin Laden, but the circumstances would've embarrassed his superiors, so they kept it quiet.
* Inverted in ''Film/CoolRunnings'', which was made in 1993 and set in 1988. At one point, the flag of UsefulNotes/TheNewRussia is anachronistically included amongst the flags of the nations competing at the 1988 Winter Olympics. Period-appropriate Soviet flags and insignia are seen elsewhere in the film, however.
* The USSR still exists in ''Film/BladeRunner2049'' as a deliberate attempt to maintain the aesthetic of the first film. The franchise as a whole also serves as this for JapanTakesOverTheWorld.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/TheSpaceOdysseySeries'':
** The book ''2061'' not only has the Soviet Union still around, it has South African apartheid continue until the 2030s, when it is destroyed by a violent revolution that scatters the Afrikaners across the Earth and Solar System. They more or less become the new Jews.
** The ''2001'' series had a sort-of double mess-up. In the first book (and movie), though the USSR is still around, it and the US are cooperating and have friendly relations (as shown by Floyd chatting casually with Soviet citizens, who are also clearly friends, on the space station. They even inform each other that they're always welcome to come by to visit ''whenever they just happen to be in each other's countries''). When Clarke wrote ''2010'' (in 1982), it was obvious the real-world US and USSR were not quite being so friendly, so he decided that there should be conflict between the Soviet and American astronauts because of their respective countries' rivalry (though not as blatant as in the film, where the two countries are at the brink of war). Of course, fast forward to the ''real'' year 2001, where Soviet Union is gone, the US is supreme, and where, in fact, Russia and the US ''are building a joint space station'', though not one as big and fancy as the one in the book.
* In the Literature/{{Discworld}}, canonically there is an under-developed fringe of states and regions in the general region of further {{Uberwald}} where a language not unlike [[UsefulNotes/RussianLanguage Russian]] is spoken. Such back-story as there is tells us there was once an Evil Empire that was once powerful and vigorous and ruled all the way across the Central Continent, from the Siberia-like Vortex Plains to the borders of Klatch and Muntab. But war and catastrophe happened and the Empire is no more. In ''The Compeat Discworld Atlas'', it is noted that its most coherent remnant states, Borogravia, Zlobenia and "The Former Überwaldean Republic of Mouldavia" are tentatively considering an economic and customs union for mutual prosperity, described in terms of an, err, "Russian Confederation". As the Discworld's "Russia" revives, next door some prime real estate is being developed as [[EagleLand The Great Outdoors]] by war-torn refugees and huddled masses who have washed up on the shores of Dawn...
* In a bit of a meta-entry, several techno-thrillers and what-if war novels from 1978's ''Literature/TheThirdWorldWar'' though 1984's ''Literature/RedStormRising'' to 1990's ''Sword Point'', all written '''prior''' to the end of the Cold War have WorldWarIII end up in a ''status quo ante'' peace treaty, where other than a few million dead, the Superpowers continue their struggle against each other ''as if nothing happened!'' It was almost as if no author could remember a time before the two super powers, or imagine a time after them. One of the few that averted this was, ironically, the first listed. ''Literature/TheThirdWorldWar'' had the Soviet Union abruptly collapse after the nuking of Minsk (in response to the Soviet nuking of Birmingham, England), with the 1982 sequel/expansion detailing how it happened.
** The war outlined in ''Literature/RedStormRising'' is purely conventional with no nuclear or chemical weapons causing massive civilian casualties, making an immediate postwar return to the status quo more plausible. Lampshaded by the US ground forces commander in Europe during the ceasefire talks; his Soviet counterpart points out that "both sides can still lose" if NATO advances into the USSR itself. Also, the novel ends with the ceasefire; the survival of an oil-starved and war-weakened Soviet Union in the aftermath is open to the reader's interpretation.
* ''Literature/FullDisclosure:'' The novel takes place during the administration of the 41st president of the United States. Israel and the Arabs are allies, China and Japan have become one country, America and the Soviets are allies, and most of the U.S. government cabinet positions have been combined to form consolidated departments (for a total of five secretaries, and the attorney general).
* Creator/JohnWyndham appears to have been among the first people to believe the Soviet Union was going to collapse at some point, and not in a manner that took human civilization down with it, because any of his books that are set in what in the 1960s would have been NextSundayAD usually include a bit of exposition about the Cold War.
* ''The Gates Of Eden'' by Brian Stableford is set in 2441. The captain of a returned cold-sleep ship is surprised, not to say exasperated, that after 350 years and one ecological collapse there is still a "West" and a "Soviet bloc", "and they're still 'they' and we're 'us'." On the other hand, the deep space arms of both groups care less and less about what Earth thinks.
* In the prototypical CyberPunk novel ''Literature/{{Neuromancer}}'', the Soviet Union is still alive and kicking; in fact, it's the United States that's fallen apart.
--> [[http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-10/13/william-gibson-interview Quoth]] [[WordOfGod Gibson]]: ''I wrote the book so that it`s impossible to prove from internal evidence that the United States exists as a nation state. It seems to exist as some sort of congerie of city states and, possibly as the result of some semi-abortive not too bad sort of nuclear war... But I left the Soviet Union looming and rusting away, a sort of slag heap. I never imagined that it could dry up and blow up away.''
** While in Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/{{Friday}}'' the USSR fell only after the dissolution of the USA.
** ''Neuromancer'' and its sequels also feature a world dominated by Japanese corporations, echoing the ''very'' common theory that [[JapanTakesOverTheWorld Japan would emerge as the world's dominant economic superpower once the United States and the Soviet Union inevitably bankrupted themselves through rampant defense spending]].
** ''Literature/{{Idoru}}'', written in 1996, has Russia transform into a kind of criminal empire run by the TheMafiya, which was a fairly common speculation of Russia's future in the West during the [[UsefulNotes/TheNewRussia Yeltsin years]].
* ''Literature/JackRyan'':
** ''Literature/TheSumOfAllFears'' is a close one-written in early 1991, months before the breakup of the Soviet Union, and revolves around a "hoaxed" Soviet attack on the US in January 1992, by which time the USSR had been formally dissolved for a month. The [[Film/TheSumOfAllFears film adaptation]] was aware of this, with the main villain changed from an East German to a neo-Nazi.
** His portrayal of the prominent Afghan viewpoint character, a mujahideen, in ''Cardinal of the Kremlin'' also uses the "tragic, noble victims of the invading Soviets" political HistoricalHeroUpgrade common in those times as he was stated to have been nothing but a peaceful teacher who only became a ruthless killer after the Soviets had ruined his life and killed his family and that he wouldn't have even picked up a gun if it were otherwise. Played with in that the other mujahideen viewpoint character is AxCrazy, but it still didn't stop the novel ultimately laying the fault on the Soviet invasion and the American interference in it:
---> Not a ''trick'', Ortiz [a CIA agent] noted. He called it a ''tactic.'' He wants to go after transports now, he wants to kill a hundred Russians at a time. Jesus, what have I made this man?[[note]]Later the same character snaps at his aide and demands that he shows the Afghans some respect because of all they had suffered through after said aide dismisses them as brutal, primitive "sand-niggers."[[/note]]
* Creator/IsaacAsimov:
** "Literature/TheEvitableConflict": When Byerley contemplates the Cold War, he characterizes it as a conflict between Creator/KarlMarx and UsefulNotes/AdamSmith, and how it was destined to be made irrelevant by robots inventing CasualInterplanetaryTravel. In the setting of this story, the two sides adapted to new supply/demand concerns, making them economically similar.
** ''Literature/FantasticVoyage'': This {{novelization}} of ''Film/FantasticVoyage'' has two superpowers referred to simply as "Us" and "Them". InUniverse, characters mention that the political maps have changed over the years. The maps used to show "Us" (and allies) as a pure pristine white and "Them" (and their allies) as a deep, brooding, bloody red, but now both sides are depicted in pastel shades. It's also implied that the political ideologies have drifted closer together.
** ''Literature/FantasticVoyageII: Destination Brain'': This story keeps the muted/thawed cold war aspect from ''Literature/FantasticVoyage'', but dispenses with the "Us" and "Them" in favour of openly referring to the USA and the Soviet Union because the protagonist is American (and not a double agent) who spends most of the novel in the Soviet Union working with Soviet citizens, so sticking to Us/Them would have been very awkward (''whose'' us and them?).
** "Literature/LetsGetTogether": There are two superpowers who are usually referred to as "Us" and "Them", who maintain a [[BalanceOfPower delicate stalemate]]. It's supposed to be [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar America against Russia]] despite being set [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture decades into the future]], where DeceptivelyHumanRobots are used as weapons of [[TheMole infiltration]] designed to [[ActionBomb explode]] when they [[TitleDrop get together]]. It is, however, mentioned that They are no longer called "Russia" or "the Communists" or even "the East", because none of those are particularly accurate descriptions (as well as using the same "pastel shades" bit as ''Fantastic Voyage''). It also correctly predicts the reunification of Germany.
* The ''Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures'' novel ''Eternity Weeps'', published in 1997 but set in 2003, features Iran and Iraq soldiers competing to acquire an alien artifact. No one could have foreseen that in 2003 Iraq would be occupied by the US-led coalition.
* While not a SciFi novel, the Creator/DaleBrown novel ''Literature/SkyMasters'' was published in 1991 and set in 1994. It makes references to the Soviet Union (which would cease to exist at the end of 1991) and features the Strategic Air Command in a prominent role. The SAC would be abolished in 1992.
* A major plot point of ''Literature/{{Eon}}'', the Greg Bear novel written in 1985 and set in the early 21st century, is that the USSR still exists [[spoiler: and the Third World War breaks out between it and the USA]]. On the other hand [[spoiler: the plot makes extensive use of the concept of parallel worlds and alternate histories, which handwaves the problem away: The story is not taking place in our timeline]].
* The ''Literature/SagaOfTheExiles'' by Creator/JulianMay takes place both in the 21st century and in the Pliocene. The [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Soviet Union]] plays a prominent, but peaceful, role in psychic research. The author has had to dodge the Soviet issue in the sequels.
* ''Literature/TheThirdMillennium'', a book of future history by Creator/DavidLangford and Creator/BrianStableford, written in 1985, has communism (and capitalism) collapsing in the mid 21st century, but the USSR existing as a political entity right up until 3000.
* Jerry Pournelle's ''Literature/CoDominium'':
** A world government evolved out of cooperation between the US and USSR in the 1990s. When the real 1991 came around, Pournelle retconned the timeline so the [=CoDominium=] was founded in 2000. Not to mention also adding a Soviet coup to reestablish the USSR [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture 20 minutes into the future]], which had collapsed in reality.
** Interestingly, novels set later in that universe--like 1974's ''Literature/TheMoteInGodsEye''--avoid the problem. In the far future, a post-communist Russia venerates both its Communist and its Imperial past--so there's a Russian (and Eastern Orthodox) world named "Saint Ekaterina" with a battleship named ''Lenin''. Under Putin in recent years, Russia has been doing just that.
* The ''Literature/EclipseTrilogy'' by Creator/JohnShirley happens in an early 21st century with a [[WorldWarIII Third World War]] between NATO and the Warsaw Pact bloc. It was retconned later to a revived Soviet Union.
* ''Literature/EndersGame'':
** The story had been published in 1985, with an existing Soviet Union. When re-released in 1991, such references were [[OrwellianRetcon modified]] to reflect the decline of the Soviet Union.
** The sequel ''Literature/EndersShadow'' trilogy did not anticipate South Sudan becoming independent.
* ''Literature/TheThirdWorldWar: August 1985'', a 1978 mock-history book on a WorldWarIII, has the USSR collapse in 1985... [[spoiler: In a highly violent manner after the nuclear destruction of Minsk, now Belarus, and Birmingham, UK.]]
* Creator/JackChalker's original ''Literature/WellWorld'' novels from the 1970s featured Com Worlds, generally horrific dystopian planets descended from earth's Communist nations. At the end of that series the whole universe gets rebooted. The next series reveals that human history was altered slightly by the reboot, resulting in the world as we know it and the presumption that Com Worlds will not be a big part of the new future. (Rebooting the universe allows you to {{Retcon}} ''everything'', it seems.)
* Creator/StephenKing
** In ''Literature/TheStand'', written in 1979 and set in 1990, an American general instructs his subordinate to [[spoiler: release a virus]] in each of the Soviet satellite states.
** ''Literature/TheDeadZone'' has a relatively minor one: Johnny Smith's vision of a future nuclear apocalypse ushered in by President Greg Stillson. Smith predicts that the war will originate in UsefulNotes/SouthAfrica which, at the time the book was written, was pursuing a nuclear weapons program under the direction of the ''apartheid'' government. However, South Africa dismantled its arsenal in 1989, three years before Smith predicted Stillson would be elected.
* ''Literature/TheZone'' WorldWarIII novels by Creator/JamesRouch (written in the 1980s, though an actual year is never mentioned) are now referred to as AlternateHistory for this reason.
* Creator/JamesBlish's ''Literature/CitiesInFlight'' series involves the Western democratic government model becoming ever more intolerant, eventually resembling the Soviet model very closely, and then the Soviets winning the war (and absorbing the West) because they were better at being Soviets.
* Creator/MackMaloney's ''{{Literature/Wingman}}'' series, first published in 1984, had World War III take place in the 80s, and in the 90s, some time after the real-life collapse, the Soviet Union (which somehow still exists despite being bombed into oblivion in the war) uses a traitorous Vice President to let them bomb and take over the United States.
* ''Literature/AWomanOfTheIronPeople'' by Creator/EleanorArnason (copyright 1991) not only has the Soviet Union survive, it has communism as the dominant political system of Earth at the time of the First Interstellar Expedition (on which the main characters traveled).
* Creator/JoeHaldeman's book ''Worlds'', written in 1981, is set in roughly 2085, with a significant population living on satellite semi-independent "worlds" in space, but makes note that on Earth, most of Asia is now part of the "Supreme Socialist Union."
* Creator/JohnBrunner's ''Literature/StandOnZanzibar'' actually handles this pretty well, despite being written in 1968. The USSR isn't gone in 2010, but it's mostly defunct and implied to be Communist only in name, and the real threat is ... China. A lot of other predictions in the book are surprisingly accurate as well.
* The short story "Literature/FireWatch" by Creator/ConnieWillis derives substantial drama from time traveller John Bartholomew's difficulty in resolving the cognitive dissonance caused by observing a 20th century British communist serving on the St. Paul's Cathedral fire watch during WWII while knowing that St. Paul's will be destroyed by the USSR during the 21st century. This point is [[RetCon retconned]] in later stories, leaving the plot of "Fire Watch" somewhat confusing.
* In the 1990 short story "The Emperor's Return" by Creator/HarryTurtledove, the Soviet Union invades Turkey in 2003 - and not only that, Greece has gone communist as well and is allied with the USSR. Now, since Turtledove has made most of his career writing AlternateHistory, Fantasy or any possible combination of both[[note]]The story itself features a prophecy and a time-travelling Byzantine emperor[[/note]] it's very easy to {{handwave}} that.
* In the novel ''Literature/PresidentsVampire'' by Creator/ChristopherFarnsworth, Cade, the eponymous vampire, assassinated Osama bin Laden as he was fleeing Tora Bora. This could not be revealed to the public without breaking the {{Masquerade}}, especially after bin Laden [[WeDidntStartTheFuhrer revealed his true form]] as a [[Literature/CthulhuMythos Deep One]]. After bin Laden's real life death, a later book in the series has an offhand mention of the government staging said death for the sake of political capital.
* In ''Literature/VoyageFromYesteryear'' by Creator/JamesPHogan, the Soviet Union is stated to have collapsed in 2021.
* In Creator/SimonHawke's ''Literature/TheWizardOfCamelot'', a resurrected Merlin is nearly assassinated by a Provisional IRA terrorist in 2182. Even if the Good Friday Accords fail in the future, those splinter groups which still agitate against peace in Northern Ireland now spurn the "Provo" name.
* Creator/NormanSpinrad's 1991 novel ''Literature/RussianSpring'' was overtaken by events within months of its publication. The novel was an extrapolation of the events that actually led to the fall of the Soviet Union, but predicted a more gradual, on-going evolution and opening-up. As the old guard of Soviet leaders continued to age and die, a new generation of young Russians became adept at working around the restraints of what was left of Communism, and started a cultural and artistic renaissance that soon became the envy of the rest of Europe, while America became increasingly insular and stagnant.
* The early books of the ''Literature/VenusPrime'' series, being based on old short stories written by Creator/ArthurCClarke and having been started in the eighties, imply that Russia is still Communist, despite taking place at least a century into the future. The last book, written more recently, clarifies that the Soviet Union ''is'' still around (or reformed itself), but the second "S" in USSR stands for something other than "Socialist", and apparently, there are still Russians who want to return their country to socialism; the Soviet colony on Mars featured in the third book was an attempt to pacify them.
* Creator/CliveCussler's ''[[Literature/TheOregonFiles Corsair]]'' is centered in Libya where Muammar Gaddafi announces an increased co-operation with NATO in anti-terrorism efforts. The book was written just two years before the Libyan Civil War.
* Creator/JerryAhern's epic pulp/men's adventure series ''The Survivalist'' begins with the Soviets invading Pakistan to try to stabilize Afghanistan during their occupation of it, which starts a nuclear war. The series continues with post-Apocalyptic schemes between the US and the USSR continuing to dominate the main plotline, including a ''fleet'' of Space Shuttles and some serious Soviet Superscience.
* Louis-Sébastien Mercier's ''L'an 2440'' ("The Year 2440"), published in 1770, is an old example. Predicting what France would be like in 2440, Mercier believes France would still have a hereditary monarchy (albeit a constitutional one), although his future France ''has'', like modern France, seen its nobility abolished.
* ''[[Literature/TheThreeBodyProblem The Dark Forest]]'' by Creator/CixinLiu, originally published in 2008, has a meeting TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture between a former American secretary of defense and an aged Islamic fundamentalist hiding out in Afghanistan who is clearly intended to be — but not named as — Osama bin Laden. The English translation of the book didn't appear until 2015, meaning that the mess-up was baked into it from the start.
* In the web-novel ''Literature/{{Domina}}'', the Soviets are mentioned obliquely a few times even before the reveal that the story takes place [[AlternateTimeline in an alternate 2001]]. The timeline changed in 1970, and apparently one of the effects is that the USSR never fell. The Cold War appears to be long over, though, and the Soviets maintain the space station that serves as the communications hub for the space colonies.
* In the 1965 novel- set in the future- ''Literature/TheStarFox'' by Creator/PoulAnderson, there's a reference to the Russian Republic, which is also noted as being 'amiably inept'. (Poul Anderson was a noted anti-communist).
* Even scholars on the subject were caught off-guard. History Professor Michael Hughes of University College of Wales, in the epilogue to his book ''Nationalism and Society: Germany 1800-1945'', ends with speculation on the subject of German reunification. He quickly dismisses it as impossible, as it would require the dismantling of the Soviet Union and its European Empire. The book was published in ''1988''. On the other hand, he was completely right that the only way for it to happen is if the Soviet Union entered into a terminal collapse. He didn't predict reunification but the correctly assessed what would be needed for reunification to happen, although the Soviet Union limped on for another year after Germany was reunified.
* In an attempt to [[{{defied}} defy]] this, Creator/CharlesStross has put the third book of his ''Literature/HaltingState'' series, ''The Lambda Functionary'', on indefinite hold until UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} decides whether it's going to stay in the United Kingdom or not.
* The original ''Literature/JamesBond'' novels were primarily about Bond fighting agents of the Soviet spy organization SMERSH. But Creator/IanFleming began to worry that the Cold War might end at some point and leave his stories feeling dated. So when writing ''Literature/{{Thunderball}}'', he decided to come up with SPECTRE, an apolitical, multinational terrorist organization with a tendency to [[PlayingBothSides play both sides]] of the Cold War and other conflicts for their own schemes who could fit into any political context imaginable.
* In Creator/AnneMcCaffrey's ''[[Literature/ToRidePegasus Pegasus in Flight]]'', written in 1990, she predicted that Russia would abandon Communism through a continuation of Gorbachev-era policies rather than national collapse. Accordingly, Russia still had Communist-era labor laws on the books that became a plot point in the construction of Padrugoi Station. ''Pegasus in Space'' just rolled with it.
* Creator/MaryShelley's ''Literature/TheLastMan'' is set between 2073 and 2100 recording TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt by ThePlague, although most of the story is about the family drama of the main character. Despite happening in the late 21st century all European monarchies are still in place, the Ottoman empire still exists, and so on.
* ''Literature/ThePeaceWar'' opens with a prologue set in 1997, featuring a US Air Force recon mission over the still-existing Soviet Union. It's a relatively minor case, though, because then the Peace War breaks out and rewrites all the existing political borders.
* ''Literature/IslandsInTheNet'': The Soviet Union is portrayed as lasting into the 2020s.
* Creator/ArthurCClarke's original novel ''Literature/RendezvousWithRama'', first published in 1973, is set in what is still the pretty distant future (the 2130s) and anything resembling 20th century geopolitics is serenely absent from Clarke's basically very utopian setting. In the sequel ''Literature/RamaII'' (written with Gentry Lee) the authors have essentially pushed a great big reset button on the original novel's whole utopian-futuristic setting, and various characters are described as "Soviets"...and the book was published in 1989, [[UsefulNotes/BerlinWall of all years]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* A poster in ''Series/RedDwarf'', on board on a ship that left the solar system in either the 21st, 22nd or 23rd century depending on the series, features a rather prominent Soviet flag. There was also an episode in which the characters become convinced they're in Bulgaria, and seem to think it's still part of the Communist bloc.
* Chekov mentioned Leningrad in two separate episodes of ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' and, unlike the ''Trek'' example above in film, both are clearly references to the city. On the plus side, Chekov always referred to his homeland as "Russia", never uttering the words "Soviet Union" or "USSR". It's unknown whether the writers imagined the Soviet Union will still exist in the future.[[note]]Funnily enough, Creator/AntonYelchin, who later played him in the new movies, was actually ''from'' Leningrad before his family emigrated to the US.[[/note]]
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'':
** The second episode featured the SS ''Tsiolkovsky'' whose dedication plaque reveals that it was built and launched in the USSR in 2363.
** In the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E12TheHighGround The High Ground]]", Data casually mentions that a series of terrorist attacks led to the reunification of Ireland into a single state in 2024. At the point the episode was released (1990), a peace treaty was seen as utterly ''inconceivable'', and many believe the only way for that to happen would be for the United Kingdom to collapse. Of course, reunification in full has still not happened, but time will tell whether this prediction will come true depending on how Brexit goes. Incidentally, the reference to Ireland being reunited due to terrorism led to this episode being banned on British television for years afterward. It was finally shown on the BBC in 2007. It has never been shown on Irish television. With unionist parties winning fewer Northern Irish seats than pro-reunification parties in the 2019 general election, it’s looking like Star Trek may actually have been slightly late in its prediction. It still wouldn’t be right about the terrorism.
* In-universe in the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Future's End". When ''Voyager'' is sent back to 1996, Tom Paris, the ship's expert on the 20th Century, enlists the aid of an astronomer called Rain Robinson, claiming to be a CIA agent investigating a Soviet plot. When she tells him the USSR collapsed five years ago, he pauses for a second and replies "That's what they ''want'' you to think!"
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** While not being explicit about it, the story ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E1WarriorsOfTheDeep Warriors of the Deep]]'' (set circa 2084) involves two superpowers armed with nuclear weapons that highly mistrust each other. The Doctor even comments that nothing has changed: "There are still two power blocs, fingers poised to annihilate each other." To make things vaguer, Ingrid Pitt's character has an Eastern European accent (she was born in Poland). However this is more a case of DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything, as we're never told that they're the same as the USSR and the NATO countries, merely that [[EternalRecurrence the same political situation has arisen]].
** The {{Novelization}} doesn't even have the half-assed aversion; the blocs are named as East and West, and the sea base residents (the "good guys") are from the West Bloc, while the East Bloc has a policy of "uniformity, obedience and central control". It was ''not'' adapted by the original writer, and shoots any subtlety in the original setup stone dead.
** Several UNIT stories produced in both the 70s and the 80s also mention the "end of the Cold War" but still have a USSR. This combines The Great Politics Mess-Up with the UNIT dating mess-up, since UNIT stories were notoriously vague and contradictory as to whether they were TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture or ThePresentDay.
* The miniseries ''Series/{{Amerika}}'' posits a U.S. that was taken over by the Soviet Union in 1987 and was now Soviet-occupied territory. The reason given in the movie as to why this happens is "[[{{Anvilicious}} American apathy]]." To contrast, there is also a novel entitled ''USSA: United Soviet States of America'', which is a murder mystery set in American-occupied Russia.
* [[Series/TheColbertReport Stephen Colbert]] insists the Cold War is ''still going on'', and has periodic Cold War Updates whenever anything newsworthy happens in Russia.
* The introduction to 'Kickpuncher' in ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "[[Recap/CommunityS1E15RomanticExpressionism Romantic Expressionism]]".
-->'''Kickpuncher Narrator:''' "It is the year 2006 A.D. and nuclear war has ravaged the planet."\\
'''Abed:''' "Must have missed that."
* ''Series/StarCops'' includes a recurring character who is generally referred to as Russian, but clearly has the Soviet flag on his uniform. The premise seems such that the major UsefulNotes/ColdWar tensions have eased and the two superpowers have learned to get along...more or less. Sort of like the way it is now between the US and Russia.
* The first episode of ''Series/{{Space 1999}}'' has a news report referring to Yugoslavia. ''Technically'', Serbia and Montenegro still called itself Yugoslavia until 2003 (although they had a hard time getting the rest of the world to do the same), but Yugoslavia as it was known in the 70s ceased to exist in 1992.
* Creator/CarlSagan's ''Series/CosmosAPersonalVoyage'', which was produced in TheEighties, featured in the original run afterwords in each episode that mentioned the Soviet Union. Later the Special Edition of the TheNineties acknowledged this trope in more updated afterwords like the one on the final episode "Who Speaks for Earth?", where it mentions that the world has changed: "Walls have come down and Irreconcilable Ideologies have embraced" while showing footage of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the abolition of Apartheid in South Africa and the iconic handshake between Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin in front of Bill Clinton.
* In ''Series/MoonbaseThree'', the Soviet Union still exists in 2003. It operates Moonbase 2, one of five lunar outposts (the others being operated by the US, Europe, China and Brazil). Furthermore, in the fifth episode "Castor and Pollux", it is revealed that the Soviets are on the verge of sending a manned mission to UsefulNotes/{{Mars}} and that their long-term goal is to launch a manned orbital flight of UsefulNotes/{{Jupiter}} using Mars as a springboard.
* ''Series/LogansRun'': In "Man Out of Time", the Soviet Union seemingly still existed in 2119 as a newspaper headline reads "Eastern Bloc Demands Time Travel Controls."
* ''Series/TheLastManOnEarth'' offhandedly depicts Mike Pence as being the 46th president of the United States, aligning with common predictions in the late 2010's that he'd emerge as a potential successor to UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump, under whom he served as vice president. The ''actual'' 46th president would end up being UsefulNotes/JoeBiden, whose election coincidentally occurred during a pandemic similar to the one depicted in the show.
* The PBS game show adaptation of ''Series/WhereInTheWorldIsCarmenSandiego'' had the misfortune of being launched just as the USSR was on the verge of collapse, meaning that by the second season, anything related to it or Eastern Europe in the first season reruns was already outdated. This, combined with chronic instability in the third world, prompted a disclaimer to be added: "All geographic information was accurate as of the date this program was recorded." It also necessitated constant updating of the maps used on the show, sometimes overnight according to ''WebVideo/{{Defunctland}}''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* Music/DavidBowie's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWtsV50_-p4 "Where Are We Now?"]] reeks of [[WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell Cold War-era nostalgia]], likely inspired by David Bowie's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bowie#1976.E2.80.9379:_the_Berlin_era Berlin period]], and is a reflection on post-reunification Germany.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* The second edition of the ''TabletopGame/{{Cyberpunk}}'' game (''Cyberpunk 2020'') was published in 1990. The fall of the Soviet Union is mentioned in the timeline (as is Germany's reunification), but the Soviet Union did not split up as in OTL. Instead, it reformed into the Federation of Soviet Republics, which is basically what would have happened if ''perestroika'' had led to roughly the same type of economic reforms as happened in China under Deng Xiaoping in OTL.
* The first edition of ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' had references to the Soviet Union in its future history, while the second swapped these out for the Russian Federation. Later editions said to hell with it and admitted the game's timeline is an AlternateHistory.
* This hit the game ''TabletopGame/{{Twilight 2000}}'' particularly hard, as the premise of the game was that it was set during or just after WorldWarIII, after the Soviets had rolled over the Fulda Gap... in the year 2000. They tried a {{Retcon}} that only ended up torking off the Germans (predicating the war on [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Germany's invading Poland]]...) before reverting to the original plot, throwing up their hands and declaring it an AlternateTimeline.
* Most of the relevant parts of the ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' timeline are in the middle parts of the 31st century, so it's a petty detail -- but the game's timeline includes a ''second'' "Soviet Civil War" in the early 21st century, just before the first manned flight to Mars. Newer materials haven't retconned this; presumably, it's just assumed to be an alternate reality.
** Actually similar to ''Shadowrun'' (only logical since both were created by the same company), it was at one point mentioned that an attempted retcon to the Russian Federation was made, before the creators gave up and as much as declared (Particularly joked on on the ''[=BattleTech=]'' forums) that ''[=BattleTech=]'' is not our future but rather the future of the mid 1980s. Which actually explains quite a bit, including the bulk of much of the computer equipment in the game in comparison to modern computers and the like.
* Steve Jackson Games' ''TabletopGame/{{Illuminati}}'' card game (first published in [[TheEighties 1982]]) assigned groups various alignments that (mostly) came in opposing pairs; one opposing pair was "Government" and "Communist". When they adapted the concept into the ''Illuminati: New World Order'' CollectibleCardGame (in [[TheNineties 1995]]), "Communist" was demoted from an alignment to a secondary "attribute", and the "[[OneNationUnderCopyright Corporate]]" alignment was introduced as the new opposite to "Government".
* ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'' has some kind of world-ending catastrophe in its {{backstory}}, and though the details are vague and obscured by time, secrecy and misinformation, the main culprits that The Computer suspects are Communists, hinting at WorldWarIII. Not surprising, since the game first came out in TheEighties, but not the first people you'd blame these days. On the other hand, [[FutureImperfect records of the past are so mangled and manipulated]] that it hasn't affected the setting. In fact, the core drives behind the setting have proven remarkably resilient. As the Kickstarter for the 2015 edition says, "The original Paranoia was a product of, well, Cold War paranoia. Today, we have no need to be paranoid! The NSA and GCHQ work tirelessly to ensure that we are all safe and secure against the pervasive threat of Commie mutant trai.... Uh, I mean, evil, crazed terrorists."
* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Terradyne'' has a much-reduced (with only five republics left) USSR in the year 2120. Again, this was written in the period where it was expected that some states would peel off from the Union but not that it would break completely.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'' has a weird example. The {{Sourcebook}} ''Warlords of Russia'' was written well after the fall of the Soviet Union (the game itself came out in 1991), yet one of the power blocs mentioned in the setting is a group called the "Sovietski." The book explains that they are the remnants of a second Soviet Union that was formed in the 21st Century before the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Coming of the Rifts]].
* The default setting for ''TabletopGame/{{Champions}}'' displayed a classic great mix-up turnaround. ''Red Doom'', a 3rd edition supplement, was published in 1988, and depicted a pair of official Soviet superteams -- "The Supreme Soviets", who were basically loyal to the state, if only because that suited their ambitious leader, Colonel Vasalov, and who thus tended to operate in the range from {{Worthy Opponent}}s to DirtyCommunists, and their auxiliary team, the "Comintern", who were created as something of a dumping-ground for less reliable or more independent-minded supers, and who could thus be more likely to come across as ChummyCommies. (Both included non-Russian members.) However, by the time the characters were updated for the 4th edition in ''Classic Enemies'' (1991), they needed major changes. One group, "Red Doom", had gone rogue, with Colonel Vasalov aiming to depose President Gorbachev and take over Russia, thus falling into the RenegadeRussian category (though the team still had several non-Russian members); the other characters had become an independent hero team, the "New Guard", albeit still loyal to their various homelands and so potentially able to operate at cross-purposes to western heroes, making them basically ChummyCommies who weren't especially communist.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theatre]]
* The musical ''Theatre/{{Chess}}'' was originally released as a ConceptAlbum in 1984, at the height of the Reagan-era Cold War tensions. Set in the "current day", the plot relied heavily on those tensions. By the time it reached Broadway in 1988, ''glasnost'' was in full swing and the impending fall of the Soviet Union was already visible on the horizon. As a result, vast swathes of the story -- and several of the songs -- had to be rewritten to accommodate the new political reality. (For instance: in one of the dropped songs, the civil servants of the British embassy complained that so many Russians defecting to the West "makes you wonder what they built the Berlin wall for"; in a newly written song, a CIA agent and a KGB agent agree to cooperate to the point where "the Berlin wall becomes a backyard fence.") Modern revivals of the show seem to be getting round this by more-or-less sticking to the plot of the album, and simply making the whole thing an early-80s period piece.
* The avant-garde playwright Richard Foreman titled his 2001 play ''Now That Communism Is Dead, My Life Feels Empty!''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* This is a common trope in very old sports games (especially in sport simulations like ''VideoGame/FootballManager'') since you can manage teams from pre-UsefulNotes/ColdWar era and control them until beyond the 90s without any changes.
* The original arcade edition of ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' was released less than a year before the fall of the Soviet Union and had one of its fighters, namely Zangief, as a Soviet representative. His ending sequence even features Mikhail Gorbachev, who is helicoptered in to congratulate him on his victory, espousing the greatness of the "Soviet spirit". Despite subsequent editions of the game being released after the fall of the Soviet Union, Zangief's nationality and ending remained unchanged, although the SNES and Genesis ports attempted to somewhat fix that by having Zangief address Gorbachev as "Mr. Ex-President". This was [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in the [[VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha Alpha]] series, which took place chronologically before ''Street Fighter II'', but other games don't have this excuse. It wasn't until ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'' that Zangief's nationality was officially changed to the Russian Federation, with the current flag. To make it even less consistent, ''Hyper Street Fighter II'', released in 2004, changed the flag of Hong Kong from its earlier British colonial flag to its current five petal design while keeping Zangief's Soviet nationality. And Hong Kong was under British control for the entire history of the Soviet Union! "Ultra Street Fighter II" for the Nintendo Switch, however, replaced the USSR's flag and voice line with Russia's.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake'', first released for the [=MSX2=] in 1990, not only predicts that the Soviet Union will still be around in 1999, it also features a character named Natasha Marcova (Gustava Heffner in later versions) who works for the [=StB=] (the Czechoslovakian Secret Police), a real-life organization that was dissolved during the very same year the game was released.
* The original ''VideoGame/StriderArcade'' assumes that the Soviet Union will still be around by the year 2048. In fact, the first stage is set in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, a former Soviet state now known as UsefulNotes/{{Kazakhstan}}. In most of ''Strider'''s sequels, the political future of the world is not addressed, but in the [[VideoGame/Strider2014 2014 remake]] the developers simply ran with the original idea and you're still chopping up Cossacks and proletariat dragons all while a a man over a PA system spews vaguely socialist-sounding idioms.
* ''VideoGame/{{Harpoon}}'' was released in 1989 and one expansion pack assumed that the Soviet Union would still exist in 1996. After the USSR's collapse, there was a big scramble to create new scenarios that weren't obsolete. Of course, since it was a simulation the existing ones were still developed.
* ''VideoGame/{{Aerobiz}}'': The second entry in the series predicted supersonic airliners and 1000+ passenger super-jumbo jets in the 2000s, missing the large scale move from regular airliners to smaller, more fuel-efficient Regional Jets for most small and medium-sized routes. It also failed to portray a large number of very prominent cities that cropped up in the late 1990s & early 2000s, such as Dubai, and the terrible economic impact that the 2000's would have on airlines around the world.
** On a lesser scale, it also predicted the next Airbus airliner would be the A350 (which didn't even enter design stage until ''2004'', with the first prototype taking flight in ''2010''), and that [=McDonnell=]-Douglas would produce the early concept "MD-12" (a stretched MD-11) and still be an independent manufacturer.
* ''VideoGame/{{Aleste}} 2'', released in 1989, is set in 2039 and features the skyline of New York in a cutscene that features the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, as no one at the time could've predicted that [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror the Twin Towers would fall victim to a terrorist attack in 2001]].
* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' inherited some of this from its source material.
--> '''[[LetsPlay Let's Player]] [=SkillUp=]:''' We're going to meet a Soviet weapons dealer in 2077? ''[{{Beat}} while he reads chat]'' "The tabletop game was released in the 80's." That is a very good point.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* The Literature/ChaosTimeline has its own version for in-universe works done before [[spoiler:the Logo and AI-induced abortion of World War III]] but set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture.
* Played with in ''1983: Doomsday.'' The Soviet Union survives as the Union of Sovereign Socialist Republics, and is one of the main powers in the post-WorldWarIII world. But it's the ''United States'' that (largely) [[DividedStatesOfAmerica splinters into several survivor countries and factions]].
* ''Webcomic/KnightsOfBuenaVista'' is a CampaignComic covering the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon. When they are playing ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'', it turns out that Zangief still doesn't know the USSR fell, and no one's had the heart to tell him.
* After the 2016 Brexit vote, the satirical news website ''The Babylon Bee'' ran a [[http://babylonbee.com/news/dispensationalists-frantically-adjust-charts-include-brexit-vote/ story]] saying that the "leave" result had sent pre-millennial dispensationalist Christians scrambling to adjust their end-of-the-world predictions to compensate (because many of said theories relied on the European Union being the first step to the one-world government of TheAntichrist).
* [[http://www.rpc-wiki.net/rpc-037 RPC-037]] are [[DirtyCommunists communist]] MoleMen with a SovietSuperscience [[EarthquakeMachine earthquake machine]] designed to [[DoomsdayDevice detonate the yellowstone caldera]] in the event of the Soviet Union's defeat. [[spoiler:[[BluffingTheAdvanceScout Fortunately for the surface world, they're incredibly gullible.]]]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'': When studying Presidents with Max, Terry has trouble remembering who came after Clinton, which Max describes as "the boring one." Unless something even bigger than UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror occurred between 2001 and the time of ''Beyond'' - which, at least as of 2021, [[UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump it seems to have]] - boring is not a word to describe Bush's tenure. This is certainly a reference to UsefulNotes/AlGore, Clinton's vice president who at the time the episode was made was believed by the writers as likely to succeed Clinton as president and who had a reputation for being perceived as boring. Then again, there ''was'' [[{{WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague}} that time]] ''ComicBook/LexLuthor'' [[{{ItMakesSenseInContext}} ran for]] [[{{OurPresidentsAreDifferent}} President]]...
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'', being the AnachronismStew that is, has the Soviet Union as a recurring villain, despite being ostensibly set in the present day.
* The Soviet Union somehow exists in the third season of ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'', produced in 1986 and [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture set in 2006]].
* The animated series ''WesternAnimation/SpiralZone'', produced in 1987 but set in 2007, assumes that the Soviet Union still exists in the early 21st century.
* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'' ran straight into this. The show began airing September 1990, at which time Linka (wind) was from the Soviet Union in the introductory opening. When they finally got around to updating the intro (it took a while), she was from Eastern Europe. [[note]]The USSR covered a big chunk of Asia as well as Europe, but Asia was Gi's continent of origin. Also, most of the USSR's ''population'' lived in the European part of it.[[/note]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', Rumble [=McSkirmish=], a character from a ''Videogame/StreetFighterII'' parody brought to the real world, orders Dipper to take him to the Soviet Union, who responds how that's going to be difficult for a number of reasons.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other]]
* After the 1975 Apollo Soyuz mission and the seeming de-escalation of the Cold War, a lot of western artistic maps, the sort one might mind embedded into a floor, started to finally include the Soviet Union by name. This continued right up until the Soviet Union collapsed. You can still find quite a lot of these that haven't been altered yet. The map in the floor of Dallas Love Field that still proudly displays were the Soviet Union is has become rather famous.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Much of the "provisional" government buildings in {{UsefulNotes/Bonn}} were being replaced in the 1970s, after everybody had accepted that the partition of Germany would last forever and they just might as well build decent government buildings if they had to stay in Bonn. German unity was actually debated in a former water distribution plant while a new parliament was being built. Some ministers still have their official seat of office in Bonn and most of the others have an official secondary seat there. Some other former government buildings have been given to international organizations and still most of the "shiny new" buildings from the 70s sit empty today.
** Similarly, the building in the former East Berlin, that housed the nearest thing [[{{UsefulNotes/EastGermany}} the German Democratic Republic]] had to a parliament, remained empty and mouldering, utterly redundant, for a long time after 1990. The new administration simply didn't know what the hell to do with a redundant white elephant of a building complex (which wasn't helped by the discovery of thousands of tons of asbestos in the building). The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_the_Republic,_Berlin Palace of the Republic]] was finally knocked down in 2008, to make way for a reconstruction of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Palace the building]] which had been demolished to make way for the Peoples' Palace[[note]]The Berlin Palace, the former royal seat of the kings of Prussia, which the Russians wanted rid of, as a symbolic gesture that Prussian militarism was dead[[/note]]...
* In 1922 British Prime Minister David Lloyd George suggested that a good temporary solution to the growing religious, political and territorial tensions in Ireland would be to allow the more British-leaning counties of Ulster to be governed from Belfast, while the remainder of the region would be governed from Dublin with the two governments being separately elected and be allowed to pursue different policy paths. A century later, this "temporary" solution appears to have become permanent, albeit with some [[UsefulNotes/TheTroubles troubles]] at times.
* [=McDonald's=] managed to get hit with this melded with AssumedWin during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. The restaurant chain held a contest where people could win free food if their tickets showed the United States winning medals in certain events... that were perennial locks for the Soviet Union and the rest of the Eastern Bloc to take home gold in. Sounds like a great plan, right? Well, after the tickets were printed and the promo was all ready to go... [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere The USSR and much of the Warsaw Pact boycotted the Olympics in retaliation for the US and a number of NATO-aligned nations boycotting the 1980 Moscow Olympics.]] [=McDonald's=] took a bath on all the prize redemptions they were obligated to honor. This was parodied on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', when Krusty Burger did the exact same thing.
[[/folder]]

* [=McDonald's=] managed to get hit with this melded with DeweyDefeatsTruman during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. The restaurant chain held a contest where people could win free food if their tickets showed the United States winning medals in certain events... that were perennial locks for the Soviet Union and the rest of the Eastern Bloc to take home gold in. Sounds like a great plan, right? Well, after the tickets were printed and the promo was all ready to go... [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere The USSR and much of the Warsaw Pact boycotted the Olympics in retaliation for the US and a number of NATO-aligned nations boycotting the 1980 Moscow Olympics.]] [=McDonald's=] took a bath on all the prize redemptions they were obligated to honor. This was parodied on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', when Krusty Burger did the exact same thing.

** "Literature/LetsGetTogether": There are two superpowers who are usually referred to as "Us" and "Them", who maintain a [[BalanceOfPower delicate stalemate]]. It's supposed to be [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar America against Russia]] despite being set [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture decades into the future]], where DeceptivelyHumanRobots are used as weapons of [[TheMole infiltration]] designed to [[ActionBomb explode]] when they [[TitleDrop get together]]. It is, however, mentioned that They are no longer called "Russia" or "the Communists" or even "the East", because none of those are particularly accurate descriptions. It also correctly predicts the reunification of Germany.

** "Literature/LetsGetTogether": There are two superpowers who are usually referred to as "Us" and "Them", who maintain a [[BalanceOfPower delicate stalemate]]. It's supposed to be [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar America against Russia]] despite being set [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture decades into the future]], where DeceptivelyHumanRobots are used as weapons of [[TheMole infiltration]] designed to [[ActionBomb explode]] when they [[TitleDrop get together]].

Compare ScienceMarchesOn, FutureSocietyPresentValues, and EndOfAnAge. See also IWantMyJetPack, DeweyDefeatsTruman, and {{Zeerust}}. See also MakeTheBearAngryAgain if the mess-up is somehow reversed, and {{Jossed}} if this trope applies to canonical changes.

Compare ScienceMarchesOn, SocietyMarchesOn and EndOfAnAge. See also IWantMyJetPack, DeweyDefeatsTruman, and {{Zeerust}}. See also MakeTheBearAngryAgain if the mess-up is somehow reversed, and {{Jossed}} if this trope applies to canonical changes.

** There were some other mess ups in-universe that were mostly corrected. There was a WorldWarIII during the mid 90's, and a [[WorldWarWhatever World War IV]] in 2019-2020, and the United States was separated into three countries after a civil war that took part during World War IV (of which most of the main characters are veterans).[[note]]The American Empire AKA Imperial Americana makes up the largest part of the country, with all the states east of New Mexico, south of South Dakota, and south of the New England area, including Washington D.C. The still democratic United States Of America was reduced to the states of Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and Wisconsin. The New England states, California, Oregon, Alaska, and Hawaii became the socialist Ameri-Soviet Union (revised to the Russo-American Alliance after 1992).[[/note]] And as a side note, Berlin was mostly bombed to pieces in the latter two wars.

* [=McDonald's=] managed to get hit with this melded with DeweyDefeatsTruman during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. The restaurant chain held a contest where people could win free food if their tickets showed the United States winning medals in certain events... that were perennial locks for the Soviet Union and the rest of the Eastern Bloc to take home gold in. Sounds like a great plan, right? Well, after the tickets were printed and the promo was all ready to go... [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere The USSR and much of the Warsaw Pact boycotted the Olympics in retaliation for the US and a number of NATO-aligned nations boycotting the 1980 Moscow Olympics.]] [=McDonald's=] took a bath on all the prize redemptions they were obligated to honor. This was parodied on ''WesternAnimation/The Simpsons'', when Krusty Burger did the exact same thing.

** Similarly, the building in the former East Berlin, that housed the nearest thing [[{{UsefulNotes/EastGermany}} the German Democratic Republic]] had to a parliament, remained empty and mouldering, utterly redundant, for a long time after 1990. The new administration simply didn't know what the hell to do with a redundant white elephant of a building complex (which wasn't helped by the discovery thousands of tons of asbestos in the building). The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_the_Republic,_Berlin Palace of the Republic]] was finally knocked down in 2008, to make way for a reconstruction of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Palace the building]] which had been demolished to make way for the Peoples' Palace[[note]]The Berlin Palace, the former royal seat of the kings of Prussia, which the Russians wanted rid of, as a symbolic gesture that Prussian militarism was dead[[/note]]...

* The USSR still exists in ''Film/BladeRunner2049'' as a deliberate attempt to maintain the aesthetic of the first film. Also serves as this for JapanTakesOverTheWorld.

* The USSR still exists in ''Film/BladeRunner2049'' as a deliberate attempt to maintain the aesthetic of the first film.

Prior to UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, it was common to hear experts claiming that [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn the Soviet Union]] was about to fall in a matter of years. During the first five months of the Soviet-German War, some in the U.S., Britain and Germany believed it would collapse within months. But from the winter of '41-2 onward, the Soviet Union acquired most of its fuel and war material from the U.S. via UK/USSR-occupied Iran, and by the war's end the opposite mood had set in. Many thought the Soviet Union would last forever, or long into the foreseeable future, and maybe even win the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. It was thus assumed that the end of the USSR could only come as part of the general [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt End Of Everything]] -- most likely as a result of [[WorldWarIII nuclear war]]. The relatively peaceful end that took place at the dawn of TheNineties was unexpected and [[WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell even mourned]] [[TooGoodForExploiters by some.]]

Naturally there will be many references to divided Berlin and divided Germany in any genre of fiction set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture but written before 1989. A lot of fiction written shortly before the unexpected events and set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture without those vital events in place can seem [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece funny in hindsight]].

Compare ScienceMarchesOn, SocietyMarchesOn and EndOfAnAge. See also IWantMyJetPack, DeweyDefeatsTruman and {{Zeerust}}. See also MakeTheBearAngryAgain if the mess-up is somehow reversed, and {{Jossed}} if this trope applies to canonical changes.

* In ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' the Soviet Union was certainly around, evidenced by Dr. Heywood Floyd's meeting with some fellow space scientists from the Soviet side on his way to the Moon. The book also detailed a USA-USSR pact opposing China, which is the opposite of what happened in real life, but was plausible in the 1960s when written due to border clashes between China and the Soviet Union (Creator/HunterSThompson was writing about the possibility as late as 1974, although that's partly [[AuthorTract because of his conviction]] that UsefulNotes/RichardNixon was the Devil).
* By contrast, the plot of ''Film/TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact'' revolves almost entirely around UsefulNotes/ColdWar tensions between the Soviet astronauts piloting the Alexei Leonov and the Americans who need their help to reach [[spoiler: the wreck of the Discovery]]. Although not the book's, which is why a few lines about peace are tacked on with the message at the end of the film.

* Ditto in the surprisingly entertaining Brendan Fraser film ''Film/BlastFromThePast''. After emerging from their fallout shelter after three or so decades, the father (Christopher Walken) refuses to believe that the Soviet Union collapsed without a fight. "I bet they asked us for aid!" It's all an EvilPlan to get our money! DirtyCommunists! At the end he's setting up to build another bunker, convinced they never ''really'' collapsed.
* In ''Film/{{Underground}}'', a group of Serbian war refugees is duped into spending 20 years below ground making weapons to fight the Nazis, being told that the war continues to rage above their heads. When a few escape, they're quite confused.
* Averted in ''Film/AGoodDayToDieHard'', which includes a scene where John [=McClane=] and a friend talk in an NYPD shooting range with a picture of President Obama in the background. The film was released in 2013 but filmed prior to the 2012 presidential election. Therefore a second version of the scene was shot with a picture of Mitt Romney in the background as insurance in case of a Republican victory.

* In the film version of Pushkin's poem ''Literature/{{Onegin}}'', there is a throwaway line about communism, which is pretty good going for a story published 16 years before the Communist Manifesto. A less egregious example of this as regards foresight about 1917 comes in the 1990s Sean Bean/Sophie Marceau version of ''Film/AnnaKarenina'', where Vronsky is the one making throwaway remarks about the coming of communism in the 1880s, when such fears would have been more realistic, though still slightly misplaced. It seems from historical films about Russia set in the 19th century that the whole country had nothing better to do than to muse upon its ultimate 20th century fate.

* Played straight in 2007's ''Film/PlanetTerror'', in which the leader of the infected soldiers claims ''his'' team had already killed bin Laden, but the circumstances would've embarrassed his superiors so they kept it quiet.
* Inverted in ''Film/CoolRunnings'', which was made in 1993 and set in 1988. At one point, the flag of UsefulNotes/TheNewRussia is anachronistically included amongst the flags of the nations competing at the 1988 Winter Olympics. Period appropriate Soviet flags and insignia are seen elsewhere in the film, however.

** The ''2001'' series had a sort-of double mess-up. In the first book (and movie), though the USSR is still around, it and the US are cooperating and have friendly relations (as shown by Floyd chatting casually with Soviet citizens, who are also clearly friends, on the space station. They even inform each other that they're always welcome to come by to visit ''whenever they just happen to be in each other's countries''). When Clarke wrote ''2010'' (in 1982) it was obvious the real-world US and USSR were not quite being so friendly, so he decided that there should be conflict between the Soviet and American astronauts because of their respective countries' rivalry (though not as blatant as in the film, where the two countries are at the brink of war). Of course, fast forward to the ''real'' year 2001, where Soviet Union is gone, the US is supreme, and where, in fact, Russia and the US ''are building a joint space station'', though not one as big and fancy as the one in the book.

* The original arcade edition of ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' was released less than a year before the fall of the Soviet Union and had one of its fighters, namely Zangief, as a Soviet representative. His ending sequence even features Mikhail Gorbachev, who is helicoptered in to congratulate him on his victory, espousing the greatness of the "Soviet spirit". Despite subsequent editions of the game being released after the fall of the Soviet Union, Zangief's nationality and ending remained unchanged, although the SNES and Genesis ports attempted to somewhat fix that by having Zangief address Gorbachev as "Mr. Ex-President". This was [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in the [[VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha Alpha]] series, which took place chronologically before ''Street Fighter II'', but other games don't have this excuse. It wasn't until ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'' that Zangief's nationality was officially changed to the Russian Federation, with the current flag. To make it even less consistent, ''Hyper Street Fighter II'', released in 2004, changed the flag of Hong Kong from its earlier British colonial flag to its current five petal design while keeping Zangief's Soviet nationality. And Hong Kong was under British control for the entire history of the Soviet Union!

Prior to UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, it was common to hear experts claiming that [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn the Soviet Union]] was about to fall in a matter of years. During the first five months of the Soviet-German War, some in the U.S., Britain and Germany believed it would collapse within months. But from the winter of '41-2 onward, the Soviet Union acquired most of its fuel and war material from the U.S. via UK/USSR-occupied Iran, and by the war's end the opposite mood had set in. Many thought the Soviet Union would last forever, or long into the foreseeable future, and maybe even win the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. It was thus assumed that the end of the USSR could only come as part of the general [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt End Of Everything]] -- most likely as a result of [[WorldWarIII nuclear war]]. The relatively peaceful end that took place at the dawn of TheNineties was unexpected and [[WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell even mourned]] by some.

* ''Literature/FullDisclosure:'' The novel takes place during the administration of the 41st president of the United Staes. Israel and the Arabs are allies, China and Japan have become one country, America and the Soviets are allies, and most of the U.S. government cabinet positions have been combined to form consolidated departments (for a total of five secretaries, and the attorney general).