The Long Lineage of Russophobia
Why is it possible for Western politicians and journalists to repeatedly make extremely derogatory statements about Russia without an immediate public outcry? Rhetorically, any taboo may apparently be broken. This negative treatment, hardly imaginable in relation to other countries, goes well beyond factually justified criticism of the Russian leadership, and is equally observable in times of war as in times of peace. Those responsible resort to stereotypes and insinuations about Russia that have been recurrent over the centuries and have become deeply ingrained in the Western subconscious.