Tag Archives: narcissism

Short Note – Malignant Narcissism – From Complaint to Confrontation

05 Friday Jul 2013

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U.S. diplomats report that the Prime Minister gets almost all his information from Islamist-leaning newspapers, ignoring the input of his own ministers. The Turkish military and intelligence services no longer share with him some of their reports. He trusts no one completely, surrounding himself with “an iron ring of sycophantic (but contemptuous) advisors.” Despite Erdogan’s macho behavior, he is reportedly terrified of losing his grip on power.

Sassounian, Harut.  “Despite Lavish Public Praise, U.S. is Deeply Troubled by Erdogan.”  Asbarez, July 2, 2013.

Once armed with a widget like the term “malignant narcissist” to bundle all of the world’s dictators together, or, my favorite (because it’s mine) “Facsimile Bipolar Political Sociopathy (FBPS)”, we may reach a point where knowing how such personalities work and the harm they bring to themselves, their gulled peers and supporters, and the world beyond their glorious and tightly controlled bubble full of pleasing mirrors demands some response.

In Egypt, I doubt Morsi & The Brothers got the message, denial and resistance to criticism partially defining this syndrome in personality, but The People of Egypt finally got ahead of what was being done to them and that with a military perhaps equally prescient as regards both cultural and institutional “human factors” and corresponding administrative and management choices and wisdom as regards good leadership well anchored and strong.

Not all autocrats are alike — Putin’s my favorite; Mugabe’s the worst — nor or all military organizations alike in their affection, alignment, and integration with the greater spirit of the people they defend (to keep this parallel, Egypt’s infernal opposite might be Syria’s defense forces whipped on by Maher al-Assad — there hasn’t been much display of affection or regard for noncombatant Syrians on the part of that murderous outfit).

Where people come to know what they are seeing when confronted by a personality exhibiting a dangerous narcissism, then they become responsible for keeping themselves from too easily following the same.

In developing states afflicted with potential or already self-serving “presidents for life”, how to drive this perception of the peacock through the streets with either the language or technologies available becomes a challenge.

It’s not easily done or Zimbabweans would have it done it a long, long time ago.

http://youtu.be/MzxpJMJMfvk

&

Erdogan’s Turkey — Behold the Paranoia

23 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by in Anti-Semitism, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Fast News Share

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The Turkish government, however, has suggested that the protests are part of a plot against the country, involving foreign governments and financial institutions.

Earlier this month, Hurriyet quoted Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as hinting that Israel was “delighted” with the protests.

The Jerusalem Post.  “Turkey probes ‘foreign links’ to anti-gov’t protests.”  June 23, 2013.

Remember: it is never the narcissist.

Not so surprisingly, I am not the only one latched on to this theme in observation (and, for the record, I am not in touch with anyone else on it either)!

Trust me.

🙂

“Paranoia and police power are never a good combination, but Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan appears to have readily embraced both,” writes blogger Jonathan Turley (June 17, 2013) on his eponymous blog (“When Paranoia and Police Power Meet: Erdogan Denounces International Media Conspiracy”).

This next represents the ranting — not really, in fact not at all — of a most diplomatic Turkish journalist, Mustafa Akyol:

Foreign leaders and the news media can help by advising Erdogan to focus on reconciliation and restraint. But they should do this sensitively, so as not to further provoke the quintessential Turkish paranoia that there is always a “foreign finger” behind every social turmoil.

“A Quiet Bit of Advice.”  The New York Times, June 5, 2013.

When the powerful work “behind the curtain” — in the land o’ winks ‘n’ nods, in the smoke filled back rooms, in the quiet words delivered with a handshake and a palm full of money, that sort of thing — the opacity of that governance inspires speculation in the public mind: anything is possible and just about anything slipped into the information stream — the media — may be treated as credible for being so difficult to challenge.

Effects may not be reserved for the public mind only: the same deceptive and disingenuous practices involving mind and mouth may have effects on their practitioners: if they know themselves to have “bent and twisted it some” on the way through their minds and out of their mouths, who else might be duplicitous?

I’ve coined the term “Facsimile Bipolar Political Sociopathy (FBPS)” (see “Coins and Terms”) to approach the common autocrat’s messianic ambitions, delusions of grandeur, the want of pleasing mirrors (start with the morning’s newspaper or mention on television), the rejection of criticism, and the abject fear of unknown conspiring others.

The uninformed mind cannot wrestle with itself in regard to FBPS, but the informed one may, for the hazy confrontation with imaginary demons devolves back toward a more clear and clarifying confrontation with one’s self.

The cool headed Mustafa Akyol warms again to the theme a little later in the month of June with an article in Al-Monitor:

Erdogan, wondering why his whole nation does not love him unequivocally for all the great things he has done, soon found the real culprit behind the anger in streets: “foreign powers” and their collaborators such as “the interest (loan) lobby.” The more extensively the foreign media, such as CNN International andThe Economist, covered the protests and criticized the government’s heavy-handed response, the more Erdogan and his followers became convinced about an ill-intended “foreign hand” behind the masses.

Akyol, Mustafa.  “Paranoid Nationalism Changes Hands in Turkey.”  Al-Monitor turkey Pulse, June 20, 2013.

How long before Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sees himself accurately mirrored in the dissenting domestic press and the comparatively disinterested professional journalism of Big Media worldwide?

If he is lucky, he will see himself more as he really is, his people more as they truly are and aspire to be, and the world itself more as it really is and may become.

Of course, an adjustment like that — one moving from self-aggrandizement and the mania for control to produce it (most often by pandering and slandering through time itself) toward greater appreciation and respect for others plus accommodation, compassion, fairness, and inclusion — may require exceptional courage and insight.

Odds-N-Ends: Iran’s Upcoming Election

12 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by in Asia, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Fast News Share, Iran, Regions

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“Any one of these men picked by Khamenei will execute his orders,” the 80-year-old said in an interview in his house near Paris, where he has been exiled since 1981.

“The Republic is erasing itself in the face of the Leader.”

Reuters.  “Iran’s former president: Khamenei erasing elections.”  The Jerusalem Post, June 12, 2013.

A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire;
He rages against all wise judgment . . .

Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty,
And before honor is humility.

Proverbs 18:1 and 12, Bible Gateway.

Who in Iran will vote against their own will, against their own interests, against themselves?

Perhaps a few Iranians are mulling that question as I type.

Al Arabiya asks in its related header (June 11, 2013), “Does the president even matter?”

The article will go on to answer the question it has posed.

It seems there are nuts and bolts issues to be tackled by an Iranian president — inflation and unemployment, at least — but power ultimately resides with Ayatollah Khamenei by divine right.

From Washington, Iran Election Watch notably covers the candidates on their positions having to do with Iran’s nuclear programs (June 12, 2013): “Nuclear Issue Provokes Strong Reactions in Presidential Debate.”  The article quotes candidate Ali Akbar Velayati as saying, “We need to insist on our right to enrich uranium and at the same time act cleverly and avoid being perceived as whimpering by other countries.”

Perhaps its that “act cleverly” part that will spur some Iranians more concerned with inflation and unemployment to vote for other than Velayati.

Reporters Without Borders condemns an increase in the Iranian government’s harassment of Iranian journalists in the final days before the 14 June presidential election and the restrictions imposed on the few foreign journalists allowed into the country to cover it.

Reporters Without Borders (RWB).  “Harassment, Restrictions and Censorship Limit Election Coverage.”  June 12, 2013.

Manipulating elections neither fair nor free nor open, the Grand Peacock has perhaps exerted sufficient control over elections — by approving only a narrowed field of candidates and by managing the “Iran Curtain” to slow Internet traffic and reduce domestic and foreign media criticism and impact, which management seems to have included already the arrests of two domestic journalists (Omid Abdolvahabi and Hesamaldin Eslamlo, according to the RWB page cited) — to keep himself feeling good about himself.

Reporters Without Borders goes on to note, “Today is the second anniversary of Iran-e-Farda journalist Hoda Saber’s death in detention, 11 days after journalist and women’s rights activist Haleh Sahabi died as a result of the beating she received at her father’s funeral. No one has been arrested or tried for either of these deaths.”

In the atmosphere of such governance and unsolved political crime, one might ask Persians who intend to vote whether they mean to express preference at the polling stations or general approval of their country’s state of affairs.

# # #

Remember: It’s Never the Narcissist: Erdogan Blames Woes on “Vandals and Terrorist Elements”

11 Tuesday Jun 2013

Posted by in Asia, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Regions, Turkey

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Reference for the partial quotation in the above title:  Tattersall, Nick and Ayla Jean Yackley.  “Turkish riot police fire tear gas at Istanbul protest.”  Reuters, June 11, 2013.

*****

*****

Erdogan’s in moral and psychological trouble, and that trouble starts with denial and the convenient pointing of the finger elsewhere, but by the numbers, he’s not in political trouble.

The opposition currently appears too weak to play a significant role. The Republic People’s Party (CHP) of Kilicdaroglu is not expected to total more than 25 percent of the vote; the ultra-nationalist ‘Grey Wolves’ of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) are estimated at around 10 percent while the Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party will probably total 6 percent of votes.

ANSAmed.  “Turkey: Erdogan has no rivals in 2014 presidential vote.”  July 17, 2013.

While I feel Erodan’s right to suggest protesters meet him at the ballot box, God knows how the autocrat has been working the ropes to rig them. He’s ditched a class of career military men and jailed or harassed publishers and journalists, for a start.

Ben Caspit writing for Al Monitor (“Erdogan’s Sin of Hubris”) last week noted the following:

Erdogan’s growing appetite has become truly swinish and planted in him the messianic belief that he was sent directly by the Divine Presence to return Turkey to its days of glory and rebuild the Ottoman Empire. This was viewed by many as the main source of Erdogan’s megalomania that is now absorbing a strong, unexpected blow from the masses in Istanbul’s squares, who call him “tyrant” and “dictator.”

Five days ago from Haberler.com:

Erdogan is no creator, nor a prophet, and has not been in heaven – only in North Africa here on earth. But he should take advantage of the deep faith of many Muslims and turn away from his intransigence against those who disagree with him, against awkward media and against his critics in Turkish society. Gül und Arinc have prepared the way. This is Erdogan’s last chance to break from his harsh policy.

Haberler.  “Opinion: Erdogan’s Last Chance.”  EN.Haberler.Com, June 6, 2013.

Does Erdogan read?

Does he know what he looks like to the free world — the world that hosts the United Nations, the Center for the Protection of Journalists, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, and Haaretz?

Soon the square, home to days of protests over what demonstrators call an increasingly authoritarian government, was filed with chaos. Hugely loud bangs echoed through the area — likely the result of stun grenades. Thousands packed back into Taksim Square, surrounding a large bonfire that they were fueling with whatever they could pick ups.

Walsh, Nick Paton, Arwa Damon, and Gul Tuysuz.  “Tear gas, stun grenades, fire: Chaos overtakes Istanbul protests.”  CNN, June 11, 2013.

Once again, but differently then when the oldsters here first heard this chant: “The whole world is watching!”

http://youtu.be/3RIKtqOu6aE

******

http://youtu.be/P0Gp5LukadI

*****

http://youtu.be/FZKPzreOsrc

*****

Slideshow: “Photos: Anti-government protests in Turkey.”  CNN, June 11, 2013.

You get the idea:  ” . . . vandals and terrorists . . . .” say the dictators, chief themselves among Vandals and terrorists.

(And sorry for putting up the Bobbies as Turkish footage — I need more powerful coffee to catch some who post footage from one context and past over it some immediately relevant headline.  That clip is gone, and all else seems to have come from Turkey in the last 24 hours or so).

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Syria – Dictators Do Not Negotiate Internal Affairs

28 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by in Africa, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Politics, Psychology, Regions, Zimbabwe

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The crack of gunfire keeps an irregular beat in this rugged mountainous region at the Lebanon-Syria border as a Lebanese militiaman, who goes by the name Abu Hamza, explains why he chose to fight in Syria.

France 24.  “Crossing into Syria with Lebanese pro-Assad militia.”  May 28, 2013.

Hezbollah’s unilateral entry from its power base in Lebanon into the fray in Syria may represent a more general principle about the possession of power in the region from Assad-Nasrallah perspective: either you got it or you don’t, and if you have got it, why talk?

* * *

Last night, I watched Mugabe and the White African, a documentary about the displacement of white farmers in Zimbabwe.  In that film, farm owner Mike Campbell  and his family challenged the Mugabe Administration’s invalidation of their title, this after the same had overseen the sale of the land to Campbell and had declared disinterest in acquiring it.

Campbell’s effort to defend his land through the courts grew long and convoluted before winding up in the regional Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal, and while in the end he won his case in that court, which concluded that Mugabe’s efforts were racist, Mugabe rejected the finding, noting that Zimbabwe would not be subject to SADC decisions.

Dictators do not negotiate plunder within their own boundaries.

(The Campbell family may have seen some compensation by way of Zimbabwean government assets seized in Cape Town, South Africa in response to the SADC ruling).

* * *

News these days reports political maneuvering and posturing, not underlying attitudes, beliefs, and self-concepts.

Bashar Assad, having seen what has happened to Mubarak and Qaddafi in the course of the “Arab Spring”, right away took a hard line in response to challenges to his authority.  Brother Maher’s unbridled and sadistic unleashing of state military violence against Syrians in target areas, or not, merely adds emphasis to what such dictators are really about, which is absolute authority, control, and limitless glorification, love, obedience, and praise — i.e., in the coming political psychobabble (borrowed from more sophisticated chit-chat), “narcissistic supply” — all so that they may remain in power  while continuing to live in grim fairy tale all their own.

For Syria at the moment, that tale comes replete with 92,000 dead, predominantly civilians, and 3.5 million internally displaced and refugee.

* * *

Yet, in a remarkable interview this month with ABC’s Barbara Walters, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad 1) denied the extent of violence in his beleaguered country; 2) disputed the evidence in a U.N. report charging him and his government with crimes against humanity, asking, “Who said that the United Nations is a credible institution?”; 3) claimed that the forces charged with cracking down too hard on protesters did not belong to him, but instead to the government; and 4) indicated that the Syrian people supported him — otherwise he would not be in his position.

Post, Jerrold M.  “Bashar al-Assad is Every Bit His Father’s Son.”  Foreign Policy, December 20, 2011.

As I write in the book, it was his Sally Field moment, like when she accepted her second Oscar. “They really love me!” he said. And I guess he was due some of that. He had an aquifer of support in Syria that was not insignificant. But I remember thinking to myself at that very moment that this was a different person — that he was going to be president for life.

This was someone who no longer was the reluctant leader. He had fully embraced the power and trappings of his position.

Horn, Heather.  “To Know a Tyrant: Inside Bashar al-Assad’s Transformation From ‘Reformer’ to Killer.”  Interview with author David Lesch.  The Atlantic, September 18, 2012.

* * *

From Mao to Stalin, Hitler to Putin, Thatcher to Blair, Bush to British royalty, the list of narcissistic personalities who assume leadership is endless. What distinguishes Assad from the crowd is his obvious weakness in having assumed the mantle of power in a hereditary fashion, rather than grasping it in from the hands of a foe.

Nikolas, Katerina.  “Op-Ed: President Assad has narcissistic personality, says psychologist.”  Digital Journal, January 15, 2013.

Nikolas with the above statement gets at the axis of an issue in transiting “Narcissistic Personality Disorder” out of the clinician’s office and on to the political street: how far off normal or normative political behavior is it, really?  My response would be to assess combined empathy expressed and responsibility taken for states of affairs surrounding the leader.  Such detection or measurement would play against the notion that the narcissist, as far as he’s concerned, is never wrong.

There may be other dimensions worth a gander, especially as regards the sense of containment and self-restraint in the person.  A truly unbridled personality expresses not the least quiver of conscience over that which may be done at his bidding.

Is that Assad al-Bashar today?

I don’t know.

Of course, I also wouldn’t so casually lump together Mao, Putin, Thatcher, and British royalty as each displays their own character in relationship to the overall improved lot and wellness of their constituents in their totality.  Mere egotism and nerve neither define nor set the bar.  “Grandiose and messianic delusion” better approach the syndrome, and then the negatives — lack of empathy, lack of feeling, — get in the sociopath element.

Wikipedia’s page on “Narcissistic Personality Disorder” seems to obtain regular updates: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder DSM-IV has become DSM-V, from the looks of it and changes have been made.

It’s important to note here, repeat here, emphasis here, regularly, boringly, if needs be, transposing a clinical concept focused on individual psychopathology to a broader social context comes freighted with issues: what are we looking at and what are we trying to fix?

Answer, perhaps: autocrats and deeply autocratic societies.

Also, I would not regard NPD as a psychopathology for the sort, say as with addiction, that might lead the host to ruin; rather, it would seem an embedded complex in personality, and whether or not it works out may have something to do with context in which its lives and its impact on others.

By the king’s assessment, the king is generally okay with his role and remote from his qualities as a tyrant . . . but that’s rather the problem, isn’t it?

Mugabe loves Mugabe, and those Mugabe has patronized may love him too, and a show of love may do where the reality cannot be summoned, but what Mugabe has become by way of example has to do with the evil visited on others by way of his will, which historical reputation will be the one that haunts his death eternally.

* * *

Finally, as an aside, I’ve no reason to abandon “Facsimile Bipolar Political Sociopathy” (see “Coins and Terms” on this blog) as a possible dimension in political psychology, for the world, whether the part autocratically governed or the other democratic and open, has had an ample experience with dictators, living and dead, and should at this point be able to see how things work with such personalities more clearly and, consequently, attend to the better defense of its own humanity collectively.

Additional Reference

Blair, David.  “Assad blames everyone but himself for Syria’s ‘chaos'”.  The Telegraph, September 21, 2012.

Dalrymple, Theodore.  “The sweet, and deadly, sides of President Assad.”  The Telegraph, March 15, 2012.

# # #

Putin – The Charming Colonel President King

22 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Eurasia, Middle East, Psychology, Regions, Russia, Syria

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I like him.

At least compared to Robert Mugabe, among others of that sort, I like him.

When one invents a term like “Facsimile Bipolar Political Sociopathy” or trots out another like “Malignant Narcissism” one might caution — or run for cover as social psychologists tend to do — with the phrase “complex, multi-dimensional”: how much of arrogance, demanding egocentric behavior, grandiose delusion, lack of empathy, messianic passion, paranoia, and resistance to criticism might there be in the mix?

Putin, unlike, say, old Qaddafi, knows containment and restraint.

While the critical wonks will follow the Khodorkovsky story and the world in which old friends are friends indeed, Russia’s charming colonel President (king) Putin runs a modern state, and if imperfectly democratic, still a force of its own and one with which to be reckoned — this as Obama — see previous post — may have by now figured out, not that such a challenge to authority as Masha Gessen failed to warn him (reading recommended: The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin).

The destabilization of Syria has brought untold suffering to Syrians, and while that suffering and its related economic and political costs might serve to compel an average western politician to action, the same may not have the same impact on a post-Soviet autocrat-become-president who may be more interested in the reflection reflection that conveys control and mastery of a situation and further reflects well in terms of practical character, judgment, and statesmanship.

* * *

Obama’s setting out to transform the middle east may be perceived as having backfired: instead of democracy, such as Egypt, for example, have been handed over, even if by election, to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and the methods, in part, of another dictator, albeit one with perhaps a new political environment for navigation.

Putin cannot be blamed for the chill President Mursi has injected into Egypt’s “Arab Spring.”

Furthermore, in relation to NATO, Putin cannot be blamed for Erdogan’s rise and subsequent neutralizing of Kamalist rivals and unfriendly press.

So in Syria, while the 92,000 dead and 3.4 million homeless may help drag his name into it, he didn’t arm — or allow the arming — of rebels against the regime, did he?

As I type, this header is just about one hour old: “Syria’s rebels blame Russia’s Putin for prolonged fight” (Michel Stors, YNet News, May 21, 2013).  Toward the end, Stors’ notes:

“Russians have never been very popular with Syrians. During an Islamist rebellion in the 1980s they were targeted by the insurgents for supporting the regime. Pale Americans often complained that Syrians, mistaking them for Russians, jeered at them in the streets.”

In the United States, Obama’s America is emphatically not at war with Islam (nor need it be – my own position is very moderate on this and the related complexity in how the Islamic Small Wars work); in Syria, Obama’s America and some rickety fixing between Saudi (Qatari) and Turkish interests have made the United States an enabler, at least, in the effort to expand Sunni Islam and — eye on the ball, please — isolate the Shiite Ayatollah’s Iran.

Putin, who has made his position clear in Chechnya has similarly made it clear in Syria even while aligning Russia toward Israel and away from playing paddy-cake with Islam.

So far, with the recent deliveries of anti-ship and surface-to-air missiles, he’s given the Assad regime (and Maher Al-Assad) breathing space, reduced Iranian capital (in some measure), and playing defense, held Russia’s position; to continue on to “solving Syria” — and this now that he’s more representative of the polyglot desires of the west than the west! — he may have to alter the character of the regime by bringing to it an improved set of contemporary Russian values, the same as to which he responds in his political life today (specifically: the same that keeps Masha Gessen out of prison and eventually turn the Pussy Riot crew back out the streets, presumably toward the end of their two-year term), while sweeping away the terrors of the old Soviet machinery (the development of the FSB and its purposes notwithstanding).

Whether by way of President Putin or not, Russia has come far from what it was in the Soviet Era, but it’s continuing influence wants for reason, and for that oligarchy and money may not suffice; moreover, if Gessen’s portrait of Putin prevails within Putin, that won’t work for history; add this: if he wants to do what he may behind the curtain — back stage, finally – he may have to do it in a way that alters the atmosphere of the conflict even without visible intercession.

Tall order, that.

I think President Putin bright and clever (quiet and strong), and he will find a way to keep Syria in Russia’s sphere as well as make it more democratic, egalitarian, free and tolerant.

* * *

Perhaps I am dreaming.

We shall see.

Rose-colored summary: Putin may not be moved toward western-style intervention, but he may wish to be remembered well, and for that he may engage the Assad family, seek modification of the demands of the challengers, and set Syria on a progressive track.

On that too, we shall see.

—–

Additional Reference

I placed reference inline on this post, which I think adds to the on-the-fly blogging experience (even that which hails from the second row seat to history).  However, I opened other tabs on this too, and list them here.

Masyuk, Elena.  “Gleb Pavlovskiy: “What Putin is most afraid of is to be left out”.  Novayagazeta.ru, June 11, 2012: Excerpt from the interview: “A leader is the one chosen by others, and a master is a master regardless of whether you choose him or not.”

Wagele, Elizabeth.  “What is Putin’s Personality Type?”  Psychology Today, December 19, 2011.

Wikipedia.  “Narcissistic personality disorder”.  Reference provided neither to condemn nor diagnose, but rather to refer to several of the dimensions involved (in relation to this “complex, multidimensional” topic) in suggesting best political policy courses that must prove psychologically satisfying to the leaders who choose, engage, and promote them.

# # #

Yakhont Story Unfolds Another Story

17 Friday May 2013

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Psychology

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http://youtu.be/lSmcM0jBUfg

Russia’s delivery of Yakhont missiles to Syria represents the fulfillment of earlier contract obligations but with updated guidance technology. [1]

In 2011, Israel Matzav noted of the Yakhont:

“Israel is the only one in the region the Yakhonts would be used against. However, because Iran is supplying (unofficially) the cash for the missiles, there is also the risk that some of the Yakhonts would end up in Iran for use against numerous targets in the Persian Gulf.” [2]

Add to that risk: Israel Matzav notes the new missile as having twice the speed of the old one (and, again, improved guidance).

How far does President Putin wish to go with supporting, essentially, Brigadier General Maher al-Assad?

I may not be paid enough (nothing, actually) to answer that question.

🙂

Above: March 16, 2013 – Anti-Assad protesters walk toward 10 Downing Street, London.

YouTube poster of the video “Thepeopleofsyria” notes, “What a shame, the world and the Media are busy with the length of the beards of the demonstrators in Syria, while they are forgetting about the length of the scud missiles of Bashar, which are coming down on the heads of women and children.”

* * *

I’ll take a little turn here — first confessing that I really don’t know how to answer the question I posed, which has two parts: 1) the fundamental psychology in personality supporting attitudes toward others; 2) dependent and co-dependent interpersonal relationships with significant others and closely associated constellations.

What is most known is Moscow’s antipathy toward “political Islam”, the continuing simmer of restive states-of-affairs in Chechnya, and Putin’s own desire to encourage what psychologists call “narcissistic supply”: i.e., he really doesn’t want to be “the bad guy” — consequently: he really isn’t.

Putin himself would not fire a weapon at mere passersby on a street corner.

Bad form, bad style, all of that.

Moreover, Putin seems to me to have his “back stage” and “front stage” self-presentation in better order, and he seems also to know limits, moderation, and restraint.  After all, he works with a whole Russian People.

His associate may not have access to that grace that is the expression of a different mirrored self.

It’s hard to tell.

In 2012, writing for The New York Times, journalist Anne Barnard punched this in toward the end of her analysis of the Assad family’s position:

“The Assads were raised by their father and their uncles — aggressive men — to believe “they were demigods and Syria was their playground,” said Rana Kabbani, the daughter of a prominent diplomat who knew them growing up.” [3]

In the west, people prefer to see their demigods with guitars, not armies, and they much prefer to hear them singing then to watch them writing laws for everyone else to follow.

In any case, it is not good to have too much power, which is corrupting, much less to exceed limits with it, which is damning.

Cited Reference

1. The Jerusalem Post.  “Report: Russia sends Assad ‘ship killing missile’.  May 17, 2013.

2. Israel Matzav.  “Russia provides Syria with Yakhont anti-ship missiles.”  November 23, 2011.

3. Barnard, Anne.  “No Easy Route if Assad Opts to Go, or Stay, in Syria.”  The New York Times, December 24, 2012:

Analysts in Russia, one of Syria’s staunchest allies, say that as rebels try to encircle Damascus and cut off escape routes to the coast, the mood in the palace is one of panic, evinced by the erratic use of weapons: Scud missiles better used against an army than an insurgency, naval mines dropped from the air instead of laid at sea.

Other Reference

ABC News.  “Asma Assad Makes Rare Appearance.”  Video.  March 17, 2013.

Babiak, Paul.  “‘Psychopath’ or ‘Narcissist’: The Coach’s Dilemma. Worldwide Association of Business Coaches, April 28, 2011.

Eshel Tamir.  “How serious is the P800 Yakhont threat?  Does it have a destabilizing effect on the Middle East?”  Defense Update, September 20, 2010:

The expected arrival of the P800 Yakhont supersonic anti-ship missile in Syria is considered the first serious attempt by Syria to directly challenge the Israel Navy since the 1973 war, when the Israeli Navy sunk five Syrian vessels in the first missile-boat engagement known as the ‘Battle of Latakia’.

Eshel, Tamir.  “Syria Receives 72 Yakhont Missiles from Russia.”  Defense Update, December 3, 2011:

December 2, 2011: Russia has supplied two Bastion coastal missile systems to Syria, concluding a controversial $300 million arms deal inked with the Syrian government four years ago.

House of Mirrors.  “Malignant Narcissist, Covetous Sociopath, Bully, Liar, Slanderer . . .”  May 28, 2011:  “For the narcissist believes that everything belongs to her, and if someone has a little of it, then she’s not getting all of it. Pathological greed, entitlement, and covetousness are what makes the malignant narcissist a dangerous predator.”

Khalaf, Roula.  “Bashar al-Assad: behind the mask.”  FT Magazine, June 15, 2012.  Lead: “They burn his effigy in towns drenched in blood by his security forces.”  Of the patchwork of stories I’ve thrown into this section, this piece, which is coming up on its one-year anniversary, may be the one most rich for insight into the political, psychological, and social workings of the Assad regime.

SociopathWorld.  “Why I hate narcissists.”  January 1, 2012.

Wikipedia.  “P-800 Oniks”.

FTAC – Post-Cold War Post-Soviet Syria Challenges Putin

15 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Eurasia, Europe, Middle East, Regions, Russia, Syria

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Through the Cold War / Soviet Era, the boundaries and mischief provided by Soviet –> Syrian –> Iranian bonds and similar arrangements produced both enmity with the west and a bulwark against it even though the basis for, say, Soviet and Iranian existence would be wildly different (but not so different with the Soviet : Baathist relationship elsewhere). The ghosts of the Soviet Era have play in Syria’s disaster today: in essence, post-Soviet, post-KGB Russia seems to have maintained its business and military relationships with Syria without influencing or updating the political and social arrangements of the earlier state of affairs, except to better enable the capital interests of a ruling class. Enter Colonel President King and Stakeholder Putin today: how would you have him now address the Assad family (keep in mind he has his own “kleptocratic” track record within key Russian industries), Maher Al-Assad (who has launched jets against the innocents of whole communities and rather only haphazardly found the armed elements arrayed against the family), and fend off the de facto acquisition of another Chechnya?

I happen to think, perhaps alone in this, that Obama has been trying to goad Putin into intervening in Russia’s client state, but neither Obama or the U.S. have “true interest” in Syria: the focus of activity in Syria is (Shiite) Iran, and into that space KSA, with ample investment in U.S. capitalism (with Big Defense contracts, it’s we who are working for them), has handily played its rivalry with Iran for regional influence.

From both humanist and political perspectives, no one knows how to “sort” the collection of civil and religious interests engaged in conflict within Syria, and no one from outside, including bordering state armies like Suleiman’s wishes to step into the furnace (not the best analogy coming from a Jew, but it seems to work). Instead, we would rather have UNHCR beg for $1 billion through the end of the year to address the civilian tragedy attending Syria’s civil war and unresolved hatreds and threats attending western identity and interests.

Syria is Putin’s problem, and while he can and has, I think, embarrassed Obama with it, he hasn’t rolled out a good strategy yet for his modern, post-Soviet state.

One more thing: Putin may have himself for a problem as regards his own narcissistic universe and the at least partial detachment of that from human suffering within his reach. Syria is a hard problem for him, and it’s important the unfolding story of the state’s themes do not serve to dishonor or embarrass him in history.

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Some interests are known: Obama’s mom-and-apple-pie bid for a new Syrian secular democracy; the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s interest in establishing greater autocratic Sunni-based influence in the region; Israeli reduction in Iranian-backed capability and hostility in general.

What we do not know are post-Soviet Russian interests in Syria today beyond continuing the archaic economic system chaining funding from Iran –> Syria –> Russia.

That system is up and running.

The old motivations are down and the current set are plainly absurd.

Russia, wary of its experience with Chechnya, has zero interest in otherwise supporting or strengthening Ayatollah Khamenei.  In essence, President Putin and the Russians have come to a crossroads in Syria, and they can’t go back, unless perhaps to the age of the czars minus the validation of religion for doing so (but mountains of cold hard cash may suffice for validation these days), and going forward, they’re a bit uncomfortable with us Yanks and perhaps lots of others on the Continent.

The longer Putin peers down the new routes available to him without stepping forward, the more he may contribute to the New World Disorder so signaled by the failure of the Assad family’s Syria to secure their citizens lives (casualties so far: 82,000; combined IDP and refugee figures: 3.4 million homeless).

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