Vladimir Putin is not crazy. It doesn’t look like he’s sick from a medical point of view, at least. The brutal invasion of Ukraine suggests, however, that the Russian leader is a power junkie with a narcissistic personality. A new czar with dangerous delusions of grandeur that must be stopped.
“No, he’s not crazy. As is not a compulsive gambler or a drug addict. They are not crazy, but their brains are grossly distorted by what has made them addicted. and, in this case, Putin is hooked on power”, he explains to EFE Ian Robertson, Professor of Psychology at Trinity College Dublin (Ireland).
The expert, whose works on the subject are consulted by political and business leaders, also participates in the Dédalo Foundation, dedicated to detecting the presence of the Hubris syndrome in different spheres of public life (a Greek hero who, arrogant by power, distances himself from reality).
When someone presents three or four of the 14 symptoms that define this syndrome set off alarms. Putin, according to Robertson, suffers from several and some “very marked”, such as “extreme narcissism”, evident, for example, in the 20-meter statue of Saint Vladimir that he had erected next to the Kremlin in 2016 to “feel like a demigod ”.
“Another symptom -he points out- manifests itself when this type of person fully identifies their personal interests with the interests of the country, so what is good for them is also good for the nation. It doesn’t matter that tens of thousands of people are dying.”
A demigod for Russia
Feeling like a demi-god, Robertson reasons, Putin also believes that he “is the only one who can guide the great mother Russia to her destiny.”
“Since you understand that you are carrying out an almost religious mission, I really think that every day is less rational and calculating. On the contrary, he is drawn more by the feeling that he leads a spiritual mission to redeem Russia, ”observes the psychologist.
In this state of mystical delirium, Putin “has absolute contempt” for mere mortals. He showed it when he humiliated his head of foreign intelligence services, Sergei Naryshkin, before the cameras during a Security Council meeting last month, after he suggested the possibility of negotiating one last time before intervening in Ukraine. .
Another troubling feature, Robertson continues, is the “complete loss of judgment” caused by “biological effects in the brain” and “complete disruption of the dopamine system,” which “vastly undermines” their ability to “calculate, perceive, and respond ” to the risks.
“In the end, they end up taking big risks because all their attention is focused on achieving their personal goals. Hard-core gamblers overestimate their chances of winning a bet and end up losing. Putin, finally, will lose everything because he is a compulsive gambler, because of his addiction to power”.
These characters are, “of course, reckless and reckless,” warns Robertson, which forces us to consider the worst case scenario, one in which the Kremlin dictator resorts to his vast nuclear arsenals.
“It is possible – he admits -. Although he is not crazy, his judgment is very distorted and he can come to believe, as a Russian television presenter said, that it is not worth living in a world in which there is no Russia.”
This state of mind, he says, could deteriorate to resemble that of Adolf Hitler in his last days in the Berlin bunker, when the Nazi leader asked Albert Speer to devastate Germany so that his people would fall defeated with him. When “the ego” is superimposed on everything else.
In today’s Russia there are no “checks and balances” that, without reaching those of democracies, did monitor the activities of the former leaders of the Soviet Union, so longed for by Putin.
The gray former KGB spy has the Duma under his absolute control, has destroyed internal dissidence and there is no equivalent of that politburo that promoted more or less joint decision-making in Moscow under the Iron Curtain.
Robertson argues that “internal pressure” could lead to regime change, to a dethroned Putin. But he also contemplates the possibility of finding a negotiated solution to the war in Ukraine.
Nevertheless,How do you negotiate with a person like Putin??
Strength against a Putin without complexes
“The only thing he respects is force. Any classic negotiation attempt of the ‘look, we have common interests’ type would fail. They can raise it clearly, but only if they first come up against a forceful response from the West, strong and with red lines, as as it has been in recent weeks.
From the other side of the conversation table, too it will be difficult to exploit their weaknesses because, apparently, they are not so visible.
“I don’t detect them, but I’m sure there are changes, just like drug addiction completely transforms the personality. The power that he has amassed and the circumstances have radically changed him.”
Perhaps, the expert ventures, Putin descends into the underworld when he puts on the thermometer: “He is terrified of getting sick, he takes ridiculous precautions to avoid covid, people must disinfect themselves before seeing him, those huge tables to keep their distance … “.
“This apprehension is, perhaps, good news for us because shows some anxiety about their own mortality. The problem is that he is like a cornered rat. He is very, very dangerous.”
How many wars does Russia count under the mandate of Vladimir Putin? Since 1999, the Russian leader has been involved in war actions in Europe
Joe Biden calls Vladimir Putin and Russia a “war criminal”
Dangerous and reckless. Like Daedalus’ son Icarus, who, drunk with power, ignored his father’s advice and burned himself flying too close to the sun. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
