Only days after the diplomatic mishap that saw the Russian president left out of Auschwitz's liberation anniversary due to his current strained relations with the European Union and the United States, now the Pentagon has released a report saying what is the supposed problem with Vladimir Putin: Asperger's.
Asperger's syndrome, also known as AS, is described by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke as an "autism spectrum disorder," within the range of the possible disorders that are characterized by restrictive/repetitive patterns of behavior, social impairment and communications difficulty - and, supposedly, the Pentagon has proof of Vladimir Putin's Asperger's, which would mean that one of the world's most important and controversial leaders is within the autistic spectrum.
According to USA Today, the Pentagon's Vladimir Putin Asperger's report came after studying videos of the Russian president and KGB officer during the last years of the Cold War. Experts went through footage from 2008 to 2011, reaching the conclusion that the president has "an autistic disorder which affects all of his decisions," as the report suggests this disorder could be autism.
However, a report by The Guardian states that the Vladimir Putin Asperger's "diagnosis" may not be completely trustworthy, calling it another example of the West's obsession with the Russian Federation's president, which the paper calls "Putinology."
Apparently, the report, which was commissioned by the Pentagon, was created from the musings of only one expert, Brenda Connors, from Newport, Rhode Island's US Naval College; an authority on "movement patterns analysis" that used to work for the State Department, who recruited experts for the project back when it was first ordered.
However, psychologists across the country have greatly criticized the way the autism conclusion was reached, as it was only based on videos and not on face-to-face interviews, and it's practically impossible to make an accurate diagnosis of a mental disorder without coming into direct contact with the patient.
Of course, as it would be expected, Vladimir Putin's Asperger's claims were quickly denied by his spokespeople who, according to Yahoo! News, called the diagnosis "stupid" and unworthy of commenting further.
