The term Russophobia refers to negative prejudices and fear of Russia, Russian culture and its people. Russophobia is a mass culture cliche, and can be said to have been created during the cold war. But in the last century, with the two great wars, Russia has always been a gigantic pain in the rear for the liberal west, physically and psychologically.
Long Cycle Theory suggests that superpowers grow and dominate in cycles of about a hundred years and stereotypical prediction of the fall in American power has been in vogue for decades. It was always assumed that China would be the one to fear with its economic expansion. Yet it has been playing its cars with caution, not becoming partners with the US in a G2 relationship.
Its time to be very afraid of Russia. Remember how Germany invaded the Rhineland and Czechoslovakia while Britain watched in frozen horror?
The challenger to a superpower in Long Cycle Theory is never the next hegemon. The new superpowers is an ally of the old one, a country that played the system and got big. The Portuguese leader fought the Italians but the Dutch became powerful. The dutch fought the Spanish War, and then we have a long period of British “peace” with France and Germany as challengers, until the rise of USA. The world is a contest between land and maritime powers, and the contemporary world is one between Russian-led Eurasianism and Anglo-American Atlanticism.  Ukraine has been a core geopolitical interest for Russia, and she was never going to allow that nation to walk away from Russia and become a member of The Atlantic Alliance.
SARA SHAFAAT,
Lahore, March 9.