FOREWORD: Russophobia or Russomadness? -- PART ONE. THE POWER OF PREJUDICE -- Understanding Russia -- The Pavlovian Russophobic Reflex -- Media Blinders on Ukraine -- PART TWO. A SHORT HISTORY OF RUSSOPHOBIA -- A War of Religion since Charlemagne -- French Russophobia and the Myth of Eastern Despotism -- English Russophobia : The Obsession with Empire -- German Russophobia : From Lebensraum to Historical Amnesia -- American Russophobia : The Dictatorship of Freedom -- PART THREE. COGNITIVE MANIPULATION -- Semantics and Anti-Russian Newspeak -- The Myth of the Fierce Bear -- Conclusion: Co-existence, Multipolarity, and Peace.
Summary:
"Why do the USA, UK and Europe so hate Russia? How it is that Western antipathy, once thought due to anti-Communism, could be so easily revived over a crisis in distant Ukraine, against a Russia no longer communist? Why does the West accuse Russia of empire-building, when 15 states once part of the defunct Warsaw Pact are now part of NATO, and NATO troops now flank the Russian border? These are only some of the questions Creating Russophobia investigates. Mettan begins by showing the strength of the prejudice against Russia through the Western response to a series of events: the Uberlingen mid-air collision, the Beslan hostage- taking, the Ossetia War, the Sochi Olympics and the crisis in Ukraine. He then delves into the historical, religious, ideological and geopolitical roots of the detestation of Russia in various European nations over thirteen centuries since Charlemagne competed with Byzantium. Mettan examines the geopolitical machinations expressed in those times through the medium of religion, leading to the great Christian schism between Germanic Rome and Byzantium and the European Crusades against Russian Orthodoxy. This history of taboos, prejudices and propaganda directed against the Orthodox Church provides the mythic foundations that shaped Western disdain for contemporary Russia. From the religious and imperial rivalry created by Charlemagne and the papacy to the genesis of French, English, German and then American Russophobia, the West has been engaged in more or less violent hostilities against Russia for a thousand years. Contemporary Russophobia is manufactured through the construction of an anti-Russian discourse in the media and the diplomatic world, and the fabrication and demonization of The Bad Guy, now personified by Vladimir Putin"--Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.