CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

The Dictator’s Dilemma

Photograph Source: Russian Presidential Executive Office – CC BY 4.0

As I travelled on the London Tube to meet CounterPunch writer and esteemed art historian Stephen Eisenham, I read journalist Owen Matthews suggesting Putin “lives in a parallel reality, a sealed bubble of disinformation where all the data he receives confirms the wisdom of his choices.”

It got me wondering what else on leaders and protected bubbles was out there. Did it include Donald Trump? It’s called echo chambers, information cocooning, courtier syndrome. Some political scientists call it the ‘dictator’s dilemma’: rulers depending on information from below, while their own power discourages uncomfortable truths.

It seems the more powerful someone, the less likely they hear unwelcome news. It is the pointless armour of the super elite. The useless algorithm of power. Matthews’ description is shared by other Russia specialists. Not that they can peer into Putin’s mind. Even Jude Law playing the Russian leader in Olivier Assayas’ The Wizard of the Kremlin is impenetrable.

Putin during COVID isolated himself even more. This extended to receiving senior officials across absurdly long tables. Footage of this not only bore a quirky resemblance to the warped perspective of Alice in Wonderland, it recalled Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove: another sealed command centre where reality struggled to cut through all the layers of protocol and deference.

And did the former KGB man believe his own state propaganda over Ukraine too much?

We know some of the invading troops expected a warm welcome. Also that the Ukrainian government would be toppled quickly. Making sense of this is difficult to understand otherwise.

The phenomenon is hardly unique to Russia. It has recurred throughout history. Most........

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