Icon Re: I agree he is a bastard...
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brentlind (view)

I’m definitely not attuned to the vagaries and complexities of realpolitik but as a psychologist I have had plenty of experience with narcissists and sociopaths and Putin has both traits in spades.  However, a more understated consideration are the whispers he might be slightly autistic.  In no way should that condition be disparaged or pathologized but it should be noted that males with autistic features tend to feature systemized thinking as outlined in the systemizing-empathizing theory from Simon Baron-Cohen, a British psychologist and, yes, cousin to Sacha.  The concern with overly systemized thinkers who are left-hemisphere dominant is a tendency to become very rigid in the mechanics of an approach and completely forgetting the big picture and human-scale impact of the goal.  To paraphrase Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park, they spend so much time wondering if they could they forget to ask if they should.  I realize that mindset likely applies to nearly all despots but with overly-systemized thinkers they can respond to stressful and desperate situations with a doubling-down on their rigid approaches to the detriment of all logic.  In other words, crazy can become intensified crazy, winnowed down to its purest essence.  For a nuclear power that is truly a frightening scenario.

posted 2024.01.28
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