"POLITICO has obtained two relevant studies by Brenda Connors through the Freedom of Information Act and let’s just say it’s not impressed. As it asks readers:
Do you like watching Internet videos and then drawing broad, sweeping, pseudoscientific conclusions about the people involved? If so, congratulations, you might be qualified to join the Pentagon’s secret team investigating the nonverbal cues of powerful world leaders.
What’s going on here is a tad complex but it’s worth a bit of unpacking since it demonstrates how DoD wastes vast sums of taxpayer money on complete bullshit. I happen to know a bit about this case, since I was at the Naval War College from 2005 to 2014, and got to see some of Ms. Connors’ special genius at work, and let me state that what’s still behind the classification wall is more risible than even this.
Allow me to also state that I don’t actually know if Putin has autism — and neither does Connors. Her credentials for making such an assessment are literally nonexistent. She has a BA and MA in political science and a background in — wait for it — interpretive dance. She was a protocol officer at the State Department and somehow wangled her way into lucrative research (i.e. non-teaching) faculty positions at the Naval War College; all this was a subject of some mystery to NWC faculty, but given that institution’s tendency to give out jobs to unqualified “special friends,” the Connors case isn’t really that much of an outlier. Connors has been at NWC for over a decade…doing whatever it is she does.
She bills herself as an expert in “movement analysis,” which means she watches a lot of video and YouTube clips and generates classified assessments of the subject’s mental state. How she comes to these conclusions is mysterious, to be charitable. Her Putin “assessment” was the topic of head-scratching by NWC faculty who, unlike Connors, knew something about Russia, the Kremlin, and the KGB. Her sole claim to understanding Putin is “movement analysis,” which is a discipline nobody else on the faculty had heard of.
Neither was the need for such classified assessments clear, since for decades CIA has done exactly that, writing up detailed medical and psychological studies of world leaders, so that U.S. decision-makers might gain insights of value. I’ve read quite a few of those assessments and, since they are done with the input of bona fide MDs and PhDs, unlike Connors, they can be genuinely insightful.
You see, Connors somehow got the eye of the Pentagon’s spooky Office of Net Assessment, which dispenses bags of cash in a non-transparent fashion to all sorts of oddballs. How much ONA has given to Connors for what she terms her “Body Leads” project is unclear but POLITICO learned that since 2009, experts working with Connors have received at least $365,000. Rumor has it the true figure is much higher, but I’ll leave that to intrepid reporters to uncover."
[QUOTE=BloodRayne;47086224]So the Pentagon has resorted to name calling? That's rich.[/QUOTE]
We were only responding to them calling Obama a monkey
You know, actually commenting on it rather than ignoring it only ends up making it look more true.
[QUOTE=RustyGears;47086227]Doesn't being an introvert just mean that you are more in tune with yourself rather than others? Hating people doesn't make you an introvert.[/QUOTE]
Hating people would make you a misanthrope. And introvert is someone who's typically not very social. Often due to anxiety, simple social awkwardness, or finding social situations too exhausting.
[QUOTE=catbarf;47086792]It's really not that hard to see how personality analysis of foreign leaders could be beneficial to policymakers. Turning it into a political jab is the stupid thing here, but that's being done by pundits, not the think tank that released the analysis.[/QUOTE]
Yes, let's not forget this info was released due to a Freedom of Information Act request by USA Today, the government was pretty much forced to release it.
It also says that he MIGHT have aspergers, not that he has.
It's just the media that's blowing it.
I thought asperger syndrome didn't exist anymore? It's autistic spectrum disorder?
ill bet nobody in this thread thought to wonder whether putin was autistic before this thread was made, not even me
[QUOTE=MasterFen006;47087707]ill bet nobody in this thread thought to wonder whether putin was autistic before this thread was made, not even me[/QUOTE]
no but he is a closet homosexual
that's why he's such a homophobe
thats just what an autistic person would say Putin
please remove more vkontakte photos of russian weapons in Ukraine, we still believe youre not involved 8)
I doubt he does. Make up some weird rumor about the enemy is a tactic that has been used for centuries now. look at the German corpse rendering factories in world war one.
I can fix the thread title guys.
Vladmir Putin: "I am not Autisitc it's not true. It's bullshit. I am not Autisitc. I am not. Oh hi Ukraine!"
[video=youtube;LoYa7Mx5EbE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoYa7Mx5EbE[/video]
[highlight](User was banned for this post ("Dumb reference" - Big Dumb American))[/highlight]
[highlight](User was banned for this post ("why reply/dumb reference post" - dai))[/highlight]
[QUOTE=adamsz;47099500]I can fix the thread title guys.
Vladmir Putin: "I am not Autisitc it's not true. It's bullshit. I am not Autisitc. I am not. Oh hi Ukraine!"[/QUOTE]
What?
[QUOTE=MuffinZerg;47099513]What?[/QUOTE]
It's a reference to The Room.
So Putin is vaccinated
This is exactly what Putin would say if he [i]was[/i] autistic
:tinfoil:
To be fair, the original article was a stupid attention grab along the lines of those '[I]hitler was x[/I]' articles you see every so often. I don't agree with what he does but it is pretty telling when people attack him with fantasist bullshit as a catch-all to explain why some of his decisions seem bad. You'd think the discourse on political leadership could move beyond petty shit like this.
[quote]giving him a need to exert “extreme control” on his surroundings[/quote]
As someone diagnosed with Asperger's myself, I fail to make the connection. I don't have this with anything except my computer.
[QUOTE=Neddy;47086279]I love how every time autistic is brought up everyone assumes the person is mentally retarded or some shit. People seem to forget there is like so many different types of autism.[/QUOTE]
I definitely believe he is on the autism spectrum, not very far on it but definitely on it.
[QUOTE=Badballer;47104593]I definitely believe he is on the autism spectrum, not very far on it but definitely on it.[/QUOTE]
Why?
Refer to the post by trotskygrad on the previous page. This isn't a professional psychological diagnosis. Its bullshit put out by one of Washington's many money sink think tanks in an attempt to justify their worth, something that is endemic in government institutions by the way. "movement analysis" aka i watch youtube videos and make poor assumptions. The woman who led this "study" has no psychology qualifications, no doctorate, no experience in clinical psychology whatsoever.
Not only that, but what exactly is it that the metric for "aspergers" is being used? That he likes to dominate his environment? Welcome to men in positions of power and influence, they get there by not just letting things happen without their influence or oversight. That he isn't that friendly? lmao do we even need to justify that one?
Its silly, from the bottom up. Political slandering and nothing more. Implying he is autistic is basically a badly cloaked shot at saying he is socially awkward. Which I haven't really seen, and frankly, politicians meeting each other is something I would never describe as not awkward, its all very forced behavior and fake smiles.
Who cares if he's autistic? Just because he has a mental disorder doesn't make him a bad leader. I guess we shouldn't give gays governmental roles either since their brain is atypical!
I think if he really appeared to be autistic it would be a great motivational rolemodel for all the autistic acceptance people.
[QUOTE=Battledrobe;47105475]Who cares if he's autistic? Just because he has a mental disorder doesn't make him a bad leader. I guess we shouldn't give gays governmental roles either since their brain is atypical![/QUOTE]
This whole "lol Ukraine's mine" thing isn't really helping though.
[QUOTE=Wizards Court;47086254]i find it really hard to believe an ex-KGB dude is autistic, especially one who served for almost 20 years, sociopathic probably, but autistic? :v:
i guess old tactics never truly die.[/QUOTE]
Isn't it a popular theory that George Washington had autistic behavior
[QUOTE=lavacano;47108448]This whole "lol Ukraine's mine" thing isn't really helping though.[/QUOTE]
what
[editline]10th February 2015[/editline]
[QUOTE=Ganerumo;47108488]Isn't it a popular theory that George Washington had autistic behavior[/QUOTE]
Actually autistic people at some point of spectrum are extremely determined, much more than us mere plebs. Autistic people of that kind have issues analyzing all the social signals and subtle things, but throught their determination can potentially learn them. There were numerous examples in history, Robert Greene has a hardon for autistic people as shown in his book "Mastery" because they are the ideal representation of someone who works hard to get what he wants, throught intelligence and grit and not talent.
If he cares that much, he's probably not autistic.
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