Putin, the Ultimate Malignant Narcissist

"As you can see, not only do Western countries take unfriendly measures against our country in the economic dimension - I mean the illegal sanctions that everyone knows about very well - but also the top officials of leading NATO countries allow themselves to make aggressive statements with regards to our country." 

Russian President Vladimir Putin

 

"If Putin's order to ready nuclear forces is a direct threat to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine, then I have a very simple message."

"It will be a disaster for the world, but it will not break us."

Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba  

"We've seen him do this time and time again. At no point has Russia been under threat from NATO, has Russia been under threat from Ukraine."

"This is all a pattern from President Putin and we're going to stand up to it. We have the ability to defend ourselves, but we also need to call out what we're seeing here from President Putin."

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki

A man walks in front of a destroyed building after a Russian missile attack in the town of Vasylkiv, near Kyiv, on February 27, 2022 (photo credit: DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images)

"There is no reason in the long term to think he'll stop there [in Ukraine]."

"The themes hearkening back to a glorious imperial past, and the tragedy of its loss, have become more prominent in [Putin's] speeches over the past decade."

"He's bloodless and that is something that people need to realize about him. He's calculating, ruthless and brutal."

"It is worrying how far he's willing to escalate things."

Roland Paris, director, graduate school of public and international affairs, University of Ottawa

"[Fortunately, most of those leaders eventually fail] crippled by unchecked grandiosity and paranoia that drives them to commit acts of political suicide and/or destruction evoking [sic] pushback and rebellion."

Elizabeth Mika, psychotherapist

According to Elizabeth Mika many authoritarian leaders share a character defect identified as a severely-impaired conscience, aligned with an insatiable thirst for power and adulation; to which the name 'malignant narcissism' has been given denoting a pathological condition. Unsurprisingly, the very characteristics of psychopaths, which designation fits Russian President Vladimir Putin quite comfortably.

 

His mind lingers on the absurd falsehood of referencing "the gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis that settled in Kyiv and took hostage the entire Ukrainian people" as justification for advancing a military invasion of Ukraine, ostensibly for the purpose of 'rescuing' the country from the malevolently sinister talons of a man of principle and courage, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinski, imbued with human decency that somehow eluded Mr. Putin when the quality of humanity was being distributed.

 

NATO is ensuring that its 40,000-strong force is activated; a measure of defensive positioning undertaken for the first time in its history, responding to the invasion of Ukraine, when Russia unleashed a violent assault against its neighbour necessitating NATO to react with its own multinational force of land, air, sea and special forces to ensure protection against a similar scenario potentially enacted against its Baltic NATO members.

The alliance is in the act of deploying thousands of additional troops. It has 100 jet planes on alert, and 120 vessels on standby. No room is to be left for miscalculation or misunderstanding by Russian President Vladimir Putin. "We will protect and defend every inch of NATO territory", said Jens Stoltenberg, NATO's secretary general.

An overwhelmingly realistic sense of inevitability pervades, relating to the final outcome of Ukraine's battle to save itself and its people from Russian violent aggression. Social media viewed footage of a Russian armoured vehicle on a Kyiv highway crushing a passenger car; a realistic a metaphor for what may result despite the courageous stand of the Ukrainian government and its military and its citizens who have taken up arms against Russian troops outnumbering and out-militarizing its smaller neighbour.

While the civilized world is prepared to exact a heavy toll against Russia that will deliver economic pain and isolate it as a pariah state, there seems little that can be done by the West to avert the tragic consequences of this unprovoked, vicious attack on Ukraine. Ukraine is battling superior forces with its own superior resolve to prevail over evil. Non-involved countries soothe their guilt by showering it too late with gifts of military hardware.

A Ukrainian service member at a check point in Zhytomyr, Ukraine. The value of the Russian rouble has started to collapse after tough sanctions were unveiled over the weekend.  Photograph: Viacheslav Ratynskyi/Reuters