Manufactured Hysteria Over Russia Requires 24/7 Upkeep
By Glen Ford for Black Agenda Report - Even at the height of the Cold War and the depths of McCarthyism, the U.S. corporate media was never even remotely as consumed with Russia as they are, today. The obsession with the Kremlin is a manufactured hysteria, a result of the panic that engulfed the U.S. ruling class -- and its media -- during last year’s election. What scared them witless, was the reaction of so-called “middle Americans” -- white conservatives that call themselves Christian and “patriotic” – to Donald Trump’s statements on lessening tensions with Moscow and getting the U.S. out of the regime change business. Trump’s supporters didn’t bat an eye. It soon became clear that Trump’s base was nowhere near as gung-ho for endless war and confrontation as the rulers, and most of the rest of us, had assumed. And, that was very bad news for the War Party, which had gathered together in Hillary Clinton’s big tent. Because, if Donald Trump’s “middle Americans” – or “deplorables,” as Hillary called them -- could not be counted on to applaud every war that their rulers chose to launch, then where was the reliable constituency for war? If not Trump’s people -- who?