Translated material
POST-Terrorism
The American scientist’s technique is taking root in Russia
Russian counterterrorism fighters will, in all likelihood, be forced to make adjustments to their plans and methods. And the reason for this is the arrival in Moscow of one of the fathers of applied political psychology, the American Jerrold Post. He is famous for being a personal consultant to several American presidents on the psychology of foreign leaders. Mr. Post worked for more than twenty years at the CIA, where he founded and headed the Analytical Center for the Study of Personal and Political Behavior.The goal of Jerrold Post's research is to help the country's leadership make the right political decisions, especially in crisis situations. Based on knowledge of the decision-making system in other countries and the characteristics of a particular political figure. “Today’s reaction of a leader to a particular crisis situation coincides with his reaction to a similar event two years ago. You just need to know the past reaction,” Mr. Post told a Vremya Novostei columnist.
M.D. Post is the author of numerous publications on leadership and the psychology of political violence. Recently, he has been researching the problems of terrorism and has initiated a US government program to study the psychology of this phenomenon. The study of the problems of terrorism with the use of weapons of mass destruction and information systems has developed into an independent direction. Jerrold Post's latest book, Leaders and Followers in a Dangerous World: The Psychology of Political Behavior, was recently published. The meeting of the professor with Russian experts in the field of anti-terrorism in the conference hall of the NIKOLLO-M group of companies became a kind of presentation of this book. However, this was not a boring "professor's" lecture - the presentation turned into a fascinating story about world-famous charismatic personalities who "marked" themselves on the international stage - both positively and tragically. Small, seemingly insignificant details from the biographies of famous personalities made it possible to build the right tactics in relations with them. The professor, however, did not specify exactly how personality traits influenced the nature of the recommendations regarding her. However, you can guess about this.
The President of Egypt (1970-1981), Anwar Sadat, for example, was very attracted to the personality of Mahatma Gandhi. Sadat loved to wrap himself in a sheet and carried a baby goat in his arms. Indira Gandhi, on the contrary, did not follow her grandfather's example. As a child, instead of dolls, she played with tin soldiers. She especially liked one - with a scarlet red cross on the shield. He reminded the future Indian leader of Joan of Arc. And young Gandhi herself associated herself with the Maid of Orleans. Another Egyptian leader, Gamal Abdel Nasser, accidentally joined a demonstration at the age of 12. Participation in the crowd, caught up in a single impulse, caused delight in little Nasser. He passionately desired to lead such a mass of people and lead an active political life. Professor Post believes that young Joseph Stalin's studies in theological seminary later pushed him to make an idol of the deceased Lenin. And the years Dzhugashvili spent in prison allowed him to perceive the entire society as a prison.
Saddam Hussein's favorite movie is "The Godfather". The leader of Iraq acted in the same way as the famous mafioso with like-minded people who betrayed him. After a series of failures during the war with Iran, Hussein assembled his cabinet and asked: “Should I resign? In this case, Khomeini (the leader of Iran) will agree to a truce.” All the ministers unanimously objected, and only the Minister of Health spoke in favor of a compromise: Hussein needs to temporarily step away from power, and when everything calms down, return. A day later, the “oppositionist’s” corpse, cut into pieces, was given to his wife. “Saddam had the world by the throat, and no one understood him,” Jerrold Post says today. “Until, finally, the diagnosis was made - malignant narcissism.”
Before the invasion of Iraq, some of George W. Bush's advisers remained hopeful that Saddam might retreat to save face. The latter took a different position: driven into a corner, Hussein will do anything, he is paranoid - to look for reasons outside himself. Knowledge of the personal history of the Iraqi autocrat allowed me to make a decision. Saddam received his first injury as soon as he was born. His mother, who suffered the death of her husband during pregnancy, had an unsuccessful abortion, and then abandoned the child that was still born, without even holding him in her arms. Having remarried, she took the child, but the stepfather humiliated and beat the boy. At the age of eight, Saddam ran away to his uncle, who inspired him: you will be a great man and liberate Jerusalem, like the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. Saddam looked at Mao and Castro with enthusiasm. When he himself came to power, oil prices jumped sharply (up to $20 per barrel). And Saddam believed in his divine destiny. But the gods do not retreat.
And North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is not just his father's son, he is the son of God. While his father was still alive, Chen Il headed the propaganda bureau and himself created the image of the great father-god. The main hobby of the current ruler of North Korea is cinema. His film library, according to various sources, contains from 30 to 50 thousand films. He ordered the kidnapping of a South Korean movie star, her husband and director. For several years they worked for the cinema of socialist Korea. Kim Jong Il himself positions himself as a Western hero who fights his enemies alone. God's second passion is Paradise cognac. According to the Hennessy cognac house, the socialist leader, who demands extreme moderation from his subjects, buys Paradise for $800 thousand a year.
Professor Post's fascinating methodology may well be used in studying terrorist leaders. One of them, Mohammed Rezak, with whom Mr. Post spoke more than once, became a refugee at the age of eight. Interestingly, his mother also fled Israel at this age. The teachers taught young Rezak that the land must be taken away from the Jews. This is how a convinced terrorist grew up. He later admitted that, having killed a Jewish hostage during the hijacking of an Israeli plane, he did not feel the slightest regret. On the contrary, he was hungry. He did not consider this murder a crime.
Russian experts say that Professor Post's methodology will be useful for political psychologists in our country. The director of the Institute of Reflexive Processes and Management of the Diplomatic Academy, Vladimir Lepsky, admits: “If this report had been heard among those in power, it would have turned their thoughts in a slightly different direction.” Maybe the authorities will show interest in, for example, Russian psychologists being able to say what the portrait of the current US president is and which strings need to be pulled in a critical situation for the world.