Demonizing NATO is a favorite Kremlin pastime, Michael Bohm says in an op-ed in the the Moscow Times today.  Taking Medvedev’s questionable assertion that there are NATO missiles in Europe, pointing at Russia, as a recent case in point – he traces the history of Russian NATO bashing.

There is a rich Soviet history of crude anti-NATO propaganda. Old copies of Krokodil magazine, for example, contain plenty of grotesque caricatures filled with the bloody hands of rapacious Uncle Sam-like figures representing NATO, craving to take over the world. Two generations of Russians grew up reading Krokodil as well as Sergei Mikhalkov, who, in addition to writing several versions of the Soviet anthem, wrote popular, highly politicized fables such as “The Wolf-Diplomat” with direct references to NATO as the predatory wolf that gobbles up innocent hares. Even today, the sound of the word “NATO” invariably evokes a knee-jerk negative response among many Russians, even among the intelligentsia who understand perfectly well that NATO’s military capability and its relationship to Russia are completely different now than they were during the Cold War.

Given the degree to which NATO has disarmed over the past 18 years, it is ridiculous, of course, to speak seriously about a NATO military threat to Russia. (The alliance’s “political threat” to Russia should not be confused with a military threat.)