How the image of a victimized Russia came to be so ingrained in the country's psyche

I think that Professor Carleton was in best form about five years back, warning us about Putin's World:

Revolutions mean different things depending on the country. In America’s historical experience it is coded as “good,” representing the nation’s birth and liberation from British rule. In Russia, however, a revolution violates the principal goal of Russian statecraft: preserving centralized power as the only guarantor of the country’s security. Therefore, if Americans hear “freedom,” then in Russia think “uprising,” one caused by discontent and acute political division. This is why revolution, in principle, is bad there — a point reinforced in recent years by the “color” revolutions that have toppled governments in neighboring Ukraine and Georgia. There is nothing the Kremlin fears more.

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[Putin] rescued the country from the doldrums of Yeltsin’s 1990s which is the principal reason behind his continuing popularity. In fact, according to recent Levada polling (the only reliable one in Russia), he is the most popular leader in modern Russia history — followed by the other great rebuilder: Stalin. According to “My History,” he also saved Russia by turning the Soviet Union away from the misguided internationalism of Marxism and into a great state power, a “Red Empire,” infused with traditional Russian values.

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While [Alexander Prokhanov] may be too extreme for the average Russian, that sentiment captures the triumph felt by many in forcing the world to take notice of Russia and respect its interests, which is Putin’s of-cited goal on the international front just as is unity under his eyes on the domestic front. Not for nothing have Russians who oppose the Kremlin today been tarred as “smuta-sowers.” Perhaps even more to the point, a warning from Peter the Great welcomes visitors to “My History”: “Those who undermine the state’s interests should be executed without mercy.”

In Putin’s first inaugural speech in 2000, he pledged that bringing the nation together was his “sacred duty.” And in that mission there is little cause to celebrate revolution — even the one that gave birth to the Soviet Union, the country to which he owes his political career.

Why Russia Doesn’t Like Its Revolution, 3 Nov 2017, https://medium.com/@greg.carleton/why-russia-doesnt-like-its-revolution-4ef79b4bc76b

When Putin came to power in 2000, the first thing Putin did was shut down independent TV channels. There is no freedom of speech in Russia, but there is strong propaganda. And if you are told from every iron 25 hours a day that the earth is flat, you will believe it. If you are told that all the Japanese dream day and night to come and drink all the oil in Russia, you will believe it. If you are told that Jehovah's Witnesses are terrorists, you will believe it. Or will you say what you believe - not many people want to go to jail for the freedom to criticize the government's mistakes. In Russia, criticism of the authorities is a crime under the law. Therefore, people will say "yes" to anything - are there enemies around Russia? -Yes. Martians interfere with the construction of public toilets in Russia? - Yes. Putin will live 5 million years? - Yes.

Pretty sure the Russians invented paranoia.

Gregory Carleton is Professor of Russian Studies...

Why would a person who has presumably a 'sympathy' with a culture, have such a poisonous view of that culture unless he studies it with the same mindset we might find in a CIA Russian 'specialist' as his tone suggests. What we see in the general credulity of the average Western mind for this current blanket media circus and absolute denial of ANYTHING Russia says is the fruit of decades of dedicated anti-Russian propaganda by the U.S. and others that completely ignores the behaviors of its proponents and paints Russia as a grasping totalitarian society in the face of continuous Greed-based Western aggression, invasion, and murder. Whatever Russia may be, the HYPOCRISY we see in the Western media is not really present in the Russian national character. Nor is the money and political pressure to sell more and more weapons because 'donation' does NOT mean WE are not paying the weapons makers and bankers for them.

Rick HepnerApr. 21 11:17 pm JST

Pretty sure the Russians invented paranoia.

Really ? The paranoia is coming from those who have been raping Ukraine of it's wealth and trying to hide the sins and corruption they instigated in Ukraine. A lot of it has already been exposed but people don't want to hear it. How can a country with so much agriculture, minerals etc., end up being the poorest country in Europe

So many things wrong with this writing I had to stop. The timing of this is not a coincidence.

The 2 that did it for me

The range of anti-Russian measures taken by countries around the world since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is virtually unprecedented and hearkens back to the darkest days of the Cold War.

and

Yet there is no single country, international organization or command center directing these efforts.

One only needs to move off the MSM pages to discover that

In a coordinated legal action between a number of Hillary Clinton operatives and associates, almost two dozen separate documents were simultaneously filed on April 19 in special counsel John Durham’s case against former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann.

This sudden flurry of mass filings included responses from former Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta, campaign manager Robby Mook, Clinton campaign lead lawyer Marc Elias, contractors Fusion GPS, the Clinton campaign itself, and the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

The trigger for the flurry of filings was a request by Durham to unseal a number of emails involving the parties. The emails are currently being withheld on very questionable grounds of attorney–client privilege. Based on the coordinated filings, it appears that a large number of important people associated with the Clinton campaign are very concerned about the information in those emails becoming public.

Based on available metadata, it appears as if most of the individuals involved in Clinton’s scheme to vilify Trump with claims of Russia collusion were all communicating with each other as that scheme unfolded in real time.

So it looks like Durham is about to blow the lid off of this MSM coverage cover up and called in their Harvard Russian specialist to run cover. No where in this article(yes I did read it) is there any mention of the relentless anti Russia campaign that Hillary and the Dem machine have been running since before the Trump election.

It all boils down to one thing. Russians have through their entire history been slaves to the leaders and every leader was a tyrant.