Another divisive force that is frequently posed by the media is national patriotism versus proletarian internationalism. Although internationalism is viewed as predominant, citizens are warned against feelings of bourgeois nationalism, since the "unity between internationalism and patriotism is of a relative character, and there is always the real possibility of dissension between them; they may even be placed into a position of mutual opposition." Somehow the conflict, according to the journal _Filosofska Misal_, is perceived as being resolved through a higher form of patriotism that is inextricably linked with love of the Soviet Union. Socialist patriotism is seen as a "qualitatively new, higher form of patriotism" as expressed in "love and gratitude toward the Soviet Union and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union organically linked with love for Bulgaria."
In accordance with the media's constant expression of admiration for, and solidarity with, the Soviet Union, any issue that raises the question of conflicting loyalties between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Soviet Union is summarily dismissed with the reiteration of support for the Soviet Union. One journal warned the people of the dangers from the left in the form of the people of the PRC as well as from the right in the form of capitalist societies: "Contrary to all healthy logic, for years on end, the Chinese leadership has been waging hostile propaganda campaigns against the Soviet Union ... which are in no way inferior to the most malicious fabrications of bourgeois anti-Sovietism."
When the troops of the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia in August 1968, Bulgaria once again rose to the Soviet Union's defense in complete justification of the invasion. The BTA cited a long list of workers, peasants, and intellectuals who were allegedly in favor of the action. Major newspapers such as _Rabotnichesko Delo_ interpreted the event as symbolic of proletarian internationalism, and _Zemedelsko Zname_ stated that "it is our supreme duty to resist the common enemy and not to allow anyone ever to tear away even one link from the chain of the socialist community." The Czechoslovak uprising itself, as reported by the Bulgarian press some months later, was interpreted as nationalistic and counterrevolutionary.