It is hard these days to separate Hitler from the occult. Regardless of how much Adolf *actually* believed in Atlantis or Vril or Hyperborea or Ancient Aryan Supermen or all that rubbish, it is now just accepted that he did, and that those beliefs informed his nutty plans and actions. Did he really think that the Spear of Destiny would lead him to victory? Shrug.

Guess what: we’re here again, this time with Putin and whackadoodle Slavic magical superstitions:

The Crazy Mystical Impulses Sending Putin Wild in Ukraine

Valery Solovey, who’s trained many members of Putin’s ambassadorial corps at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and served as the prestigious school’s director of public relations, either knows a thing or two about the black arts of Russian diplomacy, or is dafter than a borscht sandwich. As the professor tells it, Putin once commanded Kremlin sorcerers to ritualistically kill a black dog so he could drink the blood to ensure a crushing victory in Ukraine. When that dog didn’t hunt, Solovey claimed that Putin ordered all the magicians’ heads cut off and displayed in front of their homes.

Uh-huh.

The article is filled with nutso. How much of it is accurate? How much of it was dreamed up by Putins enemies? How much of it by delusional supporters who buy into the nuttiness and see Putin as divinely anointed? Dunno. At first glance, you’d think that a guy brought up in the atheistic, materialistic Soviet system wouldn’t be superstitious. But the Commies didn’t actually get rid of the human need for magical thinking; they just redirected the need for God to the State, magic for Socialism. It would surprise me none at all to find the the KGB was filled to overflowing with wannabe-wizards making appeals to the spirit realm.

Appeals to the supernatural are hardly rare in politics. The Middle East is built (and destroyed) on that; American politics is full to overflowing with politicians on both sides claiming special status with God or Jesus. But in American politics, the supernatural is usually pretty performative; you don’t often get the feeling that this politician or that actually really buys that deeply into it. But Putin is *clearly* psychologically unsound, and is clearly aggressive in a way not seen in Europe since Bad Mustache Man. Couple that with especially crazy magical beliefs, easily influenced not by a massive, slow-moving and hidebound Church but by random Rasputin-like weirdos… well, it seems like bad times might get worse.