The Russian Tragedy

 

Vlad the Inhaler.

There is discussion of whether Vladimir Putin has gone mad. Having previously been cautious, he is suddenly acting recklessly. When he entertains guests, he has them sit far away from him. Macron in France says he has changed. Marco Rubio, reflecting US intelligence, says he has changed.

Of course he has gone mad. In a predictable way.

It’s called hubris.

Most national leaders are prone to hubris; the mental problem we often these days call “narcissism.” They start out with an unreasonably high evaluation of their own abilities and their own importance to the universe. This drives them to seek power, and often to attain it, by whatever means necessary. If they achieve power, this is of course validates their opinion of their own self-worth. If they hold power for a long time, they are liable over time to indulge this tendency more and more, moving further away from reality and viewing themselves as god-like. For this reason, whenever a Roman general was given a triumph, a slave beside him was instructed to keep whispering in his ear, “remember, you are mortal.” 

As hubris grows, and to the extent that their rule is autocratic, it becomes less and less advisable to bring the king bad news. He is liable to fly into a “narcissistic rage” and blame the messenger. So the monarch grows less well-informed of the real situation, and more convinced of his delusions. He is bound to overestimate his own and his nation’s power. We saw this in Saddam Hussein: he convinced the Americans and the world that he had weapons of mass destruction, because he was convinced he had weapons of mass destruction, and acted accordingly.

For this reason, medieval and Renaissance kings had court jesters, who had special license to mock.

Without any window on the real world, the king will also inevitably become paranoid. If you are so important, everything that happens must be about you. And he is at least half-aware that he is regularly being lied to. He can trust no one.

The end is inevitable: it is the end of every Greek tragedy. The king will overreach, and bring the polis down around his ears.

Today, Putin. Tomorrow, perhaps Xi.