A couple days ago during my Veteran playthrough (and yes, it is much easier than before once you just slow down!) I actually started the level No Russian. I did not finish it. I regret deciding to even start it because it's awful. Shameful, disgusting, tasteless... I don't have enough negative adjectives to describe this mission. It should have been cut from the game entirely or reworked somehow, perhaps into a cutscene.
I've been doing a veteran playthrough myself, and I have to say, I have pretty much the absolute opposite reaction to you.
I'm not sure that there should be any expectation of tastefulness when you're playing a game where your primary objective is to kill people. But its very hard to play through the mission without feeling even a basic reaction of disgust. But that's the point! What you're doing is a terrible thing, even under the context that the ends justify the means. And even if you dont participate, you still get it in the end.
The thing to take away from it is that you HAVE to participate at some point, even though you might be totally unwilling. You're an undercover CIA agent - deep down, your character is supposed to be disgusted with himself for doing this, and therefore, so are you. The fact that it can even provoke this true reaction in you is a testament to how well done it is. The problem might lie in the somewhat confused way the overall story is told, but in terms of emotional reaction, this level is probably one the most impactful scenes in any game, book or movie. Often, a book or movie attempts to get you to relate to the protagonist or another character, to get you to feel what theyre feeling, but only a video game could really put you in their shoes this way.
And in general, although the game has been widely criticized for having a disjointed story, not enough credit is given for those certain scenes that really make you feel something. The result of that airport mission was the invasion of america - and the way they did it in this game was absolutely spectacular. Although I wish there was a bit more setup, when you get thrown into the suburbs and chaos is surrounding you - that was the part that really got to me. This wasnt some random french town in WWII - those suburbs are the spitting image of my hometown. When the russian landed on the roof and the gunner let fly on him and destroyed the place, my first thought was about how some guy had worked all his life for that house, and it just got destroyed to pieces. I'm sure the french felt the same way in WWII, but this was MY neighborhood!
It was immediately clear why I was fighting - it was personal. The overall story meant nothing to me at that point. I was totally there in that scene. A firefight in taco bell? In TGI Fridays!?! I love those places...and I wanted the russians the fuck out. They might take the white house, but they aint taking burger king if I've got anything to do about it!
No other game has ever even made me come close to feeling so personal about it, so wrapped up in it.