Psychological Warfare: The Enemy Within (and Between)

Getting (dis)Oriented: "Orientation", a term often used in conjunction with any intro to a course, or a college campus, including a "walk around", perhaps virtually the last few years; "see you around campus" is on its way back, we hope. In my professional field, the term is often applied to assessing the person in front of me, situated in my room (or on zoom, these days), in terms of time, place, person. In other words, do they know who they are (including age, etc.), what time they are living in (what day, month, etc.), and where they are, all of which have become more interesting the past few years, as we have all become a bit (dis)oriented, given the whirlwind of changes that occurred in many of our lives almost overnight (day and nights getting mixed up themselves, in many cases). Many times referred to as "OrientationX3" An added value, where it becomes "X4" is to add situation, as in "do you know why you are here", and/or "what the hell's going on around here?!" 

Historical Tutorial: People the world over and throughout history, of course, have questioned and challenged the orientation of others and even themselves on occasion: "Everyone's crazy except Me and Thee (and now I'm not sure about Thee)" The last few weeks and this very morning the orientation and "mindset" of a particular (self-appointed) leader from a major influencer country in Europe, has been brought into worldview, the focus of politicians, military strategists, Wall Street (notice the market, how disorienting?) and other 'talking heads', as well as, of course, mental health professionals (those that allow themselves to be interviewed). Individually and collectively attempting to get into "Mr. Putin's" head, to adopt his mindset, in order to anticipate his next move, ultimately to put an abrupt halt to what appears to most of us to be an insane march to mass destruction. An unfortunate repeating theme throughout history, even modern times, where you think we, THEY would have learned by now. But that's part of the story and analysis; that is, what "he" learned behind the scenes of the Soviet Union, including his tenure in the (in)famous KGB ("former intelligence officer"). One of the mindset references, for instance, has been "You can take the man out of the KGB but you can't take the KGB out of the man". This includes how to invoke terror in your own people ("within") let alone the enemy outside your borders ("between"), via "Psychological Warfare". Questions and attempts to analyze this influential man several times in one hour this very morning: "What's on his mind...what will it take to stop him and how far does he intend on going...what does he want...?" These prompted by interviewers with many throughout Europe representing many professional backgrounds. And yesterday, a question issued from the White House, questioning Mr. Putin's orientation, "Who in the Lord's name does Putin think gave him the right to declare new countries?" Good questions, all. No easy answer(s), without which we (countries the world over) are finding ourselves having to strategize for all possible contingencies, prepare for the worst-case scenarios, carry out risk assessments in "situation" and "war" rooms the world over. Just about everyone's involved. Part of keeping us all guessing, being unpredictable (including the dire warning of "unprecedented consequences" if he is interfered with) is, what most of us believe, part of "his" strategy, part of his "Psych-Ops". A term I will unravel, dissect further here, through at least a few posts, with at least a few examples that most of us can relate to in our daily lives, let alone on this world stage, especially on the Ukranian/Russian border, where mass destruction of property and a multitude of deaths has already occurred, accumulating as I post this.

      So here we go: Psych-Ops, within and between. Come back for illustrations, elaborations, explications, and implications.