{"id":415299,"date":"2022-03-12T15:56:48","date_gmt":"2022-03-12T12:56:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/how-putins-rat-infested-childhood-shaped-his-philosophy-on-war\/"},"modified":"2022-03-12T15:56:48","modified_gmt":"2022-03-12T12:56:48","slug":"how-putins-rat-infested-childhood-shaped-his-philosophy-on-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-putins-rat-infested-childhood-shaped-his-philosophy-on-war\/","title":{"rendered":"#How Putin\u2019s rat-infested childhood shaped his philosophy on war"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a28c7e6660b4\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a28c7e6660b4\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-putins-rat-infested-childhood-shaped-his-philosophy-on-war\/#%E2%80%9CHow_Putins_rat-infested_childhood_shaped_his_philosophy_on_war%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;How Putin\u2019s rat-infested childhood shaped his philosophy on war&#8221;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CHow_Putins_rat-infested_childhood_shaped_his_philosophy_on_war%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;How Putin\u2019s rat-infested childhood shaped his philosophy on war&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>As a youngster growing up in the 1960s, Putin was a typical Russian hooligan, living with his family in a communal apartment in what was then Leningrad. Several other families, including Putin\u2019s, shared these living quarters, with no bath, often no hot water and a stinking toilet. To get to his apartment\u00a0on the fifth floor, young Putin had to run up the flight of stairs, infested by hungry rats. Armed with a stick, Putin at first fended off the filthy creatures and ran away from them, before he eventually decided to observe their behavior.<\/p>\n<p>Putin spent hours studying these hordes of rats. Once, as\u00a0he revealed in his official autobiography\u00a0\u201cFirst Person,\u201d a \u201chuge rat\u201d he chased into a corner with a stick had nowhere else to go, so it turned around and attacked him. That frightened the future spymaster, and he was lucky to run away fast enough to elude his adversary.<\/p>\n<p>During his life and career, Putin has had several \u201ccornered rat\u201d moments, which have shaped his thinking and behavior. Working as a KGB officer during the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, he <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.simonandschuster.com\/books\/Putins-Playbook\/Rebekah-Koffler\/9781684510030\">stared down a mob of angry German citizens<\/a> who broke into the Russian Ministry of Security (MGB) in Dresden.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/vladmir-putin.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"During his life and career, Putin has had several \u201ccornered rat\u201d moments, which have shaped his thinking and behavior.\" class=\"wp-image-21487593\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/vladmir-putin.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/vladmir-putin.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/vladmir-putin.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>During his life and career, Putin has had several \u201ccornered rat\u201d moments, which have shaped his thinking and behavior.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Mikhail Klimentyev\/SPUTNIK\/AFP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>At one point, Putin went outside to tell the protestors they were on the premises of a Soviet military organization. When the suspicious crowd demanded to know why a regular Soviet military officer spoke such good German, Putin lied and said he was a translator.<\/p>\n<p>Putin requested armed backup forces, but was at first denied because \u201cnothing could be done without orders from Moscow, and Moscow was silent.\u201d Though Soviet military personnel eventually arrived and the crowd dispersed, the incident left a permanent mark on Putin. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/putin-kgb.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=683\" alt=\"As a young KGB officer, Putin felt like a cornered rat when an angry mob of Germans broke into the Russian Ministry of Security (MGB) in Dresden in 1989.\" class=\"wp-image-21487642\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/putin-kgb.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/putin-kgb.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=683 683w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/putin-kgb.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=342 341w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\"\/><figcaption>As a young KGB officer, Putin felt like a cornered rat when an angry mob of Germans broke into the Russian Ministry of Security (MGB) in Dresden in 1989. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cNobody lifted a finger to protect us,\u201d he recalls in \u201cFirst Person.\u201d \u201cI got the feeling then that the country no longer existed. That it had dis<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>eared. It was clear that the Union was ailing. And it had a terminal disease without a cure \u2014 a paralysis of power.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This incident had a profound psychological impact on Putin. He realized that, if cornered and there\u2019s nowhere to retreat, he must always be prepared to fight back and attack the opponent, like that rat from his childhood. He learned the same lesson as a rebellious kid, when he got into fights as early as seven years old with neighborhood boys. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/muammar-gaddafi.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Putin was shaken by the death of Khadafy at the hands of his own people. One CIA expert called it \u201chis worst nightmare.\u201d\" class=\"wp-image-21487686\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/muammar-gaddafi.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/muammar-gaddafi.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/muammar-gaddafi.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Putin was shaken by the death of Moammar Khadafy at the hands of his own people. One CIA expert called it \u201chis worst nightmare.\u201d<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">REUTERS TV<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI just understood that if you want to win, then you have to fight to the finish in every fight, as if it was the last and decisive battle\u2026you need to assume that there is no retreat,\u201d he is quoted in another biography,\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ozon.ru\/product\/vladimir-putin-istoriya-zhizni-kniga-pervaya-5253033\/?sh=VRJKswAAAA\">\u201cVladimir Putin. Life History.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A second event that scarred Putin was Saddam Hussein\u2019s capture\u00a0by US soldiers in 2003 and his subsequent death. After\u00a0being convicted\u00a0of\u00a0crimes against humanity\u00a0by the\u00a0Iraqi Special Tribunal, Hussein was sentenced to death by hanging, and Putin was shocked\u00a0by images of his execution, seeing the dictator\u2019s eyes partly open and neck bent out of shape. Putin called it\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ria.ru\/20211230\/kazn-1766068014.html\">\u201catrocious, a barbaric execution,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0and felt the US had deliberately toppled Saddam and his regime based on the false pretext of Iraq having weapons of mass destruction.\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brookings.edu\/book\/mr-putin-new-and-expanded\/\">Russia\u2019s intelligence services knew that Saddam was bluffing<\/a>\u00a0about that, so Putin decided US intelligence was either incompetent for not knowing this, or reckless in acting on trumped-up justifications. Regardless, Putin decided that the United States was up to no good.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/saddam-hussein.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Putin was shocked by images of Saddam Hussein's capture and \u201catrocious, barbaric execution.\u201d He still fears he could be next.\" class=\"wp-image-21487719\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/saddam-hussein.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/saddam-hussein.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/saddam-hussein.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Putin was shocked by images of Saddam Hussein\u2019s capture and \u201catrocious, barbaric execution.\u201d He still fears he could be next.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In October 2011, a third event shocked Putin: the death of Libya\u2019s leader Moammar Khadafy at the hands of his own people. Khadafy, who called his subordinates \u201crats,\u201d was caught by his own fighters like a rat in a drain under a highway. He was shot in the head and died before his security guards could reach the hospital.\u00a0Putin was said to be <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/inews.co.uk\/news\/putins-worst-nightmare-is-failing-to-capture-ukraine-and-being-killed-like-gaddafi-says-ex-cia-agent-1496074\">shaken by this<\/a>, with one CIA expert calling it \u201chis worst nightmare.\u201d Later, when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton admitted she joked about Khadafy\u2019s death, declaring <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/clinton-on-qaddafi-we-came-we-saw-he-died\/\">\u201cwe came, we saw, he died,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0Putin was further convinced of America\u2019s bad intentions.<\/p>\n<p>Three months later, in December 2011, the biggest anti-government protest since the collapse of the USSR sprung up in Moscow. The uprising was sparked by Putin\u2019s announcement that he would run for president a third time, after temporarily giving the reins to his former Prime Minister Dmitriy Medvedev. Around the same time, Clinton criticized the outcome of Russia\u2019s parliamentary elections that gave Putin\u2019s United Russia\u00a0Party 50% of the vote. She insinuated fraud and\u00a0called for\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2011\/12\/06\/world\/europe\/russia-elections-clinton\/index.html\">\u201ca full investigation.\u201d<\/a> Putin, in return, accused Clinton <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2011\/dec\/08\/vladimir-putin-hillary-clinton-russia\">of giving a \u201csignal\u201d to the protesters<\/a>. He became convinced the US was building an opposition movement within his own country to topple his regime.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/dmitry-medvedev-vladmir-putin.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"In 2011, Putin (above, with former Prime Minister Dmitriy Medvedev) announced he would run for president a third time, sparking protests within Russia \u2014 which, he felt, were stoked by comments from Hillary Clinton.\" class=\"wp-image-21487742\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/dmitry-medvedev-vladmir-putin.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/dmitry-medvedev-vladmir-putin.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/dmitry-medvedev-vladmir-putin.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>In 2011, Putin (above, with former Prime Minister Dmitriy Medvedev) announced he would run for president a third time, sparking protests within Russia \u2014 which, he felt, were stoked by comments from Hillary Clinton.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">YEKATERINA SHTUKINA<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>He knows the United States sought the demise of Khadafy and Hussein, and he still fears that he is next. <\/p>\n<p>When he hears US leaders\u2019 claims that he is a mentally deranged madman or that American officials are calling for revolt among members of his inner circle, he sees himself as the cornered rat. This is why, instead of ratcheting down the conflict in Ukraine and seeking a settlement with Zelensky, Putin is still lashing out at the West, threatening nuclear warfare.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/ukrainian-emergency-workers.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Feeling like a cornered rat, Putin is still lashing out at Ukraine and the West, threatening nuclear warfare and bombing a maternity hospital (above).\" class=\"wp-image-21487782\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/ukrainian-emergency-workers.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/ukrainian-emergency-workers.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/ukrainian-emergency-workers.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Feeling like a cornered rat, Putin is still lashing out at Ukraine and the West, threatening nuclear warfare and bombing a maternity hospital (above).<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Evgeniy Maloletka<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After the collapse of the USSR and Moscow\u2019s silence in Dresden, the former KGB operative swore never to display weakness. He chooses brutality over submission, even if he has to annihilate Ukrainians, bomb maternity hospitals, and erase Ukraine from the map. With his survival now at stake, this rat will strike anything in its path to get out of its corner.<\/p>\n<p><em>Rebekah Koffler is a former Defense Intelligence Agency officer and currently a strategic intelligence analyst with The Lindsey Group. She is the author of\u202f \u201cPutin\u2019s Playbook: Russia\u2019s Secret Plan to\u202fDefeat America.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>\n                        <\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/03\/12\/how-putins-rat-infested-childhood-shaped-his-philosophy-on-war\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;How Putin\u2019s rat-infested childhood shaped his philosophy on war&#8221; As a youngster growing up in the 1960s, Putin was a typical Russian hooligan, living with his family in a communal apartment in what was then Leningrad. Several other families, including Putin\u2019s, shared these living quarters, with no bath, often no hot water and a stinking&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":415300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/putin-rats.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[126668,125897,4975,70868,126128,73234],"class_list":["post-415299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-3-12-22","tag-putin","tag-russia","tag-ukraine","tag-ukraine-war","tag-vladimir-putin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}