Someone help me understand the xenophobia with Russia. Is it illegal to have dealings with Russians in the United States?
I ask merely because most people in the United States mistake me for a Russian on account of my Slavic accent.
from 1917-1940, then from 1945-1991, and again starting around 1999 we Americans were conditioned to view Russians as "the other." So they're currently one of the go-to "bad guys" our government trots out when then want to bang war drums, distract public opinion at home, etc.
the current issue is mostly being pushed by centrist Democrats (and some Republicans) in DC as a way to attack the current President without attacking any of the laissez-faire economic policies that unite politicians like Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush across party lines... Hillary is far more like Jeb! in practice than she is Bernie Sanders.
The Russian angle has the added advantage of being an excuse for Hillary and paid political hacks from her camp (like Peter Daou, David Brock, Robbie Mook, Neera Tanden, etc etc) from their own bad campaign. For Hillary, she can point to Russian interference, rather than her own awful personality and unpopular political stances, to blame for her loss. For her paid hacks, it's a distraction from the fact that they devised strategies and ran a completely incompetent campaign, in hopes that it won't kill their careers.
In stark contrast, You don't see anyone - Democrats or independents - from Bernie's camp making Russia public issue #1... Sanders himself has said its more or less a distraction and stayed true to his policy messages.
make sense?
I do, for the record, believe that foreign interference in our elections is a problem, regardless of who is doing it, and the Russian thing should be investigated. Russians weren't the only ones interfering though... no one apparently has a problem with what Israel has been doing since the 60's, with the AIPAC, etc attacking any American politician who criticizes Israeli policies or the billions in aid we give them as "anti-semitic" and runs ads against them.
