Current Events and the Psychology of Politics
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May 13th, 2011

Summary: The discovery of pornography in Osama bin Laden’s possession is consistent with his psychological profile, which I developed at the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics in the months following the attacks of 9/11 and presented in June 2002 at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology in Berlin. According to the profile, Bin Laden, whom I classified as a “unprincipled narcissist,” did not fit the profile of the highly conscientious, closed-minded religious fundamentalist, nor that of the religious martyr who combines those qualities with devout, self-sacrificing features. Far from being a religious zealot, the profile suggests that Bin Laden — in Machiavellian fashion — was adept at exploiting Islamic fundamentalism in the service of his own burning ambition and personal dreams of glory.


May 12th, 2011

Summary: NBC’s Chuck Todd writes that if the object of 2012 Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney’s May 12 health-care speech was “to put the health issue behind him, then the address was an ‘un-Mitt-igated’ failure.” Research conducted at the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics under the direction of Aubrey Immelman, Ph.D., suggests that Massachusetts’ health law, enacted during Romney’s tenure as governor, may be the least of his problems as he vies for the Republican nomination in a crowded GOP field. In short, Romney lacks the personal charisma to sway non-base voters, as measured by the Personal Electability Index for presidential contenders, developed at the Minnesota-based political psychology research unit. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on May 12, 2010, Aubrey Immelman announced that Independence Party-endorsed gubernatorial candidate Tom Horner scheduled a press conference at Stop Light Bait in St. Cloud, ahead of the weekend’s Minnesota’s fishing opener.


May 9th, 2011

Summary: Video footage taken from Osama bin Laden’s hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan, shows the terrorist leader watching news coverage of himself on television. The videos include outtakes of his propaganda films and, taken together, portray him as someone obsessed with his own image and how he is portrayed to the world. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on May 9, 2010, Aubrey Immelman featured the story of Eva Briseno, mother of wounded warrior Joseph “Jay” Briseno Jr., one of the most severely wounded soldiers ever to survive.


May 8th, 2011

Summary: Abu Huthaifa al-Battawi, the accused mastermind of the October 2010 siege at Baghdad’s Our Lady of Salvation church that killed dozens, nearly escaped from prison after wresting a gun from a prison guard and launching an hours-long assault that left 17 people dead, including Brig. Gen. Muaeid Mohammed Saleh, a top Iraqi counterterrorism official. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on May 8, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that Pakistan was investigating whether Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani-American arrested over a botched plot to bomb New York’s Times Square, had met with top Pakistani Taliban leaders in South Waziristan prior to his failed bombing attempt.


May 6th, 2011

Summary: Weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, compiled from U.S. Department of Defense news releases and iCasualties.org. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on May 6, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that it was not immediately clear why the Dow Jones industrial average lost some 6 percent of its value in a matter of minutes and then recovered almost as quickly in its biggest intraday move in history.


May 4th, 2011

Summary: In view of the vital national security interests of the U.S. and its allies in the war on terror to accurately conceptualize the leadership role structure (terrorist types) in an organization such as al-Qaida and to interdict future attacks, Aubrey Immelman provides a summary of his analysis of the key leadership roles in global-reach terrorism operations. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on May 4, 2010, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.


May 3rd, 2011

Summary: Psychological report and personality profile of Osama bin Laden’s deputy and chief al-Qaida strategist Ayman al-Zawahiri, prepared in the months following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on May 3, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents arrested Faisal Shahzad, 30, a Pakistani-born U.S. citizen, at New York’s JFK airport in connection with the failed bombing attempt in New York’s Times Square as he tried to leave the country on an Emirates airlines flight to Dubai.


May 2nd, 2011

Summary: Psychological report and personality profile of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, prepared in the months following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on May 2, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that police investigating a failed car bomb left in Times Square had videotape of a possible suspect shedding clothing in an alley and putting it in a bag.


May 1st, 2011

Summary: Osama bin Laden, the Saudi extremist whose al-Qaida terrorist organization killed more than 3,000 people in coordinated attacks on the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001, is dead following a military operation in Pakistan and the U.S. has recovered his body, President Barack Obama announced. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on May 1, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that police found an apparent car bomb in a parked sport utility vehicle in New York City’s Times Square, then evacuated buildings and cleared streets of thousands of tourists.


Apr 30th, 2011

Summary: Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has survived a NATO missile strike that reportedly killed his youngest son Saif al-Arab Gadhafi and three grandchildren. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on April 30, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil a day was spewing from the blown-out well at the site of BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig, which exploded April 20, 2010 and sank two days later.