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Chess Grandmaster Kasparov Versus President Putin
An anonymous reader writes "The Times of London has an article on how Garry Kasparov, former world chess champion, is using his fame and intellect in an attempt to defeat President Putin at the presidential elections in March 2008. Kasparov believes that Putin is virtually a dictator who is dismantling democracy and returning Russia to an authoritarian regime. Some high-profile Putin critics, such as Alexander Litvinenko, have been the victims of unsolved murders, and Kasparov is aware of the dangers: 'I can calculate the possibilities as a chess player and I have to be honest and say that our chances are not high. But I take this as a moral duty, and when you do something out of moral duty, then who cares?'" From the article: "[Kasparov] will not be a contender for the presidency but [his political umbrella group] The Other Russia aims to create the conditions under which an anti-Putin candidate can win. It appears, however, to be an uneven contest against a man who enjoys 80 per cent approval ratings. Most Russians want Mr. Putin to overturn a constitutional bar on a third term in office. Many will back whomever Mr. Putin endorses to succeed him."
In Soviet Russia, Putin checkmates you!
Ever since I read Bill Gates was a rather good Go player, it explained a lot to me about his business strategy.
A brilliant chess player like Mr Kasparov should not only be able to calculate the odds, but also devise some ways to alter them.
If he's really getting ready to battle Putin, he really should apply his best tactics to politics.
Which he might do, too.
Let's see what happens...
Ignore this signature. By order.
You may not be so far off.
There is a great controversy over this man whom Putin may have personally had murdered. Or it could be someone framing Putin. Or it could be Putin making it look as though he was framed. Russia is a grim place. I don't expect Kasparov to live much longer...whether those "approval ratings" are truly 80% or more like (1/80)%, either Putin has the power to make it look as though he has the people's support, or he does have the people's support, obviously making him powerful.
Good luck, Mr Karparov! Anything you can do to modernise the Russian political landscape is a good thing. No one wants a nationalistic anti-West Russia on EU's and NATO's doorsteps. I certainly support a democratic Russia integrated into the EU (and why not NATO, too). Mr Putin should consider a West-Russia-Japan-India alliance against an increasingy powerful communist China which continues torturing Tibetan nuns and denies the Taiwan's independence.
Remember that Putin is ex KGB.
My wife has family in Russia so that is why I am posting anonymously.
They hate Putin. Yeltin was a dream compared to Putin.
Look how Russia in implicated in the poisoning of several prominent people outside of Russia including the President of Ukraine.
Under Putin the Russian State is gradually taking control of key industries.
Look at the past week and how Shell were forced to relinquish control of a major Oil/Gas project in the Far East of the country.
The project will now go down the Tubes and fall apart but to Putin's idealogs this does not matter.
Russia controls most of the Gas Supplies to Western Europe so Government here dare not say anything against him for fear that their Gas supplies get cut off in the forthcoming winter period.
IMHO, any challenge to Putin is worthwhile.
Just my take on the issue. Right On Kasparov!
That sounds almost like Alberta. Well, except Alberta's economy was been booming under Klein's regime, and nobody has accused him of murdering his opponents, but that's still a pretty high approval rating. Why is it so high? The impression the media here gives us is that Putin is a ruthless dictator and enemy of the people. (Media bias, anyone?)
http://outcampaign.org/
If he wins, Deep Blue will run in the next election.
-Dave
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Deep Blue for 2008!
Kasparov vs Putin
1. f3 e5
2. g4
Putin to move
Putin might (or might not) be a dictator, but the sort of people who could take his place if he was deposed doesn't bear thinking about. Theres a whole nest of former and current FSB/KGB mixed up with BIG organised crime bosses behind the scenes. Russia is a political mess right now and I'm not sure theres a solution.
Here it is, another intellectual, versus another incumbent authoritarian in a major election. I completely agree with John Dean, in his book Conservatives without Conscience, that there is a very pathological aspect to modern conservative authoritarians, but what can change the nature of the electorate? Intellectuals will continue to be perceived as wishy-washy no matter how bad the existing authoritarian, and the defense of increasingly authoritarian rule will not have a real challenge unless that changes. It seems that the only challenge to modern authoritarian rule is catastrophic failure across the whole society.
Will the honest questions of an intellectual ever not be a liability? Or will politicians always continue to have to be liars wearing masks of false confidence, grabbing all power available in order to hold onto any power at all? Must the functional brains of our society continue to be the most cruel amongst us?
Ryan Fenton
This country the article speaks of was the United States' bitter rival for over 50 years, and between the two, the shape of politics throughout the entire world was molded. Russia was supposedly won over by our plan for government, was supposedly no longer a threat to us, but when we look over there now, we see a country that is falling into the same millenia-old habits and a country that probably deep down still holds a lot of resentment of the United States of America.
How does this not effect our foreign policy and our politics?
Kasparov was on NPR's All Things Considered a while ago, and spoke about his move into politics. Here is a link to the interview.
First, do not mix up nationalism and desire to protect own national interests. Please understand that the Russian people/government has no obligation to enrich Europe or America; whatever it has to enrich is Russia. Second, since NATO is an anti-Russian organisation [by this I mean that the purpose of maintaining NATO is to have a military power applicable against Russia], I don't see Russia joining NATO anytime soon. Third, integration of Russia into Europe spells death to the Russian economy - ask any decent economist why. Tip: it's cold here, and our production cannot possibly be as cheap as in Europe. Fourth, what planet are you from? Japan is no fond of Russia, nor Europe and the US are. And we're quite comfortable making friends with both India and China separately, leaving their mutual quarrels alone.
If this goes well, you can count on seeing George Bush in a Rap Battle with Eminem in the near future.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
Did Putin lift Kasparov's shirt up and give him a kiss on the stomach during a chess match?
Monstar L
However, Putin does no respect the rules of the political game. The rules are essentially basic human rights, the Russian laws, and the spirit and the letter of the Russian constitution.
Putin is analogous to a chess player who, upon seeing an imminent checkmate by his wily opponent, (1) positions a gun (with a silencer) inside his trenchcoat and under the chess table, (2) shoots and kills his opponent beyond view of the audience, (3) then immediately stands up to declare victory by default, revealing blood splattered from the opponent and onto the trenchcoat, and (4) becomes angry when the audience gasps at the scene in front of it. Kasparov must carefully deliberate his next move since he is now playing high-stakes "chess"; the stakes are his life and the lives of his supporters.
Most Russians want Mr. Putin to overturn a constitutional bar on a third term in office. Many will back whomever Mr. Putin endorses to succeed him."
Well, as much as Kasparov is complaining about the democratic process, it seems to me the people are getting what they want. Who are we to tell them they're wrong? It's in America's culture to distrust extended rule and anything that smells like a monarchy. It's in Russia's culture to prefer stability of a strong leader to the uncertainty that can be found in the absence thereof. If they truly want Putin to rule them, let him.
Don't you forget the Vietnamese, Koreans, Libanese, Iraqis and the whole Muslim world.
The man who put his life on the line to tell the truth about the evil's of communism is one of the great intellectual heroes of our day, as well someone of absolute integrity and moral authority. Alas, he is also 88 years old, and it's hard to conceive of him undertaking the rigors of a political campaign, or even the office of President, at that age. but one can dream...
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
He was just thinking 6 moves ahead, unlike Kasparov who lost one of his major pieces early in his game against Deep Blue.
God spoke to me.
I can calculate the possibilities as a chess player and I have to be honest and say that our chances are not high.
Don't get me wrong... chess is one of my hobbies too. I also enjoy digging into politics, and I feel like I have enough experience in computer science to be able to identify and analyze systems. First, I can tell you that the game of chess and politics are two very different systems. So different, in fact, that being good at one will not ever help you with the other.
Chess is in fact a simple, deterministic game that is very limited and loses complexity over time. We've written software that can play chess excellently for a very long time. As far as I know, no computer systems have ever been elected to office.
I can tell you right off the bat that Kasparov's edge in politics is not his chess ability--it's his fame. That will attract more attention than anything else. Also, there is the public notion that anyone who is good at chess is some kind of genius, something he can use to his advantage as well. He keeps bringing up the fact that being so good at chess makes him smart enough to do all these things. People don't have trouble believing something like that, so maybe he is a good politician after all.
My wife has family in Russia so that is why I am posting anonymously.
Right. Because the KGB is reading Slashdot, has a lookup table between slashdot usernames and addresses, and has nothing better to do except target the family of some guy who said a few nasty words about Putin.
Putin may be very evil, but don't use melodrama to puff up your claims, please. Also- Yeltsin's name is spelled with an S.
Please help metamoderate.
Did you attend the seminar? Maybe you can make it to one of the upcoming events.
Most ex Soviet block countries are in the same situation... Is there a solution? Not in the short term. Long term, it will stabilize, just as it did after the "robber baron era" in the west. IMHO, of course.
"Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are the dead." A. Huxley
It was George Bush senior that was CIA director. Junior was some sort of entrepreneur disaster who ran companies into the ground.
"Most Russians want Mr. Putin to overturn a constitutional bar on a third term in office."
h tm
It comes from the "Yuri Levada Analytical Centre",. Yuri Levada died November 16th this year (heart attack), but his organization has had repeated attempts at take over by the Kremlin, including trying to replace the board in 2003, that didn't like his polls showing Russians critical of Putin. Without Yuri, information put out in his name is likely tainted by the Kremlin. The poll was done just before Yuri's death, and the results released just after his death. So it's tainted.
http://www.russiavotes.org/levada-times-obituary.
"With the Kremlin's strategy of buying off the opposition, crushing dissenters and marginalising anyone who continued to speak up in a flattened political landscape, Levada's polls provided an awkward reminder of realities that Putin could not stomach, such as widespread popular opposition to the wars in Chechnya. The Kremlin preferred spin and polls that it manipulated. In a cunning move typical of current Kremlin tactics, the government ministry that had suddenly discovered it still owned VTsIOM turned it into a joint-stock company in September 2003 and appointed a new board of directors, who happened to be Kremlin loyalists. The Government claimed it wanted to make the agency's finances more transparent, but Levada and his colleagues knew the truth."
If Putin was really popular he wouldn't have to take control of the media, polling services and all major TV stations. It means that he isn't popular and is doing the KGB kill, lie and deny approach.
If you read the Moscow press, he's trying to create a false sense that everyone wants him to run a third term.
He's a conspiracy theory revisionist historian... Have a look at this: http://www.new-tradition.org/view-garry-kasparov.h tm
Methinks ol' Gary may be at the very least, a tad paranoid.
Damn, I thought this article was going to be about a chess match between Kasparov and Putin...
find / -iname life 2>
The typical line that I hear from them is "you don't know Russia - it's different - Russia needs a strong man leading it." What utter nonsense. These are the people that should form a disapproving core of expatriat opposition. Too self-absorbed to go out and do anything concrete, but giving tacit approval to the general notion that the situation in Russia is bad. Scratch almost any Iranian ex-pat, for example, and you'll get a tirade about the antidemocratic and repressive regime there. The Ukrainian ex-pat community coalesced with funding and support to help the democractic revolution there recently.
But Russians? Quite selfishly and arrogantly, they cling to the notion that while they were too important to let themselves be bogged down in Russia's corrupt, anti-democratic, and anti-egalitarian reality, really Putin and his ilk are what's best for their countrymen left behind.
Don't believe me? Think I'm just prejudiced against Russians? Go into your neighborhood's Russian supermarket and ask the sales clerk what she thinks of Putin.
Of course, then again, there's still the issue that the majority of Russians also paternalistically feel that they (for whatever the faults of the USSR) did the non-Russian republics a big favor by including them into their union, under the theory that a few tens of millions of dead is a small price to pay for having been lifted from the hunting and gathering existence those nations were in before, but that's for another day.
FTA: [his political umbrella group] The Other Russia
Considering that umbrellas were used at least once by the KGB in an assassination (poison dart gun hidden in an umbrella), I wonder what sort of 'umbrella group' we're talking about here.
Advice to Kasparov:
When eating out, bring Geiger counter.
Furthermore, we see that we are becoming more like them rather than they becoming more like us. I find it extremely sad, but it's true.
Because Kasparov is showing Bush how to *really* spread democracy.
- RG>
Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
In 2004, you should have gone with Sargon II instead of Kerry. It would have easily defeated Bush, running on a (Apple) Pro-DOS platform.
he could make more money on the internet.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
I for one, welcome our new Chessmaster overlords.
Yeah, good luck with that.
Slagborr
Only in a chess game, and only as long as it's against another human and not a computer.
Kasparov seems to be rather eccentric, perhaps not as much as Bobby Fischer, but his ideas are too weird for someone who wants to govern a country. His analysis of European history should be enough for anyone to be wary of him. He seems to believe the Middle Ages didn't exist.
He is very arrogant in his statements, for instance "How could the ancient Romans build elaborate structures such as temples, bridges, and aqueducts without precise and elaborate calculations?" That question is answered by a branch of history dedicated to the study of the evolution of science and technology. In the specific case of ancient Roman and Greek temples we are fortunate that the calculations were sometimes drawn in the stone itself, so we have the detailed "blueprints" carved in stone.
Putin may be dangerous, but Kasparov is much worse. The Russians have done enough in trying to rewrite history in the past century. What next, will Kasparov claim the last Tzar never existed?
Or the Deep Blue, Kasparov Ticket. Chess skill is all well and good but I wouldn't vote for someone on that basis anymore than I would deep blue or little yapping dog.
Frankly speaking, his political position is so marginal I would not believe any sane people would support him.
As of Litvinenko, he never was a 'high-profile', he never was a 'spy' (he was in organized crime department), he never knew any government secrets (unfortunately for him, because he had nothing to sell) and he was thrown out of FSB (successor to KGB) for beating suspects' heads with Yellow Pages books. Then he turned out to be a dissident.
BTW, it is a wee bit premature to declare his death as an assassination, not to say to accuse someone in this assassination.
Been watching too much CNN, have you? The only real resentment is from oil companies outside Russia because Putin won't play ball with them. They are no threat. This is all about installing a US-business friendly government in Russia and nothing else.
To make them more similar, the next big chess tournament would have to be followed by a PR blitz saying, "well of course everyone thinks that player x lost--that's all the press is reporting. But some sources are reporting that things were a bit more complicated. We'll keep you updated on the ongoing controversy."
Truthiness aside, the more likely option is that Kasparov falls down the stairs (or has an auto accident, or chokes on dental floss, or whatever) and dies tragically. Putin will attend the funeral and mourn with the rest of Russia over the loss of a national hero, and things will go on as before.
No, but I would have said the same thing (about Hitler's supporters) if the Germans still supported Hitler by the 1940s. The Russians still support Putin after all that he's done. Choosing a leader is a consequential action, not to be taken lightly, and a vote is essentially an endorsement of a candidate's proposed method of governance, as best seen or estimated by the voters at the time of an election.
(It's worth noting that Hitler was not actually elected, but appointed by Hindenburg in what I can only describe as an utter failure of representative government, though it can be argued that the Weimar Republic was a very weak example of such a government. Hindenburg himself collaborated with Hitler until his death in 1934).
Why would that (in the grand scheme of things) minor crime be what you require to act?
The rest of Russia and its neighbors don't matter but if he deletes a chess player that is a trigger event?
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I agree that Kasparov's knowledge of the game of chess won't help him in politics. But Kasparov has a great deal of experience in self promotion, which is a large part of getting elected. How many chess masters has anyone heard of (aside from Bobby Fisher) before Kasparov? He's used some of his fame in recent years promoting himself in politics as an opponent to Putin. It's also possible that the energy, discipline, and self-drivenness of anyone that's been the at the top of a field might help him in politics.
With that said, it's difficult for anyone in the US to know if he stands any chance against Putin. Everyone in the US knew that Donald Trump had no chance to be elected US President several years ago, but he might have looked like a valid candidate to someone outside the US.
AccountKiller
and here we are wasting our energy preparing to give you a good fight..
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
It was a good read. Since their site is subscription-only, check in your library online subscription databases.
Liberals are always fancying themselves to be "intellectuals."
You'd think that "intellectuals" would put forth good ideas, instead of just name-calling their opponents (conservatives are "authoritarian", there's something "pathological" about them).
"Catastrophic failure across the whole society" is mostly the legacy of "intellectual" social engineering.
And yes, "intellectuals" will continue to be perceived as wishy-washy, because they are!
If you disagree with me on social issues, then it's pretty clear that you are a narrow-minded bigot.
Has anyone considered that, if one man, by using nothing but his own fame and intellect, is able to bring about a regime change against what appears to be popuplar opinion, he, too, will have something like the power of a dictator?
Ever bother to learn much in school? Logical fallacy Post hoc ergo propter hoc: after this, therefore because of this
Wonder if you can hold chess pieces while wearing an anti-radiation suit?
It's interesting to see a chessmaster involved in this situation. Long ago, Ayn Rand wrote an essay titled "An Open Letter To Boris Spassky," who was then a chess champion. She denounced him for being a pawn of the Soviet state, turning his intellectual abilities to a pointless logic game because he wasn't willing to change the rules of his country's "game."
Revive the Constitution.
We need logic and brains.
US Zombie politics.... Brains....
I am the unwilling control for my Origin.
Consider the possibility that Litvinenko poisoned himself and made it look like a politically motivated murder by Putin. It's the best way to get a lot of publicity for his message...
Did 'anonymous' (correction, 'anonymous coward', in slashdot terminology) reader actually read the article in question? Litvinenko never was a high-profile Putin critic (nor a spy); recovered-from-poison Gaidar wrote an article in FT, pointing finger at government enemies, not Putin, as the culprit; neither Putin, nor Kasparov declared that they would run in 2008. This 'Other Russia' (that is, a surreal reincarnation) umbrella includes National Bolshevik Party - the very guys who have swastikas and a red flag as their symbols. Kasparov insist that it is OK, because 'they have all agreed on common principles in support of free speech and democracy'. Millions of Russians died because of the bolsheviks during and after the Revolution; tens of millions more fled to other countries. Hasn't Kasparov heard that story in school?
Diebold would beg to differ.
This is all about installing a US-business friendly government in Russia and nothing else For US - yes. For Kasparov - hardly so. People with different agendas can try to achieve the same goals. For examples, look no farther than Open Source movement.
"I can calculate the possibilities as a chess player and I have to be honest and say that our chances are not high."
This guy's been going downhill in the strategy game since Deep Blue.
dying of radiation poisoning in 3, 2, 1.....
...they're using pawns to capture a queen, and playing on the enemy's board.
insecurity asks the wrong question irritation gives the wrong answer
"In other news tonight, famous chess Grandmaster Garry Kasparov was dragged into Red Square and shot earlier this evening after he beat Russian President Vladimir "The Impaler" Putin. Phone calls to the Kasparov residence went eerily unanswered. President Putin denies allegations that he had any part in Kasparov's death, and states that the truth will clear his name when his new book, If I Killed Garry Kasparov, This Is How I Would Do It, is released later this week."
Next Up: PETA activists set fire to Donals Trump's hairpiece. PETA issued a statement saying that thousands of animals are murdured every year to be made into hairpieces. Trump states that the hairpiece was ".....humanely scraped off his limousine's fender after his driver hit a deer while traveling on the New Jersey Turnpike". "It didn't feel a thing", says the driver.
Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
Wal-Mart is what it is, because 4/5's of the people benefit from low prices, at the expense of the 20% that pay up the difference as a result of tremendous SMB competition, low wages, virtually non-existent medical benefits, lack of pensions, etc.
That holds similarly true for Putin, in that by eliminating the few that oppose him (which includes bad press), the larger population is satisfied, thus the vote is secured, and most folks prosper happily; albeit at the expense of the few. China seems to be taking a similar approach, in that you can do anything you want, so long as you don't criticize the party in-power.
Gob Bless Kasparov.
- - - -
You can't be ahead of the curve if you're stuck in a loop.
You can't be ahead of the curve, if you're stuck in a loop.
And, about two or three months ago, a very strong anti Georgian (and anti Mikhailo Saakashvili) campaign was made in Russia.
It was also written in the press, that almost 50 000 skinheads (neo-Nazi racists live in Russia).
Followed you up until the last sentence there.
First, you imply Russia is a mafia state because it has been socialist. There are two problems with this argument (among others).
- russia has not been a socialist state. Communist yes, not socialist.
- the historical origin of the word you use, 'mafia', already proves that one doesn't need to have a socialist nor communist state to grow mafiosi. They did fine by themselves in Italy.
Thank you for your patience. Please check yourself regulary for conservative bias.
---
"The chances of a demonic possession spreading are remote -- relax."
Remember when the Russian oil barron was challenging Putin? I believe the dude got his Billions he earned taken away, lost the
oil company he built, and was sent to prison. Shit.. the chess player dude just might be another victim of radioactive poisoning.
I'm no scholar in russian politics, but I can read people pretty well. I believe when Putin got "elected" it was the beginning of
brining back the old ways, after all, Putin "was" a former KGB agent. Can you blame the people? Yeltsin was the equivalent of
George W. Bush to us. well.. maybe even worse. The last great leader Russia had was Gorbechev. I don't trust Putin, lets see
who wins Russia's next election. I Russia is starting to drift to the dark side then it would be Putin or someone put into place by Putin.
Now, if only Bobby Fisher would take a stab at taking down Bush.
I see that Koni is a black lab, so that's OK. No-one in their right mind would vote for a yellow or chocolate lab, though! Nothing against yellow labs, I just don't think they have the chops to run Russia -- too friendly-looking. And don't get me started on those chocolate half-breeds.
(Note to moderators: no, there's no "Labrador Flamebait" mod, so you'll just have to leave me alone. What are you do... Offtopic?? Noooooooo!!)
Well who the hell do you think is posting all those IN SOVIET RUSSIA posts?
They aren't jokes - they are nostalgia!
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
Insightful? Yeah, nice.
Watch some crappy 80s movies please!
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
"Really? Even with AK47's, MG-3s, SAWs, full auto M16 in the hands of the people, can you really take on a military with tanks, helicopters, and B52 bombers at their disposal. "
Yes. See Iraq. Insurgencies and guerilla tactics can be VERY effective. And Americans would be no different if they were in this position. You assume that the govt could actually USE the B-52's. And I would say: use where? After all, what good is a totally demolished country with 300 million dead people? That's not even useful for Bush and Co.
You'd have plenty of National Guard, Reservists, and other "military types" who DO have the armament and resources to fight back -- and they would most certainly help their friends, families, towns, etc. After all, they are people to. Do you really think an army officer would shoot his best friend and arrest his own family because of the orders from a President in an office halfway across the continent? What about the B-52 pilot who is ordered to drop 40K lbs of bombs on a Chicago suburb? Doubtful. (and yes, I and they would understand the consequences of ignoring such an order)
People seem to think that the military is homogenous. It's not. There are ALL kinds of people in the armed forces. Some would help the "resistance". Others would not. But one thing is for sure: there will always be those who help the people against the government.
That's all that is needed.