i can relate to the original article and most of the views expressed in the thread; in South Africa (where i lived as a student) you can find a lot of agressive men of the big, strong, Rugby playing type. More often then not they have beautiful girls at their sides and display the 'hey, did you just look at my girlfriend - i am going to hit you' (that is if you were lucky enough to be warned first) mentality, ascociated here with russian men. While stereotyping invariably carries a certain amount of truth (otherwise why would so many recognise it as a cultural or regional trait) there are as ever just as many exceptions - luckily so. As to the ladies they ideally would want a bit of both worlds (as already expressed by some here). Therein the secret lies; as a man you better be able to read (and feel) a womans mind and be able to adjust your behaviour; you cannot be predictably either the 'russian' not the 'american' streotype (unless your intent is of short duration anyway). The successful psychological strategy needs to play (target) the mind before body (as in telling a beautiful lady lady you are pursuing of how intelligent she is whereas telling the clever lady of how beautiful she is). Just as well this works...how boring otherwise.