There was a somewhat infamous clip on I think a German talk show just a bit before the war where some lady was talking about how the life expectancy in Russia is shorter than in Europe, so death is more normal in their culture and they don't value life in the same way (and thereby aren't really European). Naturally no mention is made of the fact that even at the time Ukrainian life expectancy was even lower, because it's just a backward justification for the same century-old racist tropes.

It's so ridiculous how libs can look at the silly way Russia is depicted and just go on doing a sick man of europe evil man of Eurasia thing, because this nation that has long been an opponent of their country just seems to always be dominated by especially evil people, even when those people had radically different ideologies and in several cases killed each other. Except that one time Russia was a wholesome republic when we were doing shock therapy to it and killing millions of people, but we've forgotten about that plot line now.

It feels like, as much as this is obviously a geopolitical tool, part of the reason libs love this story so much is it let's them designate the Other as being docile and subservient to deflect from the fact that most Americans never back up their complaints about their own government with meaningful action. Trump is Mussolini and the world will be incomparably better when he's gone? Okay, but then I can't help but notice that he's upside down and you don't have any plans for setting him right side up.

(Obviously I think adventurism is bad, but for someone in the "Hitler cast a spell on Germany" school of political bedtime stories, adventurism is suddenly much more justified because they say the problem is a Great Man)