ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the perceptions that can be found in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, the United States and Canada with respect to the significance of questions and with regard to the various answers, in political debates as well as in scholarly literature. The West concluded from its perceptions that the U.S.S.R. was planning to spread communism all over the globe by the use of force, and the U.S.S.R. assumed that the capitalist powers would destroy the home of socialism, that is, the U.S.S.R, if they would get a chance to do this with impunity. Stressing the significance of perceptions does not mean that facts and figures do not matter. But facts and figures are assessed, judged and weighed by perceptions, as is demonstrated by the observation that opposing parties often do not agree as to what the facts and figures are.
