Agreed on Russians and historic antisemitism. As I remember, Jews were forced to live in 'the pale' - the westernmost stripe of Russia (part of what Timothy Snyder writes about in "The Bloodlands" - IMO an important but highly depressing read). I know a number of Russian Jews who left during the mass exodus of the 80s. Turns out, they pretty much weren't from Russia proper, but the Baltic states and Ukraine.

Agreed on the origins of "protocols'. Part and parcel of Russian antisemitism, being used to create an internal enemy, and not far off from pogroms. I was shocked when I first learned about this as the dedicated communists I knew were all Jewish - and I'd read about many others. I came to the conclusion that antisemitism was a Russian thing, not a Communist or Socialist (Russian stateist) thing.

Of the 'Russian' Jews I knew, all had been professionals. One, who had been a well known surgeon in the USSR drove a taxi while he went through medical school and then residency here - and his wife had been a college professor who ended up teaching English as a second language. You get the idea: more of a loss for the USSR than a gain for the US, but a gain, none the less.

Time to reopen the floodgates.