The way Putin operates is that the kinder Americans are to him, the more aggressive he becomes in Syria, Ukraine, or wherever he’ll strike next. Trump talked to him nicely the other day, and as a result Putin started an offensive in Ukraine. Kindness and amiability mean weakness in his world. He sees Trump as a weak leader because after a very disrespectful press conference Putin has given about him Trump still had such a meek, conciliatory response to him.
2 responses to “Weak Leader”
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Does he even understand Russian or have anyone around him who does?
Where’s Manafort hiding?My autocorrect decided Manafort was manager.
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Funny, I read an interesting article today about weak and strong leaders.
“One of the many things that studying authoritarian politics has taught me is that from the perspective of the outsider, weak leaders often act like strong leaders, and strong leaders often act like they are indifferent. Weak leaders have every incentive to portray themselves as stronger than they are in order to get their way. They gamble on splashy policies. They escalate crises. This is just as true for democrats as for dictators. (Note the parallels with Jessica Weeks on constraints on authoritarian rulers and their foreign policy behavior.)
The consummate strong ruler is one who does not issue any command or instruction at all because she does not have to—her will is implemented already. Indonesia’s strongman leader Soeharto was sometimes portrayed as The Smiling General, an almost aloof Javanese sultan. How incongruous this is: When Soeharto came to power, at least 500,000 people were killed! That is strength. More precisely, it is power.”
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
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