Professor, neuroscientist Ian Robertson and the President of Russia Vladimir Putin have never met.
So what can Robertson say about Putin?
Nothing personal, he can’t make a diagnosis and say nothing for sure.
But Robertson has studied how long-lasting power changes a person’s brain function. Putin has been in power for more than 20 years and has just started a war against Ukraine.
– The situation is very, very dangerous, Robertson tells in a video interview from Dublin.
Extreme power changes a person, and therefore power is limited
Robertson identifies several signs in Putin that are appropriate for his study of power.
In 2012, he published The Winner Effect, about power and the brain. People thrive in groups, and there are reward mechanisms in the brain of the group leader, Robertson says.
– In a reasonable dose, power does good to the leader. It enhances abstract thinking, elevates mood, reduces fears, and increases purposefulness.
But unlimited power addicts, emphasizes narcissistic traits, and impairs the ability to assess risk.
– Power affects the same parts of the brain as cocaine or problem gambling. Man is no longer able to assess risks wisely.
Robertson’s latest book, How Confidence Works: The New Science of Self-Belief, was published last year and talks about self-confidence.
– Due to excessive self-confidence, tyrants end up pursuing too much. An obsessive gambler chases a bet, overestimates his chances of winning and underestimates the risk of losing. So it was To Napoleon and To Hitler.
The dangers of excess have been recognized for centuries, Robertson points out.
Therefore, individual power is limited by democratic governance, elections, freedom of the press and the independence of the judiciary. In general, the highest head of state may be in power for a maximum of ten years.
The exceptions are dictators who have cleared the way for restrictions: China, for example Xi Jinping – and Vladimir Putin. According to Robertson, a long period of power affects everyone, but makes others see themselves as invaluable.
– Dictators and potential dictators, such as Donald Trumpdespise liberal democracy, he says.
Putin has more power than even Soviet leaders
Robertson has been watching Putin for ten years.
In 2014, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the president according to the New York Times Barack to Obamathat Putin seems detached from reality. At the time, Robertson wrote (moving to another service) Psychology Today is convinced that Putin wants to stay in power beyond what is allowed:
“It is very likely that his brain function has changed so much neurologically and physically that he genuinely and firmly believes that without him, Russia is doomed.”
That’s what happened. In 2020, a constitutional amendment was passed that would allow Putin to rule until 2036.
Putin will turn 70 in October. He is already approaching an age when even the oldest Soviet leaders were no longer in power: Leonid Brezhnev suffered a stroke at the age of 75 in 1982 and relinquished power.
– Putin has been in power for 23 years, and absolute statehood has been built around him. In such a monogamy, extreme changes take place in the brain, Robertson says.
– Putin has systematically destroyed the division of power that the Politburo had [johtava puolue-elin] form even in the Soviet Union.
In 2016, a nearly 20-meter shrine rose next to the Kremlin Vladimir the Great statue.
Robertson believes that Putin, who has turned from a staunch communist to an Orthodox patron, actually sees himself in the statue.
Putin’s recent times: “I’ve never seen him so angry”
Putin’s behavior has changed, Robertson says.
– Instead of the previous cold-blooded cost-benefit thinking, he shows flamboyant and very narcissistic features.
According to Robertson, narcissism is related to the fact that a leader exercising extreme power is no longer able to judge his actions through the eyes of an outsider.
He takes the Libyan dictator, for example Muammar Gaddafinwhose uniforms and hats were laughed at, or the leader of North Korea Kim Jong-uninwhose presuppositions are the source of millions of memes.
Leaders themselves do not see the ridiculousness or absurdity of their actions, even if it is obvious to everyone else.
Contempt and anger have been striking in Putin’s actions during the crisis in Ukraine, Robertson said. An example of this is the televised meeting of the Russian Security Council three days before the start of the war.
Putin’s behavior toward his own ministers and top officials was strikingly self-conscious. He insulted the head of foreign intelligence Sergei Naryshkinia in a way that is visible, among other things this article (go to another service) on video.
U.S. intelligence sources have reported this week rage attacks (switch to another service), which Putin is said to have targeted his subordinates in the Kremlin. Former head of the CIA intelligence service John Brennan told the news channel NBC that Putin is no longer a former cold-blooded and sharp-eyed self.
“I’ve never seen him so angry,” Robertson says.
There have also been many reports of fear of Putin’s coronary virus.
He is told isolated (moving to another service) for two years for long periods almost entirely into its own bubble. Even their own staff and ministers have been required to have corona tests or long quarantine before meetings.
The President of France Emmanuel Macron was planted in early February on a comic long table opposite Putin.
News agency Reuters according to (you switch to another service) this was because Macron refused a Russian corona test for fear that the Russians would recover his DNA at the same time.
There is tremendous speculation about Putin’s condition – when Khrushchev was at risk, he was ousted
Director of the Council Nikita Khrushchev the reign ended when he drove the world close to nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis in the early 1960s.
– The Politburo thought he was too unstable and risky as a leader. The risk of a nuclear war increased too much, and the party got rid of him, Robertson says.
Can a brain intoxicated with power correct itself? At least not quickly, if at all, Robertson says.
– Lonely, the brain is like a cocaine addict, always hooked on chasing a new dose of dopamine. Personally, I believe that the only way to break the cycle is to get the leader out of power, as was the case with Khrushchev.
All estimates of Putin’s use are speculation.
When President Trump’s mental health rated publicly (switch to another service), many psychiatrists reminded not to do so. Robertson emphasizes that his analysis of Putin is based on research into changes in the behavior of monarchs, not psychiatric evaluation.
There is a lot of speculation around Putin because the truth is visibly behind the Kremlin walls. Therefore, changes in Putin’s facial features, for example, have been interpreted to be due to botox, plastic surgery – or the use of anabolic steroids.
Ex-Secretary of State and physician David Owen, who wrote to the Sunday Times with Robertson at the beginning of the story, tells The Times suspect (switch to another service)that Putin is being given either steroids or corticosteroids. They can be used to raise testosterone levels or increase muscle mass, or to treat disease.
According to Owen, the change in Putin’s facial features combined with anger has led him to suspect steroids. Kremlin has knocked out (switch to another service) hints that Putin would have some serious illness.
Robertson would be surprised if Putin’s behavior suddenly changed.
– The anger he has recently dispelled is very worrying to me. It suggests that he is not capable of rational input-return thinking, but is going on an emotional mission fueled by a semi-religious ideology.
You can discuss 5.3. until 11 p.m.