In the days of the Soviet Union, the opacity of the Kremlin gave rise to the specialty of Kremlinology. The tools of the trade were politics and personality. The health of the subjects was addressed in the most general terms. The new Kremlin affords more access to all but the most guarded sanctums. Yet Kremlinologists … Continue reading Putin Disappears; Illness a Factor?
(CNN) The CIA chief says Putin is ‘entirely too healthy.’ What do we really know about his condition? Quoting, CIA Director Bill Burns gave an unusually candid assessment this week, when he told attendees at the Aspen Institute’s annual security confab that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “entirely too healthy.” Bill, he’s sick. The main … Continue reading Medical Arguments with CIA Bill Burns (Putin) & CNN (NY Polio)
(Guardian) Rumours continue about Putin’s health – with little to back them up. Compared to prior photographs, Putin’s face is swollen, but without inflammation, redness or other discoloration that would indicate a focal inflammatory process. This sign cannot be discounted; unless he became a glutton, he has some disorder. The absence of facial inflammation suggests … Continue reading Is Putin Seriously Ill?
Let’s pick up from Fiona Hill, Putin’s Apology; Analysis Part 3 with an examination of KGB culture, which changed over the lifespan of the Soviet state. Nikita Khrushchev’s “Thaw” actually presaged Gorbachev’s Perestroika, weak in the absolute sense, but profound compared to what had come before. When a totalitarian leader experiments with liberalization, one of … Continue reading Fiona Hill, Putin’s Apology; Analysis Part 4; KGB Culture
Every totalitarian state has a distinct character, which may change over time. Nazi Germany was characterized by competitive fiefdoms, with division of domains adroitly juggled by Hitler to prevent combination against him. In this sense, privileged individuals had considerable latitude of personal choice, as do oligarchs. Private lives also existed, with some finding sanctuary in … Continue reading Fiona Hill, Putin’s KGB; Part 4
From Should Fox Apologize to Putin?, (Reuters) Fox News host Bill O’Reilly described Putin as “a killer” in the interview with Trump as he tried to press the U.S. president to explain more fully why he respected his Russian counterpart. O’Reilly did not say who he thought Putin had killed. O’Reilly’s assertion is probably an … Continue reading Fiona Hill, Putin’s Apology; Analysis Part 3
Before proceding further, it’s essential to create “Putin’s Apology.” Here “apology” refers not to Webster’s “1.a : an admission of error or discourtesy accompanied by an expression of regret”, but “2.a : something that is said or written to defend something that other people criticize :…” Plato’s The Apology of Socrates is the great example. … Continue reading Fiona Hill, Putin’s Apology; Analysis Part 2
Many of us, myself included, feel great relief that Fiona Hill, a Putin critic, has been appointed to advise Trump on things Russian. This is not because I entirely agree with her. It is because many of us have been fearful of the possible presence of a persistent, subversive Russian presence in the new administration. … Continue reading Fiona Hill, Trump’s Putin Advisor
Was this an act of domestic resistance, or Ukrainian? Opinions vary. There isn’t enough evidence to distinguish, while Russian propagandists spin fictions to serve the state. One constant should be considered in every argument. In 2015, several rebel commanders were likely assassinated by the Kremlin. See Rebel Commander Aleksey Mozgovoy Killed in East Ukraine, Frozen … Continue reading Killing of Vladlen Tatarsky (Maxim Fomin)
(CNN) The latest on the Nashville elementary school shooting. In Highland Park Shooting; I had a Bad Feeling the Night Before, I wrote, I had a bad feeling the night before. It wasn’t clairvoyance, insight, or prediction. In another time, it would be misplaced neuroticism. Now, strangely appropriate. A mind-virus, a meme, afflicts vulnerable young … Continue reading Nashville Elementary School Shooting; The Mind Virus Spreads