By-line
A substantially growing Russophobia is visible, especially in the Western societies primarily fueled by the United States statecraft and its deep state.
Introduction
The history of the world is a witness to this very fact that the West has always gone to great lengths in order to impose its will on the free people. For instance, the West needed some distant external force to destroy after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, and for that matter they helped creating Non-State Actors (NSA) like Al-Qaeda and other affiliates. Once, such NSAs were American friends and even called them as Mujahideen in Afghanistan since they were fighting Soviet Union; however, later they were labelled as terrorists.
From the days of the colonization to the present, the West has used hard as well as soft means to subdue the people. However, there exists nations and peoples who have time and again refused to give-in to the Western demands. One such example is Russia and the Russian people.
Why Russophobia?
Russia and its people have a long history of self-reliance and defending the fatherland from an external invader. Russians defended themselves against Napoleon’s massive Grand Armee and they defeated Hitler’s Operation Barbarossa. Not only the Russians defeated Hitler on the Russian soil, but they took the fight to the last end by capturing Berlin in May 1945. Defending one’s homeland in the face of such a brutal fighting force reveals a nation’s psychological as well as physical strength. In both the cases, Russia was attacked by the West with a clear aim to destroy it.
The Russian historical valiant resistance resulted in nothing but an enhanced hatred and enmity in the eyes of the West. The West could not subdue Russia militarily, then it was the high time to spread hateful propaganda against Russia. For this strategy to accomplish, the West used all options on the table including defaming Russia using Hollywood and all other soft means.
One must not forget that the US President Ronald Reagan called Soviet Union as the ‘Evil Empire’. President Reagan wanted the world to believe that the Cold War and all the proxy wars which took place during that time were all happened due to Soviet policies.
Even today, the West is painting Russia as the aggressor and the usurper of peace. But the world knows that since 1990, the US started wars around the globe including in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, South America, West Asia, and most importantly the Global War on Terror. The US ruptured the military balance in the Middle East by toppling down Saddam Hussein in Iraq, and since that time onwards the Middle East is burning. The US and its allies brought down Muamar Gaddafi in Libya, and even today the entire Northern Africa is unstable.
The so-called colour revolutions in the former Soviet republics were also a part and parcel of this strategy. Likewise, inclusion of Ukraine in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was specifically designed to malign Russia and its regional standing. One can take the example that after the recent Russian missile strike at a military target at Sumy in Ukraine, the West wrongly trumpeted of killing civilians. However, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the West hastily “accused Russia of targeting civilians and indulged in frenetic Russophobic competition, grasping at any pretext to damage relations with Moscow, already strained for many years.” And, she demanded apology from the West for making wrong accusations.
Conclusions
Russophobia is clear danger to the world peace. It is a fact that Russia will leave no stone unturned to pursue its national interest and the interests of the Russian people. In the light of international law, Russia also reserves the right to take preventive as well as preemptive measures to ensure its national security and the security of its subjects. In this regard, Russia must not make any concessions to any entity.
The West with its propaganda machines is ever busy to malign Russia. The West also intended to inflict a severe blow to the Russian economy using such propaganda. However, now the times have started to change and more nations are refusing to buy such wrong narratives. On the other hand, the Russian economy presents the perfect picture of a self-sustaining system that is not prone to the ongoing President Trump’s tariffs.
Simon Westwood – is a Masters student at the Dublin City University (DCU), Ireland. He is also a Research Assistant at the DCU’s Department of History
