The photos in this post are from March 3rd (yesterday) according to the Kremlin. The Kremlin basically released these photos of Vladimir Putin to show that he’s “in charge.” Putin also had a lengthy call with France’s President Macron yesterday and the call apparently went poorly, with Putin ranting about how his war is going well. There are people all around the world analyzing these photos, I’m sure. MI6, the CIA, Mossad. What can be gleaned from the photos? Does Putin look healthy? There’s always chatter about his health and whether he’s hiding an illness. I’ve seen people suggest that he has the puffy visage of someone on steroids. As for that call with Macron:
Russian President Vladimir Putin called French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, in what appeared to have been a markedly more tense exchange than previous conversations between the two leaders. The 90-minute call failed to deliver a diplomatic breakthrough, and a senior French official said it left Macron convinced that “the worst is yet to come” and that Putin aims to take control of all of Ukraine.
“Your country will pay dearly because it will end up as an isolated country, weakened and under sanctions for a very long time,” Macron told Putin, according to a French official, who added that Macron “called on Vladimir Putin to not lie to himself.”
The conversation, which the French presidency said was initiated by Putin, came as Ukrainian officials were set to hold talks with a Russian delegation, according to Russian and Ukrainian officials. But based on the two leaders’ exchange, there was no indication Thursday that a diplomatic solution could be in sight.
“At this point, [Putin] refuses to cease his attacks on Ukraine,” Macron wrote on Twitter later Thursday. Macron is the only Western leader who has been in consistent public contact with Putin since the invasion of Ukraine, in an effort the French presidency has described as an attempt to keep the doors to meaningful negotiations open. Putin and Macron also spoke Monday and last Thursday.
It’s clear that Macron is being used by NATO/EU countries to keep an open channel to Putin directly, but it also doesn’t sound like Putin is of sound mind whatsoever. Macron’s version of the call was that Putin flatly denied bombing Ukraine, yet insisted that everything was going according to plan, and Putin insisted that he was in it until the end, the complete Russian takeover of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the stories about Putin’s isolation of the Russian people grows more concerning every day. I genuinely laughed when RT America was finally taken off American airwaves, but within Russia, radio and TV stations are being shut down right and left. Echo of Moscow (a radio station) was dissolved this week. TV Rain (for the Russian youths) was suspended. Novaya Gazeta (an independent newspaper) is on the verge of closing down. Only Russian propaganda is being allowed on radio and TV. Are social media platforms working in any capacity in Russia? I don’t think they are.
Tremors? Problems walking?
Das sieht definitiv nicht gesund aus, wie sich #Putin da bewegt. #fckPutin #freeUkraina pic.twitter.com/2WxKCsQ8Su
— Team Stollberg 🇺🇦🇪🇺🏳️🌈 (@Team_Stollberg) March 1, 2022
In a photo released today by the Kremlin, Putin not looking so well. pic.twitter.com/AuGivdoSFJ
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) March 2, 2022
Photos courtesy of Getty.
He is acting like he has nothing to loose.
I suspect that he’s aware that he is never walking out of the Kremlin (or whatever bunker he’s hiding in) again. And he’s wants to take the world down with him.
YES. Mutual assured destruction (we are both going down if I can’t take over).
They tool off my parents channels. My mother tried to argue with cable company and I told her that had nothing to do with it. She’d have more luck calling Jake from State farm to lower her insurance.
On another note, all these autocratic megalomaniacs eventually go insane. The second something goes awry from their master plan, they’re out to lunch mentally. No coping skills whatsoever because they know there is no prosperous end for them. They’re not even fighting for what they believe in because it’s all ego which is an illusion and their core tells them this deep down. Just boggling that so many people will suffer for one man’s illusion but history tells us this happens. And how it ends.
I think in his mind he doesn’t.
I wonder if he’s thinking that if he can, even temporarily, bring Ukraine back into Russia, that he can die a happy man. Leave the people after him to figure out how to handle the inevitable insurgency that remains.
Those with nothing to lose are the most dangerous. I cant believe we, as a humans, citizens of this earth world, we will watch this madman destroy the country for millions of people and what else, day after day. Im glad the unions have acted with sanctions, but the guy doesn’t care for his own people. He’s going for his glory and conquering mind.
That seems to describe another, more proximal despot who was recently in power, too…
Damn you, Tursitops! I was all puffed up about Putin, but you are exactly right. History is not going to be kind to any of us. We lived through 4 years of Trump, not even one assassination attempt, and now we are on our high horse about how people should do better.
Something happened to put the spur of mortality to him and now he’s going after his ‘legacy’. He won’t stop. He has nothing to lose.
We can only hope that the Russian people overthrow him.
I have read past articles that say he has/had cancer and Parkinson’s disease.
I have heard the Parkinson’s rumor too.
I have heard he is dying from cancer. If that is true, and this is his last middle finger to the world, he is one sick MF’er!
I keep hearing Parkinsons and cancer too. Cancer of the digestive tract, either some kind of stomach cancer or colorectal cancer.
He certainly seemed to have physical difficulties in that video, the trembling right hand which he pulled against his chest to steady, the wobbly walk. Something’s going on (in addition to being a murderous thug).
That looks like some Parkinsonism.
Honestly, it could be as simple as alcoholism, based on his recent behavior.
ETA: I sound like an asshole. There is nothing simple about being an alcoholic, except for the diagnosis.
This was my thought, he’s pretty loosened up in that vid, and looks like he was kind of wagging his finger loosely at the other guy.
The still in profile makes him look like he’s about to spew. Too much potato juice the night before?
This comment really blows my mind. When I heard the news of his invasion of Ukraine, I was making comments (to no one but myself) that this horror show is happening because he is afraid of death – like a midlife crisis. Megalomaniac. Nightmare for the world.
Hopefuly he is slowly dying of some form of poison. Honestly how do these ruthless deranged dictators live? I would be sooo paranoid and constantly thinking someone is out to ge me. I bet someone tatstes his food right infront of him before he eats it.
Re: Putins eating – Fiona Hill was on Colbert the other night and she talked about her experience of being seated next to Putin at a dinner – she noticed he didn’t touch any of his food or beverages during the dinner. There were also observations that Trump was a bit similar during his four years in the White House – paranoid someone would try to poison him so that’s why he was on such a fast food kick, with the idea being that since fast food can be anonymously purchased there was no way to poison it/him. Re: Putin, I imagine that years of paranoia and hyper vigilance doesn’t bode well for ones emotional well-being.
Fiona Hill is such an expert on the history of Russia and the region. This article with her is kind of terrifying, because she really does know what she is talking about. But she’s right, ignoring the truth is dangerous. Acknowledging what is likely to happen means we can prepare for it.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/02/28/world-war-iii-already-there-00012340
Vlad disappeared for a year. He’s had so much surgery the last 15 years it’s crazy. He’s pumped full of steroids obviously, has been for years! And fillers /facelift to the max. I don’t know if he’s unwell, but if he’s really sick and willing to go out with a big bang, then we’re all screwed. He’s probably got roid rage for sure. His steroid use is extreme.
He definitely bought himself a chin implant, facelift, lasering to improve skin, and a shit ton of filler.
Well, he doesn’t appear to be dying either, so…
Exactly. These dictator types really live on spite alone. Trump has been wearing diapers and giving COVID dementia for a long ass minute. Yet on he goes.
He reminds me of the dictator in the Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel Autumn of the Patriarch. A crazy dictator who pushed his giant herniated testicle around on a cart while desperately trying to cling to power.
Sadly, you are correct. Somebody needs to speed up the process.
F*ck Putin.
FUCK PUTIN.
Putin is living proof that stupid people are dangerous people. As for his health, he looks unwell and it’s probably fueling this desperation to prove his “greatness” to the world. Even if it means killing us all.
+1 to all of you. I think he stays in bunkers and is very afraid too and that can’t be healthy. On the plus side he’s too scared to be seen and no shirtless riding a horse photo ops. Frail white men’s egos are so dangerous.
He is not a stupid man. It’s a mistake to dismiss him as stupid. He is extremely dangerous and believes his ends justify any means. But that is not the same thing as stupid. Don’t underestimate your enemies, it’s a gift to them.
The man is far from stupid. But he IS very ego-driven and narcissistic and in the end, that could be what does him in.
We can only hope….
He’s not stupid. Delusional and sociopathic, yes, but not stupid.
I heard somewhere that he has Parkinson’s. If he is on large doses of steroids that may be contributing to his temperamental behavior in the setting of him being a total narcissistic psychopath
It’s really odd to me to watch a Russian leader parallel old Adolf so closely.
Seriously. This whole thing reminds me of the 1945 video of Hitler where his hand can’t stop shaking from Parkinson’s as he greets the teenagers he’s going to send to war.
Putin seems eerily similar, but he’d never bother to look his young conscripts in the eye. They’ve sent mobile crematories in after the soldiers. Thousands of Russian mothers won’t even be able to bury their children. It’s pathologically evil.
@Scarcasmqueen not for me. Adolf and Stalin planned WW2 together and only later in the war became enemies. Don´t be fooled, USSR and Nazi Germany were the same thing. Germany has healed, but Russia and its people (the older generation) are still clinging to the past.
Just remembering all the sexist arguments against female world leaders: too emotional, what if she gets her period etc etc….sigh. Good times.
Maybe someone needs to “accidentally” contaminate his steroid dose.
If he isn’t well it looks like he wants the whole world to go down with him.
Russia is turning into North Korea as we speak. Every day I wake up, hoping to read that Putin has finally bought the farm, or that the people close to him have taken matters into their own hands. Things are going to get terrible in Russia, really really quickly. As a kid in the 1980’s I grew up with the vague fear of nuclear war. I remember when the movie “The Day After” (Kansas gets nuked and the aftermath) came out on TV, and my elementary school sent home notes with us kids, telling them not to let us kids watch the film. I didn’t watch it at the time, but some of my friends did, and it was the talk of the playground for the next few days. I did see the film later and it terrified me. (I found the DVD in a 5 dollar bin at Walmart maybe 10 years ago and i bought it. It was unintentially funny, due to the heavy-handedness and bad special effects. I bet if I watched it now I’d be terrified again).
How is it possible that 1 man can bring down the entire world? Buy the f–ing farm already, Putin. ASAP.
I remember when that came out – my parents wouldn’t let me watch it (wisely, I would have been traumatized). The opening scene in Terminator (T-2?) with the playground destroyed by a nuclear blast really got to me, too. I am not enjoying this trip down memory lane of my 1980s childhood.
Still traumatized from that scene in T2.
The Day After sounds horrendously traumatising. Apparently it was also shown on Soviet Union state TV in 1987.
We had a similar-sounding film released in the UK called Threads. Also an animated one called When the Wind Blows on the same subject. The thought of nuclear war was utterly terrifying to us as kids in the 80s. Schools in the UK are now having assemblies about Ukraine and the soviet threat. Just awful. Todays kids shouldn’t have to go through the same fear we did.
Threads is the reason I did not have children.
I was in 3rd grade. My mom didn’t let me watch it either.
Someone gave me that DVD as a GIFT, knowing I love “Disaster Movies.” Clearly, someone who’d never watched it or knew anything about it themselves. Dude, this isn’t Geostorm, okay?? I still have it and I’ve thought about it a lot in the last few weeks, but no desire to rewatch. Scared enough as is. I’m really torn, TBH. It feels cowardly and hypocritical to say “I stand with Ukraine!” when in fact we’re all standing cheering from the sidelines watching these people die. I don’t see how anything short of full-blown intervention can save them. But I also feel like an a**hole calling for that because it won’t be me or anyone I love shipped over to fight, and how can I call for war – even if it’s a “just” war that somebody else’s kids will die in?
I’m at a loss, honestly.
He needs a plutonium cocktail, I’m sure that will make him feel better.
preferably with a polonium chaser and a Novichok snack platter
He is a paranoid monster. However he will have a very bad day today since China’s main bank has banned Russia. He underestimated Xi’s support. He is given such credit (KGB, strongman) he is none of those things. He was a mid level Stassi (DDR) agent during the days of USSR. He has never been a strongman. He is a thief who propped up the oligarchs who have protected him. He is also a murderous thug. Any vote for a member of the GOP in America at this point is a vote for Putin. If he is sick I hope it’s painful. He believes his threats will keep the world at bay. He said he didn’t want to be surrounded by NATO & feared a strong EU. He has gotten a united NATO & counties which surround him joining the EU. He has shown all the things he professed to be have been carefully crafted propaganda
@Snappyfish…YES….TELL IT😡
He propped up the oligarchs but allowed them to diversify so much that they rely far more heavily on western and non-Russian commerce for their wealth.
Putin seems not to have realized just how much the soviet system needed communism/collectivism to survive, to control the oligarchs.
@sarcasm… Can you expand on this, the Soviet system did not have oligarchs as they were only created under Gorbachev when the Soviet system was dying and the state owned / nationalist companies were all privatized and sold off for a song to these individuals.
@snappyfish please expound upon how the GOP is tied to Russia. The democratic leadership is who is keeping us reliant on Russian oil. Biden could stop that right this second if he wanted to.
The USA is not reliant on Russian oil.
“In 2021, the US imported an average of 209,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil and 500,000 bpd of other petroleum products from Russia, according to the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) trade association.
This represented three percent of US crude oil imports and one percent of the total crude oil processed by US refineries. By contrast, the US imported 61 percent of its crude oil from Canada, 10 percent from Mexico, and six percent from Saudi Arabia in the same year.”
I agree that we should stop importing it, but it will have little impact on the USA.
Wait what? No we are not reliant upon Russian oil at all. The EU is dependent on Russia for natural gas though. A switch to renewables will always be the most efficient and sustainable solution to this dependency.
Did you see Jen Psaki tell that reporter that US oil corps have 9,000 active leases that they are not tapping currently? We have oil and the oil companies have legal access to much of it right now. They choose to sit on it. It is in the best interest of the American oligarchs to keep prices high. This is not Biden’s fault.
At this point, there are bipartisan bills in Congress to ban Russian oil. Even Nancy Pelosi is for it. President Biden has said he’s against it because it would hurt the consumer with higher gas prices, but if, as the administration says, we aren’t reliant on Russian oil and it won’t have an impact on our economy, then why not make the gesture as a message to the rest of the world? My point is that there a lot of things going on behind the scenes that we don’t know about – either that, or nobody’s making any real sense.
I read today that the state of Kentucky’s Teachers Retirement System was the second-largest shareholder for Sberbank of Russia (The largest bank in Russia). Well, well, well…quelle surprise!
@Jan90067 – Kentucky TRS was the 2nd largest *institutional* holder of Sberbank stock, not second-largest holder. That was about 13 million dollars and .02% of the total stock. Mutual funds own much more, with Europacific fund owning over a billion dollars worth, but that’s still only a little more than 1%.
Maybe he will end like Stalin, helplessly lying on the floor for 3 days because nobody wants to call an ambulance.
In his own piss. Don’t forget the piss!
it’s important to be historically accurate, after all.
In a pool of piss, partially paralyzed, struggling to breathe, and vomiting blood. He literally choked to death while they watched him die.
I just read this description of Stalin’s last days and my normally extremely empathetic soul felt … nothing. [Except maybe satisfaction.]
I pray this monster [Putin] ‘s cronies turn on him the same way.
If (when-please please please) Putin dies, we should have a world wide sing-along:
“Ding dong, the bastard’s gone, ha ha ha, ho ho ho, ding dong, the f–ing bastards DEEAADD!”
I just got a wonderful visual of his bodyguards whistling “ding dong the witch is dead” as he writhes on the floor, choking on his vomit in a puddle of human waste.
The Death of Stalin was a great movie. Despite the grave and serious subject matter, the dark comic satire works wonderfully, especially given Armando Iannucci’s knack for capturing that tone in politics. The other part that worked great was having the majority of the actors use their natural accents instead of attempting Russian ones.
That film was hilarious. The funeral when they all jockey for position
That is one of my favorite films, full stop. It’s one of the most quotable movies I’ve ever seen.
Jason Issacs was mesmerizing every second he was on the screen and Steve Buscemi was hilarious thanks to the rage-induced exhaustion driving his delivery.
“Who the f#$k in their right mind would want everlasting life? The endless conversation.”
Same, Steve, same.
It’s probably one of my favorites, “Red Army? I fucked Germany, I think I can take a flesh lump in a fucking waistcoat.”
This whole scenario is terrifying and the fact that Putin over the last year disappeared for long stretches of time is not great. It is hard to see an off-ramp in this scenario where Russia leaves Ukraine and Putin saves face. I’m really hoping his inner circle gets to him but this is typically the stage of autocracy where his inner circle is so narrow and fanatically loyal that becomes even more difficult.
What a horror show for Ukraine and for the people of Russia.
His gait looks a bit Parkinsonian however it was too short to really tell. With good medical care it does not drastically shorten life expectancy but it can be accompanied by dementia
Google ” roid rage”
My money is more on prolonged steroid use. He doesn’t present as Parkinson’s to me at all which does not in any way cause or exacerbate aggression. If he had dementia related to Parkinson’s the physical impact would have been obvious long before now.
I am hoping that some of his generals are still sane at least. I remember that Sting song from the 80s about the Russians loving their children too. Maybe Putin wants to take the world down with him but he needs others to help him do it.
Many of his top advisors are long-time hard liners who were totally on board with this invasion. It will be interesting to see if any of them get the axe for not completing this mission swiftly.
Eh. He’s probably fine. For years, there was speculation 45 was unwell and near death and yet that bloated pasty orange Vlad wannabe gasbag still lives. I know better than to get my hopes up that either of them will croak soon.
FUCK PUTIN.
The whole situation is terrifying in Europe. His behavior is abhorent. I live in Europe, and it is fucking scary times. Life two weeks ago did not include iodine tablets in my purse.
I can’t even imagine how bad it is. We live in NYC and have friends/colleagues in the Ukrainian ex-pat community. They are terrified and just trying to get their family members to the US. The parents of one of our neighbors have made it to Krakow and are now trying to get to NY. Kiddo’s history teacher has friends who are in Kyiv and are staying – some as journalists and others as fighters.
Ukraine is going to be destroyed and the only question is how bad will it get in the rest of Europe. How far will Putin be able to push his military before the corruption catches up with them and they run out of bombs and spare parts. My understanding is that they are already pulling troops from other parts of Russia to supplement the conscripts currently in Ukraine.
@T – I hope you and yours stay safe.
The Parkinson’s rumour is just random enough to have me believing it. But that wouldn’t explain all the physical issues. At this point I hope for something else that will take his life in the coming days if possible. I don’t like wishing death on other humans…but I’m not entirely sure anymore that he is human.
As far as any mental issues? I’m pretty sure he’s just a crazy a**hole. Nothing medical about it.
I’m an occupational therapist, and to me that looks like classic Parkinson’s. I’ve been wondering about dementia, and that can be a feature of Parkinson’s.
Has he had any instances of freezing? Any dementia? My mother has Parkinson’s. I’ve only seen that short clip of him above. You can see a hand tremor and balance problems but that’s it. Based only on that I can’t tell if he has it or not. Have you seen recordings of other incidents?
Someone is going to take him out before any disease kills him. He is not too long for this world.
Former CIA Director John Brennan said he believed Putin’s days were numbered – like double digits. I am hoping he knows something we don’t.
It was verrry interesting that Lindsey Graham publicly called for someone in Putins circle to off him.
Putin-via-Trump has had something on Graham since 2016 to get him to play ball. I wonder if Graham knows just how numbered Putin’s days are. He also must know just how determined Putin is about his military intentions. Add those together and I wonder if it just equaled LG giving no more effs and calling for Putin’s assassination on Twitter.
Good. Maybe he’ll ***.
Putin d-wording would literally be the best thing to happen to the world right now.
Agree with all. Including Lindsey Graham. Who’d have thought.
What Lindsey Graham said was totally irresponsible. It is one thing for average citizens to make such comments, but not elected officials of the US government. Putin has nuclear weapons, and he’s being irrational, so we do need to recognize the danger of this moment. Graham saying things like this will only provide fodder for Russian propaganda.
Newsflash: most Russians are thinking same thing.
Right, but as I said, Lindsey Graham is an elected US official. It can be seen as a threat coming from the US government. It’s stupid and dangerous for HIM to say it.
I too found myself agreeing with him for the first time. I was mugged in Moscow in the early 90’s and left almost naked across from the Russian White House. I was the 13th victim at the US Embassy and it was 11 am. I felt sorry for the Russian people then and now. Bob Dylan said it best. Everything is broken.
I’m so sorry that happened to you. Glad you’re OK
Putin dying is certainly the best outcome here. Every other scenario is too horrible to think about, either for Ukraine or for the rest of Europe and the world.
As happy as I’d be if we were to get that news, I’m still worried about who will come in next to fill that vacuum. Russia is on a precipice right now and the chaos that will ensue once he’s gone, once all the crooks who spent all these years propping him up come crawling out fighting for power, will not be pretty.
The thing is that there’s no reasonable end to this unless Putin gets taken out or other countries go in militarily. Putin is happy to flatten all of Ukraine and drive everyone out, just so he can get the land and he seems happy to set the clock back for Russia to the old Iron Curtain days. Maybe China might have some influence, but they’re a pretty self-interested government. And what is there to negotiate with desires like that?
I think it won’t be an “end”, but it will settle eventually. I think Russia will take over Ukraine, install a loyalist to run the country, but the citizens will maintain an insurgency. It will be brutal until Russia decides that it isn’t worth the effort ( aka when Putin dies). Russia can flatten the country with bombs, but they don’t have the man power to effectively maintain control of the entire country.
The Soviet Union didn’t have the military manpower to control the Iron Curtain countries, but it did. They didn’t just install loyalist leadership, they installed highly repressive regimes; insurgencies will be squashed. And there are others in Russian leadership who share Putin’s goals – he’s had his eye on the Baltic states, too. So, yeah, things will settle and the other countries can say “poor Ukraine” and Canada can open it’s borders to 5 million refugees, and at the end of the day Russia will have Ukraine.
@Eurydice, the difference there is that while Ukraine has been trying to become a member of the EU for some time now – see: the excellent documentary ‘Winter on Fire’ – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are all already members of both the EU and NATO, with mutual defense working in their favor.
Ukraine is a much softer target which just shows the truth of Putin. He wants to be a seen as a conqueror, but, in reality, he’s just a bully with too much power at his disposal.
If he were as secure and tough as he so desperately wants people to believe he is, he wouldn’t need to start wars only with countries he knows can’t fight back, plant stories on state-controlled news channels that he finds treasure while diving during a casual day at the beach, have himself filmed horseback riding shirtless, or any other the other ridiculous faux hyper-masculine displays he puts on.
@Terra – Putin is a violent man who won’t hesitate to use every bit of violence possible. He knows his adversaries are not like that. He flattened Chechnya and Crimea, he helped flatten Syria. He hasn’t cared about sanctions, he doesn’t care what happens to the Russian people and he doesn’t care if the US has outspent him militarily or how big is NATO because he’s got nukes and is willing to use them. The Baltic states are in NATO, but they are also fly specks on the map. Putin can easily bet that no one will put up much resistance as long as he’s got the nuclear button. He’s done it many times before and gotten away with it.
@terra,
spot on analysis, friend. I agree 100%.
@Eurydice, this is a very late comment, I know, so you’ll probably never see this, but I wanted to reply to you anyway (my dog is ill, so I spent my afternoon and night looking after her).
I agree with you 100% that Putin is a violent, terrible man who will use every advantage and dirty trick he can to achieve his goals, with the ends always justifying the means. The difference between the Baltic states and Ukraine, the Crimean Peninsula, Chechnya, and Syria is that none were/are members of NATO or the EU. They may be small countries, yes, but the Batics being members does dramatically change things. Mutal defense is one of the defining points to being members of these organizations and Europe cannot withstand a violent break between themselves at a time like this.
There’s also the already mentioned elsewhere angles of all of the Russian billionaires that have cropped up under Putin’s rule being unhappy with having access to their much-diversified ill-gotten gains cut off AND that while Putin might be happy to die in a retaliatory nuclear strike should he dare, others near him are likely not as willing to die in the name of his glory.
You only have to look at Russian history to see members of the royal court and politburo deciding to take things into their own hands time and time again. If we are very, very lucky that will be what happens again, but who knows? Putin is clearly set on his path, so all we can do is hope this ends quickly. Personally, I doubt it will be that easy as I’ve always been a ‘the glass is bone dry’ kind of person, but for the sake of the people around me I try to fake it.
Putin is not dumb. In many ways he’s an evil genius. That said ego always gets the better of these assholes in the end. When you never learn to take no for an answer it will be your downfall. This is the beginning of the end for Putin. I pray it’s a short downfall but who knows.
I agree. Hubris is the fatal flaw of many intelligent people.
Strike “intelligent people” and substitute ” delusional sociopaths.” He’s appeared dead-eyed since photos of him as a teen.
I don’t think he’s stupid, but I don’t think he’s a genius, either. He’s an autocrat in a country that’s been run by autocrats since the dawn of time. That might still work inside his own country, but it doesn’t work so well when dealing with the rest of the world. At some point one has to become content with only having 7 million square miles to play with.
The last thing I think of before I go to bed, and the first think I think of each morning when I wake up, is the safety of Volodymyr Zelensky. I’m really, really concerned for him, and I don’t have a lot of hope that he will make it out OK. Such bleak times.
Same, Tiffany. He’s never going to surrender so that means capture or death.
Same, but I still embrace optimism that he will survive. The thing is, even if he doesn’t, he has mobilized the world against Putin, and galvanized his countrymen to continue fighting. In fact, he may be even more galvanizing as a martyr, though I wish with all my heart that he lives to see a free Ukraine.
My mom thinks he has Parkinson’s , maybe that explains the puffy steroid use look? She also thinks someone has been poisoning him little by Little over the years and that has something to do with the cognitive decline. He is definitely a lunatic and not well in anyway. How can a human cause suffering to so many millions of other humans with no remorse? He is vile and gross and I hope he is taken out.
Hmmmm. A little arsenic here and there? Interesting.
One can hope right
Sorry, Celebitches, but like the English queen, he’ll live to 100. Remember, he has billions of dollars stashed all around the world. You don’t die with such ill-gotten gain to look forward to.
Yeah I feel like dictators live forever. They’re like cockroaches. The youngest one who died in a long time was Hugo Chavez and someone less intelligent (and thus more dangerous) just took his place.
It’s always the worst amongst us who seem to live forever. Case in point: two of my great-grandmother’s were terrible people. Truly abusive, narcissistic, passive aggressive, cruel women. The recurring family joke is that they – and likely my own mother one day – lived as long as they did because they were sustained by the malice in their bleak, black hearts.
It’s not just humans though. Worked at veterinary ER— the meaner the cat, the more likely they were to pull through. Not quite the same with dogs: I’ve seen dogs hold out to really really bitter and painful deaths because their owners just could NOT let them go. Cared for a bulldog once who, by bloodwork, should not have been alive. His owners were vacationing in France at the time— they were there for a week. That dog stayed alive for the entire week until owners came back to say goodbye. As soon as they left, he died, no euthanasia needed.
I don’t think this is a Parkinsonian gait. Typically they shuffle and take multiple short, rapid steps when they first start to walk. The leg swing is not typically as wide as his. His arm swing is also not in keeping with PD. He does however have the gait of someone who has had a stroke, or who has lesions in their brain. Brain lesions (ie cancer) cause cerebral swelling that can be managed with high dose steroids, which would explain his puffiness. It would also explain the way he is gripping to that chair for dear life – he’s probably nauseated and dizzy.
Some coworkers and I have been discussing his health, and we agree that something is different about the way he looks and they way that he is just unhinged. He’s normally not this unhinged and is way more calculating and this seemed to happen quickly. Something is going on with him because his face hardly moves with expression and he doesn’t blink much either. He’s trying really hard to hide something. It’s almost like they arrange him sitting in a chair sometimes and then they turn on the camera.
I was surprised that he’s 69 years old. Yes, he looks older, but his face is really smooth. Lots of botox and whatever else. Maybe that accounts for the non-movement of the face.
And that long, long table with him at one end and his ministers at the other end. Is that so they don’t get too close to him and see what is going on?
Graham is a dangerous ass for asking someone to assassinate Putin. What if a U.S. Senator had asked in public that Graham’s idol (the former guy) be assassinated? In pre-k kids are taught that these are “bubble thoughts” that you should never say aloud.Apparently, Graham has never learned this lesson. What the hell is wrong with him that as a supposed statesman he blasts his id to the whole damn world?!? Graham needs to RESIGN stat.
There’s a reason why Putin sits at the faaaaar end of a looooong table. Because he doesn’t trust even his most trusted advisors not stick a needle in him sometime. Nobody has to call for Putin’s assassination; people have been thinking about it for a very long time.
Graham is an idiot.
And what does Vlad have on Graham and many others in the Cult45 party?
Olliesmom- Kompromat. Putin has lots and lots of kompromat on GOP members. There is a reason so many of them changed their tune so quickly after 45 was nominated/elected, and it wasn’t just to support the party line.
Well, certainly not his closeted status… other sites ( including LGBTQIA+ SM as well) have quasi-outed him, as if we didn’t have eyes and ears.
Social media networks are operating in Russia. They may be blocked by RU government soon but Twitter, Youtube, FB, etc. are kept open especially so that Russian citizens have way to organize (should they wish to) and get access to information from/to the West.
I wish you could imagine how horrifying it is to live in Russia for anyone who doesn’t agree with the invasion of Ukraine, which must be many. I grew up in a country occupied by Russia (they used the same rhetoric they are using as an excuse for the invasion of Ukraine, btw) and the consequences of dissent were bad and included not just the person who was the dissident but also their relatives. It’s much worse in Russia. I admire the people in Russia who are protesting in the streets everyday. Wish there were more of them, and they could overthrow Putin asap, but can understand why most are scared to do so, especially if they have children.
Funny (not funny) fact: somebody on Twitter called Putin Putler. I don’t know why it made me laugh. Nothing funny in the original name of both dictators…
I was in college when The Day After came out and I that scared the hell out of me because it takes place in the Midwest and I live in the Midwest (not Kansas though). I also remember the British nuclear war movie Threads a couple of years later that was shown on one of the cable stations at the time (TBS?). Now that was even more frightening and more “real” than TDA.
The 80’s were scary with Reagan in the White House and Gorbachev in the Kremlin.
I’ve saw the TDA again a few years ago, and yes, the special effects are bad, but the message still holds true.
The Ukraine is not his end game. He wants every country that used to be part pf the Soviet Empire back.
wild guess: paranoid ass with Parkinsons self-medicating with cocaine
Putin is ill and, dare I say, dying. I’ve been telling my family this for about 2 years. This is not the smirking man that hopped up on the press conference stage with Trump trailing behind him like a heeled lap dog in Helsinki in 2018. His face is increasing in size and it looks like a sphinx. Whether he is physically sick and was put on steroids, or got sick because of steroid abuse, is all now asking which came first: the chicken or the egg. He looks he’s like is on prednisone, a steroid which is used as a broadside. Some it’s side effects are the hand tremors and emotional highs and lows. This is an innately malevolent man who was a reasonable interlocutor in conveying his ideas. Now he’s on state tv, rambling on about denazification, drug addicts, and a fictive history of Ukraine vis a vis Russia. He’s shelling nuclear facilities. He’s dying, and he’s put himself in political situation from which there is no out for him. He’s a war criminal, he has nothing to lose. I agree with John Brennan’s assessment his days are double-digit numbered, if that much. The question is what he does in those days, and who in his immediate circle is willing to go along with the lunacy.
Your analysis gives me some hope.
There does seem to be a radical shift in his attitude and expression. This does seem to be a costly now or never miscalculation to pursue legacy.
I had to take high doses of steroids a few years ago for an allergic reaction and ended up with the Cushing’s appearance and massive mood swings. For me it was the puffy face and a bunch of fat on my back and neck. I read up on bipolar cycling and met the textbook criteria for that while on the steroids. I called my doctor about it to see if there was anything else to take to counterbalance all this and he literally said “it happens to everyone, just don’t go start a war or something.”
To busy with war to get fillers/ botox done in time.
Unhealthy? Meds? Karma has her own schedule