More on (obnoxious) Western attitudes toward Russia:
The NPR show, To The Point is doing a discussion on the new Cold War today (in a few minutes). The plug refers to energy "blackmail" and backsliding on democracy. Sounds promising! </snark>
Also, the book reviews in The eXile draw attention to the peculiar fact that dissing Russia is the new black. Or like the Cold War, just never went out of style. Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire
Most Eastern European countries have similiar image problems. As I moved to the Netherlands in the beginning of 1990's, I did not notice much of bad attitude in the beginning - people just looked friendly to me. It was not all without pity misconceptions, but I do think that the Western impression got a bit more worse than better during the decade. Apparently the vast majority of Eastern Europeans that you would come across were cheap labour seekers or (for example) used car dealers. That became the first new frame you would be fit onto, so to speak. I hope that there is some increase of mutual idealism after the EU enlargement :-)
