06/09/13 14:07 from WSJ.com: World News
President Obama's 15 seconds of face time with Russian President Putin on Thursday spoke to a deep chill that has created one of the biggest complications to the U.S.'s plan to strike Syria.
"U.S. officials haven't found it easy to get a handle on Mr. Putin or his motivations. While anti-Americanism has been a key theme for Mr. Putin, the U.S. expected he would dial back the rhetoric once he had cemented control after the 2012 elections, a prediction that proved unfounded.
Mr. Obama's attempts to make a personal connection, such as complimenting Mr. Putin's judo skills during their last meeting, have fallen flat. Offhand comments, such as Mr. Obama's recent comparison of Mr. Putin to a "bored kid at the back of the classroom," rankled in Moscow.
The Central Intelligence Agency's classified personality profile of Mr. Putin, prepared by the agency for Mr. Obama and other policy makers, says he was bullied in his youth. It also describes Mr. Putin as insecure, according to American officials who have read it.
Russian officials dismiss such suggestions as cheap psychology."
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Mike Nova comments:
It seems to me that presently Mr. Putin is committed not to any type of true and honest cooperation with the US but to a confrontation, including the diplomatic and the informational spheres. This strategy is probably a sort of "limited revanche" for his main historical pain and suffering: the demise of the Soviet Union, and he appears to be strategically bent on limiting and opposing the US interests in any sphere, be it political, military, public relations, human rights etc., and, preferably, using his opponents' own ideas and arms (by, simply put, stealing them) as he probably learned during his "work" with the Soviet dissidents in his early KGB youth. This reaction might be viewed as an overcompensation: emotions and behavior, which organically combine in the figure of V. Putin the historical (Russia's historical role in the world, as he sees it) and the personal, mentioned above in the WSJ article: deep personal insecurity which psychologically determines the need for this type of political overcompensation. His recent interactions confirm the impression that the raw mechanical power equations (e.g. "How many divisions does the Pope have?" or "How many more snowdenchicks can we produce and use?") far outweigh for him any true moral, ethical or true historical (on the proper World scale and not just with Russia's narrow and short term interests in mind) values and positions: the fate of the Syrian people and the deaths of 1400 persons, including 400 children became an easily subservient "bargaining chip" for him in his customary "horse trading" political games.
Mr. Obama was absolutely correct and proper in teaching him a lesson of moral politics and proper international political behavior: Mr. Putin appears to be clearly uncomfortable and somewhat confused, apologetic looking and at loss after rather cool and distant greeting he received from Mr. Obama, as pictured in the brief but telling video in this article.
Links and References
vladimir putin personality profile - GS
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