Putin’s dangerous reading! · 6 November 2011 Anatoly Sobchak, the reformist mayor of Saint Petersburg with whom Vladimir Putin worked after he left the KGB in 1990, once suggested that Putin might be Russia’s Napoleon Bonaparte. And, in a sense Sobchak was right, and much of what I foresaw in a March 2000 article has occurred […]
Imaging the Putin Personality Cult · 25 December 2009 On Friday 18 December, according to the Moscow Times, Vladimir Putin entered the hall of St. Petersburg’s School of Sport Mastery dressed in a white judogi and black belt, to applause from the assembled squad. After bowing, he went onto the mats, throwing squad members half his […]
Putin in 2000 · 23 March 2000 This article appeared in the AFR on 23 March 2000. The post-USSR chaos in Russia was bound to throw up a leader whose instinct was more authoritarian and nationalistic than Boris Yeltsin. This leader has now arrived. His name is Vladimir Putin and he will be elected president of […]
Putin: New Faces and Flaws in the Weave · 11 July 2010 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin recently issued reprimands to six deputy ministers for not fulfilling Dmitry Medvedev’s presidential orders in a timely fashion. Apparently, under the Russian Labor Code, a reprimand is the lightest possible form of punishment. Last year, only one in six […]
The Similar Psychology of Supporters of Bush and Saddam · 18 September 2006 There was outrage last Thursday, 14 September, when the chief judge in the trial of Saddam Hussein, Abdullah al-Amiri, said to him: You were not a dictator. However, the people or the individuals and officials surrounding you created a dictator (out of you). […]
Dangerous Psychology of Secret Courts / Military Tribunals · 4 September 2006 Psychologist and ex-army officer, Norman F. Dixon, in his book, On the Psychology of Military Incompetence, wrote about the staggering irrationality which can beset the thinking of otherwise highly competent, intelligent, conscientious individuals when they begin to act as group. The Penguin Dictionary of […]
Peter FitzSimmons, George Pell, bias and group think. · 3 March 2019 Peter FitzSimons has written that it is an undeniable fact that Pell is guilty (Doubter’s outcry over Pell verdict disrespectful to jury, legal system, Sydney Morning Herald). He adds that to the rest of the community, it is extraordinarily disrespectful to the jury members […]
Peta Credlin and Abbott, like Hitler-Bormann · 5 December 2013 A number of journalists including Philip Dorling, Jonathan Swan, Chris Johnson and Heath Aston—have been following up on the activities of Peta Credlin. The more I read, the clearer it becomes that Credlin is much like Martin Bormann. So, this blog is now an update of […]
Paul Lodge (Chisholm Australian Family Court Violence Review) an abusive man! · 2 February 2010 Paul Lodge made a submission to the Chisholm Violence Review and met with Chisholm. He seems to be quite influential within the Family Court system and is involved in training staff. But who is the real Paul Lodge? I write this […]
Obama, Jefferson, slaves, murder, Nobel Prizes · 12 December 2012 Gideon Rachman of the Financial Times (America’s drone war is out of control, December 10, 2012) wrote that the use of drone strikes to kill suspected terrorists has become a trademark of the Obama administration. This often involves killing somebody whose name you don’t even know […]