Two nuclear armed countries involved in a proxy war with each other on the battlefield of Ukraine.
Two leaders who have the power to start a nuclear war.
You kind of want to know what their mental status is.
Both men are old, and much has been made about their age. Joe Biden is eighty years old. Vladimir Putin is seventy.
Determining how fit each man is when it comes to his mental faculties is difficult, especially since each has a firewall around him to protect his image.
This is not conspiracy theory. It is well known that Franklin Roosevelt fought to hide his handicap from the public as well as his declining health during his final re-election. For their part, Vladimir Putin has been seen weak and trembling, but the Kremlin has not been forthcoming about any ailments of the President. Joe Biden has had many public missteps in both cognitive and physical abilities. In each case, each side is going to present themselves in the most positive light. Neither is going to admit to any failing for fear of losing public support.
The media also can be an effective tool that a politician can use, and one must be careful when consuming media reports, for the information coming from the media can be affected by the media’s own bias.
In Russia, the media is heavily controlled by the government and can be coerced to hide information about Putin’s health and mental status. Only good reports are permitted.
In the United States, the media is affected by its political bias. Good reports for the candidate they like, bad reports for the candidate they don’t like. And Biden is held in esteem by the U.S media, so the good is emphasized over the bad.
Attempting to uncover the mental heath of either of these men has its challenges when there are so many obstacles in way the way.
Are either Presidents capable of the mental stability and cognizance to control – let alone launch – nuclear weapons?
Joe Biden has been seen confusing words on a number of occasions. He’s mistaken Ukraine for Iraq, he’s miscounted the number of States the United States has, and “misspoke” on a number of occasions, including claiming his son died in Iraq. (He didn’t.) These could be signs of aphasia (confusing one word for another), onset dementia, or simply old age. Biden has also had a number of physical incidents, stumbling, etc. Also signs of mental breakdown or simply physical breakdown due to age. Let’s see how most eighty-year olds are.
Recently, Biden’s physician gave him a nearly clean bill of health after his annual physical, but the report didn’t mention mental health. Dr. David Scheiner, former President Obama’s longtime personal physician, stated that he believes the White House will conceal information about Biden’s health.
As difficult as it is to gain a true look at Biden’s mental health, it is even more so when it comes to Putin’s.
Publicly, Putin has been seen trembling, supporting himself, and and there are changes in his physical appearance.
Then there are the behind-the-scenes claims which can not be verified. Cancer, anti-psychotics, stimulants.
Aubrey Immelman, associate professor of psychology at the College of Saint Benedict, Saint John’s University, has stated that Putin possesses “Dominant/controlling, ambitious/self-serving, and Conscientious/dutiful, with secondary Retiring/reserved, and Dauntless/adventurous tendencies and lesser Distrusting/suspicious features”.
Couple this with a three-day Ukraine war that is now nearing its seventeenth month, massive Russian casualties, NATO creeping ever closer, and a legacy that Putin wants to ensure, this all adds up to extreme pressure to perform and deliver.
Aside from their current mental capacity, we also have to look at what affects their world view.
Both grew up during the Cold War. Both see the other as an adversary. Both believe they are right. And both are surrounded by those who will not tell them otherwise.
At the ages they are at, both are hardened into their positions. Both are short on patience.
And if Putin is indeed sick as some claim, Putin has little left to lose. The same could be said for Biden, given that his days can not be that many more, though Biden’s legacy is more assured.
Will Vladimir Putin be willing to sacrifice his country for himself? Does he possess the capability to see reality rather than a Soviet World he has fashioned for himself?
Is Joe Biden cognizant enough to understand what is happening? Is he lost in a Cold War that has been over for thirty years?
Can either man understand the realities of what is happening in the world, or has the haze of age taken them back to the 1950’s?
