
What’s even more spine-chilling than the image of a cognitively challenged leader of the free world with their finger on a doomsday button? It’s the unsettling notion of an equally challenged, tyrannical rival poised to push his own ominous button of doom.
President Joe Biden has bumbled and fumbled his way across the global stage, raising sharp criticism over his ability to competently lead the country. His “gaffes” are the stuff legends are made of, and his increasing physical ineptitude makes orthopedic surgeons salivate in anticipation.
Not to be outdone, Russian President Vladimir Putin has begun his own head-scratching journey along the road of verbal gaffes and physical anomalies, leading many to speculate if he is suffering from dementia as well.
Some of his cognitive missteps are all too familiar to Americans. During an online discussion, Putin asked Irkutsk governor Igor Kobzev to “please pass on my regards” to soldiers killed in Ukraine. The incident recalled a similar situation when Biden asked if a deceased colleague was in the crowd at an event in September 2022.
As recently as July, Putin exhibited confusion over the age of a deputy mayor’s child, despite being told the age immediately before his response.
Putin’s critics have observed many instances of concerning behavior, such as staring at the ceiling while muttering incoherently and displaying bizarre body movements. One video shows Putin gripping the side of a table tightly during a meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Another one sees Putin moving his feet in an unusual way and exhibiting leg and hand tremors throughout a meeting with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko.
Even more concerning was a report released in April of this year by the General SVR Telegram channel revealing that Putin was suffering from blurred vision, severe headaches, and numbness of his tongue as well as his right arm and leg. This may suggest vascular dementia, a condition marked by stroke-like symptoms like headaches and one-sided paralysis.
Just as Biden has the White House ready to jump in and cover up any speculation regarding his health, Putin has the Kremlin doing the same. But rumors persist regarding Putin’s health despite the concerted effort to hide them.
One such rumor claimed that the Russian leader had undergone surgery related to thyroid cancer, a claim the Kremlin vehemently refuted and labeled as “fiction and untruth.” Reports from The Moscow Times referenced an investigative report by Proekt Media, which suggested that Putin was accompanied by doctors, including a thyroid cancer surgeon, on visits to his Sochi residence from 2016 to 2019, and there were indications that some form of surgery may have taken place in November 2016. The report stopped short of claiming any diagnosis of cancer or other specific medical conditions.
In 2020, The Sun, a British newspaper, further speculated that Putin might have both cancer and Parkinson’s disease, potentially signaling an impending resignation. These claims were based on statements from Valery Solovei, who was reportedly connected to the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.
Searchers trying to find more information about potential Putin health issues may have to overcome a few obstacles, however. It’s a situation Americans have been facing regarding their own fearless leader, with striking parallels between Russia and the United States.
Mykola Makhortykh, a post-doctoral lecturer at the University of Bern, has raised concerns that Google might be under pressure from the Russian government to censor specific search results. This suspicion arises from investigations into whether safeguards in AI chatbots, including Google’s Bard, contribute to the censorship of information deemed harmful by the regime, particularly information related to Putin.
A comprehensive Swiss study compared various AI chatbots, revealing Bard’s reluctance to address Putin-related questions and found the censorship even more stifling than other chatbots like ChatGPT and Bing Chat. The study aimed to determine if these AI safeguards led to censorship or the spread of false information, especially concerning Putin’s political opponents. If that sounds familiar, it should. Biden’s White House has been censoring Americans in the exact same way and for the exact same reasons.
Welcome to a world where a global audience helplessly watches as the leading superpowers engage in a rivalry that could dismantle civilization with the flick of a switch. Two world leaders, one on a quest for his train of thought and the other tripping over sandbags, clutch the remote control to Armageddon. The fate of nations balances on a razor’s edge, leaving the world perched on the very edge of its seats, awaiting the one explosive gaffe that goes too far.