Russian state TV is now terrorizing citizens with a conspiracy theory that Germany and Japan⁠—egged on by the U.S.⁠—are getting ready to attack Russia, because aggression is in their genes.

“Germany and Japan are genetically aggressive cultures. Let’s recall some things. How are German fairy tales different from Russian? For them, war is a norm and not an anomaly. Remember the troubled times of the 17th century? The war of lords in Germany lasted for 1000 years and no one thought to call it an anomaly, no one said it wasn’t normal. Wouldn’t underestimate the potential of these countries. Remember the Japanese culture, the cult of the Samurai, the cult of war, of self destruction. How does that threaten us? We’re in the same situation as in the 19th century. We’re resuming the second round of history. For 40 years after the Napoleonic wars we said this is the last war of white people forever in history. The big game of Russia and Great Britain was at the forefront. We’ve anticipated throughout the 19th century that everything will end up in a British-Russian war. Meanwhile, Prussia created the German empire, Japan became the empire of Japan. We were forced into large land wars with two powerful enemies in the east and the west. Possibly, Americans are arranging a repetition for us with two mighty adversaries in the east and the west.”