NEWS: Friend or Foe? What Russians think of Americans

The Secratary of state, Condoleezza Rice was shocked by the low regard Russians have for the USA after visiting Moscow for the first time. She appeared on a Moscow based radio program where listeners called in and gave their opinion of America. 46% of 6,000 callers believed the U.S.A. to be Russia's adversary, 54% said they were allies. Though a majority believe to be allies, the percentage was still a surprise to the American government.
It seems Russians are split on what they believe the USA to be to them. Most Russians come to believe most Americans are wealthy and live fine, as where this makes them arrogant and stupid.
There is a large difference between the salaries of a Russian and an American, and can easily be understood why they feel this way.
Russians seem to believe that Americans look down at them
and think of the United states as an aggressive law abiding country. Most Russians seem not to have much knowledge on the United States and its policies. So today there are Americans trying to fill the gap and educate the people of Russia about the United States of America.




As an American it does not surprise me to see the split of thought between the Russian public. I am sure if they had a program here and asked the public to call in, the results would probably be the same.
Most Americans are still stuck on the belief of Russians being American hating communists. But we do have people who believe Russia to be a strong ally and hope we will stay this way for years to come.
Myself, I believe most Russians to be good people with a very large heart. They are just as loyal to there homeland as I am to mine. This is what makes your home, home. I do see tensions still between our great nations but it takes time to learn and understand each other for these tensions to go away. Hopefully one day we both will have a large majority that thinks on a positive side.

[edit on 2-6-2005 by ncbrian211]

[edit on 2-6-2005 by ncbrian211]

The Russians are threatening the use of force if your President decides to send weapons into space. How do you think that will affect Russian/American relations?

Well, alot of the stuff in the article is true. Russians do look down on us Americans, but I think that is a result of thier government and it's media.
We do make much more that they do, but we make more than most other countries and so do the Brits, French, Swiss etc...

I live in an old Soviet country and have been to Russia a few times. There are many Russians at the bars I frequent and many of them are good friends of mine. They do think we are snobby and arrogant with our heads up our (I). But once they get to know me and my friends they know that we (Americans) are not like that (well, maybe some of us ).

It's all about education. Many of the younger generation in Russia are starting to get out and see other places, go to foriegn schools and get other points of view besides what Mother Russia pushes out over the airwaves. Many Russians do not have the chance get outside of thier city, box, region, whatever and this affects thier outlook on other countries including the US and it's people.

I have always thought of the russians as a tough crew, but never anything really negative. I think if russians get to know americans they will appreciate us more. we should be good friends, Vodka is popular in both countries

There aren't many negative things that can be said of the Russian people, the problem is the government anti-american propaganda, which still exists today, and many Russian people not knowing any better, believe them.

The Russian government still tells the people that the blame is on the US for the state that Russia is in now, they have always blamed the US for the conditions they have been in since the communists took power.

We can see the Russian government position by their own admissions, for example with Iraq. While in one hand they have been providing evidence, at least since 9/11 up to the war in Iraq that there was proof that Saddam was preparing terrorist attacks in US soil and US interests, they have been also proclaiming to the world that there is no real reason why the US should oust Saddam, and make a regime change in that country.

That double standard itself should tell people that there is anti-american propaganda still being used by the Kremlim/KGB/Russian mafia.


[edit on 2-6-2005 by Muaddib]

What's funny is that so many people knock the U.S. for having imperialist-like foreign policies, but Russia is the worst.

Russian policies are in fact very similar to American.

They both try hard to project it's power and influence globally.
They both think they know what is best for the world.
They both pick unsavoury allies if it helps their cause.
They both live by the sword.

Russia is even more self serving than France and and America combined, and has a history of being much more ruthless against both it's own population and foreign people that it tries to influence.

Although America isn't without its own challenges, Russians are the last people who should be pointing fingers.

[edit on 2-6-2005 by Hajduk]

As in 1941, we have the same enemy.

Yes, the enemy is an indiscriminate amount of dissenters among 2 billion some Muslims. Wonder how many more countries we can invade before we reduce the percentage from 0.0005% to 0.0004%.

[edit on 2-6-2005 by Jamuhn]

Propaganda.

Consider this. Here in America, Americans don't know whether America is their enemy or their ally.

Perhaps more than a healthy 46% of Americans believe that they are not represented accurately by their government - and I'm not talking about a specific political party. I think that it doesn't take a very active imagination to theorize that even Republican youths feel disenfranchised.

P.S., to remind those that know me, and to inform those that don't, I'm neither a simple Democrat nor a simple Republican. Things aren't simple, so why pigeonhole issues so?

Zip

Well, this thread was about what Russians think of Americans, but ok.

What you call dissenters are actually extremists who are waging several jihads accross the world in case you had no idea.

There are moderate Muslims that will not think of doing the things extremists do, but there is a pretty large amount of Islamic extremists who have been murdering a large portion of the Christian and other non-Muslim people in the world as we speak.

Why is it that we don't see on the news more often, or hardly at all what these extremists are actually doing in places like Sudan?; where more than 2.4 million people, 2 million of them being Christians and over 400,000 non-arabs have been killed since 1983 by two jihads which the government of Sudan has waged against anyone that is not a radical Muslim, and anyone that is not Arab.

That's just one country, how about what is happening in Nigeria, Algeria, Indonesia, Philippines, Kosovo, Israel/Palestine, Pakistan/India, etc?

I guess the Muslim extremists are not the ones causing the conflicts, it is the fault of the rest of the world.


[edit on 3-6-2005 by Muaddib]

Zip, you say "perhaps" 46%, but where exactly are you taking this number from?

From what sources are you giving that estimate?

[edit on 3-6-2005 by Muaddib]

Originally posted by Muaddib
Well, this thread was about what Russians think of Americans, but ok.

What you call dissenters are actually extremists who are waging several jihads accross the world in case you had no idea.

There are moderate Muslims that will not think of doing the things extremists do, but there is a pretty large amount of Islamic extremists who have been murdering a large portion of the Christian and other non-Muslim people in the world as we speak.

Why is it that we don't see on the news more often, or hardly at all what these extremists are actually doing in places like Sudan?; where more than 2.4 million people, 2 million of them being Christians and over 400,000 non-arabs have been killed since 1983 by two jihads which the government of Sudan has waged against anyone that is not a radical Muslim, and anyone that is not Arab.

That's just one country, how about what is happening in Nigeria, Algeria, Indonesia, Philippines, Kosovo, Israel/Palestine, Pakistan/India, etc?

I guess the Muslim extremists are not the ones causing the conflicts, it is the fault of the rest of the world.

Yay I can actually agree with you for once.

Your stance that we dont hear about it could be that American news is well known for its lack of coverage of international news. The situations in Aceh and other Christian deaths was constantly on the news when I was living in Australia. The whole Australian news watching population knew what was being done by muslim extremists in Indonesia. The same can be said about the British who saw the Sudanese disaster on the BBC on a nightly basis. Infact it was our Foreign Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer that highlighted the Sudanese and African in generals plight.

Where me and you, Muaddib, might part ways is in what has happend in view of those killings you listed. Absolutely nothing. Why has the United States (or any other country for that matter, just using the United States because youre an American) not been vocal in intervening here?

Well subz, the US has been talking about this and saying there is genocide in Sudan when Kofi Annan was still saying that what is happening in Sudan is not genocide. I am not even sure he has changed his stance, yet Kofi Annan is not being bashed, or reprimended because of this. If the killings that are still continuing in Sudan are not genocide i don't know what is. Even the Sudanese government is denying the delivery of any food to people that are not Arab, and black Christians are also still being killed and forced to move from their lands. It is sad to see what is happening over there.

Well, to get back on topic, I don't blame the Russian people for what they think of us, very few of them have been able to see other countries nor have most of them been able to know any Americans and our way of life. Except for what the kremlim/kgb/Russian mafia has been telling them about the US, which has been lies. The same lies that other communist countries such as Cuba indoctrinate their people to believe about the US.



[edit on 3-6-2005 by Muaddib]

I took the number from the source article, which said that 46% of the Russian callers thought that the USA was their adversary and I compared it to the current American president's approval rating, 45%.

from www.usatoday.com...
President Bush's approval rating has fallen to 45%, the lowest point of his presidency,

She appeared on a Moscow based radio program where listeners called in and gave their opinion of America. 46% of 6,000 callers believed the U.S.A. to be Russia's adversary, 54% said they were allies.

Zip

Muaddib:

There aren't many negative things that can be said of the Russian people,

I think you are overly flattering that particular nation.

But, more to the point:
Russians are given to explaining geopolitics (and/or) politics by means of mythology. That's not too surprising given that less than a 100 years ago Russia was an absolute monarchy going back to the times of Norwegian rulers, and through most of that time it was a stalwart defender of the Orthodox Christianity against the countless waves of invaders.

You can't really appreciate it until you see bone fragments and shrapnel (WWII) right in the fileds, in the heartland of Russia.

the problem is the government anti-american propaganda, which still exists today, and many Russian people not knowing any better, believe them.

How about the war against Serbia? Russians are bound to Serbs ethnically, they share exact same Christian doctrine (Orthodox), and Serbia was gutted.

Originally posted by Muaddib
There aren't many negative things that can be said of the Russian people, the problem is the government anti-american propaganda, which still exists today, and many Russian people not knowing any better, believe them.

With your support for the Iraq war one might argue your govenment have tricked you with Pro-American propaganda.

The many good are often led by the bad few.

[edit on 3-6-2005 by 7th_Chakra]

Do you *honestly* belive the average Russian gives a tinkers' damn about such policies? The average American doesn't even care, and we've got the leisure time to waste on such concerns.

Most Russians are practical people. First, they are concerned about their family's well being, then their won, then their community. It's not a nation of people who have nothing to do but care about the fact that the weapons their nation orbitted a decade ago are obsolete and will be eclipsed by newer American gadgets. If anything, they'd rather their government *didn't* waste more money on weapons and spent more to improve the third world conditions that many still suffer from.

It's still interesting, that if you ask a Russian about how he thinks of a foreign people, he's not bringing up France, or Australia, or Mexico. He's comparing to America. Mention Germany and you'll get pretty unanimous hatred.

That was an unexpected benefit of living in the Pacific Northwest during the late 80s and early 90's-the influx of immigrants from former Baltic and Soviet states, exchange students, former military, the works. Learned a lot about the real Russia from those who'd lived in it, not those profiting from it.

And, as someone said, if you ran such a poll in America, you'd get similar results, I wager. Especially in California.

Originally posted by subz
The Russians are threatening the use of force if your President decides to send weapons into space. How do you think that will affect Russian/American relations?

Originally posted by Phugedaboudet
the fact that the weapons their nation orbitted a decade ago are obsolete

Huh? What weapons did they put into orbit? Do you always take to making stuff up on the fly?

Most Russians are living below the poverty line, some Russians have made vast fortunes by being corrupt . I think they view the USA as a place to go to for a better life , most Russian women want to go there. To me i think that Russia is ruled by Gangsters now and that they will never know what Democracy is.Russia today is being a friend of a friend, that means no democracy.

Originally posted by Aelita

I think you are overly flattering that particular nation.

How exactly am i doing that?... You were there, you do know that the Russian government continues their anti-american propaganda. Wasn't that what you said last time we talked about this?

I don't believe that most Russian people are bad, just like most Chinese people are not bad, their opinions about the US is what their own governments have been indoctrinating into them for decades...and no, the US does not do that.

Originally posted by Aelita
.........
How about the war against Serbia? Russians are bound to Serbs ethnically, they share exact same Christian doctrine (Orthodox), and Serbia was gutted.

You know that both sides have commited atrocities, although the Russian government has more than it's share on those atrocities commited.

[edit on 3-6-2005 by Muaddib]