Any kind of mental imbalance is exacerbated by vast, virtually unchecked power. Obama was actually less mentally screwed up when he was first elected than he is now. Six or so years of being treated like a king has mushroomed Obama’s problems out of all proportion. Notice of late the who-gives-a-hoot level of golfing, partying, vacationing & fund raising. He acts like whether the public approves or disapproves is irrelevant. The king does what he wants to do, period. Also notice the increasingly weird, inappropriate giggling. It’s gotten 100x worse since he first entered the WH.
Putin is also not one-hundred percent sound mentally. He has virtually unlimited power, and he spends an outsized amount of time promoted the Cult of Putin. So many ‘manly’ photos of him riding a bear—bare chested—hunting, posing in KGB shades, ostentatiously showing off his pecs in a wife-beater shirt, etc. He has, if possible, an even more serious crush on himself than Obama.
When one’s mental instability is given unfettered rein, the judgment suffers. I.e.: people held to normal standards must evaluate their decisions & their environment from a real-world perspective. People w virtually unlimited power & a paid cadre of yes-men make decisions in a vacuum. No matter what they decide their inner circle praises them as demi-gods; the consequences of not doing so make this a given.
So Putin made a disastrous decision & his yes-squad assured him of its brilliance. His ego couldn’t see it any other way. Now he’s getting a rare taste of the real world. He won’t handle it well at all.
10 percent of what’s published in “Forbes” is accurate.
“So many ‘manly’ photos of him riding a bear....”
You do realize that the “riding a bear” photos were fake — satire on the real “riding a horse in a manly fashion” photos. Putin never claimed to ride bears, just as Sarah Palin never claimed she could see Russia from her house.