And I do not want to repeat those arguments. There is just one point I think that needs to be made here. The psychologists have a term "xenophobia" which they use to describe those who have a fear of strangers. or a fear of anything foreign. As we look at the long and troubled history of Russia. and then the Soviet Union. we see that one of the driving forces in that culture has been xenophobiaterrible fear under the czars of any kind of Western influence somehow creeping into Russia. terrible fear under the commissars. or Communist dictators from Lenin and Stalin all the way down through Khrushchev and Brezhnev of anything that they considered to be foreign. It was one of the major problems of the Soviet Union and one of the major difficulties that they had in becoming an accepted part of the world family of nations. We all rejoiced when the Berlin wall came down. when in the spirit of glasnostor opennessMr. Gorbachev led the Soviet Union into an atmosphere of much less xenophobia. The thing that distresses me the most is the piece of legislation that passed the Russian Parliament. and that is now sitting on President Yeltsins desk. is that it is a clear return to the days of xenophobiafear of anything from outside. Yes. Religious liberty is important.
Identified stereotypes
Russians and Soviets are described as having xenophobia, a fear of anything foreign.