Kasparov's Minority Attack
Michael C. Moynihan | October 24, 2007, 4:14pm
Over at reason.tv I've posted a fantastic interview with chess master and Putin-hater Garry Kasparov from last week's Real Time with Bill Maher. Kasparov questions Putin's approval ratings, takes a few well-deserved shots at President Bush's ability to see into ex-KGB agents' souls, and assesses the impact of high oil prices on Russian democracy.
Also, check out Kasparov's recent Wall Street Journal article on "Don Putin" (that's a mafia reference, not Mr. Putin's estranged, Roger Clinton-like brother). A sample:
After years of showing no respect for the law in Russia, with no resulting consequences from abroad, it should not come as a surprise that Mr. Putin's attitude extends to international relations as well. The man accused of the Litvinenko murder, Andrei Lugovoi, signs autographs and enjoys the support of the Russian media, which says and does nothing without Kremlin approval. For seven years the West has tried to change the Kremlin with kind words and compliance. It apparently believed that it would be able to integrate Mr. Putin and his gang into the Western system of trade and diplomacy.
Instead, the opposite has happened--the mafia corrupts everything it touches. Bartering in human rights begins to appear acceptable. The Kremlin is not changing its standards: It is imposing them on the outside world. It receives the stamp of legitimacy from Western leaders and businesses but makes those same leaders and businesses complicit in its crimes.
Whole article here.
Andrei | October 28, 2007, 6:53am | #
As a Russian living in France, I am hardly can be accused that I am brainwashed by Russian media. However, I completely agree with what Mr. Pupkin said. Here is an article from a UK newspaper where a person who knows Kasparov well from his previous career gives an interesting insight..
In Russia, during his chess career, Kasparov was regarded as a cross between the greatest of athletes and revered intellectual.And now he yearns to feel again the admiration and influence he had for 15 years as the world's leading player.
His may be a futile ambition: Putin is powerful enough to crush any dissenter and that is why Kasparov is running scared but he feels someone's got to try to do it – even though he admits his opposition candidacy is only symbolic. It is considered highly unlikely he will gather the two million signatures necessary to compete in the presidential race.
And, even if he did, Putin makes up all the rules anyway.
Nevertheless, becoming leader of Drugaya Rossiya (the Other Russia) – a renegade party that effectively constitutes opposition politics – is a role just about big enough for Kasparov's unusually large ego and doesn't surprise those who observed him during his years at the top of chess.
"Kasparov has a long history in Russian politics of aligning himself with every leader from Gorbachev onwards to try to gain power and influence, " says former British champion chess player and Daily Express columnist William Hartston. "Whenever he realises he isn't going to get it, he always does the same – ditches them and starts to campaign against them. Frustration drives him on." Interestingly, Hartston reveals Kasparov had a reputation for doing the same thing when he was playing chess. "He would try to take power away from the International Chess Foundation by forming players' unions but would ditch them when they wouldn't do what he wanted. He did this on at least three occasions."
HARTSTON says the impression was of a man who didn't want to belong to any club that wouldn't elect him president. "I don't think I've met anyone so completely incapable of seeing anyone else's point of view, " he adds. But Kasparov has always taken himself more seriously than others have done. Putin may have a history of removing his detractors but it is unlikely he is losing sleep over Kasparov's latest ambitions. "I saw Kasparov once at a players' meeting during a discussion about the schedule of play, " says Hartston. "When it was clear he wasn't going to get his way Kasparov stood up, banged his chair and said 'I think
you should appreciate that I am the world champion and that should stand for something' before storming out.
"The funny thing was the reaction of the others, the rest of the world's best. They just watched with a collective 'Oh, there goes Kasparov' expression. His is a fairly normal chess temperament. It's just an extreme example of it." Chess is, says Hartston, a game of "complete information". "The psychologist in me says it attracts the sort who want complete control over their environment. It is not for adaptable people. It attracts control freaks and perfectionists." So what drives Kasparov, a man with riches enough to furnish a comfortable retirement, into a grubby political arena? "With his status came celebrity, foreign investment accounts, summers on the Adriatic, an apartment along the Hudson River, friendships among Western politicians and businessmen and the attentions of beautiful women, " says an acquaintance.
The money may remain but the challenge in retiring young is maintaining influence and connections. For the past year or so Kasparov has been working as a motivational speaker in the US, flogging himself and his book How Life Imitates Chess. "His conceit [in the book] is that success in the boardroom requires the same sort of planning, strategy and discipline as success on the chessboard, " says a source who refers to it as "can-do hokum". But this new incarnation has failed to give Kasparov the gravitas he demands, hence his latest attempt to reinvent himself.
Taking on Putin is certainly one way of exercising his large brain and Kasparov likes nothing more than getting inside the psyche of his opponent. Indeed, putting himself on a par with a man who has the entire Russian military at his command and is arguably one of, if not the most powerful, men in the world, goes some way towards explaining his zeal.
A telling example of Kasparov's desire to unpick the psychology of his rivals is the way he set about competing against his greatest adversary Anatoli Karpov.
From the start, Kasparov's sights were set on Karpov, the world champion. As a boy Kasparov played chess obsessively. By the age of 12 he was attracting national attention and by 18 he was the Soviet champion, under endless pressure to perform.
The first Karpov-Kasparov match began in September 1984 and was the talk of the chess world for years afterwards. "Every morning the two men entered from the wings and walked to a chess board at centre stage, " says David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker who recently interviewed Kasparov. "They sat hunched over the pieces for hours, inches from each other, breathing the same overheated air."
KARPOV would stare at the board, Kasparov would stare at Karpov before clawing his hair and
"expressing his emotions with the eye-bulging theatricality of a silent-film star", as Remnick puts it. To begin, Karpov dominated but after nine games Kasparov started playing at a new level. The next 17 games were draws. Karpov won the 27th game, followed by 20 more draws as well as another Kasparov win. Then Kasparov won two more. He had worked out his opponent, stalking him like a lion pursuing prey. But then, before either could win, the tournament authorities called off the match, claiming both players were exhausted. Kasparov was furious, convinced it was a government stitch-up to suppress the new boy, an outsider. But he had learned his opponent thoroughly and the next year he took the title.
It's unlikely Kasparov will achieve the same with his presidential ambitions. Although Putin is unable to run for re-election to a third term in 2008, he declared the possibility of becoming prime minister again after his presidential term is over. This would enable him to run for president again in 2012.
But Kasparov won't let a little thing like a power-crazed politician and death threats put him off. He is doggedly determined but admits his party is short of resources and time to overthrow the current regime.
"We want to use the campaign to publicise our ideas, " he says. "What we're saying is, we won't win now but, when this regime collapses, be aware we are here."
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