🔗 Vladimir Putin's Favourite Sport

Vladimir Putin is a judo fanatic.

He started training at 11, authored books and videos about it, spoken publicly and has an eighth degree black belt in the art. We can question how much of his skillset is strongman bluster and how much is genuine mat time, but it is extremely clear that he is a high profile evangelist of the sport.

So. What is the basic methodology of judo?

Atemi, kuzushi, nage.

🔗 Atemi

Atemi isn't present in competitive judo, but the principle is a core part of how you apply it in self defence. It's a common feature of many Japanese martial arts. "Atemi" is usually translated as "striking", but there's subtlety and nuance to the concept.

One practitioner I'd spoken to described it instead as "taking the upper hand": creating a moment of disorientation where the person's defences are down, their muscles relax for a fraction of a second, and where controlling their body is momentarily easy.

The classical examples are things like groin kicks or liver punches, but some of my favourite examples of atemi do not involve direct contact with the person at all: throw your hat at them. Flash your eyebrows to an imaginary friend behind them. Anything unexpected which causes their set of assumptions to rapidly collapse, and they cannot coordinate their actions until they reorient themselves.

Atemi happens very quickly — it's more of a point-in-time event.

🔗 Kuzushi

Kuzushi is often rendered as "unbalancing". This is not quite right either. It's more about structure.

The objective is to place your opponent in a vulnerable position by modifying their body structure so that they cannot generate power when they need it, while their partner is able to maximise their power delivery. This is positional dominance, and it is achieved with grips, frames, levers and dynamic motion.

Kuzushi is often slower. It can require patience. It's a dynamic, resistive process, as each partner attempts to gain the upper hand over the other. This is the push-and-pull, the vying for dominance. While it can absolutely happen quickly, this stage forms the bulk of most judo matches.

🔗 Nage

Nage broadly translates to "throw". We have disoriented our opponent and gained the upper hand. We have compromised their ability to bring their strength to bear while placing our own in the best position.

The fight proper will begin and end in less than a second.

We leverage the structures of the two bodies to throw the opponent onto their back in a single, stunning move. On concrete there is a strong chance they will not survive. The person has gone from an active participant in the engagement to injured, disabled or dead literally in the blink of an eye.

🔗 This Is An Essay About Geopolitics

September 11, 2001 was the atemi, provided by a party only very tangentially related to Russia.

The intervening 24 years of fragmenting, disrupting, and polarising the political landscape with mass produced disinformation was the kuzushi.

But now, in one single, rapid, fluid movement, we witness the fall of liberal democracy.

I hope it lands on something soft.

By the way, judo also values "mutual benefit and wellbeing". The IJF withdrew Putin's honorary titles shortly after he demonstrated neither by invading Ukraine.

🔗 Checkin

Version: 1

Written: 2025-12-12

Written on: 7.5mg olanzapine since 2020-11-11 - likely causing significant cognitive impairment

Mental health was: poor - estimate 25% brain