Majority of Russians Consider United States a Force for Evil
Friday, May 30, 2008 at 09:40AM Just 16 per cent of those surveyed thought the United States a force for good in the world, compared with 56 percent who considered it a force for evil.
You don’t have to look far to see why.
Many Russians reckon that the United States played a crucial role in the financial collapse of the 1990s by pushing Boris Yeltsin’s government into making precipitous economic reforms.
The Iraq war and a relentless stream of anti-US rhetoric from Mr Putin, who regularly portrayed Washington as an imperialist aggressor, have only heightened that antagonism.
America’s plans to build a missile defence shield in central Europe and a Washington-led campaign to bring the ex-Soviet states of Georgia and Ukraine have also played on Russia’s traditional paranoia.
State television frequently points to both issues as evidence that the United States is conspiring to encircle and enfeeble Russia as part of a plot to steal its vast energy resources.
Arguably more surprisingly, the survey shows that John McCain enjoys more support in Russia than most of the G8. While he still trailed Barack Obama by seven per cent, 24 per cent of Russians said they could vote for him if they could — compared to just eight per cent of French respondents.
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