You're also an ESL speaker with a different cultural background than America/Western Europe

What role you think it plays?

As for people in the west hating Russia? Maybe it's from where I'm standing, but we don't see everyday citizens as villains

The problem is that you don't see everyday citizens.

All I know about Turkey is that they have a dictator for a leader and some outrageous foreign relations. Passively, that's all I'm going to get. It would take being exposed to the country's culture and zeitgeist or to its people to change my outlook to any significant manner.

I know there are people in Turkey, and I'm pretty sure most of them are just people living their lives under slightly different conditions. I know the Turkish people aren't their government. I just don't think about those people.

I suspect that's the same kind of outlook people get in the US... except Americans have been, for decades, fed the idea of Russia being the villain, and that's a big factor. Hell, I'm not a racist, and even I turn away from the people out of contries-to-the-south (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan etc.) — because the idea of them being "inferior", almost to the level of untouchables, is what I've been exposed to for as long as I live. It's a terrible sentiment to hold onto, even unconsciously, but — no denial it's there, and it's going to be there for a while even if I take actions to acquiant myself with those people (even the pronoun I use — "those", meaning "they far away", rather than "these", "they close to me" — exposes my bias).

People in the West — hell, people all around the globe, at this point — hate Russia, without looking further into the entity known as such, because Russia is the enemy. You don't get the opportunity to have an image of the person living in the "enemy state" because that would make you see that the shit the country's doing is not the whole country's fault, but a few rotten people in the upper echelons of government who deem it appropriate to lie, cheat and steal as long as they get to see their profits increase, with few regards to the lives of the people whose backs they're sitting on.

The best I can do, then, is to expose you to the outlook of someone from this country. It's your choice whether to engage with the exploration. I could only give you the opportunity.

Hell, if you come here you'd probably pretty much be greeted with open arms.

That is what I suspect would happen if I were to come to the US. "Oh, you're Russian? Come in, you freaky redhat, and tell us stories from the Motherland!"

I'm joking, of course. I think people would appreciate being able to learn something about the land far away and the people it hosts.

People want to see other people. Governments do crazy shit that bends their peoples over for a higher goal they can barely perceive the consequences of.

Shoot, ladies would be tripping over themselves to get a chance to talk to you.

Yo. I'm not exactly a ladies' magnet.

But — I'll keep that in mind.

I have a fun little tidbit to say about girls speaking in accents, but the reply is already way long

Sorry for the long haul. I'm sure you have better things to do than read whatever nonsense I have to share.