Shine some light on that Russian boogeyman

This week’s news cycle has been so completely shellacked by bombshells stories about the bumbling state of American intelligence that shell-shocked readers could be excused for reactively casting Russia as the international antagonist.

But a note of caution is in order. While Russia remains a reliably bad actor, it’s the American media that regularly trades in Russian hysteria. Over at National Review, Michael Brendan Dougherty provides a handy summary catalogue of recently debunked red scares.