It must require an exceptionally twisted, narcissistic mind — or perhaps a form of dementia — to be able to look into a mirror and see yourself this way:
But this is what I imagine as Vladimir Putin’s perception of himself: not (I hope) as a beautiful maiden, but as a virtuous victim of persecution and aggression, rather than the tyrannical, murderous warmonger he truly is.
Once again today, he has attempted to turn reality on its head by presenting Russia as the victim of Ukrainian aggression, sweeping aside the small matter of the war of attrition that he launched nearly five years ago and continues to escalate despite the efforts of others to negotiate a peaceful settlement.
He has somehow managed to convince his one-man fan club, Donald Trump, to suspend sanctions on the export of Russian fuel, thus allowing the Russian treasury to recoup billions of dollars that will flow directly into his war chest.
And what has he offered in exchange? A ceasefire? Assurances that he will end his targeted attacks on civilians? A promise to finally schedule a long-sought trilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump?
The answer: None of the above.
Instead, he tried to convince the world — despite all evidence to the contrary — that he had been ready to resume negotiations with Kyiv following Russia’s parliamentary elections in September, but that Ukraine had jeopardized the peace process by attacking Moscow and — allegedly — striking polling places.
Further, his foreign policy aide, former Ambassador to the U.S. Yuri Ushakov, commented on the phone call between Putin and Trump:
“By launching a massive drone attack on Moscow, other cities and polling stations, as well as on specific individuals involved in organising [sic] the election, on the main voting day, the Kyiv regime effectively disrupted the possibility of an immediate resumption of the negotiation process. And now, as the president said, we will consider when those negotiations can be resumed.” [Dmitry Antonov and Vladimir Soldatkin, Reuters, October 9, 2026.]
The question is whether Putin is delusional enough to believe his own convoluted version of the facts, or is simply offering tried-and-true Soviet-style propaganda as justification for his actions. In either case, he is dragging Donald Trump along with him, as evidenced by these comments from Trump to the press at the White House today, just a day after his phone conversation with Putin:
“I suggest they [Ukraine] get a new leader who can make a deal . . . for some reason [Zelenskyy] never does.” [Susie Blann and Elise Morton, AP, October 10, 2026.]
Turning the subject to himself as usual, he added that, if he had been president of the U.S. in 2022:
“ . . . that war would have never started. There was no reason that that war with Ukraine and Russia started. It started due to incompetence. [Zelensky has] lost 30% of your country and you’ve had over a million people go between the two of them, over 2 million people killed. That’s a war that should have never started. And I think it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president.” [Id.]
After digesting today’s news, I’m left wondering whether there’s a rubber room somewhere that would accommodate the two of them, and how quickly we can arrange transportation.
Just sayin’ . . .
Brendochka
10/10/26
