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KASPAROV V KREMLIN: HIS RISKIEST GAME YET
AFP
Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates
June 5 2007
MOSCOW - Garry Kasparov is running an hour late. But when he finally
appears, exuding nervous energy, the chess genius turned Kremlin
opponent sounds like a man with no time to lose.
"We have a chance to save the country," he declares, looking out from
intense brown eyes. "This regime is deadly. The regime survives -
the country dies."
In an interview with AFP on the eve of the Group of Eight summit in
Germany, Kasparov urged world powers to join his campaign against
President Vladimir Putin, whom he likened to the rulers of Belarus
or Zimbabwe.
"Putin can't be treated as the leader of a free country," Kasparov,
44, said at his Moscow office, a mile (1.6 kilometres) from Red
Square. The West "must draw a line in the sand."
Many in Russia see this small, compact man with bushy eyebrows as at
best a quixotic figure.
Judging by polls indicating huge support for Putin, Kasparov's crusade
to prevent Putin from easing a successor into the Kremlin in March
2008 presidential elections looks doomed.
Putin himself recently scoffed at Kasparov's opposition coalition
The Other Russia as "marginal."
Yet in Russia's strangely unbalanced political landscape, the chess
grandmaster has emerged as the country's most prominent opposition
leader.
Putin youth supporters dressed in white coats may hound him as a
lunatic, but the Kremlin appears genuinely rattled, and Western
capitals are watching closely.
Born to Armenian and Jewish parents in then-Soviet Azerbaijan,
Kasparov ruled world chess for two decades before retiring in 2005
to focus on Russian politics, which he already knew as a supporter
of Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s.
The passion for top-level competition clearly still burns.
Despite a relaxed look in blue jeans and striped polo shirt, he spent
much of an hour-long interview tapping against the table, and glancing
repeatedly at a giant wall map of Russia - as if to check the country
was still there.
For Kasparov, though, the cold logic of chess matters most.
Other Russia, he concedes, is small, weak and poorly financed. "For
our organisation, political survival, and for some members not only
political survival, is a major issue."
The Kremlin, meanwhile, has de facto control over almost all television
and vast security forces, including the OMON riot police used in huge
numbers against tiny Other Russia protest marches.
But in such weakness Kasparov sees possibilities that might seem
fanciful were they not from the mind of an undeniably great strategist.
For example, the inability so far of Russia's fragmented opposition to
unite around a single candidate for next year's presidential election
is good, he says.
"When you are facing overwhelming force - again, that's my chess
experience - you don't want to simplify your position. You don't
want to make it plain. You want to keep it complicated, because any
mistake that cannot be reversed could blow you off the board."
He dismisses opinion poll results as the fruit of state media
brainwashing and claims the Kremlin's seeming invincibility masks
vicious behind-the-scenes rivalry in the run-up to Putin's departure.
"If my calculation is correct and the split within the regime is
inevitable, we'll see. Regimes of that type, they collapse overnight."
Opposition is hazardous in Russia, where almost no one openly
criticises Putin or his ministers.
Two of those who did were murdered last year in mysterious and
appalling circumstances - journalist Anna Politkovskaya shot by a
hitman in central Moscow and fugitive agent Alexander Litvinenko
poisoned in London.
Kasparov and his activists have faced police beatings or arrest while
trying to hold peaceful demonstrations. Many have been detained or
prevented from travelling even before reaching protests.
"They're stepping up the pressure on us," Kasparov said. "It's a
nightmare and not everyone can keep up. We have reports of people
giving in."
Several bodyguards accompany him everywhere in Russia, even in
Moscow. His wife and seven-month old daughter live in New York.
"Not that you can protect yourself against a real assassination
attempt, but still, that creates extra problems. Let's say I could
avoid Politkovskaya's fate," he says.
Kasparov insists he can pull his mission off if all opposition groups,
from the liberal Yabloko to the Communists, unite around a single
presidential candidate.
Kasparov, who rules himself out as a contender, says the common
platform would focus on rolling back Putin's centralisation of power
in the Kremlin.
"Russia cannot be protected from the virus of dictatorship unless
the powers of the president are cut dramatically."
If the odds are great, Kasparov does not seem to care.
He came back from seemingly certain annihilation in the epic 1984
World Championship against Anatoly Karpov and in 2003 he drew against
Deep Junior, a supercomputer that evaluated three million positions
a second.
The Kremlin, he insists, is no tougher.
"I know it's a huge risk, but I believe this regime has outlived its
historical importance," he says.
"I was losing 5-0 to Karpov in 1984. It couldn't get worse than that
and I'm still here, you know, with 20 years of Number One ranking
behind me. So it's never lost until you concede."
But isn't chess a game with rules, while politics has none?
Kasparov doesn't miss a beat: "The rule here is that there are no
rules. No rules is a rule too."
AFP
Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates
June 5 2007
MOSCOW - Garry Kasparov is running an hour late. But when he finally
appears, exuding nervous energy, the chess genius turned Kremlin
opponent sounds like a man with no time to lose.
"We have a chance to save the country," he declares, looking out from
intense brown eyes. "This regime is deadly. The regime survives -
the country dies."
In an interview with AFP on the eve of the Group of Eight summit in
Germany, Kasparov urged world powers to join his campaign against
President Vladimir Putin, whom he likened to the rulers of Belarus
or Zimbabwe.
"Putin can't be treated as the leader of a free country," Kasparov,
44, said at his Moscow office, a mile (1.6 kilometres) from Red
Square. The West "must draw a line in the sand."
Many in Russia see this small, compact man with bushy eyebrows as at
best a quixotic figure.
Judging by polls indicating huge support for Putin, Kasparov's crusade
to prevent Putin from easing a successor into the Kremlin in March
2008 presidential elections looks doomed.
Putin himself recently scoffed at Kasparov's opposition coalition
The Other Russia as "marginal."
Yet in Russia's strangely unbalanced political landscape, the chess
grandmaster has emerged as the country's most prominent opposition
leader.
Putin youth supporters dressed in white coats may hound him as a
lunatic, but the Kremlin appears genuinely rattled, and Western
capitals are watching closely.
Born to Armenian and Jewish parents in then-Soviet Azerbaijan,
Kasparov ruled world chess for two decades before retiring in 2005
to focus on Russian politics, which he already knew as a supporter
of Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s.
The passion for top-level competition clearly still burns.
Despite a relaxed look in blue jeans and striped polo shirt, he spent
much of an hour-long interview tapping against the table, and glancing
repeatedly at a giant wall map of Russia - as if to check the country
was still there.
For Kasparov, though, the cold logic of chess matters most.
Other Russia, he concedes, is small, weak and poorly financed. "For
our organisation, political survival, and for some members not only
political survival, is a major issue."
The Kremlin, meanwhile, has de facto control over almost all television
and vast security forces, including the OMON riot police used in huge
numbers against tiny Other Russia protest marches.
But in such weakness Kasparov sees possibilities that might seem
fanciful were they not from the mind of an undeniably great strategist.
For example, the inability so far of Russia's fragmented opposition to
unite around a single candidate for next year's presidential election
is good, he says.
"When you are facing overwhelming force - again, that's my chess
experience - you don't want to simplify your position. You don't
want to make it plain. You want to keep it complicated, because any
mistake that cannot be reversed could blow you off the board."
He dismisses opinion poll results as the fruit of state media
brainwashing and claims the Kremlin's seeming invincibility masks
vicious behind-the-scenes rivalry in the run-up to Putin's departure.
"If my calculation is correct and the split within the regime is
inevitable, we'll see. Regimes of that type, they collapse overnight."
Opposition is hazardous in Russia, where almost no one openly
criticises Putin or his ministers.
Two of those who did were murdered last year in mysterious and
appalling circumstances - journalist Anna Politkovskaya shot by a
hitman in central Moscow and fugitive agent Alexander Litvinenko
poisoned in London.
Kasparov and his activists have faced police beatings or arrest while
trying to hold peaceful demonstrations. Many have been detained or
prevented from travelling even before reaching protests.
"They're stepping up the pressure on us," Kasparov said. "It's a
nightmare and not everyone can keep up. We have reports of people
giving in."
Several bodyguards accompany him everywhere in Russia, even in
Moscow. His wife and seven-month old daughter live in New York.
"Not that you can protect yourself against a real assassination
attempt, but still, that creates extra problems. Let's say I could
avoid Politkovskaya's fate," he says.
Kasparov insists he can pull his mission off if all opposition groups,
from the liberal Yabloko to the Communists, unite around a single
presidential candidate.
Kasparov, who rules himself out as a contender, says the common
platform would focus on rolling back Putin's centralisation of power
in the Kremlin.
"Russia cannot be protected from the virus of dictatorship unless
the powers of the president are cut dramatically."
If the odds are great, Kasparov does not seem to care.
He came back from seemingly certain annihilation in the epic 1984
World Championship against Anatoly Karpov and in 2003 he drew against
Deep Junior, a supercomputer that evaluated three million positions
a second.
The Kremlin, he insists, is no tougher.
"I know it's a huge risk, but I believe this regime has outlived its
historical importance," he says.
"I was losing 5-0 to Karpov in 1984. It couldn't get worse than that
and I'm still here, you know, with 20 years of Number One ranking
behind me. So it's never lost until you concede."
But isn't chess a game with rules, while politics has none?
Kasparov doesn't miss a beat: "The rule here is that there are no
rules. No rules is a rule too."