Many have argued the reasoning for Putin’s aggression, be they greed, power or patriotism. The reasons may be more complicated and reside within philosophy. Fulfilling a twisted psychology is nearly impossible, which makes Putin a much greater threat to humanity.
Today, an article in The Guardian (www.theguardian.com/...) , the mental process of Putin was described by the editor of the magazine of philosophy, Philonomist (www.philonomist.com/....). Michel Eltchaninoff is a specialist in the fields of phenomenology and Russian thought, on which he has written two books: Dostoevsky. The Novel of the body (French ed., 2013) and Inside the mind of Vladimir Putin (Hurst, 2018).
Eltchaninoff’s specialty area is specifically Russian thought and philosophy and supports the concept that Russia, throughout history has blamed the West for its problems at home. Eltchaninoff writes:
These were Vladimir Putin’s words on 21 February, in his now notorious speech on Ukraine. They repeat the argument already formulated in his speech on Crimea in March 2014: “The politics of the containment of Russia, which continued throughout the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, continues today. There is a constant attempt to push us back into a corner because we have an independent position, because we stand up for ourselves.” Putin’s vision of Russian history is one of an emergence continually blocked by enemies.
(Text in bold is mine).
The view Putin put forth in 2014 and again earlier this week was that it was the West which seeks to thwart Russia out of “jealousy”, that Europe was rotting from within due to liberalism and humanism. The US is losing its world position due to our materialism and “contradictions of history” only to allow China and Russia to fill those positions of world politics and influence.
He wants a confrontation with – and a victory over – a west that he holds responsible for the fall of the Soviet Union, for the weakness of Russia in the 1990s, and for the autonomous tendencies of the old Soviet republics.
With Putin’s blaming the West for the collapse of USSR in December, 1991 it appears clear to me his meddling in the election of 2016 was part of a larger and longer plan he had to return Russia to greatness, or at least achieve it for the first time. Remember, it was almost 25 years to the day from USSR’s collapse to the successful election of Trump — his well-placed “useful idiot”. That idiot was very useful, as his failures as a leader, not to mention as a human, led to the easy and convenient objectification of Putin’s goals.
Eltchaninoff further states that the mental position Putin maintains to validate his bellicose nature is that he subscribes to the notion that “the Russian man thinks first of all … in relation to a superior moral principle”. Further, Putin often cites a well-known Russian saying: for Russians, “even death is beautiful”.
Couple Putin’s concept of superiority with contempt and death makes Putin a most dangerous character in world politics where his desires outweigh morality of the rest of the world to justify his twisted view of “Russian morality”. The result is a psychotic machine of death with an inferiority complex.
What should we think of this perpetual sense of victimhood that allows the Russian president to artificially create situations in which Russia appears humiliated and insulted? Are these the actions of a rational leader? The answer is both simple and worrying. Putin has developed, over decades, a vision of the world that is paranoid but coherent. According to this vision, Russia has for centuries been the victim of an attempt to contain and dismember it.
(Text in bold is mine).
We now are at the beginning of an immoral act which will have little compromise. Putin will continue until he is allowed his “beautiful death” as he defiantly lashes out against the world. His gamble is as desperate as it is dangerous. He appears to believe it is worth it. We have to prove him wrong with extreme expediency and prejudice.