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."

Comments

Dear Kasparov

[neuro.slug]

In Soviet Russia, Putin checkmates you!

Actually...

[TrisexualPuppy]

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.

Re:Actually...

[vakuona]

No Chavez is just a loud mouth. Putin is the real deal. He has real leverage over here in Europe. Europe has this thing with gas, and Putin has almost all of it.

So even if they found evidence that he did personally authorise the murder of Mr Litvinenko, they will probably rebuke him publicly, ( after giving a call telling him that they are going to di it of course, to keep their voters happy), but they know their voters do not like their winters messed with, so they will not do much else.

I mean, he may not have power over the US, but in Europe he is pretty much top dog. You think US has a dependence on middle east oil, nothing like Europe's dependence of Russian gas. He is actually playing the EU presidents against each other because of that.

You got nothing on Russia, and yes, Soviet Russia does check mate you.

Re:Actually...

[paeanblack]

Putin does play ball with foreign capitalists.

He plays ball. He plays hardball. He plays dirty. He's the reason post-Soviet Russia is no longer getting raped by foreign capitalists.

At this rate, history will probably remember him as the most effective Russian leader since Catherine the Great. From the perspective of a Russian citizen, the Soviets sucked, the Soviet collapse was worse, but now we're getting the best of both worlds and it's still improving. Putin can do whatever he wants if he keeps this track going.

Re:Actually...

[smittyoneeach]

I'm thinking that if someone set up a PayPal account, we could chip in $2 apiece, and send ShieldW0lf to Russia for a couple of years, to see whether a reality check alters the expressed opinion.
My wife has been to St. Petersburg on business, and the first-hand experience didn't sound like one she'd care to repeat. One colleague carrying an El Salvadorean passport, for example, had to be fished out of customs with bribes.
Russia is a mafia state. Get over it. Socialism models the human spirit poorly, hence its historically mixed results.

Re:Actually...

[Venik]

That's what they've been saying about Yeltsin: that he's gonna change the constitution and remain in power. Well, he didn't. And he didn't want to. Moreover, he resigned early and appointed Putin as acting President, thus assuring his own worry-free retirement. Yeltsin's approval ratings at the time were extremely low. Nevertheless, during the early presidential elections a few months later a vast majority of Russians voted for Yeltsin's appointee - Putin, even though most Russians knew nothing about the man.

Now Putin, with his near-80% approval rating (stop and think about this number for a moment), can probably chose his Labrador named Koni as the next presidential candidate, and Russians will vote for the dog. Why? Russians want stability. They are tired of revolutions, wars, and Perestroikas. Now they want a decent paycheck, a car, and a house. Don't misunderstand me, Russians have nothing against democracy, freedom of speech, and human rights. However, history taught them to be a bit more cynical and pragmatic than some of their Western neighbors.

"Give me liberty or give me death," said Patrick Henry. It just so happened that every time Russians adopted this approach, they got the shitty end of the stick. I can't blame them for playing it safe now. Today's Russia is a huge improvement over the bloody chaos of Gorbachev's and Yeltsin's era. Things in Russia will improve over time. And, since we are talking about Russia, it may take awhile. For everyone's benefit, Washington and London should keep their dirty snouts out of Russia's business and be happy with the gas and oil they are getting.

Re:Actually...

[anaesthetica]

During the same period you mention--the late 80's arms race--you ought to note that the high oil prices from the 70's had finally fallen. The oil embargo from '73 and the second attempt in '79 had kept prices fairly high throughout the whole decade. So not only did the Soviets have to spend more on an arms race, but they had to do so in the context of falling profits from oil.

Today, the Russian economy is quite small, even when compared to the gaunt economy of the late Soviet period. In 2005 dollars, Mexico has a slightly higher GDP. It shrank a great deal in the early 1990s during "shock therapy" and the Asian Financial Crisis which forced a massive ruble devaluation and IMF bailout (notably, Russia's quick recovery from devaluation coincided with a world rise in oil prices). Military expenditures are less than 1/25th of the United States' (but about 3x as much as Mexico--so still a bit high relative to its GDP rank).

The problem is not really the external commitments of Russia or arms acquisitions, but simply that a huge chunk of its economy is solely based on energy. As we all know, energy is a fungible commodity and is subject to wide, hard to predict variations in world price. A sudden oil price shock could do proportionally higher damage to Russia than one might expect, especially because of the consolidation of the energy sector in Russia, and the centrality of companies like Gazprom to Kremlin strategy.

It's pretty widely accepted that a lot of Russian money that ought to be invested is sitting somewhere in Switzerland or the Caymans.

Putin Has History and Current Form

[Anonymous Coward]

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!

Slippery slope

[bigdavex]

If he wins, Deep Blue will run in the next election.

Re:80% approval rating?

[Sciros]

Hmmm well the best answer to that is, think about what Stalin's "approval rating" would have been during his rule? I would venture 100%. And not out of popular fear, but popular love and admiration. The 80% does not surprise me in the least, and doesn't make me think "oh, he must be a swell guy after all" for a second.

Will Kasparov see this coming?

[staticdaze]

Kasparov vs Putin

1. f3 e5
2. g4

Putin to move

Re:Good luck!

[TastyCakes]

I love the wandering line of thought of some slashdot responses. Chess player runs for president of Russia ... Fucking Chinese!

Re:"news relevant to United States politics"

[nevergleam]

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 on NPR

[Pancake Bandit]

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.

Re:melodrama

[TheSuperlative]

Actually, it's spelled with an entirely different alphabet.