Has Putin lost his mind?

[MamboDervish]

Stop responding to those who wish to derail/hijack threads.

?? Now it is YOU who is derailing the thread by pursuing this pedantry. Unless YOU are intent on hijacking this thread, I don't expect to hear about this shit again. Don't lecture me.

 

[maxparrish]

“Lost his mind” is not a normal psychological term but it certainly does appear that Putin has some very severe psychological problems, the most apparent of which is megalomania. To “blow up the world” as he has done can certainly be seen, in layman’s terms, of “being crazy”. He is indeed “mad with power” at the present time so that, in his mind, it is Putin against the world. Only a megalomania-obsessed madman would be in such a state.

 

[DarkWizard12]

I live in a democracy in Russia's border. No thanks.

barely a democracy, but anyways....what's the harm to you?

Depends on what you mean by “us”. Ukraine should continue to exist as an INDEPENDENT nation with its citizens engaged in an experiment in democracy, and the West should not stand by idly while letting a tyrant madman change that in order to stroke his own ego

see, I don't believe that. I think he legitimately cares about his country, and doesn't want to go down in history as the president(or...dictator, should you prefer) that let it decline to non-existence.

This is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's a good thing because he can be negotiated with...but it's a bad thing because we can't count on him to bend the knee.

Putin is many things, but he is not hitler. He is aware of his own weaknesses, and could not possibly dominate the world, nor does he want to.

What he wants is satellite nations that will fuel russia's workforce until he solves its population decline. the question is, what does he want this too look like and is it too much to ask? So far, the form this has taken has been ethnic russians/russian speakers from former soviet states migrating into Russia, while russians born-inside either leave, or refuse to have kids.

and the population decline in russia is so severe, it's in immediate danger of crashing. Once a population starts to decline, it's like slide downward that just gets faster and faster.

 

[What if...?]

Putin sees his chance now under Biden.

Nah. He just wants ready yet.

Trump would have helped him.

 

[What if...?]

barely a democracy, but anyways....what's the harm to you?

see, I don't believe that. I think he legitimately cares about his country, and doesn't want to go down in history as the president(or...dictator, should you prefer) that let it decline to non-existence.

This is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's a good thing because he can be negotiated with...but it's a bad thing because we can't count on him to bend the knee.

Putin is many things, but he is not hitler. He is aware of his own weaknesses, and could not possibly dominate the world, nor does he want to.

What he wants is satellite nations that will fuel russia's workforce until he solves its population decline. the question is, what does he want this too look like and is it too much to ask? So far, the form this has taken has been ethnic russians/russian speakers from former soviet states migrating into Russia, while russians born-inside either leave, or refuse to have kids.

and the population decline in russia is so severe, it's in immediate danger of crashing. Once a population starts to decline, it's like slide downward that just gets faster and faster.

Sounds good. But Russia is a country of the oligarchs, by the oligarchs and for the oligarchs. No country can thrive with a handful harvesting all the wealth. And most of the internal issues are a direct result of the above.

 

[DarkWizard12]

Sounds good. But Russia is a country of the oligarchs, by the oligarchs and for the oligarchs. No country can thrive with a handful harvesting all the wealth. And most of the internal issues are a direct result of the above.

every country is, to some extent, an oligarchy. I do not think all of russia's ills come from that. There was a time i didn't want kids, and then i had kids, and Jeff Bezos, Bill gays, and the kochs has nothing to do with that.

 

[What if...?]

every country is, to some extent, an oligarchy. I do not think all of russia's ills come from that. There was a time i didn't want kids, and then i had kids, and Jeff Bezos, Bill gays, and the kochs has nothing to do with that.

Which is why I used the qualifying word “most”.

It’s actually the same pattern the Soviet followed. Fake communism. At no point is there any evidence the Soviet was working towards the workers paradise the promised nor any indication of an intent to dissolve the vanguard.

Just them in power instead of the czars. Living like those czars while the people starved.

Then they got access to capitalism and lo and behold, all that new money went into their pockets too.

The drive of the oligarchs is for status, everywhere, all the time. They need no one to have more wealth and power than they do. They will not stop until they are on top.

And they will destroy what they can’t have.

Humankind needs to address whether feeding that jones above all else is good for the species. Doesn’t look like it. From here or anywhere else.

 

[Rogue Valley]

?? Now it is YOU who is derailing the thread by pursuing this pedantry. Unless YOU are intent on hijacking this thread, I don't expect to hear about this shit again. Don't lecture me.

You intimidate no one. Bug off.

 

[joluoto]

barely a democracy, but anyways....what's the harm to you?

You do realize he recentky threatened Finland toon in his latest rant. And Finland is among the top ranked democracies around the world, thank you very much.

 

[maxparrish]

... I think he legitimately cares about his country, and doesn't want to go down in history as the president(or...dictator, should you prefer) that let it decline to non-existence. ,,, He is aware of his own weaknesses, and could not possibly dominate the world, nor does he want to.

What he wants is satellite nations that will fuel russia's workforce until he solves its population decline. the question is, what does he want this too look like and is it too much to ask? So far, the form this has taken has been ethnic russians/russian speakers from former soviet states migrating into Russia, while russians born-inside either leave, or refuse to have kids.

and the population decline in russia is so severe, it's in immediate danger of crashing. Once a population starts to decline, it's like slide downward that just gets faster and faster.

You're trying to make Putin look almost rational and reasonable, when in reality he is not.

By now most people see what many have refused to see, Putin is not only calculating he's also a psychopath. Like all psychopaths, he is good at manipulation, has no sense of guilt, and in popular language "does not have soul". Some people saw this in him early (Secretary Gates, for example...and myself (BTW)) and others clung to the notion that he's just a rational, calculating, emotionally reserved, proud Russian nationalist.

Psychology Today, for example, wrote an article in 2014 that should have been a HUGE red flag on what the west was dealing with.

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 and the emotional-cognitive consequence of all this is…contempt.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-winner-effect/201403/the-danger-lurks-inside-vladimir-putins-brain.

Merkel, who has talked with Putin more than any other leader, has tried to convince him that he shouldn't treat his cabinet with contempt. Anger, yes sometimes, but not with contempt. He didn't get it. She reported feeling “bewildered” by Putin. Back then, she said he wasn't in touch with reality, and told US President Obama that Putin was “in another world”.

In neuropsychologically, says the article, "Progressive isolation and a contempt for anyone else’s opinion are classic signs of the “hubris syndrome”—that acquired personality disorder"

Of course, that is not to say that a kind of Russian fascist ideology doesn't also infect his "reality". In his autobiography he wrote: “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.”

Chilling... reminds you of the NAZI slogan "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Furher", no?

Cont.

 

[maxparrish]

Cont.

Vladimir Putin's mental disorder and his ideology has created a feeling of historical destiny, demanding that must reclaim the dignity and respect due to his great Russian empire. For him, his personhood is the motherland. And he feels "personally humiliated by the fall of the Soviet Union and its empire and that, fueled 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."

Interestingly, the author of that article in P.T. warned that the worst response to someone like that is appeasement, because this simply fuels theird contempt and serves as 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."

None should have been shocked; this is EXACTLY who he is and has always been. And, I should add, if the US and NATO had imposed the huge sanctions on Russia in 2014 that is imposed today, war against the whole of Ukraine may have never happened.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-winner-effect/201403/the-danger-lurks-inside-vladimir-putins-brain.

 

[watsup]

barely a democracy, but anyways....what's the harm to you?

see, I don't believe that. I think he legitimately cares about his country, and doesn't want to go down in history as the president(or...dictator, should you prefer) that let it decline to non-existence.

This is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's a good thing because he can be negotiated with...but it's a bad thing because we can't count on him to bend the knee.

Putin is many things, but he is not hitler. He is aware of his own weaknesses, and could not possibly dominate the world, nor does he want to.

What he wants is satellite nations that will fuel russia's workforce until he solves its population decline. the question is, what does he want this too look like and is it too much to ask? So far, the form this has taken has been ethnic russians/russian speakers from former soviet states migrating into Russia, while russians born-inside either leave, or refuse to have kids.

and the population decline in russia is so severe, it's in immediate danger of crashing. Once a population starts to decline, it's like slide downward that just gets faster and faster.

Lame excuse-making for a megalomaniac madman who decided to wreck the world. I am not impressed.

 

[DarkWizard12]

Lame excuse-making for a megalomaniac madman who decided to wreck the world. I am not impressed.

and this is a failure to engage intellectually with the content.

 

[watsup]

and this is a failure to engage intellectually with the content.

I am so sorry for failure to “intellectually” engage your lame excuse-making for Putin, but I simply can’t take you seriously when your comeback to a previous poster is “what’s the harm to you?” You reap what you sow “intellectually”.

 

[MamboDervish]

You intimidate no one. Bug off.

Go play moderator with somebody else.

 

[Rogue Valley]

Go play moderator with somebody else.

As I said before, bug off buggar.

 

[Redress]

Go play moderator with somebody else.

As I said before, bug off buggar.

Moderator's Warning:

Any more off topic crap, any more baiting or trolling, and I will remove you both from this thread. No one else cares about your petty little feud. If you want to continue it, take it to the basement.