So, let me get this straight. Putin, who is not happy with himself, keeps invading other countries and occupies them, which give him temporary "satisfaction" and provides temporary distraction from his empty-ness. This is worse than a cigarette smoker because I learned that I cannot compete with the person's physical cigarette (smoking addiction). Maybe, that is because empty-ness can be rationalized by external viewers / communicators. The depths of Putin's empty-ness have been underestimated before and during his 20+ year Russian reign.
'Capable of anything': How the '99 apartment bombings explain Putin's rise and regime (Scroll more than halfway through the article to find this quote.)
‘ “Every American president has gotten Putin wrong,” says Satter, who in 2014 earned the distinction of being the first Western journalist since the end of the Cold War to have been expelled from Russia. “Some have gotten him outrageously wrong." ‘
Also, NATO and the U.S. did not punish him for his violent acquisition of Crimea in 2014 and the Russian involvement in 2015 Syrian’s civil war to help Syrian's president, Bashar al-Assad. Signs of the “depths” Putin's empty-ness were his poisonings and murders of his opponents.
The audio version of this article explains much: Diplomats are trying to find an off ramp to Putin's war in Ukraine.
Around 1997-1998, this occurred to me and stayed with me:
Violin is a musical instrument that you play.
Violet is a color you wear.
Violence is an act / energy that plays you.
It was probably influenced by Bush's Everything Zen:
“There's no sex in your violence”
As someone who has to like herself (yes, third person talk), since I learned growing up that I cannot surgery after surgery myself into acceptance by others, I do not understand Putin's empty-ness that never leaves him satisfied with his evil accomplishments.
When I was in 5th or 6th grade (1988-1990), a doctor at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital told me he/they could do surgery on me that would allow me to raise my hand to my mouth. They would remove a tendon from each of my legs and put the tendon in my arm. Since this did not make sense to me or feel right, I did not have the surgery - one of the best decisions I made.
The video of me eating a tortilla.
The 2 surgeries I had are on bone - on my ankles for clubbed feet, when I was 1 year old, and my wrists to straighten them, when I was 18.
Now, I know that Putin does not want others to like him. He wants domination, which he does not understand because he already has "yes" men advisors, even if he achieves it through total destruction, and the old Soviet Union map to exist, which is more baffling.
As I said in my Just Words post,
"Why should 1 man have so much power to eviscerate the lives who live in a landmass his "country" once "owned" so he can feel better about himself?
Here is why you cannot relive your childhood:
Understand the conditions that allowed the much earlier environment to take place do not exist.
Since technology has "opened" and interconnected most people which causes them to not be fearful. They can just Google everything or document through video events with your phone."
(I did not understand TFG's 2016 "election" but he had help from Putin's disinformation warfare. Without Putin's help, I believe Hillary would have been president.)
Being happy with yourself has a major foundation of liking and accepting yourself as you are. This is coming from an INTJ, who appreciates being alone. 😀
None of us can make each other happy unless we like ourselves.
(If I can ask about why you like the physical act of smoking cigarettes, then I will try to like you.)
Caroline, I think you're right about the addiction to power as a way monsters like Putin try to fill an emptiness. That kind of hole in the self can never be filled. Sounds like you're doing the opposite: finding happiness with yourself from inside. Funny thought, but when we do that, we have more power than a violent despot. :) Thanks for helping me see the contrast.