What exactly is going on in that mind?
The mainstream media establishment isn’t really reporting this yet, so more confirmation is needed before we can be sure, but according to the Telegram channel General SVR, per Business Standard News, an anonymous “former high-ranking Kremlin military figure” says that Russian dictator and war criminal Vladimir Putin is about to give up power temporarily so as to undergo surgery for abdominal cancer.
But he has other problems as well, the source says:
He also suffers from "Parkinson's disease and schizoaffective disorder", which carries symptoms of schizophrenia including hallucinations and mania.
So there, folks… when he makes decisions that seem insane, they may actually be. More on the illness from the Mayo Clinic:
Schizoaffective disorder is a mental health disorder that is marked by a combination of schizophrenia symptoms, such as hallucinations or delusions, and mood disorder symptoms, such as depression or mania.
[...]
People with the condition experience psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations or delusions, as well as symptoms of a mood disorder — either bipolar type (episodes of mania and sometimes depression) or depressive type (episodes of depression).
The signs and symptoms:
- Delusions — having false, fixed beliefs, despite evidence to the contrary
- Hallucinations, such as hearing voices or seeing things that aren't there
- Impaired communication and speech, such as being incoherent
- Bizarre or unusual behavior
- Symptoms of depression, such as feeling empty, sad or worthless
- Periods of manic mood, with an increase in energy and a decreased need for sleep over several days, and behaviors that are out of character
- Impaired occupational, academic and social functioning
- Problems with managing personal care, including cleanliness and physical appearance
The one that jumps out at me is “false fixed beliefs, despite evidence to the contrary.” This is a man who has the medieval-king-like power to financially ruin, jail or even kill people who bring him evidence to the contrary, enabling him to insulate himself from it even further.
Considering that the Russian military is an autocratically-run, strongly centralized and therefore completely top-down-cultured organization, this would explain at least in part the apparent insanity that seems, in multiple ways, to characterize its war effort in Ukraine, as ably reported here by Mark and Kos.
It also provides a plausible explanation for the bizarre and unusual behaviour of Russian state-owned media, which is just as strictly top-down-ruled as the military, I am sure — e.g. their claiming that Zelenskyy and some other Ukrainians are Nazis because they have Jewish blood, or that Ukrainians are less than human but also ethnically and culturally no different than Russians (sometimes in the same spittle-flinging rant), or that nuclear war is a good idea. (Follow Julia “I watch Russian state-owned TV so you don’t have to” Davis on Twitter for as much as you can handle to get a taste.)
We have seen the same happen in the USA with TFG and his malignant narcissism turning the GOP batshit… though of course that couldn’t have happened if the tendency hadn’t already been there. A Black president was more than the racist demographic could handle without going nuts, and then there’s the whole corruption aspect. And… well, how much did Putin insanity affect America through its agents, assets (including TFG), social media campaign, etc.? (It’s unconfirmed, but I’m convincing myself here.)
If Putin really does have schizoaffective disorder, one wonders for how long. His whole adult life? Lucky Russia. Lucky humanity, with schizoaffective disorder running one side and narcissistic personality disorder still trying to run the other.
Meanwhile, according to the anonymous source, while Putin is under the knife (heaven forfend it should slip) he’ll hand over control to “hardline former FSB chief” Nikolai Patrushev. Reportedly this guy is the one who convinced Putin that Kyiv is overrun with Nazis, the Jewish-blooded ones, proving himself utterly trustworthy.
The cancer surgery was recommended back in the second half of April (when of course Putin thought Ukraine would be a happily pacified, denazified, grateful Russian province), but it has been delayed until after the big victory bash on May 9. Putting off surgery when he has abdominal cancer… yeah, that sounds sane.
Of course this could all turn out to be a chimera, like the death or wounding of Russian chief of staff Valery Gerasimov. The fog of war is thick. It has an authentic feeling though.
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