Putin, besides being sociopathic, also suffers from NPD

[greiner3]

Narcissistic Personality Disorder traits may include:

Believing that you're better than others
Fantasizing about power, success and attractiveness
Exaggerating your achievements or talents
Expecting constant praise and admiration
Believing that you're special and acting accordingly
Failing to recognize other people's emotions and feelings
Expecting others to go along with your ideas and plans
Taking advantage of others
Expressing disdain for those you feel are inferior
Being jealous of others
Believing that others are jealous of you
Trouble keeping healthy relationships
Setting unrealistic goals
Being easily hurt and rejected
Having a fragile self-esteem
Appearing as tough-minded or unemotional."

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/narcissistic-personality-disorder/basics/symptoms/con-20025568

If you extrapolate these symptoms from a single person to how Putin must view the world.

The DSMIV cites as an "essential feature" of the narcissist a "lack of empathy that begins by early childhood and is present in a variety of contexts." If lack of empathy isn't a hallmark of an antisocial individual, then what is (again see the DSMIV "reckless disregard for the safety of others&quot ?

The most important point is that people who are either antisocial or narcissistic are victimizers...who is incredibly self-centered and self-aggrandizing, who is untruthful and cannot be trusted, who fails to see things from any point of view other than his own, and who is able to eliminate fear (and conscience) long enough to pursue any means to an end. Invariably, others are betrayed, deceived, and emotionally (perhaps financially) injured. The narcissist may not commit an act that is illegal, but the damage he does may be devastating. In fact, because the narcissist appears to be law-abiding, others may not be suspicious of him leaving him freer to pursue his objectives, no matter at whose expense...

http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/sept2008/personality-disorders.html#Narcissistic

This is a bad thing for the world and everybody on it and I hope President Obama and the EU take appropriate steps to diffuse the situation.

I took the step of selling most of my stocks because of this interesting time, but I sure hope I'm wrong as to the crap Putin could cause.

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. Dr. Fristov, is that you?

[quinnox]

2. lol, had the same reaction, but didn't feel like posting it

I love it when "Dr. Frists" make long range psychological diagnosis…

[1000words]

4. LOL

Коты говорят "meow."

[laundry_queen]

3. Sociopaths or psychopaths often have a narcissistic component

some believe the 2 are actually part of a spectrum.
That said, you can't 'diagnose' something like this from his appearances on tv.

but it's something I would put money on, given the chance. There was something on CNN awhile ago that said most presidents are sociopaths (I remember they said except Jimmy Carter and I think Al Gore...) and I'd extrapolate that to mean most world leaders are too. It explains why a lot of what happens in the world happens. I'd say Pootie-poot is probably on the severe end of the spectrum.

[amandabeech]

5. On Sunday, Angela Merkel said something like "Putin isn't operating in reality."

Today, he's denying that the troops without ID who are wandering around Crimea are not Russian, despite various reporters getting said troops to admit that they are in fact from Russia.

Certainly, he's not someone who can be trusted, or can only be trusted to do the absolute worst thing, as reported by the New Republic.