I think liberalism has a strong race-essentialist component where certain races -- specifically the Russians and the Chinese -- are racially communistic, and therefore bad. But also it has definitely ramped up. There was a period between the dissolution of the USSR and the early-2010s where liberal opinion of Russians seemed to be "improving" (they were characterized as drunken stupid untermensch, rather than evil communists).

Racism against most groups fluctuates based on the needs of nationalism. Anti-black racism and antisemitism are the only really constant ones.

"Generalplan Ost"

Certainly ramped up recently. I wasn't around for cold war hysteria but obviously they were seen as both nefarious or oppressed by their government then. Then the 90s happened, Terminator 2 has Arnold tell lil John Connor that skynet will trick the Russians into launching nukes to which the kid says "I thought the were our friends now?"

That's the perception I grew up with, Russians were trying to be like us, but bumbling and drunk, often with a nearly redneck-like knowhow to problem-solving but without the cheer, just a monotone and heavily accented "it works now" kinda vibe, if that makes any sense. Never really played TF2 but the big guy feels like what Russians were must often depicted as: huge, strong, and dumb but capable. Always with those white and blue striped naval shirts.

After Putin came back to power, and especially 2014 and Crimea, it turned back to them being just evil. Never mind what the people there wanted, that's propaganda!

BTW, Libs wanting Crimea's return is like them being outspoken that native American territory should be returned... to Canada. Similar vibes now post-2022 with the Donbass.

What goodwill may have been left had been tossed and forgotten since the war in Ukraine. Russians are uniquely evil. I met a native woman recently who is doing documentary work for a few tribes, had Luigi as her phone background, talked about being annoyed by liberals, but when I recommended a movie she looked it up and said "oh, it's russian..." and her ig stories are frequently about some volunteer dying in Ukraine with a shit ton of tattoos. And it's in honor of them, mind you. I really didn't expect that kind of singular view from someone who is strongly leftist, doing the work, and not from a nato country.

I haven't been able to have any real conversations about Russia since 2022 that haven't devolved into the fact that it is somehow an evil place filled with evil people doing evil things. It's totalizing. Even 3 years into a war that has seemingly ground to a halt in the popular mind it's seems to not only still be present but gotten worse.

But all that is to say is that it wasn't always this bad, but even at it's best it was still patronizing and distrustful.