Anonymous wrote:Neither. If you look back at his illustrious career from bombing residential buildings across Russia, the Chechen war, all the meddling in Europe, wars in Georgia & Ukraine, and lending a hand in other conflicts, he's neither crazy nor senile. He's continuing with his modus operandi but is being more arrogant about it from all the wealth he amassed and his "success". He feels he can whatever. Is that madness? May be. But the modus operandi is the same it's been the past 30 years.

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Anonymous wrote:I don't get it. His people don't want what he's doing. His oligarchs can't possibly think this is a good idea. Why is he doing this-is he just an aging man trying to recreate the glory days of the past before it's all too late for him?

Russian oligarchs just saw the equivalent of a quarter trillion dollars of their wealth just go up in smoke as Russia's stock market collapsed, even with emergency trading bans put in place. If I were a Russian oligarch I would be furious with him and definitely wondering if there was something wrong with him. I'd be looking to remove him.

Wait, you think the oligarchs control Putin?

NP here: there is a tacit agreement and balance between Putin, the oligarchs/mafia, and the military generals. Putin is supposed to protect the oligarch's wealth and access to the West. What happens when he doesn't live up to his side of the bargain?

Many of the oligarchs are former Russian mob. Putin would do well to beef up his security detail to not have his "friends" whack him.

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Anonymous wrote:I think it's paranoia about being whacked that has driven Putin crazy. I don't remember where I read this, it was a while ago, but it was an article about how Putin lives in a cage of his own making. He couldn't step down without being assassinated, and he had (literally) poisoned so many people on his way to the top that now he is paranoid about being poisoned himself.

So if you live isolated in fear of betrayal, constantly suspecting that your own countrymen are out to get you, and that isolation & paranoia continues for years, I think it would mess you up.

This.

Anonymous wrote:I think it's paranoia about being whacked that has driven Putin crazy. I don't remember where I read this, it was a while ago, but it was an article about how Putin lives in a cage of his own making. He couldn't step down without being assassinated, and he had (literally) poisoned so many people on his way to the top that now he is paranoid about being poisoned himself.

So if you live isolated in fear of betrayal, constantly suspecting that your own countrymen are out to get you, and that isolation & paranoia continues for years, I think it would mess you up.

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There is some information that Putin is suspected to have and early stage of Alzheimer's.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get it. His people don't want what he's doing. His oligarchs can't possibly think this is a good idea. Why is he doing this-is he just an aging man trying to recreate the glory days of the past before it's all too late for him?

Russian oligarchs just saw the equivalent of a quarter trillion dollars of their wealth just go up in smoke as Russia's stock market collapsed, even with emergency trading bans put in place. If I were a Russian oligarch I would be furious with him and definitely wondering if there was something wrong with him. I'd be looking to remove him.

Wait, you think the oligarchs control Putin?

NP here: there is a tacit agreement and balance between Putin, the oligarchs/mafia, and the military generals. Putin is supposed to protect the oligarch's wealth and access to the West. What happens when he doesn't live up to his side of the bargain?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get it. His people don't want what he's doing. His oligarchs can't possibly think this is a good idea. Why is he doing this-is he just an aging man trying to recreate the glory days of the past before it's all too late for him?

Russian oligarchs just saw the equivalent of a quarter trillion dollars of their wealth just go up in smoke as Russia's stock market collapsed, even with emergency trading bans put in place. If I were a Russian oligarch I would be furious with him and definitely wondering if there was something wrong with him. I'd be looking to remove him.

Wait, you think the oligarchs control Putin?

NP here: there is a tacit agreement and balance between Putin, the oligarchs/mafia, and the military generals. Putin is supposed to protect the oligarch's wealth and access to the West. What happens when he doesn't live up to his side of the bargain?

Soldiers or police or Wagner mercenaries visits the Oligarchs and they are never heard from again. Putin is past the point where he has to care about them.

He can pick off individual oligarchs, and he has to do that to keep any one of them from getting too powerful or organizing a group against him. But he cannot take them all out. Dictators need groups of powerful people who control the various parts of the country, from the military to the police to intelligence agencies to major businesses and banks in order to keep power. If they kill all of them, the whole apparatus of control and oppression comes crashing down.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get it. His people don't want what he's doing. His oligarchs can't possibly think this is a good idea. Why is he doing this-is he just an aging man trying to recreate the glory days of the past before it's all too late for him?

Russian oligarchs just saw the equivalent of a quarter trillion dollars of their wealth just go up in smoke as Russia's stock market collapsed, even with emergency trading bans put in place. If I were a Russian oligarch I would be furious with him and definitely wondering if there was something wrong with him. I'd be looking to remove him.

Wait, you think the oligarchs control Putin?

NP here: there is a tacit agreement and balance between Putin, the oligarchs/mafia, and the military generals. Putin is supposed to protect the oligarch's wealth and access to the West. What happens when he doesn't live up to his side of the bargain?

Soldiers or police or Wagner mercenaries visits the Oligarchs and they are never heard from again. Putin is past the point where he has to care about them.

jsteele wrote:If you have seen photos or video of Putin's latest meetings, he doesn't get close to anyone. He sits miles away from people in meetings. There have been a lot of stories about his fear of covid. My theory is that he has spent two years in near total isolation and it has affected his mental health. He is also probably not in touch with valid information because his only outlets are a few trusted "yes men" who only tell him what he wants to hear.