Russophrenia

Good explanation of the situation in Ukraine:

Glenn Diesen: How 'Russophrenia' from supposedly smart people in the West has slowly led us towards a major European war

Starts with:

The author and holocaust survivor, Victor Klemperer, identified two distinct styles of language that defined Hitler’s propaganda against the Jews: either “scornful derision” of the inferior race or “panic-stricken fear” of their threat to civilisation.

Anti-Russian propaganda over the past centuries has similarly produced two contradictory positions - disdain for Russians as an uncivilised and backward people, and simultaneously an immeasurable threat looming over Europe. A state of affairs described by one writer as "Russophrenia: the idea that Russia is simultaneously about to fall apart, and also take over the world."

The only problem I see with his explanation is that I don't think our leaders are really concerned about Russia, they are only interested in exploiting the situation for their own personal benefit.