Here's a note that should really piss off some assholes:
My novel ties in (by implication) with the novel A Clockwork Orange. It's done in a couple of ways, and both of them are very subtle. In the Historian's Note, it's mentioned that Russia scours radical Islam from Europe and the U.K. Wipes it out. All radical muslims rounded up, publicly executed as an example to the rest, and defiled behorehand in such a manner that they are not martyred but dishonored before their tiny little primitive god.
So Russia saves Europe. As a result of that, Russian influence in Europe and the U.K. becomes so pervasive that one of the side effects is British kids adopting a whole armada of Russian loan-words into their vocabulary.
That's "NADSAT", the patois used by the main characters in A Clockwork Orange.
Second instance that reinforces that connection is the appearance of a vehicle called a Durango 88. Precursor, conjecturally, of the Durango 95 which appears in ACO.