The USA as the Primary Threat to Russia

Abstract

A threat coming from the West is probably one of the most collective memory-rich threat discourses in Russia. Ample visual material from Soviet times only helps to bring the enemy image back to life. Government officials seem to be giving a fresh spin on the old anti-American frames, accusing the USA of undermining Russia’s stability and being hypocritical (‘cynical’) about human rights. The attitude towards America as a personification of the existential threat is ambiguous. It’s not only a threat in itself; it is also a personification of a general ‘Western influence’ that is supposed to corrupt Russia. It is likely the USA will remain on the enemy image radar, especially in view of fulfilled felicity conditions that include strong collective memory embeddedness.

Keywords

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