I'm pretty sure that if you had asked me what "national character" means before this thread, I would definitely have included "personality cult around a wacky dictator"!
For the reasons laid out in the quote that started this discussion, I'm not sure "national character" refers to anything at all.
It's either all applause lights or what behaviorists might call explanatory fiction (i.e. it describes certain behavior, but does not actually explain anything).
Here's the new thread for posting quotes, with the usual rules: