Garry Kasparov on Berlin Wall and essentials of citizenship

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Garry Kasparov: 'High Time to Respond' to Putin

breitbart

By Frances Martel 

As Vladimir Putin is cementing his power in Crimea, those studying Russia are increasingly concerned that the West has done little to stop Putin's expansion. Human Rights Foundation Chairman Garry Kasparov warns that anything short of a full assault on Putin's kleptocracy will fail to stop him.

"It is long past time to stop listening to professors’ lectures about what Putin would never do and high time to respond to what he does — before he does it again," Kasparov writes in a column for the Washington Post on Friday. He explains that Putin's ability to win over states like Crimea depends upon knowing that the United States will exert no military force to stop him. He cites two comments from President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry that concern him most: both promise that the United States will not deploy troops to Crimea.

Kasparov argues that any attempt to diffuse tensions by taking military retaliation off the table fails because Putin and his cronies do not have the best interests of Russia in mind. He says, "They do not, except in the few areas where such interests overlap with their goal of looting as much treasure as possible." When the President explicitly denied the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine, he "freely surrendered one of his greatest advantages: America's overwhelming military strength."

That is not to say that Kasparov is arguing for a military attack on Russia. On the contrary, he explicitly lays out a plan to sanction and cripple the powers that be in Russia and split the wealthy backers that keep Putin in power from Putin himself. Putin, Kasparov argues, "is a lost cause, and Russia also will be until he is gone." But the wealthy who protect him and care only about their own personal comfort are a different story. They stick with Putin, Kasparov states, because "the free world they enjoy living in has made no moves that would force them to choose between their riches and Putin." 

Changing that equation with sanctions or other moves that would cripple their ability to use their wealth freely would turn them against Putin, which would immediately weaken the Russian leader. "Sanction the elites who support Putin, go after the family members they use to hide their assets abroad and scrutinize their companies," Kasparov advises.

Kasparov, who made his name as a chess legend before becoming a human rights advocate and dedicating his career to fighting the oppressive Putin regime, has reason to fear that President Obama's diminished global presence will expand Putin's influence. Kasparov fled Russia after Putin's administration began to persecute him for speaking out against them. He has since campaigned for the West to take the threat of Putin's expansion more seriously, as have many in Eastern Europe that fear Putin's resurgence.

Kasparov is not alone in his warnings that Putin will not stop at Crimea. Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who found himself abandoned by the West when Putin invaded the western Georgian provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in 2008, wrote in a recent column in The Guardian that he had made the same argument about Georgia: Putin would not stop there. Now that Putin has ensconced himself in Ukraine, Transnistria, a region in Moldova, is clamoring to be annexed into Russia, as well. Whether Putin will send troops there next, or to Estonia, is anyone's guess.

Kasparov Blasts Putin, Compares Sochi 2014 to Berlin 1936

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By Daniel J. Flynn

edition.cnn.com

Russian chess grand master Garry Kasparov has blasted the Sochi Olympics as a propaganda show for Vladimir Putin as the games get underway in Sochi. The man believed by some to be the best chess player in history dubs the Winter Olympics a "one-man circus" and compares Sochi 2014 to Berlin 1936.

"Anyone who thinks that is an exaggeration is forgetting a very important factor," Kasparov maintained in an interview. "Hitler in 1936 was seen as a thoroughly respectable and legitimate politician."

"Moscow (1980) and Beijing (2008) were games that authoritarian systems established to generate propaganda for their country and for themselves, the ruling party," he further explained. "Sochi, as Berlin, stands under a different sign: these are games which revolve entirely around a single man. In Berlin, it was Hitler. In Sochi, it was Putin. It's about a personality cult."

The national hero has been a vocal opponent of Russian leader Vladimir Putin. He has run for political office on several occasions and has been detained for his anti-Putin activism. Former KGB general Oleg Kalugin speculated in 2007 that Putin might have Kasparov killed at some point because of his outspokenness.

Kasparov reitera que negocios venezolanos con Rusia son de mafia y $ y no de ideología

RunRun.es

El año pasado asistimos al “Freedom Forum” en Oslo donde tuvimos la ocasión de compartir con quien fuera campeón mundial de ajedrez por varios años, Gary Kasparov, convertido en la reciente década en luchador por los derechos humanos, candidato presidencial y defensor de los derechos civiles en su Rusia natal. Enfrentado al gobierno de Putin y Medvedev el ajedrecista no cejó en ningún momento de nuestro dialogo en acusar al gobierno ruso de estar asociado en negocios turbios con el gobierno rojo de Venezuela.

Las multimillonarias compras de armas por parte de Chávez a las empresas rusas que incluyeron hasta una planta de fabricación de fusiles Kalashnikov ascendía en ese entonces a varios millardos de dólares.

Este mismo mes de mayo la corporación rusa de exportaciones Rosoboronexport anunció que las compras de armamento por parte de Venezuela ascendieron en 2012 a U.S.$ 12.900 millones.

Kasparov en su intervención ante el Foro de la Libertad en la capital noruega dialogó con los medios internacionales y en el diario El País de Madrid aparecieron sus declaraciones para el corresponsal Antonio Caño en las que adelantó que la situación interna de Rusia era muy delicada y que vislumbraba “en dos o tres años una explosión masiva” ante al acoso a la población.

Allí enfatizó, mas bien repitió, lo que nos dijo en una entrevista para mi programa radial “La Cola Feliz” por la emisora Éxitos 99.9 FM de Caracas, al referirse a la relación Rusia-Venezuela: “…la presencia de Rusia en Venezuela no es ideológica, es cuestión de mafia”.

Desarrollando más su discurso sobre la conchupancia entre Putin y Chávez se explayó: “Todos los dictadores sobre la faz de la Tierra tienen lazos estrechos, sean Putin, el Gobierno chavista, Irán, Corea del Norte, Siria… Tienen contactos. Hacen negocios juntos, pero, más importante que eso, se apoyan los unos a los otros porque no quieren cambios y tienen miedo del efecto dominó. Temen que si uno cae, caigan todos los demás”. Igualmente que todos esos negocios no están intencionados a montar un imperio o a continuar una ideología: “No es ideológico, es una cuestión de mafia. Todo está basado en el dinero y en el poder, no en la ideología”. Mas adelante en referencia directa a Venezuela el luchador civil ruso enfatizó: “Venezuela tiene dinero. Yo creo que más bien se están protegiendo el uno al otro. Porque si Putin cae, el Gobierno chavista perdería un aliado fundamental en el exterior. Y, si el Gobierno chavista cae, muy probablemente todos los demás Gobiernos de América Latina que le siguen harían frente, seguramente, a grandes problemas”.

La penetración de las mafias rusas petroleras, armamentistas y de construcción de viviendas están a la vista de quien quiera enterarse con solo colocar en Google los nombres de los dirigentes rusos que han venido visitando -y cobrando- a sus pares venezolanos en los años recientes.

La entrevista completa en El País:
(http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2013/05/18/actualidad/1368914319_067917.html)

Kaspárov cree a Rusia “mafiosa” y la compara con Venezuela

Kaspárov cree a Rusia “mafiosa” y la compara con Venezuela