It’s really ironic that “Russophobia" has become Russian propaganda's go-to line. Post USSR, most Americans actually stopped viewing Russia as 'the bad guy.' We embraced post-communist Russia. That's why so many dismissed Russia attacking our election as too absurd to be true./1
.@nprscottsimon reveals this anti-Russophobia when he asks Browder who just told horrific story of Bitkovs: "Plenty of people are skeptical about Russia being seen at the center of so many allegations. They say US & West are crawling back to a destructive Cold War mentality."/2
.@BillBrowder had just told NPR the horrific story of the Bitkov family whom the Russian govt tracked down in Guatemala, got the parents jailed, then tried to take their infant son back to Russia. Such bad acts are hard for Americans to grasp. That's anti-Russophobia at work./3
People refuse to believe non-communist Russia could be all that bad. It goes against our fairly ingrained cultural ANTI-Russophobia. Anti-Russophobia has actually given Russia the benefit of the doubt all these years, paving the way for disbelieving Russia’s election attack./4
Americans were skeptical when Russia invaded Ukraine, Russians shot down MH17, of election disruption. We believed Putin. We believed he'd remove Assad’s chemical weapons, he’d help kill terrorists. We looked away at bombing civilians & assassinations. That's not Russophobia./5
Even after Russia sabotaged our own election, our media demands we hear a defense of Russia. Browder had to defend the horrific Bitkov story to NPR host by again reciting many well-known & -documented bad acts & ubiquitous Kremlin tentacles. That's the opposite of Russophobia. /6
Even after Browder recites the litany of recent Russian aggression, the interviewer ends w/: "Quick question: But it's important to get along, isn't it?” MY POINT: Russia still gets a break from mainstream Western media, demonstrating Russophobia isn’t reality but propaganda./7
Russophobia, fake news are Russia’s go-to lines to deny responsibility for everything these days: hacking, election interference, chemical attacks in Syria, Skripal poisoning. Ironically anti-Russophobia has kept the West slow to call out what we saw. Until CW use in Salisbury./8 
When we call out Russia right away b/c of national security threat imperatives, the Kremlin says, "Wait, frenzy, hysteria, Russophobia, you jump to conclusions." This propaganda tactic refocuses the media, distracts from fact-finding, while playing to our sense of past shame./9
