The Russian Tradition
Ironically, on the same subject, I came across a book a few years ago (Moscow Mission), written by an ex-US ambassador to the USSR in the late 1940s. He chose to illustrate each chapter with quotes from a journal by a British traveler to Russia, ah, about 1850 (no coincidence, no dobut), more about the state of mind than the state of the rods. The comments were spot on, 100 years later, in his dealings with the Russians. And as I read them, they seemed to match perfectly what I knew about the USSR in the 1970s and 1980s, and even more accurately to what I had experienced visiting Russia a good few times over the last 20 years.
Arguably, you can always find quotes to fit your point, but I remember perfectly the poor ambassador did try to, or appeared to make a great effort, to comprehend the Russian psyche.
And what is also ironic is that the Russians have such a huge complex of inferiority towards the West and harp on about how the West mistakes their (good) intentions, and how the West treats them with (unwarranted) contempt, etc. and every time they come up with something, like this "nekulturny" bully, they themselves reinforce the stereotypes. Well, are they stereotypes? Anyway, OT :)