What do Russians think of the United States – and is this a problem?
In offering this psychoanalysis, which is quite sympathetic to the U.S., political scientist Leonid Radzihovskiy tells readers of the Rossiyskaya Gazeta that if Russians ever hope to build a new relationship with Americans, they had better eject whatever they’ve heard about us from Russia’s state media, which he characterizes as ‘brainwashing.’
To illustrate his point, Radzihovskiy writes in part:
“In Iraq, the first round of oil and natural gas development license auctioning has just taken place. The bidding was won by a consortia of British and Chinese companies. The conditions of tender put forth by the government of occupied Iraq were so harsh that, according to the views of frustrated international experts, “Today we’ve seen that the Iraqi Oil Ministry and international oil companies are living on different planets.”
“I wrote about this on the Echo of Moscow radio station Web site, adding that all the oil in Iraq today – as it was before and under Saddam – is owned by the Republic of Iraq and is extracted by the country’s state oil companies. Which means, American companies haven’t received this oil – not as property, not under a lease and not for development. And I posed a question – WHAT WAS THE UNITED STATES FIGHTING FOR?! As expected, the question left radio listeners stumped.
“In other words, they (as I suppose 90 percent of our country’s population – and not just our country’s!), without thinking too hard or being too interested in the facts, were absolutely convinced that the imperialistic war of the United States was mass murder for the sake of stealing oil. A peculiar mix of Pizarro and Hitler …”
By Leonid Radzihovskiy*
Translated By Yekaterina Blinova
July 7, 2009
Russia – Rossijskaya Gazeta – Original Article (Russian)
People don’t communicate with other people. They communicate with THEIR CONCEPTIONS of their partners. Almost all misfortunes arise out of a LACK OF UNDERSTANDING OF PARTNERS. We imagine them as “inadequate” – see false motifs, expect certain types of action when completely different actions are taking place – we protect ourselves from pseudo-threats and miss the real ones.
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