# Has Putin mentally deteriorated? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Tags:** ukraine-invasion\ **Created:** [February 27, 2022, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-putin-mentally-deteriorated/960179 "2022-02-27T05:01:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2022, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-putin-mentally-deteriorated/960179/81 "2022-02-28T18:39:56Z")
Reports are that he’s both worried about catching COVID and paranoid about letting people physically close to him for the other obvious reasons. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2022, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-putin-mentally-deteriorated/960179/82 "2022-02-28T19:12:27Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Is it out of COVID fears? Mainly Covid, I think. From the guy who wrote a book on Putin (re-quoted from the OP): > Since the pandemic started, Putin has retreated. He hasn’t travelled, even within Russia, ferried between his sumptuous palaces and the Kremlin by limousine and helicopter. > > He has seen few people outside his inner circle. Anyone granted an audience had first to isolate for two weeks in a state hotel, watched over by armed guards. > > Before meeting the President, he or she then had to pass through a special tunnel in a mist of ultraviolet light and disinfectant. Such is Putin’s paranoia. > > And his world view has become ever smaller and darker. Putin doesn’t even have a smartphone. He is disconnected from reality. > > It wasn’t always like this. Putin used to listen to professionals who would tell him the facts, his generals and economists. But most of these advisers have been side-lined. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2022, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-putin-mentally-deteriorated/960179/83 "2022-02-28T19:17:55Z")
Just wait until he starts [hoarding Kleenex boxes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Hughes#Physical_and_mental_decline)… ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2022, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-putin-mentally-deteriorated/960179/84 "2022-02-28T19:31:09Z")
This was how French President Macron conducted 5 hours of talks with Putin: [![](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/000_9YM6VE.jpg?resize=770%2C513) ](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/000_9YM6VE.jpg?resize=770%2C513) ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2022, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-putin-mentally-deteriorated/960179/85 "2022-02-28T19:36:38Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Just wait until he starts [hoarding Kleenex boxes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Hughes#Physical_and_mental_decline)… Time to go full propaganda against Putin, that he wears Kleenex boxes on his feet and is keeping all his urine in jars. Who cares that it’s not true? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2022, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-putin-mentally-deteriorated/960179/86 "2022-02-28T19:46:58Z")
[I assume you’ve seen some of these](https://hyperallergic.com/710172/the-most-hilarious-memes-about-putin-and-macrons-bizarre-kremlin-meeting/). ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2022, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-putin-mentally-deteriorated/960179/87 "2022-02-28T19:52:47Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Reports are that he’s both worried about catching COVID and paranoid about letting people physically close to him for the other obvious reasons. I also imagine he’d want to avoid any health condition that might require hospital-level treatment. While I am sure there’d be plenty of security, there would be, um, opportunities during medical treatments to finish off the patient that would be difficult to detect, plus if he’s too sick to stay on top of what’s happening around him, all kinds of plays could be made to take away his power. I bet that keeps him up at night. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2022, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-putin-mentally-deteriorated/960179/88 "2022-02-28T20:44:29Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > [I assume you’ve seen some of these](https://hyperallergic.com/710172/the-most-hilarious-memes-about-putin-and-macrons-bizarre-kremlin-meeting/). I’d seen a couple of them, but not all. Thanks. I’m reminded of the scene in Shazam! just before the final confrontation – Sivana, hovering over the city street, starts into a standard “I will destroy you!” supervillain rant, but Shazan, hovering a few blocks away and not possessing super hearing, can’t make out a word he’s saying. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2022, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-putin-mentally-deteriorated/960179/89 "2022-02-28T21:21:50Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > Putin is 69. Though far from ancient, that is well within the range common to dementia, so it is a possibility. Don’t you think he looks tired? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2022, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-putin-mentally-deteriorated/960179/90 "2022-02-28T21:32:15Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > We’re not talking ancient history here. Russia occupied Ukraine thirty-one years ago. When 22% of the population were ethnic Russians and Ukraine was a Soviet police state. It might as well be ancient history. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2022, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-putin-mentally-deteriorated/960179/91 "2022-02-28T22:40:17Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > If the war keeps going, I think he’ll get the boot. A polonium tipped boot? ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2022, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-putin-mentally-deteriorated/960179/92 "2022-02-28T23:08:43Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > The sane reason to do that would be to try and scare Russians into thinking he must have intel that such a threat is there. And that is alarming, because one reason I can think of to claim that other countries are planning to shoot nukes is as a pretext to release his own. You know, like he used faked footage of Ukrainians attacking Russian citizens as a pretext for war in the first place. I think that this is partially it, I also think that doing this may make NATO members think twice about the possibility of air or missile strikes against Russian forces in Ukraine. Given that it will be difficult to tell the difference between a conventional cruise missile targeting Ukraine and a nuclear one targeting Russia, and with Russia on high alert, mistaking one for another could lead to Armageddon, its probably best not to risk it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2022, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-putin-mentally-deteriorated/960179/93 "2022-02-28T23:09:22Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > I also imagine he’d want to avoid any health condition that might require hospital-level treatment. While I am sure there’d be plenty of security, there would be, um, opportunities during medical treatments to finish off the patient that would be difficult to detect A doctors plot as it were. ---
**Author:** ![DeadTreasSecretaries](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deadtreassecretaries/32/4817_2.png) [@DeadTreasSecretaries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadTreasSecretaries)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-putin-mentally-deteriorated/960179/94 "2022-03-01T01:23:52Z")
[I think you’re making much too big a thing out of it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pyh1Va_mYWI) ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-putin-mentally-deteriorated/960179/95 "2022-03-01T04:07:55Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Occupying a country was much easier before the invention of the AK-47. And Nationalism. And even more so today, MPADs and anti-tank missiles ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-putin-mentally-deteriorated/960179/96 "2022-03-01T17:43:56Z")
Perhaps he’s mad. Perhaps not. Perhaps ill. Perhaps not. It does look as if he’s looking for legacy for his name now, and doing something, could be some sort of soviet restoration, be it just Ukraine, further with easy pickings such as Moldova, or even further with the likes of Latvia/Lithuania/Estonia, all ex-USSR states. The reality nowadays is that nuclear weapons stop nothing. They’re suicide for all, and from that, useless. What might also be happening here is the other constant of wars: technological demonstrations of new weapons for sale and “what we have”. The vacuum bomb. Talk of hypersonic missiles. Perhaps the Russians (New-SSR perhaps?) are confident they have technological advances which aren’t matched, or at least for sale to their allies. The west went drones. Drone tech even at a small level is quite advanced for even normal people, and any new war might be a completely different prospect now. However, those are remote operated and could be jammed or fried from the ground. A real war of real advances against technological advanced countries might be the nightmare vision for the future. No-one in 1910 riding on horses with sabres swinging could have envisioned the First World War, never mind the Second. It just takes one of those countries to be confident of a sufficiently advanced technology to start it. Or perhaps he’s just mad. Or ill. Here’s hoping. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-putin-mentally-deteriorated/960179/97 "2022-03-01T19:27:19Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > Or perhaps he’s just mad. Or ill. Here’s hoping. If he’s mad or ill, he may not give much of a shit about the suicide option, and may just want to take as many with him as possible. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-putin-mentally-deteriorated/960179/98 "2022-03-01T19:38:49Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > Perhaps he’s mad. Perhaps not. Perhaps ill. Perhaps not. It does look as if he’s looking for legacy for his name now, and doing something, could be some sort of soviet restoration, be it just Ukraine, further with easy pickings such as Moldova, or even further with the likes of Latvia/Lithuania/Estonia, all ex-USSR states. At the rate he’s going, his legacy is that he’ll be the 21st century version of Hitler. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-putin-mentally-deteriorated/960179/99 "2022-03-01T19:57:26Z")
This is what Putin fears most: > **[Execution of Saddam Hussein](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Execution_of_Saddam_Hussein)** > > The execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein took place on 30 December 2006. Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death by hanging, after being convicted of crimes against humanity by the Iraqi Special Tribunal for the Dujail massacre—the killing of 148 Iraqi Shi'ites in the town of Dujail—in 1982, in retaliation for an assassination attempt against him. > The Iraqi government released an official video of his execution, showing him being led to the gallows, and ending after the hangman's... > **[Gaddafi's last words as he begged for mercy: 'What did I do to you?'](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/oct/23/gaddafi-last-words-begged-mercy)** > > As National Transitional Council fighters fought their way into Sirte, radio intercepts spoke of 'an asset' in the besieged city. But no one knew until the final moments that the deposed dictator was within their grasp ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-putin-mentally-deteriorated/960179/100 "2022-03-01T20:08:38Z")
French president Macron, who has met with Putin on numerous occasions, says in their last meeting he seemed paranoid and out of touch: > **[French presidential sources: Putin struck Macron 'different' at recent meeting...](https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2022/02/28/putins-state-of-mind-bell-dnt-lead-vpx.cnn)** > > After the abruptness of President Vladimir Putin's announcement of an invasion of Ukraine, many wonder where his state of mind may be. CNN's Melissa Bell has more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-putin-mentally-deteriorated/960179.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-putin-mentally-deteriorated/960179.md?page=6)