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You and some others here are looking for specific reasons - i.e. everyone would love Russia if it were not for Iran or some such reason.

I tell you this - Russia could be selling zero arms around the world and this hostile attitude by elements of both the and left and right would still be manifest.

The animosity borders on irrationalism - like antisemitisim.

As you can see - some on the right (since we are on the right we can speak on this rather than why the left hates Russia due to posted examples) are Cold War left overs and into this mix are those influence by the Birch society. A world view based on concpiracy and life or death struggle with the Eastern bloc does not fade easily (how many old timers still don't buy German or Japanese products?), also into this mix you throw in the rise of the "end times" cults that had as its central thesis that the USSR was the nation of the Antichrist and they follow the theory that the Russians and the Chinese will march on Jerusalem like some bad movie so no matter what happens - Russia is destined to serve this role in the end times so why make nice?

Statements that Russia is not moving to Jeffersonian democracy by some on the Right is laughable noting that most on FreeRepublic would come to the defense of Chile's anti-Communist Pinochet regime in a hearbeat.

So in conclusion, the antagonisim to Russia is not caused by disagreement on any issues.

Russia has provided help for the US against terrorism, but it also assists, for cash, the weapons programs of Iran and North Korea, rogue states that support terrorism. That much is not reasonably subject to dispute, nor is the weakening of democratic institutions and freedom of the press in Russia under Putin, the massive corruption, the menacing alliance between the security services and criminal gangs, and thuggish behavior toward neighbors who were formerly part of the Soviet Union.

Those are all rational, fact based reasons for disquiet at the course Russia is on. Many fine Russian democrats would make the same criticisms. Show or cite the articles in the US mass media that evidence the kind of unreasoning anti-Russian attitudes that you think are so prevalent and influential in the US. The criticisms one hears of Russia are, on the whole, far more measured than the criticisms one heard of Bush and US policy from the Democratic Party in the last election.

Russia has its own rich tapestry of history of which Jefferson is not a part. It would seem very strange if Russia found its way to Jeffersonian democracy but Russia can certainly arrive at its very own arrangements. A monarchy in line with Solzhenitsyn's ideas would not likely occur here but it might well occur in Russia with great benefit to Russians and be a renewed paradigm of what Russia has been and can be.

I think Pinochet, BTW, did what had to be done. Likewise many Latin American leaders in Argentina and El Salvador. Allende was no more representative of Chilean civilization than was lenin of Russian civilization.