Greetings from New Orleans... where the star of the week, Gary Kasparov, explained the difficulties of "regime change" in Russia.
Kasparov, if you need a refresher, became the youngest-ever world chess champion in 1985, when he was 22 years old. He was ranked the No. 1 chess player in the world for 20 years. He retired from competitive chess in 2005 and is now the highest-profile critic of Vladimir Putin's regime, which Kasparov claims is horribly corrupt.
If he isn't murdered first, he'll be the second-party candidate against Putin or the man Putin chooses to replace him. Kasparov's speech lasted for about 45 minutes. He talked about the parallels between life and chess, then moved on to rip the Russian government in what was half a stand-up comedy act, half anticorruption diatribe. Obviously enamored with the founding fathers of the United States, Kasparov quoted George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. He received two standing ovations.
Some highlights from Kasparov's speech, as best as I can remember:
"Vladimir Putin scores so high in the polls because the polls are corrupt. They cannot be trusted."
"For Western leaders to recognize Putin as an equal is devastating to the cause of freedom. It gives Putin credibility, which he doesn't deserve."
"Putin thrives on weakness. He was taught that in the KGB. He is not an ally to the West, and he never was. He's more of an ally to Ahmadinejad and bin Laden than he is to America and Europe."
"Putin is interested in supporting terrorism, which keeps oil prices high. Oil is the only industry in Russia that works."
"Including Russia in the G8 is a mockery. The G8 is supposed to be a group of democratic industrialized powers. Russia isn't a democracy, and it isn't an industrial power."
After finishing his speech, Kasparov took three questions from the audience – including my two-parter: Do you believe former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko was murdered on orders from Putin? And... do you feel that you're too high profile to kill? Or do you worry about that?
In a roundabout way, Kasparov answered: Yes, I think Putin and Co. killed Litvinenko. And, yes, I worry about myself.
Kasparov doesn't eat food or consume liquids with people he doesn't know and trust. He travels with bodyguards in Russia, but not outside of Russia. We wish him luck. |
