#10
Asia Times
April 10, 2003
Pardon my French, but Russian anti-Americanism?
By Peter Lavelle

Peter Lavelle is a Moscow-based analyst and author of the weekly e-newsletter Untimely Thoughts. He can be contacted at plavelle@rol.ru.

MOSCOW - Many people have commented on the increase in anti-Americanism in Russia with the advent of "Iraqi Freedom". The Russia media, with Kremlin consent and direction, have turned anti-Americanism into a popular cottage industry, serving up a fare of cheap infomercials with the clear intent of shaping public attitudes toward the war - not unlike their US counterparts. However, this is where the comparison ends.

While some Americans are pouring French wines down the toilet and eating "freedom fries" and "freedom toast" - maybe even "freedom kissing" - Big Macs are as popular as ever among Russians who can afford a visit to Mickey D's. What is called "Russian anti-Americanism" - as opposed to disapproval about a particular point of US policy - has a lot to do with what it means to be Russian and little to do with what the United States is concretely doing. To be "anti-American" means, implicitly, to be "pro-Russian" and to identify with the country and/or ethnic group, depending on one's degree of political sophistication and the vulgarity or refinement of one's nationalistic sentiments.

A strong sense of Russian self-identity has yet to fill the vacuum left by the collapse of the idea of Soviet identity, and strong identification with one's vaguely qualified "Russianness" in the face of adversity has the character of a defensive psychological reaction. There are many good reasons for Russians not to like the United States, but what is called "anti-Americanism" in Russia is really often an umbrella phenomenon encompassing dislike for many other nationalities that are regarded as a threat to Russian national identity in a quickly changing world. Moreover, we must distinguish between heart-felt feelings of hostility to the United States and transient passions fanned in an unsophisticated way by government propaganda. Differentiating between attitudes toward the war in Iraq and attitudes toward the United States in general would most likely flesh out just how much progress (or lack thereof) President Vladimir Putin and his people have made in creating a sense of Russian identity.

We are told that public-opinion polls show that an overwhelming majority of Russians hope for a defeat of the United States by Saddam's Iraq. This may or may not be true. But is this really full-blooded anti-Americanism, or just a negative opinion to the single event of the war against Iraq and encouraged by the media? This is not something that appears to matter to the Kremlin: keeping as much international attention as possible focused on Russia as long as the war lasts - with an eye toward getting a seat at the table in the postwar settlement - is the goal, and an anti-American stance looks good to most of the world and appeals to populist sentiments at home.

Public opinion in Russia remains something of a black box. Beyond some hardcore members of the Communist Party and an occasional member of Russia's two liberal-conservative Duma factions, Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces, Russians are, for the most part, politically homeless. The Kremlin's power bloc in the Duma - United Russia - functions as a parliamentary caucus interested only in knowing what the right answer will be when it is asked to participate in an "opinion poll" sent to them by the Kremlin or when it is time to pass legislation. This is the bloc that hopes to represent the majority of Russians in the next parliament. It is also a political grouping the former and now-disgraced US president Richard Nixon would be proud to have: the "silent majority" is appreciated by the powers-that-be only because it is silent.

Russian public opinion exists in the shadow of Putin's ambiguous attempt to democratize the country as well as his tempered interest in empowering civil society. At the end of the day, democracy and civil society are only welcomed by the government if they coincide with the desires of those in authority - something that is hardly unique to Russia, but which has a peculiarly engineered quality here.

Today, Russians are being delivered a controlled media message warning of the dangers posed by the United States. Yesterday, the national bugaboo was the evils of Islamic fundamentalism. Tomorrow, it will most likely be unnamed international forces attempting to shut Russia out of the postwar Iraqi settlement. It is always the same dance; just the music is different. Enemies will always be found when Russia's authorities believe the country's interests have been slighted or when the fear of a development of public opinion not subject to state control arises among the elite.

Recent calls among Russia's Muslim community for a jihad against the United States demonstrate just how unsophisticated Kremlin "political technology" can be when it comes to domestic affairs. The media campaign against the United States has created the conditions for Russia to set its own house on fire. This is why the Kremlin's anti-war message has been toned down - protesting the war internationally was almost cost-free but, at home, the same message has created dangerous preconditions for domestic strife.

On the whole, "anti-Americanism" is really Russia's political elite trying to apply its tried and tested top-down strategy of social engineering to create the public opinion it wants. This is particularly apparent under Putin and, with election season almost upon us, we can expect still more attempts at populist manipulation of public opinion. This is a strategy that will probably pay the Kremlin dividends when it is time to go to the ballot box, but it is not enough to cement society into a solid and meaningful whole. Every Russian this writer knows is against the war in Iraq. Most also have mixed feelings about the United States - especially under the Bush administration. What I sense when talking about this war with them is an open questioning of where Russia should fit into the world George W Bush's United States appears to be forcing on everyone who inhabits the planet, not blind America-bashing.

In any case, the "anti-Americanism" of most Russians - when it comes to actual dislike of the United States, and not opposition to a single event or a general suspicion of outsiders - is a reflective, nuanced one. Unlike the crass attitude many Americans have toward the French, many Russians can sit under the Golden Arches munching a Royal de Luxe (Quarter-Pounder) while disagreeing with the war in Iraq and even pondering to what extent the United States is actually good or bad for their country.

One thing is clear: most Russians are against the Iraq war, but the Kremlin has done nothing to convince anyone why the war is anti-Russian. This is because what is Russian remains very unclear, and official anti-Americanism does not help the citizens of the Russian Federation to answer settle the question.

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