By Kelly O'Connell ——Bio and Archives--February 26, 2022
Messianic Mess: The Messianic character is not unknown in Russian culture, as illustrated by Leo Tolstoy, one of history's great authors, of War & Peace, etc. Paul Johnson described Tolstoy as "God's elder brother." But Vlad Putin, world's wealthiest kleptocrat may have passed beyond this territory into George Soros illusions of salvation. Is Vlad crazy? Even the Intelligencer asks: "Is Putin Sane?"
The New York Times has broached the awkward question that has been on the minds of anyone who has paid even passing attention to Vladimir Putin recently: Has he lost his marbles? The Times reports that people have noticed that Putin "has fundamentally changed amid the pandemic, a shift that may have left him more paranoid, more aggrieved, and more reckless." Two years since the onset of COVID, the Russian leader remains severely isolated, interacting with cabinet officials largely via video and keeping trips abroad to a minimum. When he does have to meet people face-to-face in Moscow, whether it's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov or French president Emmanuel Macron, they must first pass through a "disinfection tunnel" and then sit at a social distance of Olympian proportions, at tables so long that they have become a physical manifestation of Putin's remoteness from the rest of the world.
Putin's Parlay: Putin has an odd background, stumbling into power via Yeltsin, who'd probably be astounded to know a seeming failure at 37 years old is now worth $200 billion. Not bad for a poor kid. But what is he trying to do in Ukraine? Reassembling the old USSR is supposedly a goal, but with his opportunity with Joe Biden, the Mr Magoo of world leaders offered an irresistible opportunity. So why not go for it?
Magoo Biden: While Magoo Biden moused around, repeatedly suggesting Putin was bound to invade any day, Russia and China were comparing notes. Undoubtedly a chief topic was the undeniable self-assembled disasters all Marxist groups inflict. And so Joe, being an American Marxist, wanders from one disaster to the next. An enfeebled bug circling the roach motel.
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Consider famous Russian author and supreme Egotist Leo Tolstoy:
"His diaries reveal that, as a young man of twenty-five, he was already conscious of special power and a commanding moral destiny. "Read a work on the literary characterization of genius today, and this awoke in me the conviction that I am a remarkable man both as regards capacity and eagerness to work. I have not yet met a single man who was morally as good as I, and who believed that I do not remember an instance in my life when I was not attracted to what is good and was not ready to sacrifice anything to it." He felt in his own soul ‘immeasurable grandeur'." -- Johnson, Paul. Intellectuals.
Biden Petting Zoo: Putin could quite easily, at his advanced age, give into the sentimental desire to resurrect the USSR of his youth, and therefore become immortal. But is he actually losing it? Well, a number of commentators mention his obvious recent changes. But is this just a result of watching Biden treat his military and overseas US citizens like an abandoned Afghanistan petting zoo?
Geo Soros, Political Hacker: Putin's recent speech indicates he's repeating falsehoods to justify his invasion. Now George Soros could also be placed into the category of wickedly ambitious oldsters surfing godlike dreams. Soros himself, a victim of Nazi tyranny, spends billions infecting America with his crazed anti-democratic experiments, seeing in himself God. Maybe Putin admires Geo.
Kid Dynamite! The most troubled genius of the above was Nietzsche who actually finally imagined he was God, and then lapsed into insanity. In his final complete book, he exposes his loss of mind, writing: Ecce Homo -- "Behold the Man," a biblical quote regarding Christ. In this work are various mad chapter titles, such as "Why I Am So Wise", "Why I Am So Clever", "Why I Write Such Good Books" and "Why I Am a Destiny." Nietzsche finally collapsed while defending a horse being beaten, shouting such thoughts as he was, "God come among men." Now, Nietzsche was famous for previously claiming God was dead, and then becomes fixated in word and deed with being Christ. What to make of this development?
God is Dead? Nobody knows why Nietzsche went insane. Some claim it was from neurosyphilis after dallying with a prostitute. Others imply he died a virgin. Ronald Hayman states after he finished rejecting God and calling for humans to rebuild morality from scratch, he had nothing left to do but go nuts. Or maybe he just gave up! Some friends thought he was faking it:
In January of 1889, the great German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche went mad. One year later, Nietzsche's friend Peter Gast visited him in a mental asylum in Jena. He wrote the following:
"He did not look very ill…I believe Nietzsche would be just about as grateful to his rescuers as somebody who has jumped into the water to drown himself and has been pulled out by some fool of a coastguard. I have seen Nietzsche in states in which he seemed – horrible to say – as though he were only pretending to be mad, as though he were glad to have ended this way!" -- Peter Gast, The Madness of Nietzsche by Erich Pod
Madness of King Putin: Now, is it possible that Putin has so much power and riches that he's lapsing into megalomania? Like King Nebuchadnezzar, who went to the top of his house, looked out over all he controlled, and went crazy -- eating grass like an ox for years till he repented. Is Putin too powerful, did he come too far, is he too ambitious? Has Putin's quest to become Russia's Father of the Fatherland come at too steep a price? While a scary question, does the answer even matter? Yes, once we add nuclear weapons and a used up old American POTUS to the mix.
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Kelly O’Connell is an author and attorney. He was born on the West Coast, raised in Las Vegas, and matriculated from the University of Oregon. After laboring for the Reformed Church in Galway, Ireland, he returned to America and attended law school in Virginia, where he earned a JD and a Master’s degree in Government. He spent a stint working as a researcher and writer of academic articles at a Miami law school, focusing on ancient law and society. He has also been employed as a university Speech & Debate professor. He then returned West and worked as an assistant district attorney. Kelly is now is a private practitioner with a small law practice in New Mexico.