The Danger That Lurks Inside Vladimir Putin's Brain
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-winner-effect/201403/the-danger-lurks-inside-vladimir-putins-brain
At a joint German-Russian cabinet meeting in Siberia in 2006, German Chancellor Angela Merkel unsuccessfully tried to persuade President Vladimir Putin that cabinet ministers should be treated with respect (link is external) rather than contempt. Resentment is the emotion for superiors while anger is reserved for equals. But contempt is the emotion reserved for those we regard as inferiors.
Now, Putin’s contempt for others is spreading far beyond his cabinet to include the entire western leadership, from Cameron to Obama. Putin’s personality and thinking have become grossly distorted (link is external) by the effects of enormous, largely unfettered power on his brain. Since then, Putin has invaded the Crimea and engineered the swift dissolution of a country.
Interpreting political behaviour in psychological terms is always a risk: Ukraine’s ethnic balance is a fragile one and there is the scent of possible Crimean oil reserves as a juicy incentive for Putin’s political adventurism. But perhaps most politically-useful of all, is the whipped-up nationalist fervour to bolster Putin’s hold over a decaying Russian economy with its ageing workforce and corrupt institutions.
But, after 15 years in power, psychological factors have to be taken into consideration in analysing Putin’s actions and, more importantly, in deciding how to respond to them. And contempt must be considered as one of the most important elements of his psychology. It is not only contempt for what he almost regards as weak—and, possibly in his macho world view, effeminate—western leaders. More important is his contempt for their institutions such as international treaties and laws.
Putin was brought up under a Marxist-Lenninist worldview where there was a strong tradition of regarding such things as instruments of capitalist or bourgeois oppression, to be treated with, well, contempt. He grew up in a culture where the ends justified the means. And this is why he could so easily tear up an international treaty with Ukraine guaranteeing its independence in return for giving up its nuclear weapons.
I do not have the slightest doubt that Putin intends to stay in power at least until 2024 and perhaps beyond. There can be little doubt that his brain has been neurologically and physically changed so much that he firmly and genuinely believes that without him, Russia is doomed. Absolute power for long periods makes you blind to risk, highly egocentric, narcissistic and utterly devoid of self-awareness. They also make you see other people as objects (link is external) and the emotional-cognitive consequence of all this is…contempt.
It is very likely that he feels contempt for the potential political leaders who might succeed him, just as much as he feels contempt for anyone—for instance Ukrainians—who thwart him. A recent report (link is external) said that German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has talked with Putin more than any other leader in the last few weeks, reported feeling “bewildered” by Putin. After speaking with him, the report claimed, she said she was not sure he was in touch with reality, telling US President Obama that Putin was “in another world”.
This makes sense, neuropsychologically speaking: Progressive isolation and a contempt for anyone else’s opinion are classic signs of the “hubris syndrome”—that acquired personality disorder to which some world leaders are susceptible (link is external).
The fear factor
There is of course another psychological factor playing out in this very dangerous game—fear. Putin knows that he and his regime would be vulnerable to prosecution by a successor government if they were to relinquish power. That is another reason why he will try to exceed Stalin in the length of time he will have held power in Russia.
But there is an ideological aspect to his psychology also. He wrote in his biography (link is external): “I consider it to be my sacred duty to unify the people of Russia, to rally citizens around clear aims and tasks, and to remember every day and every minute that we have one Motherland, one people and one future.”
There is something about the metre and cadence of that “One Motherland, one people, one future” which sends shivers down my spine.
The bottom line is that the current psychological trajectory of Vladimir Putin is one of a feeling of historical destiny leading him to reclaim the dignity and respect due to his great Russian empire. This is a journey which is as much personal as political, because once the hubris syndrome takes hold in the brain, the personal and the national are identical because the leader is the nation and its destiny.
How to handle a man like Putin
I have little doubt that Putin feels personally humiliated by the fall of the Soviet Union and its empire and that, fuelled by power and with a blindness to risk, he will work ever harder to make good that humiliation through further dangerous adventures. He will be all the more driven by his feeling of personal and national superiority to the contemptibly weak, decadent and cowardly western powers—as he probably sees them.
So how should the West respond? Psychologically speaking, the very worst response would be appeasement because this will simply fuel his contempt and strengthen the justification for his position. Strong consequences have to follow from his contempt for international law and treaties. This will cost the West dearly, economically speaking, but the longer-term costs of appeasement will make the costs of strong, early action appear trivial in retrospect.@ihrobertson
Psychological Profile of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread1002775/pg1
Who is Putin, How does he think. Profile is built from years or observation, data collection, public statements, public acts, decisions made etc
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is a German - Russian hybrid.
A psychological hybrid that is quite rare in Russia, no wonder he climbed to the top. Few facts first.
- He speaks fluent German
- He rarely drinks alcohol and when he does, not a lot. (this might grab you by surprise considering he is Russian)
- He despises Russian cultural inefficiency.
- He is physically active.
- He is biased against England more so than United States.
- He is a patriot.
- He likes younger women.
- He keeps his family and children completely out of the spotlight.
- He views US England, IMF and NATO as greatest threat to future of Russia.
What Putin will never admit even on his death bed (assuming CIA doesn't find a way to bump him). Is that his years spent as a Colonel in Germany has completely changed him and installed into his mind that strict German discipline and punctuality that is so common in German culture. I've visited Germany many times and there is a strictness about them that is hard to put into words. If you visit Germany and after that Spain for example, it is as if you went to another planet. Russians although smart enough in most cases are a bit unfocused, years spent in Germany has made Putin combine Russian pride with German discipline. After he returned to "motherland" he had nothing but criticism for cultural inefficiency, nothing by hate for then sold out government and absolute death wish for oligarchs who Privatized Russian Resources for pennies on the dollar (which by the way is about to happen in Ukraine, IMF demands it in order to release loans).
After a few bullets in the back streets. After a few serious threats to people like Boris Yeltsin, Putin took control by force, and decided to turn Russia around. And by all measures, any kind of measures, from 1990s to 2014, he achieved a complete turnaround. The 60-71% approval rating inside Russian Federation is not a gimmick, majority of 140 million people support him.
To make matters even worse for Western Powers that Be (US, FED, ECB, IMF, NATO, Bilderbergers etc) who had written off Russia as defeated. Putin managed to form extremely good relations with China. In fact, their relations are now the best they've EVER BEEN, if you don't believe me, go to China and ask people on the street.
But Russia has a serious disadvantage. Once the German - Russian hybrid Putin is dead, (old age, assassination, whatever). There is no complete replacement. Partial replacement yes, but a copy of Putin, not really. In that regard Western Powers that Be have an advantage, they are run by a group of think tanks financed by Western bankers. So when a politician like Obama or Harper or Cameron die or leave, another obedient politician regardless of which party simply resumes the mission.
Putin believes (regardless of what you or I think) that Russia is under a slow boil a frog attack. And in my opinion he is right.
US financed NGOs played a part in Ukraine riots, not a complete part, but a good 50% part. He doesn't care that west is able to sell BS to their own people. He gets facts on the ground ALL OVER THE WORLD, and he sees that as an attack on Russia.
Putin is dangerous, if the West Powers that Be, truly decide to push Putin into a corner, (and they might because they are aging men who want to see their dreams realized before they die) in that case Putin is fully able to make the decision to strike back. If US convinces New Kiev government to move with Army into East Pro Russian Ukraine to stifle dissent, no doubt Russia will get involved even more.
The CIA's Secret Psychological Profiles of Dictators and World Leaders Are Amazing
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/02/cia-psychological-profiles-hitler-castro-putin-saddam
Psychoanalyzing strongmen, from Castro to Saddam