Anti-Americanism key to Putin's campaign

MOSCOW (AP) — It's a mantra of Vladimir Putin's presidential campaign: The U.S. is working to weaken Russia and push it back into the chaos that followed the Soviet collapse.

In a wave of anti-Americanism reminiscent of the Cold War, the prime minister has cast his opponents as U.S. lackeys and the new American ambassador has found himself under unprecedented attack, including being targeted in an offensive YouTube video that implies he is a pedophile.

Putin's posturing as a defender of national interests may help him win the March 4 election, but possibly at the cost of the "reset" of U.S.-Russian relations that has been one of the foreign policy achievements of Barack …