I pose this question because I am genuinely puzzled and shocked by the anti-Russian bigotry, not only with respect to U.S. policy, but also the irrational prejudice evident among so many Americans. The hatred might make sense if Russia had attacked the United States and killed millions. Anger over such bloodshed would be rational and understandable. But Russia has not done that.
The average American who has some knowledge of history (this is a minority), generally conflates modern Russia under Putin with the Soviet Union under Stalin. There is the widespread, delusional belief that Russia is still a communist state intent on spreading Marxist doctrine and subverting western democracies.
But the hatred of Russia pre-dates the October Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent rise to power of the Bolsheviks. Most Americans do not speak a foreign language (though the number of Spanish speakers is increasing in tandem with the flood of illegal immigrants crossing the United States’ southern border.
Russia’s military adventures–i.e., invasions of other countries–is a short list–Poland 1939 and Afghanistan 1979. I exclude the Russian military operations in Georgia and Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea in the same way I exclude U.S. military operations in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, and Panama. Both the United States and Russia have a similar policy of using force to control territories adjacent to each of their national borders. I am not arguing that what Russia and the United States was morally or legally right, I am simply noting that if Americans want to cite Georgia, Ukraine and Crimea as justification for hating Russia they, my fellow citizens, need to look in the mirror and realize that the United States is guilty of the same kinds of “crimes.”
If invading other countries is the standard for judging a nation as immoral and dangerous, the history of the United States since the Vietnam war puts the United States in the top position. Americans are quite naive when it comes to self-examination on the foreign policy front. We are convinced that we had good, pure motives for carrying out deadly military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, the Balkans and Panama. We are oblivious to how many in the rest of the world view America’s “benign” imperialism.
If Russia had the track record matching that of the United States then I would understand the source of the hatred directed at Russia.
So what is it? This is a genuine question and I am asking for your thoughtful comments.
One factor that is buried deep in the west’s subconscious mind is the fact that Russia is the only country in Europe (broadly defined) that extirpated Royalty and aristocracy that are still visible in western Europe. America always has taken great pride in the fact that its people are not beholden to a landed aristocracy that accorded Kings and Queens the status of gods. Rulers selected by the Divine. Jesus is Lord. But so is Prince Andrew and Prince Charles. The progeny of Queen Elizabeth are not accorded honor and prestige because they are brilliant, accomplished men. They are merely lucky winners in the sperm casino.
Do we hate Russia because of its oligarchs? Spare me that vacuous argument unless you account for Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, the Rockefellers and the Carnegies on the American side. Are our oligarchs righteous dudes? And what about Americas political oligarchs? Kennedys, Bushes, Clintons, etc. Is it possible that a resurgent Russia poses a threat to the endemic corruption that is rotting western society?
Maybe it is Vladimir Putin’s reputation for corruption and self-enrichment? Well, to quote Jesus, let him who is without sin cast the first stone. What about the corruption of Joe Biden and his whoring spawn?
Or is it Russia’s embrace of tradition Christian values and its persistent refusal to accept homosexuality as normal?
What do you think?
When we speak of Putin, we must understand what Solzhenitsyn had to say about the man in 2007.
“Vladimir Putin- yes he was an officer of intelligence services, but he was not a KGB investigator, nor was he the head of a camp in the gulag. As for service in foreign intelligence, that is not a negative in any country – sometimes it even draws praise. George Bush Sr. was not much criticized for being the ex-head of the CIA, for example.”
In 2014, after Russia came under sanctions for its actions in Crimea, Putin was asked whether relations had soured with America due to Crimea or Syria. “You are mistaken,” Putin told the journalist. “Think about Yugoslavia. This is when it started.”
Among the ignorant, I believe the irrational hatred expressed toward Russia is the result of a conflation with Soviet times and the particular kind of communism espoused by the CPSU. From that basis, the ignorant are also easily led astray in their thinking by subtle, targeted uses of language in the Western mass media when characterizing Russia.
Among the learned (and wicked), I believe the hatred has its roots in the over-1000-year-old history of the Russian people, beginning with the Kievan Rus and threaded together since by Russia’s embrace of traditional Orthodox Christianity. The Pharisees, and particularly those who worship the books of the Babylonian Talmud (e.g., the Rabbinical Jews, but not the Karaites), have an inculcated, seething hostility toward Christians of pure faith; this detestation manifests most strongly toward Orthodox Christians for reasons worthy of a separate treatise on schismatic phenomenology in the Christian church. The Pharisees have a long and turbulent history in the traditional Russian lands – mostly the western provinces stretching from Lithuania, down through Poland and Belarus, to the Ukraine – and there is deep historical enmity of a religious and cultural nature in those of Rabbinical Judaic identity who hail from these lands. Negative identity (in this case, the fundamentalist anti-Christian disposition among the Pharisees) is very dangerous, and I think it is the root of the demonization of Russia and her people.
I think a lot of the Russia hatred was inherited from the British. However much Russophobia exists in the United States, double that amount and that’s what you have in the UK.
It has existed well before the communist revolution, British have been hating Russians since Peter the Great. Don’t ask me why. Maybe it’s because Russia is a big and powerful nation that could threaten British dominance, and is different enough in culture and language as to be easily hate-able. If China were the same distance to UK as Russia is then I suppose Sinophobia would be even greater than Russophobia.
I am recollecting this from long ago. Peter the Great wanted sea access. In the north Sweden controlled the access. Sweden had granted “The City of London” the trading rights. Peter decided to confront Sweden. The British said they would help and did not show up. Just as they did not when they said they would support colonialists against the Canadian tribes. The party of Venice/City of London has tried to get it hands on Russian resources ever since. Alexander Hamilton’s Report on Manufactures was translated and published in the early 1800’s in Russia. In fact my oneliner when observing the excallent job Russia is doing resisting the sanctions: “Putin has read his Alexander Hamilton”.
Yes, the historic Russophobia of the British continued during the interwar years–a factor during the appeasement of Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. After the declaration of war in 1939, where was England sending weapons and support? Against Germany? rescuing Poland? To Finland! The hope was, of course, the Winter War would produced a Russian defeat. The Brits attentively nurtured American Russophobia–as they do to this day.
I actually think that with Russia it might be different than with China. China is just too different, too exotic if you will, so there is almost no expectation. Russia, however, is almost European so the implicit thinking could be “They are essentially like us, so why could not they be exactly like us???” The situation could be similar (remotely, but still) to when you are hurt the most by those you hold dear, not by some total strangers.
Spot on Knov. I’m English born and remember attitudes to Russia as a child half a century ago as hostile to say the least. We preferred the Germans and French.
I have a suspicion that the West of Europe has always had a fear of the Slavs, who they have deigned inferior, exploitable. Drang nach ost in German terms.
Western Europe has also the underlying knowledge that every time their civil wars get out of hand the Russians end up having to restore the peace. Napoleon, Hitler. It’s a shameful indictment.
I think the British hatred of Russia begins with Catherine the Great and her support for the United States against the British in the American Revolution. There was also the Russian intervention against the British-supported Confederacy in the Civil War. The British strategy in WW2 was originally to use the Nazis to destroy Russia, but they had to change it when Hitler attacked the Britain and the West. As soon as the war was over, the British waged a relentless propaganda campaign against Russia in the name of anti-Communism which became the first Cold War. Americans were brainwashed by anti-Communist propaganda for three generations. None of this originates with the people of the US or the UK, but from their ruling classes which cannot stand either a free Russia or a free United States.
The US hates Russia and China because they are potential challengers for hegemony
They both have large land masses, large populations and very high human capital
That’s why the cold war never ended, even when Russia and China switched to capitalism. That’s because the cold war was never about capitalism vs communism.
The end goal is to destroy these countries and carve them up into smaller states, and these smaller states will constantly fight with each other over border disputes
If the ottoman empire existed today and was run by a competent dictator they would be a world power
Instead they are now a bunch of tiny countries that are constantly warring with their neighbors over borders while the US plays them off each other
Divide and conquer a strategy as old as time
You are on to something Larry with your Orthodox Christian thought. That is part of it for Orthodox Values do not fit with the perverse western values and is not the Vatican. Also the gact tjat Russia cannot be conquered nor was. That and the fact that Russia has saved Europe from themselves many a time. Was it Zhukov that said, and I paraphrase, „ we saved the Germans from NAZIism and they will never forgive us for it“. You see it today in action.
Zhukov made the same exact statement vis-a-vis the Poles.
Unfortunately so called orthodoxy has perverted Christianity which is why Constantinople fell and the church in Russia is a vassal of the state.
https://vaticancatholic.com/refuting-eastern-orthodox/
As a student in Europe in the 1990s, I was always baffled by Europeans’ penchant to constantly look for a Hate Figure – some foreigner they can blame for everything that is going wrong in the society.
This was/is in contrast to what we do in Africa, which is to blame our insanely-corrupt and incompetent misleaders with neo-colonial mindsets.
It’s the turn of the Russians today, yesterday Jews, Turks, Moroccans, Surinamese, Nigerians have, at one time or the other, all been promoted as the Ogre that threatens society.
Does this have to with Europeans inability or unwillingness to do some self/introspection?
Sorry if I lump the US with Europe; I just don’t see much difference in terms of culture or how they both address the rest of the world – belligerent arrogance!
I moved to Europe several years ago, and I can confirm that it’s still true today. They really do believe they’re the pinnacle of human achievement because there’s some nice art hanging around their decrepit cities.
When I moved here I was told that the EU is the future, that we believe in humanity, blah blah blah. I bought it. Well this same person tried to cancel me from our friend group because I made a joke about those Azovite scum surrendering. So much for human rights!
> Does this have to with Europeans inability or unwillingness to do some self/introspection?
My theory is that (native) Europeans lack this ability because they have no spiritual component in their lives. Unless they take drugs at a music festival. The State is their God now, and She commands they hate the Russians, and so they do.
As a European I agree fully.
As a society we are very self-critical and even self-hating (colonialism, slavery, white supremacy etc.) but all of it are displayed in the context of the state as the new God; a way for the political elite to manipulate the voters to do their bidding by invoking some sort of guilt on their part and then selling the path to salvation (affirmative action, equity, equality and promotion of special interests).
I really agree with Femi. I am a franco-serbian citizen and i live in Western Europe . My country was bombed and demolished by US /EU coalition. Like the beautiful newspeak called it “Humanitarian Bombing “, the bureaucrats in Bruxelles gave it the code name Merciful Angel!!! So west is essentially a misanthrope , they hate everything , they despise all things and all people , including their own! The western despotic kleptocratic oligarchies are full of self-hate , paranoia , moral and ethical rust and decay. So nothing is worth of loving , or at least respecting . Hate , destruction and havoc are their fuel. It’s really psychiatric sickness (pathological paranoia and pathological narcissism) at this level.They kill and torture even french , now . Anyone questioning their “reality” is beaten , intimidated , canceled (Yellow west , anti new experimental drug protestors , labor movements ). Russia is just a media scarecrow , until the next one (China?).
It’s more a ethnic thing – one influential US ethnic group has a absolute mania against Russians and especially Orthodox Christians. It’s a crazy obession with them.
The current hatred of Russia is only a decade old (as opposed to previous hatreds)
In the UK at the moment even or perhaps especially what passes as the liberal/intellectual classes are the most vocal in their detestation. Where has all this anger come from? It has come from where mainstream news is created in the UK, the BBC. That people who regard themselves a well meaning decent folk continuously repeating the most outrageously racist slurs about Russians is normal.
In the UK the BBC is The Game, news outlets like The Guardian and The Telegraph are merely competing teams. The BBC has an astonishing trust rate in the UK, around 70%, a figure so astonishing that you have to question the mental faculties of the population.
So back to who sets the agenda? The obvious answer would be the shadowy powers in the US and WEF. Why? At a guess, the trillions in natural resources to be plundered if they win and the fear of loss of agency if they lose, (or the guillotine)
Yes – exactly. Or perhaps since 2008 (Putin’s 2007 speech at Munich would have raised the point, and Georgia was designed essentially as a fake flag to generate Russia hate).
I talk lower down about my own UK experiences with Russia opinion in 1978. And Post 1989 pretty much everyone had reset old ideas about Russia.
And yes the BBC is both atrocious while getting away with claiming to be objective. We live in a dumb nation.
I recommend the book by Guy Mettan on this for the long historical perspective. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34237648-creating-russophobia
Of course, in simple terms, those who want to control the world, will propagandize and demonize Russia, to get their greasy hands on central and key huge landmass of the globe, that Russia is.
I am from Eastern Europe. I also experienced communism under Russian control. I visited Russia at that time. Russians are tough and proud people. They experienced total control. And of course the propaganda of the Russian state works on them. So they don’t want to submit to anyone else and are relatively resistant to a soft form of manipulation from the outside. On the other hand, there are countries that have to colonize territory for their prosperity. Since 1989, the colonization of Eastern Europe has been underway. Since 2014, the UK has been colonized. And look at the globe. What’s left to colonize? Only the population and the rulers revolt. When you are a colonizer and the colonized revolts. Will you like him? Propaganda and censorship will then arrange the necessary opinion of your citizens.
since 1914 the Ukr sorry translator 🙂
Excerpt from today’s news:
There is no right to information from a specific website, nor can the government’s recommendation be perceived as an intervention of public authority. This follows from the first judgment that was handed down in the case of blocking pro-Russian disinformation websites due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Freedom and truth ends. All that will be left is information and misinformation.
Is it possible the bad seed from eastern europe or from old soviet client state carry around the baggage of anti soviet hatred (translated to anti russia hatred) and when these people migrate to the west their hatred spread among the western people ?
of course coupled with decades of anti soviet propaganda during cold war days..
i saw one of my educated friend (in his field of expertise but not in history) loath the “enemy of the gates” movie becauce “both sides are evil”.. and another singaporean friend kept saying to my face the world is better under western rule , and he loath chinese or russian rule.. when i asked why he cannot answer just said he prefer west..
Ignorance , ancestral hatred , endless propaganda , sheep behaivour ( trusting media 100% j a
, complacence ( not using their own brain to think ) all feed into the “everything from the west is good since we are good guys” exceptionalism mindset
The West, specifically the U.S. govt, hates Russia today- really V. Putin- because it, with him at the lead, is the only nation that can and did say “nyet” to U.S. foreign policy and there is not a darn thing they can do directly about it.
Since the SMO has kicked off, VVP and his admin have been very outspoken about rejecting the West’s concerns moving forward. This is a huge problem to the bully West because now other “smaller” nations have not only an example but also another option in that they too can go their own sovereign way. This threatens the financial house of cards the West has created and maintained with reckless military adventures over the last 30+ years. Russia is showing and saying the West is no different than any other bully. In many ways, these clowns seem to be as being childish.
The USA was supposed to disintegrate in 1863, then Russia intervened to Britain’s chagrin. Russia got in Britain’s Establishment way then and again now. The USA is not even supposed to exist, never mind Bismarck’s Germany. Tell neighbors – they might snap out of irrationality – stand well back!
Since then the USA has been under attack within and without by other means.
The industrial boom and optimism of Lincoln spreading to Germany, Japan and Russia was the British Empire’s nightmare. The USA has almost been dismantled, Germany is being dismantled, except for the MIC, now.
Now many would ask what could the defeat of the Confederacy have to do with Russia?
Well, it is a fact that Czar Alexander II in 1863 sent the Russian Navy to blockade New York and San Francisco, with a written warning to London and Paris, that any imperial attempt to interfere would be an act of war with Russia. Britain was the single supporter of the CSA, and see :
https://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/exhibits/show/liverpools-abercromby-square/abercromby-southern-club/embassy-confederacy
https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/r/the-russian-navy-visits-theunited-states/_jcr_content/body/media_asset_1316848773/image.img.jpg/1569335605868.jpg
See President Putin’s Letter to the NYT
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-russia-on-syria.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Both Czar Alexander II and President Putin knew full well that the Empire of Lies is the British Empire Establishment which today ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnston calls Global Britain.
I will provide one answer – but you might not like it.
The intense hatred of Russia has deep historical roots going back to the Khazarian Empire. The Khazars, a warrior people who were also brilliant in financial management, were located between Russia and the Persian Empire of the time and often raided trade caravans travelling between East and West markets and charged exorbitant fees for crossing their territory. The Persians and the Russians finally got fed up with this and threw the Khazars off their land, forcing them to migrate to predominantly Northern Europe.
But before this happened the Khazarian elites, seeing that they were stuck between a Muslim and Christian world, decided to convert to a religion that would be considered more neutral between the two – so they chose Judaism and had their population of the time convert to it. Those Khazarian “Jews” spread all over Europe and as they were highly proficient money managers, they were often called upon by Christian and Muslim nations to administer finances and provide banking facilities (since usury was forbidden by both religions, they both outsourced it). What the Europeans failed to recognise in time was that money means power. And as the wealth of their Jewish advisors and bankers grew, so did their power and influence throughout Europe and America. Britain early on became the centre of this banking empire and heavily influenced wars and international intrigue, often financing both sides of wars and hugely profiting from it. But this banking empire had a long memory and a deep, deep hatred for both Russians and Persians (Iran in today’s world) and desperately wanted revenge for their lost homeland. Using their growing power and influence throughout Europe and later America, they developed and encouraged national hatred for these two countries all over the Western world which has grown immensely over the last few decades as these powers began to more obviously exercise their political powers in the now mostly “democratic” West (they had great influence in removing royalty from power in the 19th and 20th century as it was much easier in manipulating “democratic” powers and people than monarchies). As a result of the influence of this multi-generational manipulation, virtually the entire West has developed and deepened its hatred for Russia and Iran.
Americans hate Russia because they’ve been told too.
Amen.
There is no visceral hate of Russian people. Even in Europe people from Russia have never had any extraordinary problem that isn’t common to all migrants or émigrés. In fact, a lot more people dislike Germans for a whole host of reasons.
It’s all stage managed, and the reasons vary over time.
There is a reason our rulers hate Russia, and that is because they have always defended their sovereignty and refused to be part of other empires. Their independence is conditioned by their ability to defend themselves against demands.
You might be right if you’re talking about the average European prole. What about the average European inner party member? I socialize with them and nearly all of them despise the Russians. Remember it is these people who end up in middle to upper management. If you speak up they have the power to cancel you.
Absolutely right. If you ask an American why they dislike or are afraid of Russia, they repeat idiotic points they hear on TV.
I rather doubt there is much actual hate or even conscious dislike for Russia or Russians among the general population, at least in Europe. However, it will probably not news for anybody that a constant stream of propaganda does have an effect on people, even if only to the degree that they learn what kind of answer is expected of them, should they be asked. There is a pertinent quote, supposedly by Göring, about how to make people accept war.
Why does Russia hate Russia?
A lot of the damage and suffering the Russians have been through the last 100+ years has been self inflicted.
Even now in Ukraine, it is not the West Ukraine that is being ruined but the eastern parts that have(had) a large ethnic Russian population. Ethnic Russians and Russian speakers in general are having their homes destroyed and family members killed or displaced.
Their homes destroyed and family members killed and displaced have nothing to do with Russian actions but with the eight-year war on the East by Kiev nazis.
I think you drank some bad, as in spoiled, koolaid. Clearly it was/is not Russia who caused this. Clearly it is NOT the Russians who take up positions in peoples hospitals, schools, shopping centers, homes, and apt buildings in the presence of civilians but the Ukrainians, and their foreign terrorist collaborators.
I have done a great deal of international work. I often collaborated with Russians which proved to be an enjoyable experience. Several were quite religious. The era of Stalin is long gone. I can’t understand why so many Americans still think Russia is the Soviet Union.
Perhaps it is like American football fans. You will never turn a Cleveland Browns fan into a Pittsburg Steeler supporter and vice versa. Fans will never change shirts.
I can’t speak for the US (never been there), but here in West Europe, the reason is simple and pure propaganda, lots of it, industrial amounts of it… Our politicians must obey their masters and lords in American political class, at all costs.
I have done a great deal of international work. I often collaborated with Russians which proved to be an enjoyable experience. Several were quite religious. The era of Stalin is long gone. I can’t understand why so many Americans still think Russia is the Soviet Union.
I have done a great deal of international work. I often collaborated with Russians which proved to be an enjoyable experience. Several were quite religious. The era of Stalin is long gone. I can’t understand why so many Americans still think Russia is the Soviet Union.
It is not hatred, it is a British geopolitical doctrine that has been adopted by the US. It is simple and effective and has been in play for about half a millennium.
The British managed to create an empire after they were on the winning side against the Spanish (16 century), Dutch (17 century), French (19 century), and Germany (20 century). This is of course not very exact (the names & coallitions were often complex), but an overview.
None of the Powers in Europe could control the continent hence the British island became important and more importantly, it was spared, the English never really fought at home.
In essence every big country in the world managed to grow by unifying the weaker entities around it – Prussia was the core of Germany, Piemont – of Italy, England – of the UK, Muscovite tzardom – of Russia etc. Some were not successful – Laos lost to Thailand, Bulgaria lost to Serbia, Sweden lost to Russia, Cambodia lost to Vietnam etc – it takes centuries for a loser to reverse a trend, and many never succees and disappear (Byzantines, Ancient Egypt, Austrian Empire etc) . US wants to get big, hence the immigration fiasco, but then wants the rest of the competitors to be small, hence the military adventures (Korea – split in two, Germany – was split in two, Vietnam – nice attempt to split in two, Iraq – split, Lybia – split, etc). This is again oversimplification, as for example everyone around the Koreas wants them to be like that, not just the US, the idea is just to have smaller competitors.
Russia is big in territory (lots of resources, has smart people and so will naturally develop as a competitor – so it must be split into parts. In my opinion, the US missed the opportunity when Truman refused to bomb the Soviets when they didn’t have the bomb, despite the advice of rational people like Von Neuman.
It is that simple – the biggest “secrtes” in geopilitics, discussed at non-public meetings.
Exactly. Any threat to Cuntface Clinton gets the Russia Bot label. Cuntface. Then there is Fuckface Trump with his “clear the swamp” jive with another insatiable wondering ghost of a Pompeo accusing Europeans of DONIG BUSINESS WITH THE RUSSIANS! IT’S MY WORLD MY BUSINESSMY MYMY MYTMYMYMYMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We will get a repeat of History in ’24 because Americans can’t read! much less learn anything from anybody including HISTORY! Trump Clinton and the lemming cliff just ahead” USA1 USA!
Mackinder’s Heartland Theory?
Why ‘the west’ hates russia?? Well, first and foremost; resources!
France, England, Netherlands, and all ’empires’ of yesteryear had to go to great lengths and trouble to carve up Africa, Indo-china and Asia as parts of their ’empire’.
The Russian empire under the Romanovs was the envy of ALL European kings and emperors.
And since the Windsors and Romanovs were/are FAMILY, the Windsors STILL hold a grudge for that ‘shooting’.
The envy is pervasive, and somehow they feel, or are convinced, that ALL the resources they want from the earth, should be theirs. Not Russian… theirs. And they can’t have it for free, or cheap.
And don’t get me started on the language and Cyrillic script… too hard. They’d have to learn and emphasise with a whole PEOPLE. Take into account THEIR needs and wants.
What they wanted 400 years ago, is the same they want now; all the resources, for free. If not; tantrum.
There are several factors contributing to western hatred of Russia. Historically, western Europe viewed the Slavic people as inferior…white niggers or snow niggers if you will. Russia also accepted its status as Eurasian which runs counter to western European insistence on racial purity. Now Russia is attempting to lead a rebellion against the domination of western Europe (including the US, Canada and Australia) that has lasted for more than five centuries and create a multipolar world order.
In both the 19th and 20th centuries, Russia saved the European project by defeating Napoleon and its leading contribution to defeating Hitler…western Europe still carries a grudge about that. In addition, since the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Russia has been the protector of the Orthodox faith while western Europe championed Roman Catholicism and its stepchild Protestantism.
Even in the sphere of culture there are strong resentments. Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Rimsky-Korsakoff and other Russian classical composers distinguished themselves as classical composers in the last two centuries and there is Tolstoy etc. Having Russians excel in European art and culture has been a bitter pill to swallow.
The last Czar, Nicholas II was the first cousin of the British King George V and the German Kaiser Wilhelm II at the start of World War I. So there was monarchic rivalry. The British monarchy was the only one of the three to survive World War I, only for the pesky Russians to rise again first as a socialist state and later (under Putin) re-assuming the role of protector of the orthodox faith.
I read this blog on a regular basis but posting for the first time. I will add some titles of Academic Articles, they may not be directly accessible by some as you may need a subscription to the Journals. I can access them through my university. If you want copies of the articles, some may be accessible via web search or I can provide them in a private email.
Basically, as others have pointed out, it is a mix of historical and more recent events.
1- Russophobia and the “Testament” of Peter the Great, 1812-1980
“Like much that is “modern” in the world of politics, the “Testament” was
born of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era. ……., Napoleon, who acted as his
own minister of propaganda, instructed the press to say that the Russians “are
a nation of barbarians and that their strength lies in their cunning.”
2- The Origins of Russophobia in France: 1812-1830
“In his book Lesur commented that, whereas Christianity had brought an amelioration of society in other countries, in Russia, because of the “superstitions grossieres,” the “l’ignorance stupide,” and the “vices honteux” of the lower Russian clergy, no such advance had taken place. A Russia excluded from the benefits of “true” Christianity could hardly be termed a European state. In 1814 Lesur published in his Histoire des Kosaques the following remarks: ” . . . it is doubtful whether or not one could ever make them [the Cossacks] civilized . . . their land, which they seem to occupy always in passing, appears in our eyes as a vast camp seated upon the frontier of Europe.””
The next one discusses the role of Russian dissidents in spreading Russophobia
3- We are not Barbarians: Literature and the Russian Émigré Press in England, 1890–1905
“Between 1881 and 1901, the Russian population of England and Wales climbed from 3,789 to 61,789. Russian Jews fleeing pogroms filled up the sweat and tailor shops of east London; intellectuals thwarted by Russia’s draconian censorship laws moved to areas like Belsize Park and St. John’s Wood where they intersected with England’s literary and socialist circles; ……….. The anti-Tsarist journal Free Russia was founded in 1890, and at first edited by the notorious Nihilist Sergei Kravchinskii, popularly known as Stepniak, meaning ‘man of the steppe’. In late Victorian London, Stepniak cut a romantic figure. In the 1870s, he had been part of the populist movement in Russia, taking socialist propaganda to the peasants while disguised as a woodcutter. In 1878 he had become a political assassin, murdering General Mezentseff, the St. Petersburg Chief of Police who had been responsible for ordering the flogging of political prisoners. Stepniak subsequently fled to the continent, where he reinvented himself as a revolutionary troubadour, writing his best-selling collection of idealised revolutionary sketches, Underground Russia (1883)…………. As Sir Arthur Nicolson, British Ambassador to St. Petersburg, recalled, ‘Russia was regarded as a ruthless and barbarous autocratic state, denying all liberties to her subjects and employing the most cruel methods of suppression of freedom of speech and indeed of thought.’ As for the Russian race, The Manchester Guardian opined that it was ‘their literature, their music, and their prophetic writings [that] entitle[d] them to a place among the original forces of European civilization”
4- The European Commission of the Danube, 1856-1948] Chapter 1 Russophobia, Free Trade and Maritime Insecurity
I hope these will give some historical perspective on these issues.
Excellent question, Larry.
My two cents on this:
Hatred is not a primary emotion but a secondary one arising out of fear. America is at heart a fearful nation, because in its DNA it is Darwinian – might makes right, the winner take all and losers end up in the waste bin. The slogan, “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing,” comes from this predatory worldview.
They have seen what happened to the Native tribes of America. They saw Africans whipped and in chains. The justice system is itself predatory, as is are the financial institutions and the entire corporate system.
That’s why Americans are so afraid of everything and easily manipulated. The American view is that the world is dangerous, whether killer bees or giant ants, Ebola or Covid, or brown men with beards. They need to talk up freedom and democracy to hide their fear of what these actually mean. Every coin with “In God we trust” communicates this existential fear.
Russians are merely the external projection of this fear manifesting as hate. Nothing logical or personal about it at all. It was the Japanese before WW-2. The Chinese are next, at least on Fox News.
Elial has nailed the answer for Larry’s question in my opinion. I read the article, and all of the comments and Elial has the answer.
I am an American, and very very familiar with hate (I wont say why because if I do everyone will hate me and his really good answer will not get the notice it deserves).
Elial’s answer can be easily expanded to other groups that are commonly hated. For example, the typical anti-Semite claims that Jews are both sub-human, and in charge of the entire planet. One cannot rationally understand that wild illogic without the obvious fear component. Fear isn’t logical.
Another example is the hatred liberals (conservatives) have for conservatives (liberals). The blue team and their press says that the red team is evil, and everyone on the blue team buys it, (and the reverse) simply because of fear. And, of course, the oligarchs that run the whole show know that fear is their friend and they use it to divide and conquer. As long as we are fearful, the oligarchs will have nothing to … fear.
Yes. Good observation.
The hate is a conversion of impotence, and all the demonization is just rationalization.
Very interesting perspective, did not think about it this way, will need to digest it – thanks!
“Russia’s military adventures” – you are being far too harsh on Russia here. Georgia in particular was a peacekeeping venture attacked by Georgian army (US armed and trained).
The counter attacked the Georgians and left the country and have not returned since.
Poland only happened after Western Europe (later the allies) would not partner with Russia against Germany. In Afghanistan they were invited in (albeit by a Communist government that they had helped get in).
The royalty idea is nice. But what about France? It would be true that we British thought and said some horrible things about the French following the French revolution but we never much liked them before. Germany and Poland have both got rid of their royalty too. Yet few hate the Russians more than the Poles.
Was there that much hate for Russia in the past? In 1979 pre-University I went to an office temping agency and found myself working for 5 months for a Russian company in the West end of London. The company sold cruises on Russian ships on the Med and Black Sea. Cheap end of the range with mostly old folk as passengers. The ships were supposedly all easily convertible to become troop carriers, much as the QE2 and the roll on roll off channel car ferries were used 3 years later for the Falklands.
So my ears were open but I don’t recall anyone criticising Russia at that time.
My own theory in Europe is that under the surface for a decade or more has been the idea of a European Defence force. Basically an EU+ defence force that would allow European countries to be less subservient to Nato (=US) and allow some receipt of the post 1989 peace dividend. If you are against this you shout “But Russia, Russia…”. If you are for the Euro Defence Force you shout “No one is as anti-Russia as I am”. Everyone attacks Russia verbally.
And then there is Uranium One. In Shattered (the sad book that was supposed to report HRC’s great victory) we learn that in Dec 2015 focus groups uncovered that HRC was very vulnerable to talk on her taking bribes from Russia. That was the moment when the Clinton campaign went after Trump/Russia collusion.
More research on it is British inspired:
During the American War of Independence, British warships were seizing Russian (and other) ships which were trading with the colonies, until Benjamin Franklin and other members of his American Philosophic Society made direct appeals to their associates in the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg and certain Russian diplomatic contacts, leading to the creation of the League of Armed Neutrality. The League of Armed Neutrality declared that Russia (and other officially neutral nations) had the right to trade with the colonies, and would consider any British attack on neutral merchant vessels as an act of war.
During the American War of Independence, British warships were seizing Russian (and other) ships which were trading with the colonies, until Benjamin Franklin and other members of his American Philosophic Society made direct appeals to their associates in the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg and certain Russian diplomatic contacts, leading to the creation of the League of Armed Neutrality. The League of Armed Neutrality declared that Russia (and other officially neutral nations) had the right to trade with the colonies, and would consider any British attack on neutral merchant vessels as an act of war.
After the war, American naval hero John Paul Jones went to Russia, and helped build the Russian Navy, and, of course, America’s greatest statesman John Quincy Adams became the first Minister to Russia in 1809. Leading Russian circles translated and published Alexander Hamilton’s “Report on Manufactures” in 1807, telling the Tsar that its principles were fully applicable for developing Russia as a continental country. And the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers worked directly on Russia’s first railroad, from St. Petersburg to Moscow, in the 1840s.
Larry’s latest is interesting, as in retrospect searching for a reason for Russian hatred. Does it really matter?
What does matter is, the Russians(general population) have realized the West wants them destroyed and as such, the consensus is now TOTAL HATRED OF THE WEST…no longer interested in the music, culture, openness and debauchery it produces…in essence, everything it represents.
It’s the Asian peninsula called Europe(Yes I know that imaginary line that secured Romanov royalty as European) that should worry about future Russia’s hatred.
I see two major influences, the second following from the first.
The first reason is historical. Russia has stood at the border of “the West” and “the East” for a millennium. (Prior to this, the history is tribal rather than “national,” although “national” did not become a thing until the Treaty of Westphalia that marked the inception of the modern nation state. Moreover, the Anglo world has looked at Russia as a threat to its dominance since the time of the British Empire. This was set forth in Mackinder, elaborated by Spykman and updated by Brzezinski.
The second reason follows from the first. Governments control their populations through narrative control, which is effected by propaganda. The propaganda against Russia has been pretty unrelenting and has shifted appropriated to the circumstances. This is why there wasn’t a “peace dividend” after the fall the USSR. It’s all laid out by Brzezinski. This explains the continuing Russophobia in the Anglo nations.
Europe is a somewhat different matter, although there are similarities that allow the Anglos and Europeans to cooperate against a common adversary. But the question here concerns the US and UK, I believe, so I will leave it at that.
Before the Bolshevik takeover in 1917 Russia wasn’t hated as much as she has been since for a good reason, the fear of the communist dogma, an anathema to one of the key principles of the Land of the Free.
After the collapse of the Red Menace of the USSR in 1990, the US Foreign policy has been guided continuously by the Wolfowitz doctrine (formulated in 1992), google for it, it says simply the US can never ever allow for another challenger akin to the USSR to emerge, confront the US hegemonic husbandry of the world, that explains the continuation of NATO even though the Warsaw Pact dissolved, the yapping of the American Elites of whatever hue about the Russian threat, the colonising of Ukraine after the Feb 24 2014 coup to contain, weaken and ultimately balkanise Russia, grab the country’s natural resources, one of the biggest of all countries, if not the biggest.
The Americans account for some 5% f the world population, consume 20% of the world energy, that says it all as energy is a life giver not only in Nature, but for any man made construct like the economy, the households, the individuals.
The hatred and fear of Russia is largely rooted in a a certain middleman minority ethnicities cultural historic experience in eastern Europe and Russia and that peoples rapid rise to prominence and power in America.. Russia represents the Dark ages and horrors of desolation and disinheritance to these people a fear so deeply embedded it has become instinct a hereditary reactionary impulse that does not age out of relevance as the generations pass and so remains a perpetually horror…
That fear is combined with another more factual and pragmatic concern Russia is the only other Nation on the Planet that has a natural resource, industrial base and peoples to function independently as a great power within its own borders without attaining some needed resource abroad… Russia has no critical need that can be cut off by the world great ocean going power the US .. This is the driving political impulse behind the many efforts to destabilize Russia to keep it occupied with a constants stream of security threats so it will not grow into its very Great set of Boots..
These two motives Emotional and Pragmatic have combined into what appears to be an irrational hatred but it is anything but irrational to those with plans and motives of questionable morality and which are generational in scope.
There is a deception deeply and most likely intentional embedded in popular thinking that the US fails to plan or act in the long term… If one looks more intently at history the current that influences and directs events you will see this is not the case and that the US hides its questionable ambitions behind a guise of ignorance and short term goals which inevitable lead to some unintended crisis…
One should question if the so called unintended Crisis and Conflicts that shape Americas rise to global dominance where unintentional?
I think you drank some bad, as in spoiled, koolaid. Clearly it was/is not Russia who caused this. Clearly it is NOT the Russians who take up positions in peoples hospitals, schools, shopping centers, homes, and apt buildings in the presence of civilians but the Ukrainians, and their foreign terrorist collaborators.
i think it is several reasons.
First:
Your mentioned eradication of royalty, i guess that many survivors of it, are flee to the West and still there. if you have a societal class like the Western royalty that is so prone to consider their own history, such thing will not be forgotten and their children will be raised with this animosity ingrained.
Second:
Russia was, is, and will be very likely, for the foreseeable future, the ONLY Country in the World that has EVERYTHING it needs on his own soil. Putin working overtime to utilize this luxury finally, but this wasn’t the case in the past and the greed of the capital class of the West was coming in and create ever since problems and try to get their hands on it. It was never enough that Russia was trading it riches to others even on the hight of the cold War. These people want to OWN and CONTROL it. Anything short of total control will be not suffice.
Third:
Mac Kinders Heartland theory mentioned also the geographical location and he is not wrong. You can nearly reach the whole world with out ships if you control those Heartland. Chinas Belt and Road initiative would be crumble to dust if Russia would deny them partnership or Access. Russia had understand this finally and start utilize this.
Fazit:
Everyone said that there is a China century on the Horizon, but i add “for russias grace” because if Russia really wanted it, the Dragon would be the Lapdog of the Bear.
in the Alt media Sphere they cheering for Russia but suspect Putin of being a double agent of the WEF. Being Part of the Young global Leader Program of the WEF can give you that expression.
BUT…those Programs are by far no leisure Clubs of the Elites and more rigid training classes to those how will rule. And my impression is that the Russian elites had lacked those teaching of theories for the longest time, until a certain Major of the KGB was accepted as the Successor of Yeltsin and was teached the secret knowledge of the Western Elites.
Putin now, having the Mindset of a Russian Patriot (what he undoubtedly is) and the perspective of the Western Elites he finally understands what was the fuss all along and act on it. He starts as soon as he got into Power to crack down on systems that benefits the oligarchs on the long run and rebuild the State to keep them in check and protect his citizens. The Ukraine SMO is in my Opinion only a logical conclusion because the Russian state do what every state is supposed to do: Protect his own ethnicity
The only thing that he lacks, in my geostrategics understanding, is that he is still on far to friendly terms with those Western oligarchs. He either ignore it or seems not to understand how much power they have. But given his 2016 SPIEF Speech (“they are private people out there how has the wealth and power of States” No shit sherlock!) and this YGL membership i doubt this very much and so the shadow of doubt is still over him given his true goals. some say that his is playing the antagonistic role for the WEF “Great Reset” scheme and it would fit perfectly.
Well, we’ve been propagandized from birth to hate or at least distrust Russia and Russians. Look at TeeVee and Hollywood. There was about 20 years there where the Evil Islam took over the top spot from Russia, but now we are back to the future with Russia and Putin as the embodiment of Evil. Just look at the bad guys in any serial TeeVee cop show, FBI show (there are TWO of them), NCIS (THREE of them). Every other episode is Russia Bad, with China being tossed into the mix more and more. Add to that the MSN constantly pouring out CIA/FBI/IC propaganda as fact, think tanks doing the same – it’s no wonder. It’s actually amazing there are any Russophiles left in the USA, myself being one. I’ve thought for most of my life that we are natural allies, and have been so in the past. I think that the very old monied oligarchy of Europe, and now transplanted into the USA, has always, for thousands of years wanted to control the Eurasian heartland for its wealth of natural resources. Thus, they make slavs out to be subhuman. That’s where your Nazi ideology is birthed.
Remember the US created the Mujaheddin… 9/11 was merely an aberration; we’re back to being allies again
Hate is irrational and thus, useful to manipulate masses, at least those who started and are still conscious feeding it. The problem is those who grew up with that environment (and might be even in the center of power) and have not recognized that this feeling is made up and irrational. So, your question perhaps would be: What has been the (initial) motivation behind those who started and still fueling it? That answer flourishes from time to time here and there, even today: To justify any action that lead to the further splitting of the Russia Federation. Why? To control its vast resources and (potential) economic power. It has been an old dream of any power in the globe. Russia is “too big” and should be destroy.
To be fair, also, other (global) powers are also been seen similarly, historically, e.g., about USA, China and Germany, to mention few. Israel has been exposed to the somehow equivalent view, from some of their neighbors. Hence, and arguably, the perceived threat of a country may relies on the existence of another.
When it comes to the particular case of Russia, Europe never liked Russia. I’ve lived in Europe long enough to testify that.
Another factor, minor in scope but also powerful is the popular media. For years TV shows and movies have always used “Russian Mafia” as insane murderous thugs, even John Wick had this as a central theme.
I asked my 92 year old mother, blitzkrieg survivor why she didn’t like Russians and she told me they are “mean and killers and life means nothing to them”
I pointed out that in my travels I have met many Russians and have found them to be beautiful people, warm and friendly.
She dismissed it with a hardware.
I asked a fellow at one of clients sites who said he “hated Russians” yet had never met one. When pressed he told me they were all mafia killers and crazy.
Mission shall we say, Accomplished.
It mystifies me why Russia has been so reviled for so long. I was raised to feel that way about Russia and did feel that way until 2014 when the Ukraine situation blew up. The only reason I can think of is a combination of the idea expressed in these comments that empires can only thrive if they have an enemy to focus on, and the fact that Russia is a huge country that straddles Asia and Europe. Its people speak hundreds of languages and there are scores of different ethnic groups and at least two major religions — Christianity and Islam. It is a threat because it is both East and West. Its continued existence has challenged conventional assumptions about hostility between different groups. It is convenient, because it can play the role of that perpetual enemy. Also, I think geography and geology play a role. The plains of Eastern Europe make it easy to invade, and the availability of resources make it a tempting prize. By western standards, Russia should be weak and available to be plundered. Time and time again people have tried, yet they still don’t get it.
Despite all of this, however, I am still baffled by the level of hostility.
During World War 2 and throughout the cold war there was always a tension between those who saw the problem as Russian communism and those who focused instead on Russian imperialism. When Hitler rallied Eastern European fascists to his cause under the Russian Vlasov, Bandera objected because it was essential that Russia be dismembered in the aftermath and stripped of its “colonies.” During the cold war this was a matter of tension between the containment and roll-back of communism faction and those attracted to the Anti-Bolshevic Bloc of Nations under Stetsko and their American Friends led by Lev Dobriansky who founded the Captive Nations movement. For the latter no diplomatic relations, treaties, or cultural contacts were acceptable throughout the cold war. That faction became ascendant during the Reagan administration as Stetsko, irrespective of his past, was welcomed in the White House, Dobriansky was made Ambassador to the Bahamas and his daughter Paula brought into the national security council. This was true even though Dobriansky had engineered a takeover of the leading Ukrainian diaspora organization in the US by groups loyal to the Bandera faction. The “Evil Empire” designation was no accident and for many was never limited to communist ideology but necessarily included Russia itself.
The attitudes have persisted through generations and become embedded in US security and influence structures. The question is not what average Americans think but how they have been aggressively influenced to hold those views. The danger is that we are facing a far more unstable confrontation as those within the US establishment renounce the diplomacy and summit conferences which kept the original cold war from becoming hot.
Why Does the West Hate Russia?
Well the “West” spent 70+ years vilifying the USSR while calling it Russia, as we often still do.
Russia’s military adventures–i.e., invasions of other countries–is a short list–Poland 1939 and Afghanistan 1979.
This suggests that other soviet republics such as Ukraine or Georgia or Uzbekistan had noting to do with Poland or Finland or Afghanistan. And I doubt that most Westerners realize that for the Poland and Finland invasions the Soviet head of state was Georgian.
The straightforward answer is quite simple: almost all Americans alive today have been programed since early childhood to fear Russia and from there hating is just a natural progression.
Larry,
I do have one quibble with your post. The USSR intervened in Afghanistan at the request of the Afghan government. That was the intention behind Op Cyclone, as it has been in Ukraine.
Sadly, most Americans probably hate Russia because of our MSM and Hollywood. Russia is always portrayed as the villain…from movies such as Top Gun to Rambo to Rocky, etc. Hollywood shapes too many American minds, as does our MSM. Just look at all the lies being currently told by our press about Ukraine (and Syria). Americans who don’t investigate on their own from other sources of information will remain dumb as bricks and accept whatever the MSM (and Hollywood) tells them. Don’t believe me? How many MILLIONS of Americans still wear face masks and line up for clot shots because they believe what our media tells them to believe about the “safe and effective” vaccine? You know, the “vaccine” that doesn’t prevent you from getting or transmitting COVID? Even as more and more scientific data comes out almost daily from all over the world about the horrendous and deadly side effects. But Big Tech suppresses this information as much as possible so most Americans don’t see it. It’s the same with Russia. No matter how good much Putin and Russia do in the world, especially in dismantling the Nazi’s in Ukraine, Americans simply don’t see it or believe it. I agree that most Americans conflate the old Stalinist Soviet Union with today’s Russia. Ignorance. But then again, how many Americans could even find Russia on a world map?
This is an interesting question you’re asking, Mr Johnson. In France, in my knowledge, hate of Russians is not strong and we even could say that is a rare thing to find, even in these crazy times. For instance, the hate of all sort of (US)American things is certainly more pregnant here. We even can’t discard a bit of Americanophobia in French people, which is also a flaw of course. Why this? Well, my best guess is we feel more affinities in France’s history, politics and culture with Russia’s than with those of the anglo-saxon sphere.
“L’amitié franco-russe” is a very old leitmotiv, over here, even there is no much meaning left now.
Its an age old game that allows the ruling elite to eliminate opponents by justifying them as less than human. Hutus vs Tutsies, Hitler and the Jews, North Korea, Viet Cong, UK and colonialism. On and on it goes. As Martin Armstong says, Human nature is as it always has been. What we are capable of on an individual level is accessible on a societal level. You just need the organs of propaganda to play the tune in symphatic harmony as they are doing so well in today’s western world.
I suspect the animosity towards Russia comes from one primary source. A very small group of inbred psychopaths controls most of the west’s institutions….it’s control is multi faceted but can be simplified into military …. financial and religious centers of power based in Washington ,London and Rome. So the largest and richest land mass on earth cannot be intimidated by the west’s military arm….it has its own faith outside of the Vatican’s control and the power of the private central bank controlled by London is minimal. Potential enemies have envied the vast land mass to East because of its wealth in resources and land quite simply and and believe it is no different now….and as the reckless banking practices and economic policy based on pure short term profit come full circle….the greedy inbreds eye the vast real wealth of commodities to the east as their liberal hellhole is about to implode on itself and be swept away by angry and soon to be cold …dark skinned restless immigrants.
I think the answer is different for the elites, and for the common people.
The common people are so ignorant of other countries, they can be programmed to hate anyone. And our national security state has provided the programming.
As to the elites, that’s a deeper question. Western elites have been trying to keep Russia down since Peter the Great, probably due to fear and a sense of superiority. The Jewish people dominant in the Biden administration have their own historical reasons for hating Russia.
We are in a spiritual war not only economically, socially and geopolitically. It is a war against Christ and the Christians.
The Orthodox Church is under intense fire, the Catholic Church has been crumbling for decades.
The Union of the Latin and Orthodox Church would be the greatest political achievement in the last 1000 years.
Why does the USA hate Russia? because the USA was not built on Christian foundations but Masons.
His motto, “Order in chaos” In the USA Freemasonry was established very early (1725-1730) and many of the founding fathers were not Christians but practiced heresies typical of the 2nd century.
https://ffrf.org/faq/state-church/item/20063-is-america-a-christian-nation
https://secularhumanism.org/2019/12/the-united-states-is-not-a-christian-nation-%E2%80%A8-it-never-has-been-and-it-never-will-be/
Media propaganda plain and simple.
I’ve grown to admire Russia, first during the Soviet days and the stories (hidden by the same propaganda in the U.S.) of their efforts to win WWII, and as a counter-pole to the exploitation of U.S. capitalism during the gradual shift to neo-liberalism here.
Modern Russia seems to me to be heading in the right direction. The U.S. not so much so.
Hatred toward Russia is due to very effective propaganda to control Russia as a vassal. After split in Christianity 1000 years ago, the collective Catholic and subsequent Protestant West looked upon Orthodox Russia as inferior country. This coupled with colonial streak to rob Russia explains numerous unsuccessful attempts to invade and submit Russia as a vassal. Now the West with poor memory of History doesn’t recognize the experience of Russians to effectively defend themselves against waves of onslaught throughout its existence.
Remember Panama papers, when Soros organization hacked 11.9 million papers regarding offshore accounts of the Powerful with sole intent of finding Putin’s wealth based on rumors. Putin name was not mentioned even once in those papers. Where is the evidence of Putin’s corrupted wealth.
The West’s hatred for Russia goes back centuries, as does Russia’s attempts to be accepted by the West. You can see how Peter the Great’s goal to westernize Russia caused a split in Russian society between the westernized nobility and the Slavic peasants. It has always been a mixed bag. But one thing has been consistent throughout: the West has coveted Russia’s riches and has always wanted to get its hands on them. They succeeded in the 1990s, when Yeltsin sold out Russia to the highest-bidding oligarchs on both sides of the Atlantic. Putin put a stop to that, which explains the more intense and personal hatred of him on the part of the western ruling class. In the end, it probably does boil down to Russia’s vast assets and the western capitalist class knowing no boundaries or limits to its greed.
Good question, Larry. But first, if I may, a small correction. It is my understanding Russia did not invade Afghanistan because the Afghan government requested military assistance against an insurgency. Russia left, not because it lost the war, but because it considered it had done all it could for the regime.
As for your question I suggest that Alexander Mercouris answered it very well in the last 10 minutes of this video: https://www.bitchute.com/video/zjd9LK53grk/. Never that particular twain shall meet at all…
Best’
L.
The West doesn’t hate Russia per se. The West has traded with and fought alongside Russia in the past and will have to do so again in the near future.
The problem is and has always been that the West cannot control Russia, nobody can. It is too strong, independent and inventive to just join some enlarged EU and NATO and sit alongside pygmy Euro states as an equal putting up with their bs.
Personally, the T-34, AK-47, literature, cinema, hypersonic weapons, space program, etc., etc. fill me with profound respect for what the nation is able to accomplish. Other countries have some cool things going on (the Dutch are pretty smart at building dikes and cool bike paths, Germans make nice cars and beer) but who else has all the things going for it that Russia does? Doesn’t seem fair…
From an American perspective, I’m afraid the view of Russia of most people here is shaped by decades of movies and TV plots portraying Russians as mafia villains and the country as dominated by organized crime.
Americans are poorly informed about most other countries, but especially Russia.
More tourism to Russia in the last decade would have helped, but there is a perception that travel to Russia is complicated and expensive.
A related question is why the group controlling the US Democrat party apparently hates Russia. I really don’t understand that at all. Isn’t this supposed to be the anti-war, live and let live party? I believe Russia expelled Soros at one point. Does the enmity of the left stem from Soros?
It’s two fold.
The Baizuo wing hates Russia because they hate masculinity itself. Because that is the only thing stopping these anarchist feminists from smashing the patriarchy and replacing it with god knows what.
Remember the actual spanking P*ssy Riot received at the Sochi Games? That’s all that’s needed to keep those people in line, and they don’t want you to know this.
I don’t know if the neolibcon wing hates Russia or not. They may simply be falling into Thucydides’ trap. The only problem is their analysis is 5 years too late; I think Russia has already achieved parity with us.
as someone from ASEAN, US’ hatred of Russia really makes no sense.
however, i think the manner in which the West portrays Russia in soft culture- old Soviet/communist control system, always spying, always looking to gather intelligence, assassinations (skripal, litvinenko etc); i.e. dangerous and cannot be trusted- goes a long way in setting a ‘default’ prism to view Russians.
its surprising how many people digest Western news as accurate… though i think this is on the wane, it is still the mainstream view.
EU might have a better case against Russia with invasions and what not… but frankly, these are all in the past… Russia is a permanent neighbor, just learn to live with each other, really.
There are two moral traits that seem to lie at the heart of this long-lasting hatred; namely pride and envy.
Regarding the attitude of the western masses of people – educated or not – it is only a matter of hammering propaganda by the media and the oligarchical elites, now and ever. The vast majority of people in any country (at the time of rampant amorality) have no interest in discerning the truth of any matter – specially in international issues; that is a universal reality, unless they are personally affected by a certain development.
For the western secular elites – under the leadership of the UK and US – the very existence of Russia causes a permanent state of anxiety, just for its potential. When Russia is down – as it was in the 90s – those individuals exert themselves to exhaustion in order to keep it powerless and in poverty, while thieving all that can be stolen; when Russia comes back from the dead – so to speak – and begins to exercise a modicum of sovereignty and independence, the demon of revenge is unleashed in the sly; if Russia becomes truly sovereign (which its natural wealth and human abilities allow for), then the fury of legion knows no restraint.
Why are the UK and US so engrossed in these developments, so dedicated to their revenge? The spirit of pride and envy are energising those wicked individuals. The pride of empire never left the UK and is currently ruling the US. Such moral curse brings out a venomous envy, when a nation can stand up – economically, financially, militarily, culturally, socially – and say: “Thus far and no further”.
And there is the equally potent religious side: The Vatican has waged an age-old war against Orthodoxy on all fronts. There are times of open confrontation, like in the world wars and the dismembering of Yugoslavia, but traditionally the religion of Rome throws the stone and hides her hand. Just consider how many faithful children of the Vatican are part of the oligarchical cabal in the UK and US – it is known that the vast majority of the justices of the US Supreme Court are faithful to Rome; that’s just an instance.
Russia better be prepared and win this battle and this war, because the alternative would be the end of that centuries-old nation. And the healthy and sane parts of the world better be ready to support Russia at this juncture; the only other option will be the beastly, depraved, perverse, demon-possessed western fascist gang taking over the whole world.
You should read Guy Mettan’s book ‘Creating Russophobia – From the great religious schism to anti-Putin hysteria’ where he talks on the subject. To sum it up, the author’s thesis is that Russophobia emerged with the Christian church schism in 1054 and then evolved into 4 types:
1 – French Russophobia and the myth of Eastern despotism: presenting Russia as “a retard always struggling to climb the scale of liberal economy and pluralistic democracy, which are viewed as the quintessential culminations of advanced Western civilization.”
2 – English Russophobia and the obsession with Empire: historically presenting Russia as a power threatening English domination in Asia (the ‘Great Game’), which led England to systematically often with Russia’s opponents (Crimean war, arming the Circassians).
3 – German Russophobia and the evolution from the Lebensraum opposing “cosmopolitan” (understand multi-ethnic) Russian “Asian” peril and model to avoid to the civilized and superior unitary German nation-state, to nowadays historical amnesia and stereotypical revisionism (equating nazism and communism, and communism to Russia).
4 – American Russophobia as a synthesis of 3 previous variations + some specificities: doctrines of Russia’s containment (both physical and ideological), Freedom vs Totalitarianism, maritime power vs heartland, and using Human Rights to maintain global economic hegemony, dismembering (under the guise of “decolonizing”) Russia.
I appreciate the depth of thinking that the commenters above provide, but I think the answer is different, and is something that has been carefully crafted by the British and US through the western media: basically any country in the State Departments crosshairs receives a continuous, negative news-drip. Since Putin became “uncooperative” with the west, you began to see a daily negative coverage about Russia, ranging from “Oppressed Russians Longing for Freedom” to “Drunken Reindeer Passes Out in Siberian School”. This, combined with major headlines about Russian “atrocities” such as the Skripals, Pussy Riot, Magnitsky, etc, as well as western leaders “standing up to Putin” has resulted in regular people (such as my family who get all of their news from western media) believing that Russia is Mordor, Putin essentially Sauron, and that what Russia is doing in Ukraine is equivalent or worse than what Germany did in WW2. These people grew up in the 1950s and are not particularly into history, but boy, do they hate Putin. They can’t really name anything he specifically did beyond broad-brush things like “He’s a dictator”, “He is committing genocide in Ukraine”, and if you push them on providing specific details, such as what exactly happened in a given incident, they default to believing that questioning of the narrative is Russian disinformation.
Interestingly – a lot of the Russian diaspora is even more anti-Putin, and they get their news from places like Meduza and Ukrainian sources. It seems to be only Russians that routinely visit Russia who seem to have a more balanced view of events.
At the end of the day – this disinformation campaign is one area where the British and US governments have done an outstanding job. (and it is not just Russia that is subject to this. The “usual suspects” of Venezuela, Syria, Cuba, Nicaragua, Iran, China, and North Korea also receive the negative drip when appropriate). The question I still have though is how do people who should presumably know better (such as foreign analysts, etc.), get caught in this as well? It’s absolutely amazing.
>>> “a lot of the Russian diaspora is even more anti-Putin” – oh this is so true. I recently heard a story how a certain Russian lady, who works for a university in USA, posted in facebook something to the effect that “everything is complicated and multi-faceted, it is geopolitics with deep roots in history so just stating that Putin is a complete psychopath is not a serious argument”. The local Russian-speaking community (at least some part of it) totally lost it and some “activists” there started bombarding that lady’s department head with emails demanding to fire her!!!
There are many reasons, but perhaps the most important is that people (all people always) need somebody to hate (and fear), and Russians are a great power and different from us so it is easiest to hate them.
In the west, there is a (sometimes subconscious, sometimes more explicit) attitude of supremacy towards non-western people. People in the west are rational, logical, hard-working, clean, civilized, etc. People in other cultures are emotional, illogical, lazy, etc. When westerners win wars, it is because they have superior skill, courage, discipline, etc. When others win wars, it is because they have massive numbers. After WWII German generals wrote books about their experience on the Eastern Front, and the German soldier was always superior. Russians won not because they out-fought the Germans, but there were so many of them; they came like Asiatic hordes, like ants over the hill.
China is too big, too powerful to disrespect, but Russia is perfect. Gas-station Asiatic “other” country that refuses to bend.
In the Rome, there was a saying that the source of conflict between Pompeii and Caesar was that Pompeii would not accept equals and Caesar would not accept superiors. Same in the 21st century – west will not accept equals and Russia/China will not accept superiors.
In the end the US hates Russia or China b/c they are the limits to their god-given role as global hegemon, with a hereditary lock on the role of the good guy. The rest is mostly manufactured and transient BS.
Human beings can be corralled into collective psychotic schemes in which they hate the Other. The other is a precipitate of everything we refuse to own up to in ourselves projected onto someone else, of who we pretend to know their inner motives and longings, even if no factual evidence suggests any of it. One of the worst cases is the Croatia/Serbian enmity, where all kinds of linguistic and cultural artefacts (and the script) are manufactured to heighten the differences, even though they speak the same language, have cohabited centuries, and each family contained members of the opposite side (until the latest war). In Ukraine, a similar process has been ongoing in which Ukrainian and Russian identity, language, culture, history are artificially being manipulated to create ‘the Other’. Or Hutus and Tutsi’s. How about N and S Vietnamese, or Koreans, or E and W Germans? They all purport to have intimate knowledge of how the other side is controlled by evil and is the source of our own short-comings.
The powers that be are adept at manipulating such tendencies to other and to scapegoat.
The only cure is (religious) introspection that teaches us to put ourselves in another’s shoes, to realize, when we see a bum or out-of-luck losers: ‘There, but for the grace of God, go I’. And by grace of God we mean luck/chance.
The past hatreds had reasons of their own and have little to do with current situation. So anyone tracking it back to Schism, this or that war in the past is basically wrong. Also people seem to be focused to much on Russia as the only victim. Historically, nations of Europe hated each other with passion, the French hated the English or Germans. Slavs of the Eastern Europe hated Germans and vice versa, Poles hated Russians etc. The simple reason is historical experience colored with propaganda, esp. during wars when the other nation is painted as subhuman and barbaric.
I think the current silly hatred is a result of conflating the past perception of Soviet Union and current media narrative of backward, anti-free-speech, anti-gay, poor or whatever you have Russia. And the reason why the way of how is the hatred expressed is so silly is that the people who do it are silly, banal and dumb themselves. We are not so great as we once were. We can’t even hate properly.
In the US the hatred is Russia and Russians is fueled by the Jewish media. People are told to hate and they hate. This is true especially on the left of the divide. Getting status as a good smart person is a must for the managerial class. Right now hating Russia is a requirement.
The hatred towards Russians is particularly strong because Russia is standing in the way of the anal agenda. Once homosexual sex and transgender mutilation becomes the norm worldwide we will be that much closer to paradise.
The rulers hate Russia due to the longtime Jewish animosity towards it and that Russia is standing in the way of the US being the uncontested ruler of the planet.
I’m not sure the US or west hate Russia that much. I think media gives a skewed idea and there are many people uninterested in this War and not particularly interested in anything other than their lives. They neither hate Russia nor love Ukraine.
I think there was an initial reaction, due to the fake news, to believe Russia was invading without reason. That drove sentiment. That sentiment has reduced.
That said, there is significant real hatred for Putin and Russia. I think in America this was stirred up by the Trump presidency being a victim of Russia gate. I believe the demo rates launched the Russia allegations not just to go after Trump but also to prevent good relations with Russia so that the water would not be muddied and they could finish what they started under Obama, I.e. what we see now.
Anti Russian sentiment in the West was pretty much done pre Trump as yesterday’s news. The years of Russia Russia Russia, everyone got sick of it, then covid and frustration and fake news and the reaction the powers wanted.
The UK is different in that the Skirpal radioactive poisoning case had a negative impact. People in the UK believe, and I don’t know what’s true here, that Russia poisoned him. Still Russian oligarchs were embraced some like abromavich who owned a football club, even loved.
The reaction to the SMO was therefore shocking in the level of violence, theft of Russian assets, almost a feeling of being at war, media all on the same page.
This early feeling of not knowing what was happen, of being at war withRussia, the frenzy, all of a sudden, caused fear and anger and hate are two sides of the same coin.
Deep down the west fears Russia, fears its military, its unknowness and have always been uneasy with the odd almond eyed Slavs (to them). The Russians keep themselves to themselves. The West does not understand Russians. At all. And people fear what they do not understand.
So the stirring of the pot during trump and that feeling of suddenly being involved in a war, and that something bad and unfair was happening, created the fear that turned to hate. Real ugly blind hate in far too many.
It will require truth and patience to quieter the demon the politicians and deep state have unleashed.
There is nothing but decades of media that defines the majority and acceptable opinion on all core policies of the nation. Russia is simply on the black list but for the brief period when they were our bitch.
Why do people say Russia invaded Georgia? That never happened. It was the USA that took control of Georgia. Here is a short video about this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC-xLCgbThM&t=20s
Good briefing. I’ll save it for later distribution at instapundit comments.
All the above that you mentioned.
Hi Larry.
You know, in Brazil we have a very interesting saying: “We see the world with our own eyes”.
The meaning of this quote is about a mirrored attitude towards everything.
“To the devil’s eyes, everything is dark.”
Thus, the collective psyche of the West projects onto Russia its own miseries, fears and deviant behavior – carefully and laboriously cultivated for over a century by greedy Western elites, beyond any sense of morality – due to the media (aka propaganda).
And this becomes not an informational issue, but establishes a link with the culture, and in the next generations, it kidnaps it and becomes the culture itself (for example, Hollywood).
The denazification about the Saker, you, Martyanov, Pepe and others speak so properly will pass necessarily by a “cultural revolution”, if I can say at this way, and to detox the minds – or maybe livers – of the whole westerners.
Keep pushing forward, friend!
racism and greed.
i see a new coalition that feels a lot like WWII times. even while russia saved the day, other countries besides germany wanted to cut up russia like a “pie.”
See documentary Facism: A HIstoty on rt.
Overthinking it, or rather analyzing from a position of knowledge or assuming the knowledge of haters.
Early education grooms (I was one of 70s-80s), and MSM is now the new educator. You have to really search for truly independent journalist w/integrity. That, coupled w/the fear of being stigmatized as Putin-lover/apologist/supporter much like aligning w/Trump.
Premise: US benevolent, Russia malevolent.
From there you are allowed to form your opinion, w/o violating the premise.
“Why does the West hate Russia?”
That’s super-easy.
Key people in the foreign-policy establishment are the descendants of a group of lice-infested primitives who were told they weren’t allowed to live in Russia ‘proper’ – in the 1700s they were restricted to the Pale of Settlement, which includes much of what is now Western 404.
Kagan; Nuland; Blinken – and about 80% of the neocons.
The neocons whose DNA doesn’t originate in the Pale, are just out to get their beaks wet – they see a trough, so they line up.
On the other hand, the Kagan/Nuland types have a deep and visceral hatred of Russia and the Russian people. Russia has been Amalek for them for almost 300 years.
And now, Putin is Haman.
Putin ‘played’ the oligarchs (Berezovksy, Khodorkovsky, Abramovich, Patarkatsishvili, Gusinsky) on his way to the Presidency. He used their inherent greed against them. They thought they were buying the Presidency, and further enabling the post-Yelstin rape of the Russian state. So much for seichel.
Putin used their greed to rise to power, then summoned them all and told them that it stopped now or he would end them… whereupon a bunch of them left to live in London (90% poorer, but still rich).
Berezovsky and others then started funding anti-Russian movements in 404 pretty much the moment he got to London. Berezovsky was quite open about why he did that: to humiliate Russia and Putin.
The displaced oligarchs (several of whom are now dead) share important ethnocultural attributes with Kagan/Nuland and the neocons.
This is a centuries-old race hatred.
I was writing this but since there are too many links, wordpress filters may not show it here. So I wrote it on a substack.
https://ymarsakar.substack.com/p/analysis-of-connections-between-russia
Why the world may be fulfilling that curse mentioned in the Torah, vs Russians.
What do I think? It is Christian values in a clash with secular ideology, namely Neo-Calvinism, aka global Capitalism, the adoration of Mammoth, promoted via hate propaganda.
Bem, creio eu que como descendentes dos Ingleses que são, tanto em termos linguísticos quanto em comportamental, principalmente em se tratando de metodologia de subversão, os Americanos PRECISAM pregar o homossexualismo como uma virtude a ser garantida aos povos a quem submetem – incluindo logicamente sua própria população.
Homossexuais, como provado pela história milenar, não têm performance militar e simplesmente não têm ânimo para combate ou qualquer noção de moral ou honra.
Além disso, sendo Satanistas (ver: Col. D’Aquinno é um exemplo) estão ideologicamente dedicados a desmoralizar e desumanizar quaisquer fundamentos espirituais ou princípios religiosos, sejam estes Cristãos, Budistas, Islâmicos, Umbandistas, Kardecistas, etc..
A guerra destes desgraçados é contra o que nos faz Humanos.
A primeira e principal vítima é a própria população do estado que eles exploram e de onde eles se espalham.
Os Americanos são também vítimas deste subtipo de predadores. Estes canibais que seguem o rito milenar de sacrificar crianças em longas sessões de tortura e perversão sexual e canibalismo ritual são os verdadeiros controladores do escravagismo e sua cultura de perversão sobrevive a centenas de gerações mudando de capital periodicamente, mas a cada vez se espalhando mais… Hoje a metástase está quase completa.
A Magia Negra é o método e o objetivo é a aberração total e completa do ser humano.