Is Putin sick or evil?

 

Rumors abound that Putin has blood cancer or Parkinson’s disease, that he is soon to have an operation to remove a cancer or has already had the operation.

As a trained mental health and addiction counselor, I’ve been wondering if Putin is hooked on something – steroids or oxycontin for pain to treat his condition- whatever it is- that causes him to want to ravage Ukraine?  But we have no way of finding out as only Putin and his physician know the answer to that question.

Perhaps power has corrupted him; a man consumed by his own quest for greatness. We’ve seen photos of him sitting far away from anyone or group. A report circulates that he has his food tested because of his paranoia of being poisoned, when in actuality he poisons anyone who threatens his power. Is he a sociopath?  Perhaps. Certainly, he fits the diagnosis of Malignant Narcissistic Personality Disorder.  

Maybe, Putin acts the way he does because of a deprived childhood, playing in a rat infested soviet constructed building in St. Petersburg. He did chase and kill most of the rats, until one day, as he tells the story, one turned on him and he was cornered. Putin doesn’t like to be cornered, nor does he like anyone to threaten his authority and power. Instead, like Stalin, he kills those who challenge him politically, threaten his power, or humiliate him.

I suggested in my earlier post that perhaps the Devil made Putin do what he does. Then, that becomes a Bonhoeffer moment. You may recall that Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran theologian and pastor, came to believe that Hitler was evil and something needed to be done so he participated in a plot to assassinate him. The plot failed; Bonhoeffer was arrested; sent to a concentration camp, where he died in place of a fellow inmate.

What about the Russian people? Is there a Russian Bonhoeffer planning a coup?  During my missionary time in Russia, when Communism collapsed, the Russian people were shamed and humiliated.  They wanted either Communism back or the glamorous days of the Czar to return. Putin met all their expectations in 1999. He follows in the footsteps of Peter the Great with Stalin’s ruthlessness. Eventually, Putin will fall. Let’s pray that happens soon.