Tag Archives: Vladimir Putin

East-West Rivalry: Trump-Putin Divide the World

04 Sunday Jan 2026

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, South America, Venezuela

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The tweeted text follows (with a few hash marks replaced by standard typed English and adjustments for sense) so as to give expression its more persistent showcase in online publishing (a tweet may be noticed and read but briefly as X compiles rapidly and destroys focus as efficiently as it confronts its audience with virtually limitless attention-seeking stimulus).

***

The mirroring couple Trump and Putin appear to be between states in their relationship. Trump, at this point, might wish to be free of the boss of the Russian Mafia State (being blackmailed by kompromat might account for that), and he’s been presented with an opportunity involving the post-Cold War clean-up of the former Soviet/post-Soviet spheres of alliance, control, and influence and the severing of the link that has been for a long time Moscow-Havana-Caracas.

While Donald may expect accolades for his conquest of a former Soviet communist satellite, I think he’s proceeding from a different compact with Putin involving the feudal-medieval mafia mentality each has come to represent and he would just as soon make a “gangster’s paradise” out of his invasion of Venezuela. That would help make sense of his low-to-high pattern in pardons of criminals who have injured the United States (e.g., the January 6, 2021 insurrectionists; the recent pardon of drug kingpin Juan Orlando Hernandez) and his penchant for locating and targeting mineral wealth from Greenland to Ukraine and working “deals” in which he involves business associates and family in a process that may be referred to as the development of his own personal empire.

Is he betraying his “handler” Putin?

While it looks that way at a glance, Trump in fact may be turning East-West Rivalry on its head and setting up to rule and plunder the wealth of the western hemisphere while leaving Europe and its interests to his rival.

How Americans view the Trump-Putin relationship (mirroring) may be tempered by both political bias (partisan drift) and the American constituency’s general detachment from foreign affairs and international relations. Up to this point, America’s professional business and political managers have understood their having a uniquely American mission from the 20th Century perspective at least. As an American People, the same have negated the power of kings, fought fascism and imperialism worldwide, and tempered totalitarianism as understood from witness of leaders pledged each to the support of his ruling Communist Party.

In fact, the winning of the Cold War had been framed as having beaten Communism, not a practical and ruthless KGB driven and managed police state that could be turned toward serving a dictatorship– a private patronage system–devoted solely to its own aggrandizement, ambition, greed, and security.

So this round is different.

Trump and Putin represent an archaic criminal mentality associated with the malign narcissism and related emotional needs of each, i.e., the equivalent in outlook of what would be today criminal medieval powers engaged in continuous competition for territory and tribute, and then–with the concept of modern feudal-medieval mafia established–related unbridled and unhinged methods in power and enterprise.

***

About the Art

The bookends tell in part the Trump-Putin story as one dates to 2016 and has since become an iconic as well as ironic statement about the two statesmen. The other has been captured in relation to Trump’s second-term meeting of the two in Alaska. In the way of a fast-paced meme-spilling web, the composites between reflect, of course, my conclusions about the two and their archaic views of dominion and sovereignty–and both lawless men have reserved for themselves as principle a deeply archaic, deranged, and mentally and morally sick “right” to destroy with their power persons and property alike with impunity. One has ordered the piloting of missiles into apartment buildings and malls; the other threatens to take over the western hemisphere while fueling his own corrupt system of private patronage. Neither should represent anyone’s future governance–not for Russians and never (again) for Americans.

Related to Archaic Leadership and Malignant Narcissism

I’ve whittled related political science and political psychology (#PoliSciPoliPsy) down to this module for X-ting (X-ing . . . whatever)–>

–33–

AI: Russia Increases Sale of Gold Reserves

21 Friday Nov 2025

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Political Spychology, Russia, Ukraine

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Anna Danylchuk yesterday mentioned that Putin had resorted to selling off Russia’s gold reserves to sustain his war effort with Ukraine: “Russia is the weakest ever. Now is the time to defeat it and not appease the pathetic Kremlin goblin.”

AI Says –>

Russia’s Central Bank has recently started selling physical gold from its reserves for the first time as part of Finance Ministry operations to cover the national budget deficit, which has widened due to the ongoing war with Ukraine and Western sanctions. 

Key Details on Russia’s Gold Sales

  • Purpose: The primary reason for the gold sales is to generate rubles and cover the state budget deficit, particularly as oil and gas tax revenues have dropped.
  • Mechanism: Due to increased liquidity in the domestic gold market, the Bank of Russia is now able to conduct market operations involving the sale of physical gold in a manner equivalent to selling Chinese yuan to balance the National Wealth Fund (NWF).
  • Volume: The exact date sales began and the current volume have not been specified by the Central Bank. However, data indicates that the Finance Ministry has sold over 232.6 tonnes of gold from the NWF since the beginning of the war, reducing the fund’s gold holdings to 173.1 tonnes as of November 1, 2025.
  • Context: This marks a significant shift for Russia, which had been a major buyer of gold for years to diversify its assets and reduce dependence on the U.S. dollar, especially following the 2014 annexation of Crimea. The U.S. decision to freeze Russia’s foreign exchange reserves after the 2022 invasion has motivated a broader trend among central banks (including BRICS nations) to acquire more gold and move away from the dollar. 

Russia’s Overall Gold Reserves

Despite the recent sales from the National Wealth Fund, Russia maintains significant total gold holdings. 

  • Total Reserves: Russia holds over 2,300 tonnes of gold in its total national reserves, making it the world’s fifth-largest holder.
  • Strategic Shift: The country had aggressively built up these reserves to act as a buffer against sanctions, a strategy that has partially insulated its economy.
  • Domestic Market Focus: Sanctions prevent Russia’s Central Bank from buying gold on international markets, so domestic purchases from local miners have been a key part of its strategy. 

Related Trends

  • Public Demand: Russian citizens have also been buying record amounts of physical gold to protect their savings from inflation and sanctions, with the government encouraging this trend by scrapping the Value Added Tax (VAT) on gold bar sales to individuals.
  • Sanctions Evasion: There have been international calls, notably from U.S. senators, for the State and Treasury departments to crack down on Russian gold sales to prevent the funding of its military operation

Russia Collapses

Analyst Jason Jay Smart has been Ukraine’s drone war against Russia’s economy, logistics, and war-making capability while noting the devastating effects of the same within Russia and every aspect of its industrial and civilian life.

As the Phantom of the Soviet, Putin and his “New Nobility” project appear to be fading. Most clearly, he cannot today defend Russia, her field operations, her people, and not even select cities from Ukrainian payback. Many within Russia will find themselves surviving this winter in the cold and dark as services fail and the machinery and repairs wanted may not be available as required.

AI may be queried as regards, “Russia, damage from Ukrainian drones, civilian impacts” — a more full image of Ukraine’s success may be found through other reportage. For example, Putin appears to be staying away from Moscow and appearing only from one or another for several nearly identical rooms for his public relations. In a similar but more foreboding vein, the palace above an apparently capacious and self-sufficient below-ground bolt hole appears to have been razed — but I haven’t found confirmation of any destruction beneath the ground. The worry for that location might link to nervousness over the possibility of nuclear exchange. The palace had been used as a meeting space for high-level diplomacy.

Rarely have so few, seemingly inconsequential words generated so many consequential ones.

In a mere 109-word paragraph tucked away in an autobiographical collection of interviews published in 2000, just as he ascended to power in Russia, Vladimir Putin tells a nightmarish tale: Once, when he and his friends were chasing rats with sticks in the dilapidated apartment building in St. Petersburg where he grew up, a “huge rat” he’d cornered suddenly “lashed around and threw itself at” him, chasing the “surprised and frightened” Putin to his door before he slammed it shut in the rodent’s face. For Putin, it’s a parable: “I got a quick and lasting lesson in the meaning of the word cornered.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2023/08/putin-russia-ukraine-war-cornered-rat-story/674890/

Might Putin try to erase the memory of the world by setting off a nuclear Armageddon?

Given Putin’s association with Malignant Narcissism and related ramifications, it appears he may need to be stopped by the mutiny of his remaining admirals and generals in unison. By Russian own nuclear doctrine, he cannot launch a nuclear warhead without military cooperation. According to AI today:

In Russia, the President makes the final decision to use nuclear weapons, but military commanders have control over the launch. The Cheget briefcase connects the President to the strategic command-and-control network, transmitting launch orders to the General Staff. The General Staff then gives authorization codes to the commanders who execute the actual launch. 

The process for nuclear launch

  • Presidential decision: The President, as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, makes the final decision to use nuclear weapons based on Russia’s doctrine.
  • Command and control: The President uses a device called the Cheget to send the launch order through the Kazbek command and control network.
  • Military authority: The Cheget transmits the orders to the General Staff, not to the individual weapons commanders.
  • Execution of the launch: The General Staff then issues the necessary authorization codes to the individual military commanders who have the authority to execute the launch procedures. 

For Russians, the present state-of-affairs must seem both puzzling, at least (given the Soviet Era hangover having to do with propaganda and totalitarian control), as well as foreboding in light of Ukraine’s demonstrated ability to attack any vital state asset in the Russian land mass contributing to the state’s defense, economy, and industry. With the initiation of the selling of gold reserves, Putin has more or less signaled the beginning of the end of not only an intolerable venture into and toward Europe but his inability to resist the war being brought home to none other than himself–and it may be his own people who do it.

–33–

Russia’s Nuclear Plant Related Accusation Against Ukraine

24 Sunday Aug 2025

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Russia, Ukraine

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So far, Ukraine has not confirmed any attack on Russia’s nuclear facility in Kursk and media claims only that a shot down drone — where was it going? — caused a fire at the site. There’s a difference, of course, between an attack and a damaged aircraft falling from the sky. While the character of Russian disinformation and the “fog of war” muddy conclusions, there should be no question about Putin’s intent to leverage his nuclear “option” into some realpolitik strength in position position while every other indicator coming off the Ukraine-Russia War suggests Moscow has in fact been losing in every measurable dimension. Its oil producing capacity has been reduced by 13 percent causing prices at Russia’s pumps to skyrocket accordingly; Russian casualties since the 2022 invasion have surpassed one million; and the cost of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine appears to be producing Putin’s archaic-barbaric nation-as-fief an estimated $172 billion in expenses for 2025 (AI mentions $450 billion in total accrued costs–see verbatim text in the AI section of this post).

From the above, one may suggest that Vladimir Putin must be experiencing a bad day every day or, alternatively, enjoying a deluded day in a theater all his own–one may then wonder how his inner circle feels about that.

As noted here years ago, Putin’s fear of public humiliation and shame drives frame and maintain his own image as unassailable, courageous, and heroic — see “Why Putin Won’t Stop Until Stopped” (January 20, 2023). His problem: reality won’t accept his claims of successes — none to date have proven immune to Ukrainian drone push-back and other defensive measures — nor any denials of culpability. He embarked on the conquest of Ukraine under false premises in 2014, and while he annexed Crimea without a shot fired — and nothing more than diplomatic posturing from Washington for resistance — he’s just not getting further with anything he does. Russia’s admirals and generals may note well the fate of his once-proud Black Sea Fleet:

At the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine lacked a naval force capable of meeting the threat. What little it had didn’t last long. To prevent the Russians from capturing it, the Ukrainians scuttled their one major warship. Its other naval vessels were damaged, destroyed, or captured (“Russia’s navy looks to be stretched thin after getting battered by Ukraine and losing a key port, Western officials say” — by Jake Epstein, Business Insider, August 13, 2025).

As Putin’s fortunes and prospects continue to decline in the face of western resolve (even without the fulsome resolve of American will while the nation weathers an administration whose loyalties to the American secular democratic republic appear doubtful), he’ll strive to sustain his illusion of the absolute control of Russia through the deadly and grinding machinery of the “mafia state” that he has built around himself, a state that may fear him more than it admires or loves him.

AI Recaps, August 24, 2025

Russian Nuclear Accusations Against Ukraine

Russia’s nuclear accusations against Ukraine are primarily disinformation campaigns, such as the late 2022 claim that Ukraine was preparing to use a “dirty bomb” on Ukrainian territory. More recently, on August 24, 2025, Russia accused Ukraine of launching a drone attack on the Kursk nuclear power plant, causing a fire and minor damage to a transformer, though radiation levels remained normal and no casualties were reported. These accusations are often seen as propaganda aimed at discrediting Ukraine and justifying Russia’s actions in the ongoing conflict. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]

Accusations of a “Dirty Bomb” (October 2022) [1, 2, 9, 10]

  • Russia’s claim: In late October 2022, Russia accused Ukraine of planning to detonate a radioactive “dirty bomb” on Ukrainian soil and warned international partners about it, according to The New York Times.
  • Ukraine’s response: Ukraine, in turn, accused Russia of secretly building dirty bombs at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
  • International view: U.S. intelligence officials considered the claims to be a Russian tactic, possibly as a “bluff” or a way to employ its “escalate to de-escalate” nuclear doctrine.

Drone Attack on a Nuclear Plant (August 2025)

  • Russia’s claim: Russia accused Ukraine of launching drone attacks, including one that struck the Kursk nuclear power plant. [3, 5]
  • Damage and effects: The attack caused a fire and damaged a transformer, forcing a reduction in the power plant’s capacity. However, the fire was quickly extinguished, with no casualties and normal radiation levels reported. [4, 5]
  • Ukraine’s response: Ukraine did not immediately comment, but a Ukrainian center called the accusations “typical methods” of Russian propaganda. [6]
  • International reaction: The UN’s nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, was aware of the reports but had not independently confirmed them, emphasizing that all nuclear facilities must be protected. [4, 5]

AI responses may include mistakes.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/10/25/world/russia-ukraine-war-news

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_risk_during_the_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine

[3] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/24/russia-accuses-ukraine-of-attacking-nuclear-plant-causing-a-fire

[4] https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/as-ukraine-marks-independence-day-moscow-says-kyiv-struck-a-nuclear-power-plant-in-russia

[5] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/24/russia-accuses-ukraine-drone-strike-kursk-nuclear-power-plant

[6] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czxy2v9dzgxo

[7] https://euvsdisinfo.eu/report/ukraine-uses-chemical-weapons-without-control/

[8] https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/04/21/7508441/

[9] https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-t-z/ukraine-russia-war-and-nuclear-energy

[10] https://www.businessinsider.com/us-asked-non-allies-prevent-russia-using-nuclear-weapons-report-2024-3

Reductions in Russian Oil Refining Capacity

Note: some bolded italics added–>

Ukraine’s long-range drone attacks have significantly degraded Russia’s oil refining capacity, knocking out approximately 13% of the country’s processing capability since early August 2025, leading to elevated fuel prices and production disruptions. The attacks have targeted major refineries and infrastructure like the Druzhba pipeline, with repairs complicated by Western sanctions that restrict access to specialized equipment and prolong outages. This campaign is a strategic effort to undermine Russia’s economy and its ability to fund the war, as evidenced by the soaring wholesale gasoline prices and potential reliance on government subsidies for Russian energy firms. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Key Impacts on Russian Oil Production: [1, 2, 3]

  • Reduced Refining Capacity: Around 13% of Russia’s total refining capacity has been knocked out, with estimates suggesting about 44.3 million tons of annual processing capability disrupted.
  • Prolonged Outages: Major facilities like the Volgograd, Samara, and Ryazan refineries have been rendered inoperable, with repairs expected to take months due to a lack of specialized parts, exacerbated by sanctions.
  • Supply Chain Disruption: The Druzhba pipeline was also struck, causing a temporary shutdown and raising concerns in Central Europe.
  • Economic Strain: Russian energy firms face reduced revenues, strained profit margins, and increased dependence on government bailouts.

Strategic Context:

  • Targeted Campaign: The strikes are a coordinated effort by Ukraine’s intelligence services (GUR and SSU) to dismantle Russia’s energy infrastructure, which they view as a crucial economic engine for its war efforts. [4, 5, 6]
  • Shift from Previous Ceasefire: This intensified focus on oil facilities marks a departure from a previous understanding that limited mutual attacks on civilian energy infrastructure. [5]
  • Economic Warfare: By targeting the oil sector, Ukraine aims to cripple Russia’s wartime finances and force a slowdown in oil production. [4]

Consequences:

  • Soaring Fuel Prices: Wholesale gasoline prices have surged sharply, with AI-92 and AI-95 gasoline prices reaching record highs in August 2025. [3, 7]
  • Market Instability: The ongoing disruptions and the financial strain on energy companies are reflected in underperforming stock valuations for firms like Rosneft and Gazprom. [2]
  • Russia’s Vulnerability: The attacks highlight the fragility of Russia’s centralized energy infrastructure and expose its struggles to protect against deep-penetration drone swarms. [2, 8]

AI responses may include mistakes.

[1] https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/putin-is-facing-a-fuel-crisis-as-ukraine-escalates-attacks-on-russian-refineries/

[2] https://www.ainvest.com/news/shattered-pipeline-ukraine-drone-campaigns-reshaping-global-energy-markets-investment-risks-2508/

[3] https://united24media.com/latest-news/ukraines-drones-shut-down-13-of-russias-oil-refining-fuel-prices-soar-10886

[4] https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/ukrainian-drones-reportedly-knock-out-10-percent-of-russian-refining-capacity/

[5] https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-08-15/ukraines-drones-are-punishing-russian-oil-industry.html

[6] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/19/world/europe/ukraine-russia-energy-infrastructure.html

[7] https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/08/11/ukrainian-drone-strike-halts-operations-at-rosneft-refinery-in-saratov-a90168

[8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aG2W7-50iig

Not all images can be exported from Search.

The Cost to Russia of its War with Ukraine

The figure of $172 billion is Russia’s projected military expenditure for 2025, not a total cost to date, and represents about 8% of its GDP. While this isn’t a specific “war cost,” the Russian war in Ukraine has other significant economic consequences, including substantial direct military spending, which may have exceeded $132 billion through 2024 and reached over $450 billion by some estimates, along with broader economic costs like GDP losses and long-term effects on the economy. [1, 2, 3]

Breakdown of Costs and Projections:

  • 2025 Military Expenditure: Russia’s planned military spending for 2025 is around $170-$172 billion, accounting for approximately 8% of its GDP. [1]
  • Direct Military Spending: Some estimates place Russia’s direct military spending on the war at $132 billion or more by the end of 2024. [2]
  • Total Direct War Cost: One source indicates the total direct costs of the war for Russia have exceeded $450 billion, though this is a broader figure encompassing all direct expenses. [3]
  • GDP Losses: Beyond direct military costs, Russia has also incurred significant losses to its GDP as a result of the war, with estimates for 2022 alone falling between $81 billion and $104 billion. [2]

Context and Broader Impacts: [4]

  • Economic Impact: The war has led to Russia’s focus on a “war economy” that prioritizes military spending, which drives short-term growth but undermines long-term economic health.
  • Labour Shortages: The increased militarization of the workforce contributes to severe labor shortages.
  • Inflation: Wage growth in Russia has outpaced productivity, fueling inflation.
  • Sustainability: This approach creates a narrow and brittle economic foundation, making Russia’s long-term economic trajectory unsustainable.

AI responses may include mistakes.

[1] https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/russia-and-ukraine-are-locked-in-an-economic-war-of-attrition/

[2] https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA2421-1.html

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine

[4] https://www.visionofhumanity.org/russias-war-economy-growth-built-on-unsustainable-foundations/

–33–

American Coward and Sellout – Donald Trump Hands Over Ukraine

16 Saturday Aug 2025

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Russia, Ukraine, United States of America

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The slings and arrows of outrageous slurs — “vile ignoramus” has become my latest favorite — appear never to reach the armored, delusional, malignantly narcissistic, and unreachable Ill Trumpolini (another fave). His realm: mafia realpolitik along the lines of “your money or your wife” — or both (plus other “property”) according to Jeffrey Epstein via assorted reportage. This week, he predictably added to his ignominious reputation by offering Putin everything asked for: expanded land assets for Russia; the submission of Ukraine to Russia; the abandonment of Ukraine by NATO to Russia.

Related in the News: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/aug/15/trump-putin-alaska-meeting-summit-news-updates | Elsewhere: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/08/16/ukraine-washington-zelensky-russia-trump/; https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/15/us/politics/trump-putin-summit-ukrainians.html.

Related for Background: https://www.reuters.com/article/world/toppled-mafia-president-cost-ukraine-up-to-100-billion-prosecutor-says-idUSBREA3T0KA/ | https://transparency.eu/corruption-opulence-and-decadence-in-ukraine/ | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_of_Dignity | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Donbas | https://conflict-backchannels.com/2022/02/24/ukraines-black-thursday/

–33–

Malignarcs: Ali the Thief; VladolphPutler; Mafia Don.

18 Wednesday Jun 2025

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, American Domestic Affairs, Extreme Brown vs Red-Green, International Development, Political Psychology, United States of America

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The malignant narcissists share the same hidden misery in their fear of public humiliation and shame. Never give in, never give up, never back down? In modern life, cooperation, dignity, and freedom win for independent, modern, responsible, and responsive mentalities–cognizance, consciousness, emotion, and empathy comprising human virtues and nothing like the “mind viruses” of feudal-medieval mafia, all of them damaged goods made callous and deadened by their earliest experiences and adult excesses. Call them what they have been always: criminals and political criminals.

Ali the Thief

The 82-year-old Iranian woman keeps the documents that upended her life in an old suitcase near her bed. She removes them carefully and peers at the tiny Persian script.

There’s the court order authorizing the takeover of her children’s three Tehran apartments in a multi-story building the family had owned for years. There’s the letter announcing the sale of one of the units. And there’s the notice demanding she pay rent on her own apartment on the top floor.

Pari Vahdat-e-Hagh ultimately lost her property. It was taken by an organization that is controlled by the most powerful man in Iran: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. She now lives alone in a cramped, three-room apartment in Europe, thousands of miles from Tehran.

Stecklow, Steve, Babak Dehghanpisheh, and Yeganeh Torbati. “Khamenei controls massive financial empire built on property seizures.” Series: Assets of the Ayatollah: The economic empire behind Iran’s supreme leader. Reuters, November 11, 2013.

*

For Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the image and power of his most pious religious position covers, in fact, an immensely ruthless callousness, greed, and self-aggrandizing and entirely self-serving madness. Man of God? Man of Peace? Thief, evidently, and murderer in his own feudal-medieval political and religious mode: see NCRI, “Iran: Khamenei’s New Record in Execution and Crimes, January 2, 2025.

Vladolph Putler

Putin’s pretext for his 2014 invasion of Crimea along with Donetsk and Luhansk–the Donbas–had been his duty to save a surrounded Russian culture in Ukraine–and never mind the comfortability of complacent Russian enclaves in Ukraine–from the bogey of Ukrainian tyranny, a thought as faked up and self-serving as his hallucinated Ukrainian Nazis. As a delusional and surreal malignant narcissist, the not-so-great Russian leader and mediocre mafia, secret police, and political thug had intended to make himself look like a hero. Instead, he provoked Russians in Ukraine to fight with Ukraine, and not a few of them as Russian partisans for Ukraine in Russia.

Today by way of Putin’s petulant lunacy, Russia has suffered more than a million military casualties of war. Financial losses appear immeasurable for their being multiple dimensions involved but staggering in the region of $100 billion and up (query AI on “Russia’s financial losses related to invasions of Ukraine”), and the direct losses to its defense appear in the Odessa Journal (June 18, 2025) approximately as follows — note: I’ve made the list alpha, adjusted typography for this blog, and edited with, I hope, experienced judgment:

Estimated total Russian combat losses from 24.02.22 to 18.06.25

Russian Military Casualties of War: about 1007160 (+1040) persons. Note: more than one thousand Russian soldiers have been dying per day in Ukraine. The numbers in parentheses indicate expected additional losses at the time of initial publication.

  • aircraft: 416 (+0)tanks: 10947 (+7)
  • anti-aircraft systems: 1187 (+0)
  • artillery systems: 29265 (+37)
  • boats: 28 (+0)
  • cruise missiles: 3369 (+23)
  • helicopters: 337 (+0)
  • MLRS: 1420 (+1)
  • special equipment: 3916 (+0)
  • submarines: 1 (+0)
  • troop-carrying AFVs:22845 (+31)
  • UAV operational-tactical level: 41165 (+184)
  • vehicles and fuel tanks: 52312 (+137)
  • warships: 28 (+0)

What kind of crazy drives a dictator? And what might turn him off?

From January 20, 2023 on this blog: “FTAC: Why Putin Won’t Stop Until Stopped.”

Vladolph has yet to do anything that would refute the psychology involved. In his own head, his posture appears courageous, heroic, and unassailable, and that’s what he believes he must project. There is no reasoning with his mentality.

Donald Trump has turned out the same way.

Mafia Don

I’ve published this bloc a time or two on X:

https://money.cnn.com/2016/03/28/news/trump-apartment-tenants/; https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-tenants-lawsuit/2020/12/04/db4a82e6-367a-11eb-8d38-6aea1adb3839_story.html; https://thehill.com/homenews/news/528714-tenants-sue-trump-over-scheme-that-increased-their-rent-report/; https://www.newsweek.com/2016/10/28/donald-trump-business-busts-victims-511034.html.

A glance a the CNN URL cited tells just how greedy, ruthless, self-serving, and sideways ol’ Mafia Don has been in his unbridled ambitions and related methods of getting his way:

It began in 1981. Trump bought a 14-story building on prime real estate facing New York City’s Central Park.

His plan was to tear down the building and replace it with luxury condos. But first he needed a small band of rent-stabilized tenants out of there.

To succeed, Trump played rough, according to lawsuits filed by the tenants. Renters said he cut heat and hot water, and he imposed tough building rules. Trump even proposed sheltering homeless people in the building.

It went on for five years as Trump fought tenants, real estate lawyers, New York state regulators and city officials.

Pagliery, Jose. “Donald Trump was a nightmare landlord in the 1980s.” CNN Money, March 28, 2016.

When Winston Churchill delivered his resounding speech advocating a stubborn resistance to Hitler’s aggression and purpose–“Never give in, never give in, never give in . . . .“–he spoke for all of Great Britain against barbarous aggression of a mass-murdering tyrant; when Donald Trump repeats his admonishment to never give up, never give in, and never quit, he repeats basically his own cheerleading formed in the process of his own embattlement. He has lived through and with a process today well known to psychologists–here’s my distillation of it: https://conflict-backchannels.com/2022/07/10/malignant-narcissistic-process-distilled/ –and as with his fellows of similar class, he must appear always courageous-heroic and unassailable before the public and those who would otherwise humiliate and shame him. His own image creates his politics, not a nation’s more authentic challenges and predicaments.

The grim phantoms of history–whatever was thought to have been left behind in the many ways of the dreaded horsemen–Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death–have ways of appearing before us just when we think we have beaten them. So here are the three insults to modern humanity, each one callous and crude, greedy as sin, without boundaries or limits, an sickeningly delusional with criminal and messianic intents, and the authentic among those good and noble must wonder how they are to be met. That they will be “met” we may be certain for time evolves communities more than it resigns any to again living in caves and by tooth and claw, arrow or spear, or sword and shield, but for the living cohort subject to the will of evil leaders, all pay a price in the producing of better and more secure and permanent good circumstance.

For Americans, I believe it appears the “American Experiment” has taken its one giant step backward with Donald Trump as well as the “tech-bro threat” of a degrading and dehumanizing AI future, so perhaps we must all look forward to envisioning the character of our best possible “two steps forward” and then find ways of joining together and in irresistible force to get that next and better world.

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Trump-Putin: Malignant Narcissists; Political Criminals

07 Thursday Dec 2023

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology

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Licensed psychologists and psychiatrists and member of the American Psychiatric Association have the “Goldwater Rule”, which guidance disallows or discourages the making of claims about political figures without having had direct evaluative experience with the same. I concur. For the practicing psychologist or psychiatrist, the work of arriving at a clinical evaluation needs be direct and personal as well as versed in both the clinical DSM and perhaps a full history of despots and dictators. For cognizant citizens and political analysts, editors, and journalists, background helps as well may ample knowledge derived from consistent study over time and here, in particular, a good look at narcissism.

Immediately related on BackChannels: “Anthropolitical Psychology” -> “Malignant Narcissism” (of chief interest here). In the ways of desk analysts, my way, and the web, reference leads to reference until curiosity has been cured by repeated encounters with certain ideas, principles, and themes.

Malignant Narcissists Trump and Putin AKA Trump-Putin AKA

For essence regarding the character of both in their expression: delusional, grandiose, messianic in ideation and well apart from normal as regards boundaries and limits, which may be considered a part of the parameters of conscience. For his barbaric ascent to ruthless power, Putin bombed apartment buildings in Moscow, pointed to Chechen rebels as culprits, won his presidency, and set his army free to brutalize Chechen villages, sending the men into the opposition. Ramzan Kadyrov would get the handsomely compensated business of holding Chechnya in place.

For the authoritarian and totalitarian malignant narcissist and sociopath with enough money and power, everything paid off (or silenced) works out in the end.

For Trump with his tens of millions of inherited dollars for working capital, the early great dreams didn’t quite make their nut, and so Russian Money found him, and, in retrospect, it appears he fell in love with her as well.

For essence regarding the process that turned two weaklings into courageous and heroic-looking figures popular with millions of voters suitably bought, leveraged seduced, snowed, or threatened in their respective nation-states: “Malignant Narcissistic Process Distilled” (BackChannels, July 10, 2022).

Political Criminals and Brothers in Loot

Given defenestrations, Navalny, Novichok,Polonium Tea, and Ukraine, Putin’s an easy tag as the boss of a state he has insisted on sustaining as a criminal enterprise, a “Russian Mafia State“, and a scourge to common humanity and good leadership worldwide. Russia, in large measure, appears neglected by the thug and his cohort except for the elimination of critics, journalists, and rivals in every manner possible.

Felonious Trump with his four felony cases racking up 91 counts for his American grand jury approved indictments should smell ferociously bad to his inveigled, hypnotized, or in-on-the-joke base, but it’s there with piety sincerely or piety as a cover for crime, or without piety but with extraordinary anger, delusion, frustration, hate, and political impotence, a crowd already royally screwed by Trump but perhaps ready for more cognizant, forthright, honest, and thoughtful American politicians.

Trump-Russia Classics

Chen, Adrian. “The Agency.” The New York Times, June 2, 2015–About Russia’s Internet Research Agency interference in the 2016 election cycle.

Global Witness. “Narco-A-Lago: Money Launderinig at the Trump Ocean Club Panama.” Available as PDF report. November 2017.

Harding, Luke and Nick Hopkins. “Bank that lent $300M to Trump linked to Russian money laundering scam.” The Guardian, March 21, 2017.

Unger, Craig. House of Trump, House of Putin: The Untold Story of Donald Trump and the Russian Mafia. Dutton, 2018.

Unger, Craig. “Trump’s Russian Laundromat.” The New Republic, July 13, 2017.

Related online

Cohen, David. “Trump on Jan. 6 insurrection: ‘These were great people’.” Politico, July 11, 2021.

Ferré-Sadurní, Luis. “Trump Pays $2 Million to 8 Charities for Misuse of Foundation.” The New York Times, December 10, 2019.

Free, Anya and Marat Illiyasov. “Chechnya’s boss and Putin’s foot soldier: How Ramzan Kadyrov became such a feared figure in Russia.” The Conversation, November 9, 2023.

Harding, Luke. Mafia State, Guardian Books, 2011.

International Criminal Court. “Situation in Ukraine: ICC judges issue arrest warrants against Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova.” March 17, 2023.

Mustaffa, Munira. “Russia: The mafia as the state.” The Interpreter, August 31, 2023.

Olear, Greg. Dirty Rubles. Four Sticks Press, 2018.

The Guardian. “‘Troll factory’ spreading Russian pro-war lies online, says UK.” April 30, 2022.

Reference: Goldwater Rule

American Psychiatric Association. “Goldwater Rule.” n.d., but page contains the 1973 “Text of APA’s Ethics Annotation Known as ‘Goldwater Rule”.

Blotcky, Alan D. and Ronald W. Pies. Psychiatric Times. “The Goldwater Rule is Fine, if Refined. Here’s How to Do it.” 39:1. January 6, 2022.

Levin, Aaron. “Goldwater’s Rule’s Origins Based on Long-Ago Controversy.” Psychiatric News, August 25, 2016.

National Library of Medicine. “The Goldwater Rule: a bastion of a bygone era?” December 20, 2021.

Grohol, John M. “What the Media Get Wrong About the Goldwater Rule.” Psych Central, April 15, 2019.

Psychology Today. “Goldwater Rule.” n.d.

Vile, John R. “Goldwater Rule.” Free Speech Center, December 2, 2023.

Wikipedia. “Goldwater Rule”.

That Hell Sinking Moment: Trump and Putin Together, Helsinki, July 16, 2018.

The famous video and the infamous answer to an American journalist’s question should today look and sound more chilling and conspiratorial than perhaps was the case almost four years ago. Russia’s Internet Research Agency troll farm had been an issue; spying by Maria Butina had surfaced in 2018. While the American reality-defying Republican Party may brag ascendance, one may with cause suspect it’s actually on the back foot while Americans who bought into the Trump fantasy come up to speed on the devils.

January 6, 2021: Insurrection–Armed, Planned, Executed with Violence

“They were peaceful people. These were great people. The crowd was unbelievable. Did I mention the world “love”? The love in the air. I’ve never seen anything like it”– Donald John Trump, January 21, 2021.

Remember the characteristics of the malignant narcissist: “delusional, grandiose, messianic in ideation and well apart from normal as regards boundaries and limits, which may be considered a part of the parameters of conscience.” The men seen in the video are those conned, lied to, manipulated by the kind of men who blow up apartment buildings and point to themselves as the ones who can fix the situation while actually creating the false-flag situation; on the Trump side, the kind of men who in desperation for money would sell out their democracy for insurance against their own personal calamity. Both: close to crime . . . but that has made me wonder how far our United States of America has fallen in relation to dependence on its black markets, dark money, and deals itself with what used to be called “The Devil”. Today, the devils are just those sufficiently armored against conscience and ruthless enough to do anything for a buck and the witless adoration and validation of The People.

Or else.

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Does Everybody Lie? A Menu for the Paranoid Malignant Narcissist

05 Tuesday Dec 2023

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, A Little Wisdom, American Domestic Affairs, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Philosophy, Political Psychology, Politics, Qualities of Living (QOL), Religion

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Does everybody lie?

Perhaps a little bit to be less blunt or hurtful in the criticism or solicited response to another’s cooking, demeanor, fashion, or life.

Perhaps now and then for hooky, nooky, and bong–that’s not so good but fair in a mood or pinch.

Perhaps a convenient compliment for a kiss.

Perhaps to spare another pain or worry in souring conditions, so one is thought just fine when things are dicey.

To hide something (not so big a deal); to get something (and make life a little more sweet).

It takes another kind of nut to snowball a whopper, to put one over on a community, to seduce, fuck over, and ruin an associate, family, institution, or state–but that’s what malignant narcissists wind up doing in the process of covering the memory of their own humiliation or mortification with a great projection of an undamaged and unassailable heroic self, courageous in adversity, heroic before all, and totally full of bullshit.

The type I have in mind: delusional, grandiose, messianic and in appearance absent of normal boundaries and limits, i.e., the parameters of conscience. In the cause of their own baseless glory, one may wade into their swamps of baseless accusations, defamations, deflections, denials, fabrications, frames, omissions, and revisions (some of them alibis). And downstream to be found in their targets: baseless belief, confusion, and eventual disappointment as the “reality” painted turns out having had nothing to do with reality at all.

Infamous Lies

Chechen Rebels Destroyed Apartment Buildings in Moscow

More likely, Russia’s secret political police, FSB, loaded basements with explosives in the dead of night, set off the detonations, and “credited” an allegedly unruly Chechnya resistance for the act in order to convince Russians to elect Vladimir Putin as their best problem solver and hope for security and stability. Code name: “Storm in Moscow”; on this blog: “Reference: Journalist Alexander Zhilin, Operation Storm in Moscow AKA Moscow Apartment Bombings” (May 3, 2023). And the payoff for the False Flag Operation? Not only election to power–and today absolute and imperious power–for Putin, but in his head and for his twisted spirit “Unlimited Narcissistic Supply”, i.e., the adoration and validation of the Russian People without end.

Democrats Stole the 2020 American Election

The United States of America has for its defense against all enemies foreign and domestic the services of 27 integrated Federal security agencies. For election, the nation enjoys a full suite of relevant threat detection and law enforcement capabilities from Homeland Security on down to security assistance for local districts. Against all of that, Donald Trump has launched the lie, rumor, belief, and “alternative truth”–which is no truth at all!–that his opposition (how dare they…) stole the 2020 national election. “Election Denialism” appears to have become for some–including Speaker of the House Mike Johnson–their faith-based religious obligation, but no factual basis for it has surfaced, and without that, Trump’s efforts to overturn the previous election amount to no more than the most delusional and grandiose attempted theft imaginable.

A Note On Stealing A Modern Or Transitional State to Operate as Criminal Enterprise

Putin and the Russian Mafia State appear to have set a certain tone in the region of archaic-reactionary and brutally repressive kleptocracy, and my guess is Trump is trying to catch up. Well, this is for America’s Christians to know as regards how criminal power exploits faith and related institutions: “KGB FSB ROC M-O-N-E-Y” (January 18, 2021).

From gutter to mansion, America supports an extraordinary duality in relation to sinners and saints, and, quite frequently, the would-be saints turn out the most curious of sinners. The famous are known: Jerry and Becki Falwell and the Pool Boy, Giancarlo Granda (People, Jan. 25, 2022)–and noted Becki in relation to the couple’s role at Liberty University, “We had to put on an act” ; Jim Bakker and his wife Tammy Faye (maiden name LeValley) who together in marriage stumbled over the husband’s one seemingly acknowledged affair–one allegedly forced with Jessica Hahn, who was paid off for her silence–and allegations involving several homosexual flirtations or liaisons (The Washington Post, Sept. 22, 1988). The less famous but in their own wild way as infamous, whether charmingly so (old rascal) or heinous (for having committed a crime), we may be collectively just not all that angelic. Penance, piety, prayer, and promise afterward may suffice for easing conscience and erasing guilt, and sometimes penance precedes change, present and future, for the better. In any case, I wonder if all Americans, and regardless of religious subscription, may not expect some level of pious hypocrisy in themselves, if honest, or in their ranks (if that’s more comfortable) while striving to do better, but to cover repetitive criminal intent or behavior with the appearance of piety, that is something else.

One may not refer to either Donald John Trump or Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin as ethically or morally good men. As the governors of nation-states, neither has offered much evidence of care, concern, or interest for the whole body and spirit of their respective nations–Russians suffer sustained abuse and neglect if beyond Putin’s near direct circles of influence and power; for ordinary Americans, Trump has bragged to his wealthy friends from his own gilded halls at Mar-a-Lago, “You All Just Got a Lot Richer” (Vanity Fair, Dec. 24, 2017) after signing into law substantial tax breaks for them. Having ceded substantial tax revenues to private sector interests–and the public be damned (which it literally might be if such power prevails)–why should the buccaneer not commandeer the entire ship of state for his own crony capitalist private enterprise–just as Vladimir has done? He has already developed a base ripe for ripping off.

Marching Forward Into the Past

Around the world, constituencies will find leaders who prefer to treat the idea of the state as a private and family enterprise to be milked for their own profit and the securing of their family and their associates. They’re motivated by greed and lust and–given their underlying fear of humiliation and consequent delusional self-concept and obsession with their own aggrandizement–the allure of their own potential to control others without question. Centuries ago, that characterization would have fit well with a medieval world more than familiar with the concept of “Absolutism” or “Absolute Power” and its violent and not infrequently tyrannical enforcement. Today, the same personalities and personal psychology–associate what I have in mind with Erdogan, Orban, Putin, and Trump–appear archaic but difficult to address and ameliorate from the perspective of any democratic idealism, especially from the vantage of the still revolutionary Constitution of the United States of America (related in the way of inspiration for revolution and the idea of a new nation–Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense”, January 10, 1776). The named would be quite comfortable beneath the titles of Sultan Erdogan, Tsar Putin, King Orban, and, perhaps, King Trump.

Marching Forward Into The Future: A New American Community

Now that we’re all here, we’re going to have to deal with ourselves as a whole community and not so much as myopic and parochial islands fit for some Americans and not for others.

All American citizens are Americans.

Our guests are of two kinds: aspiring Americans or foreigners who have come here for business or travel.

As Americans, our challenges are not only American but by way of our own far expanded global awareness–apprehension or “consciousness”, actually–we have made ourselves global and universal in character. So have others, and with transnational business (and crime) all of the next functional steps have already been taken. Basically, our connections have changed and become enjoyable, essential, and permanent–or if adverse or made cautious by our own dependence, then a part of the challenge of an evolving new world.

Also as Americans, we have lived by a deeply devoted and earnestly defended Constitution designed to establish and sustain forever a secular democratic republic. Our western civilizational heritage–Judeo-Christian well acknowledged; Greco-Roman for the history, legends, and myths still echoing our own existence–has arrived here compassionate, down to earth, and reasoning. The wealth of the world has been brought here a long time, and as there is only one world, one Earth, we’re already blended with it and perhaps ready to adjust and assimilate, discard what’s not going to work, and appreciate that which proves good universally. We’ve been doing that a long time too, but for international relations, more may be involved than wearing cashmere and sipping tea.

We may see more than we once did; we may do more than we once could; and we should look ahead and do more than live in the past–or allow the greatest future ever to be stolen from all by evildoing feudal-medieval nutcases, whether religious extremists or criminal politicians who cannot contain their own worst compulsions.

So this much I may suggest about the next New World that is the one in which we are already living: it just hasn’t room for malignantly narcissistic “leaders” and their self-absorbed devotion to their own aggrandizement, enrichment, and power through fraudulent display and theft outright. The Next New World will need knowledgeable, powerful, and visionary high-integrity souls for its leadership in the development, establishment, and distribution of extraordinary systems for agriculture, business, education, health, justice, and general prosperity and security worldwide.

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Surrealpolitik: Orban & Putin & ‘Illiberal Democracy’

07 Saturday Jan 2023

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Extreme Brown vs Red-Green, Hungary, Psychology, Russia

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BUDAPEST, Hungary—When Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban unleashed a racist tirade during an annual address to ethnic Hungarians in Romania on July 23, in which he argued that his supporters do “not want to become peoples of mixed race,” the international community recoiled in horror at the vitriol being espoused by the leader of a NATO and European Union member state. One of Orban’s longtime advisors, Zsuzsa Hegedus, resigned after the speech, calling it a “pure Nazi text … worthy of [former Nazi leader Joseph] Goebbels.”

Coakley, Amanda. “Putin’s Trojan Horse Inside the European Union: No matter what Moscow does, Hungary’s prime minister consistently carries water for the Kremlin.” Foreign Policy, August 3, 2022.

Amanda Coakley’s article also covers Orban’s deliberate development of dependence on Russia for Hungary’s energy supply. His disingenuous position within the European Union suggests he has had but one outcome in mind, i.e., to become premier in Europe’s “New Nobility” as encouraged by Vladimir Putin. At the base of the autocratic feudal-medieval bond–the same “Malignant Narcissism” that has so characterized former American President Donald Trump’s careers and politics that have turned out disasters for banks, contractors, and citizens.

In late November 2022, Ukrainian special forces arrested a suspected Russian agent at the Ukraine–Hungary border. The man had been attempting to smuggle secret information into EU member state Hungary on a flash drive that he had allegedly concealed in his anus.

The flash drive contained stolen personal information about senior figures and staff at the Ukrainian domestic secret service SBU and the Ukrainian military intelligence service GUR, as well as sensitive data on Ukrainian army bases, weapons and logistics.

Bogar, Zsolt. “Is Hungary becoming Russia’s spy hub within the EU?” DW, September 12, 2022.

Orban, contrary to the European Union’s posture, appears not to mind either the presence nor success of Russia’s spies in Budapest and elsewhere in Hungary. The penetration surpasses presence in numbers as allies believe Hungary’s “IT networks and internal communications” compromised. For a four-year period, 2013-2017, Orbán’s Hungary had even eased the access of Russian spies into the rest of the EU via a “Golden Visa” program (related and recent: Szabolcs, Panyi. “Russian spy chief’s son has a Budapest address–in a property owned by an old friend of Orbán’s chief of staff.” Telex, November 14, 2022).

In the now “surrealpolitik” constructed between Hungary and Russia, business includes the following:

  • Building two nuclear plant blocks in Paks financed by borrowing $10 billion from Russia;
  • Building railroad cars;
  • Hosting Russia’s dark International Investment Bank;
  • Supporting a 15-year gas delivery contract with Gazprom that bypasses Ukraine.

For further details, see the source–Rácz, András. “Authoritarian Ties: The Case of Russia and Hungary.” The Russia File, Kennan Institute, Wilson Center, October 22, 2021. Rácz also notes where Orbán’s spine has stiffened in relation to Russian performance not up to EU standards (and some “intelligence operatives” have indeed been ejected from Hungary).

Global Security‘s remarks fit the brotherly love model of modern despotism in Hungary: “Orban played tough, which might not turn out well for him in the long run. His games were turning into a high wire act, threatening to keep Brussels off balance. At times Orban made half-hearted promises to uphold the EU’s policy toward Russia; at other times, he allowed himself to be flattered by Putin, his self-declared political role model. Or, when it came to economic interests, he allowed himself to be put under pressure (Global Security, “Hungary-Russia Relations” as quoted January 7, 2022).

Putin’s realpolitik, plain old mafia leverage, came through for Russia this past year. From The Guardian—

Hungarians voted in general elections just weeks after the invasion, in April, and it seems reasonable to assume that the war next door had an influence on the result. Given the climate of fear that the devastating “special military operation” created, Hungarians voted to keep Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz in power rather than risk an untested six-party coalition. This assumption also underlies Orbán’s response, which is to stay out of the conflict to the point of being “exempted”, a position that has been condemned as a betrayal by Hungary’s western allies. Hungary refuses to allow arms shipments destined for Kyiv to transit Hungarian territory and blocks the extension of EU sanctions against Russia to the energy sector. This latter stance is intended to enable an already controversial Russian-Hungarian project to build a nuclear power plant on the Danube (Paks II) to go ahead unaltered.

Dalos, György.  “Orban says Hungary is ‘exempt’ from the conflict: tell that to his friend in Moscow.”  The Guardian, October 29, 2022.

György also notes the “similarities between the two leaders: authoritarian posturing and illiberalism underlying their respective concepts of the state.”

Since then, Orbán has been accused of fostering resentment. Tensions flared in 2018 over a video that apparently showed diplomats illegally issuing Hungarian passports to people in Transcarpathia. Later, in 2019, Hungary was accused of trying to influence the outcome of elections in the region, and blocked Ukraine’s NATO membership negotiations over the row. |

Today, from the Donbas to Kosovo, events are again proving the potency of nationalist narratives over lost territory and peoples separated by the claimed injustices of history. Yet, in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the simple fact that many Hungarians have negative views of both Russians and Ukrainians is pertinent.

Nattrass, William. “Hungary’s ‘pro-Russia’ stance was inevitable.” Politico, September 15, 2022.

The wholly reactionary New Nobility (a member of which Orban might wish to be counted) rather like the old, appears fascinated by its own super-duper bloodline and culture, enough so to demonize hosts beyond their own boundaries, engage in passportization, and when possibility arises, redraw maps by way of wars driven by the conviction of racially-based cultural supremacy.

Comparing Orban to Putin might once have been hyperbole. But when Fidesz seems determined to expel a high-quality educational institution from the country on the grounds of political views of its funder, it is hyperbole no longer.

The attack on CEU, furthermore, is not happening in isolation. It is part of a broader effort to squeeze out “Soros and the powers that symbolize him,” to use Orban’s own words.

Rohac, Dalibor. “Hungary Is Turning Into Russia: On the CEU, Orban Mimics Putin.” Foreign Affairs, April 12, 2017.

America’s Anti-Defamation League has classified the demonizing of George Soros as expressive of anti-Semitism, a return to the rhetoric of Jew as Globalist. In fact and far back in the day, George and his father, Tivador, used social camouflage to survive the Holocaust while providing other Jews with forged papers for escape. Their resistance would continue against Stalin and Communist Russia, and so through George Soros it has been sustained through the Cold War and throughout Russia journey into kleptocracy and, on this day, politically absolute tyranny.

ADL. “The Antisemitism Lurking Behind George Soros Conspiracy Theories.” October 11, 2018.

Bogar, Zsolt. “Is Hungary becoming Russia’s spy hub within the EU?” DW, September 12, 2022.

Coakley, Amanda. “Putin’s Trojan Horse Inside the European Union: No matter what Moscow does, Hungary’s prime minister consistently carries water for the Kremlin.” Foreign Policy, August 3, 2022.

Dalos, György.  “Orban says Hungary is ‘exempt’ from the conflict: tell that to his friend in Moscow.”  The Guardian, October 29, 2022.

Global Security. “Hungary-Russia Relations”.

Nattrass, William. “Hungary’s ‘pro-Russia’ stance was inevitable.” Politico, September 15, 2022.

Oppenheim, James S. “FTAC: A Short Note on the Demonizing of George Soros.” BackChannels, August 8, 2020.

Rácz, András. “Authoritarian Ties: The Case of Russia and Hungary.” The Russia File, Kennan Institute, Wilson Center, October 22, 2021.

Rohac, Dalibor. “Hungary Is Turning Into Russia: On the CEU, Orban Mimics Putin.” Foreign Affairs, April 12, 2017.

Szabolcs, Panyi. “Russian spy chief’s son has a Budapest address–in a property owned by an old friend of Orbán’s chief of staff.” Telex, November 14, 2022.

While #PutinFullTonto strives to return Russia to some version of the KGB revisits the Russian Imperial mode, few believe the Phantom of the Soviet will restore a monstrous near past; however, he has well succeeded in leveraging cooperation from malign and piratical personalities similar to his own–in power Viktor Orban and Recep Tayyip Erdogan most notably–and thereby weakening the political cohesion and coherence of the Atlantic Alliance and the European Union.

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