The only thing more worrisome than a tyrannical madman with nuclear weapons is an unstable one, and this is precisely why the world must act now to prevent Vladimir Putin from going full tilt.
Nothing about Vladimir Putin’s actions during his invasion of Ukraine make sense from a survivability standpoint. He’s thrown his middle fingers into the air and told the rest of the world to come get some. He’s belligerent. He seems to have a death wish.
And, according to voice experts, he may also be unstable.
As one New York Daily News columnist notes, “the words unhinged, delusional, unbalanced, sociopathic, and narcissistic appear regularly” in coverage of his words and deeds. His televised speech on Feb. 24, the opening day of the invasion, certainly raised many eyebrows. The Guardian characterized it as “bizarre” and “not rational.” However, according to another analysis of that same speech, Putin’s forceful language—specifically his voice—revealed optimism and confidence. Two weeks later, in a March 10 meeting with underlings about the mass flight of foreign companies, “his vocal stress levels were over 40% higher than usual,” indicating a show of “defiance.”
This is according to vocal analysis by Japan-based Risk Measurement Technologies, per Nikkei Asia. Analysts studied voice samples from televised speeches and meetings between Feb. 1 and March 18 (using a relatively innocuous 2020 UN speech as a baseline). Researchers explain that “changes in a person’s mental state can affect their vocal cords, altering speech and potentially offering insights into their mentality.”
And also:
During the Feb. 21 meeting with his Security Council (an “absurd and angry spectacle,” per the Guardian), “Putin’s voice indicated swings between high and low levels of stress in a short time, a sign of wavering feelings,” Nikkei Asia reports. From this, says Risk Measurement CEO Kanji Okazaki, “We can conjecture that he was in a state of psychological instability.”
If the world can’t find a way to come together to stop Vlad Putin now, there may be no coming back from this.
