So, I've been learning a lot more about the relationship between the US and Russia over the past 120 years (roughly), and it's pretty shocking how different the reality is from the propaganda.
Aside from a brief pause while we were allied with the USSR during WW2, we (American citizens) have been absolutely bombarded with threats of Bolsheviks/Communist expansion/Red Scare/domino theory/Soviet aggression/Russia/Putin-the-Puppet Master.
We're currently in the Red Scare 2.0. The only difference is instead of "the commies are coming to get ya" it's "Putin's coming to get ya!"
Remember what happened during the Cold War? The US conveniently had a reason to arm up to an insane, world-ending level, while making itself more powerful through NATO expansion, all while terrifying the American population so they'd blindly support it.
Come to find out, since immediately after WW2, we've been misrepresenting Russia's actions as attempts at world domination and aggressive expansion, if not outright fabricating it. Everyone was so freaked by Communist expansion (now Putinist expansion) that it could make people in power do things they otherwise wouldn't. Just look at the British/US backed Iranian coup in '53. It was Churchill's idea originally. Truman said no, at first, but was later convinced once they misled him by telling him there was likely going to be a communist revolution (backed by Russia) if he didn't act.
As another example, Churchill said of the Korean War, which the US claimed was about stopping communist expansion:
"Korea does not really matter now; I'd never heard of the bloody place until I was 74," Winston Churchill would say shortly after the war ended. "Its importance lies in the fact that it has led to the rearming of America."
It's a scare tactic. Communism has been the raison d'être of both the CIA and the military-industrial complex from day 1, and the justification for expansion of the US military and its global influence. It briefly shifted to terrorism for nearly the duration of 43 and 44's Presidencies, and now has come full circle back to Russia.
Side note: I encourage everyone to learn more about our foreign policy. Maybe start by Googling the Monroe Doctrine, the Truman Doctrine, and the Mann Doctrine. I'd also recommend Oliver Stone's "Untold History of the United States." Feel free to fact check along the way and learn more about the subjects he's talking about.
Two more items on my list to read/study up on are Dwight D. Eisenhower's statements on the military industrial complex, and Smedley Buttler's book "War is a Racket." Here's a fascinating excerpt from the book:
"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."
-excerpt from Smedley Butler's "War is a Racket."