Garry Kasparov's Blog, page 31

From Communism’s Last Chess Champion to Freedom Fighter | Reason | October 25, 2021

I’m criticized by those who defend dictatorships because my chess career was produced by one. But I know how monstrous they and the thinking behind such systems are. My new video interview with @Reason: https://t.co/tj9F3mbYow

— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) October 25, 2021

You can see the original video of my interview at Reason.

“The Soviet Union collapsed 30 years ago in part because its government-run economy was incapable of producing the blue jeans, cigarettes, and automobiles that its citizens wanted.

What it was great at was producing champion chess players.

From the end of World War II until the Evil Empire dissolved in 1991, all but one world champion—the American Bobby Fischer—represented the USSR.

None was better than Garry Kasparov, who became world champion in 1985 at the record-setting age of 22. Widely considered the greatest chess player in modern history, he held that title for 15 years.

As a chess prodigy, he traveled abroad for competitions and describes youthful trips to France and Germany as nothing short of revelatory. The casual “abundance” of what used to be called “the free world” “just felt different,” he says. Beyond the Iron Curtain, he encountered the anti-communist works of George Orwell and was able to read exiled dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s suppressed indictments of totalitarianism.

As the ’80s progressed, he publicly questioned the Soviet system. In 1990, he joined the Democratic Party of Russia and became increasingly outspoken in favor of human rights, representative democracy, and limited government.

In post-Soviet Russia, he used his celebrity and influence to spearhead attempts to build civil society and conduct fair elections, emerging as a critic of Russian leader Vladimir Putin. By the early 2010s, he had been arrested for participating in unauthorized anti-government demonstrations and was widely believed to be the author of a popular petition demanding Putin’s resignation.

As chairman of the Human Rights Foundation, Kasparov continues to lobby for freedom in the former Soviet Union and beyond. In September, Reason spoke with the chess grandmaster in New York about what it was like to be the beneficiary of a catastrophically failed system and what lessons the world—especially American democratic socialists—should remember three decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Interview by Nick Gillespie. Cameras by Jim Epstein and Kevin Alexander. Edited by Ian Keyser. Intro and Graphics by Isaac Reese. Production assistance by Regan Taylor.

Music Credit: “Elevation” by Stanley Gurvich via Artlist

Photo Credits: Julian Dufort; Design Pics/Newscom; Sovfoto Universal Images Group/Newscom; TASS/ZUMA Press/Newscom; KPA/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Keystone Pictures USA/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; KEYSTONE Pictures USA/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Karpov Sergei/Itar-Tass/ABACA/Newscom; Karpov Sergei/Itar-Tass/ABACA/Newscom; Novoderezhkin Anton/Itar-Tass/ABACA/Newscom; Keystone Pictures USA/ZUMA Press/Newscom; SERGEI KARPUKHIN/REUTERS/Newscom; STRINGER/RUSSIA/REUTERS/Newscom; Photoshot/Newscom; STAFF/REUTERS/Newscom; TASS/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Cornelia Gus/picture-alliance / dpa/Newscom; Mirrorpix/Newscom; Siegfried Pilz/United Archives/Roba/Newscom; United Archives / Schweigmann/United Archives/Roba/Newscom; Keystone Pictures USA/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; akg-images/Newscom; akg-images/Newscom; Fine Art Images / Heritage Images/Newscom; Arnie Sachs—CNP / MEGA / Newscom/RSSIL/Newscom; Bert Verhoff/Pictures From History/Newscom; Antonello Nusca/Polaris/Newscom; Antonello Nusca/Polaris/Newscom; Antonello Nusca/Polaris/Newscom; Alexander Demianchuk/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Rob Croes/Anefo; www.kremlin.ru; David Shankbone / Wikimedia Commons; Gerhard Hund / Wikimedia Commons; GFHund / Wikimedia Commons; Owen Williams / Wikimedia Commons; Petar Milošević / Wikimedia Commons; Rob Croes / Anefo / Wikimedia Commons; Ivan Simochkin / Wikimedia Commons”

Garry Kasparov Kicks Off a Chess Masterclass | Morning Joe: MSNBC | October 21, 2021

The clip below is a segment from Garry Kasparov’s interview with MSNBC.

Saving Democracy: Foreign Dissidents on How Democracies Fall | RDI-USC | October 19, 2021

Bingo https://t.co/nyTdz7lvOP

— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) October 20, 2021

The following is a full-length recording of the joint RDI-USC event. You can visit the web page for this event at the Renew Democracy Initiative.

 

Garry Kasparov Unveils Chess Esports Masterclasses For Future Stars | Forbes | October 19, 2021

You can read the original article on Forbes.

By Matt Gardner

Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov may have retired from competition over 15 years ago, but that’s not stopping him from his desire to help create the champions of tomorrow–and at a time when chess esports are bigger than ever.

Through his Kasparovchess platform–which Kasparov launched in April in conjunction with global media company Vivendi–the Russian grandmaster has announced an exclusive 55-part masterclass for his multimedia chess playing and content portal, adding to the puzzles, online matchmaking, news coverage, tutorials, articles, and documentaries already offered by the service.

Kasparov’s all-new masterclass video series is designed to showcase the grandmaster’s strategic approach, giving both beginners and experts a unique insight into his methods and ethos, so they can get what may be a whole new perspective on chess–and become esports’ future champions.

The timing of Kasparov’s latest business deal is understandable. As proved during 2020, chess has firmly established itself as one of the most lucrative esports markets. Current world champion Magnus Carlsen was 2020’s highest-paid esports player, and history could repeat itself in 2021, following his recent success in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour.

“I am eager to show players that there is more to chess than only the moves you make. It is a way of life,” said Kasparov. “My masterclass will elevate a person’s game, but it will also help see the world from a different point of view.”

Louis Germain, CEO of Keysquare–the Vivendi subsidiary responsible for Kasparovchess–said: “His dedication to his craft and his desire to bring that to the next generation of players is infectious and can be felt throughout the entire masterclass series.

“It demonstrates passion and inspiration for all types of chess players so that they can build their legacy using the tools Garry Kasparov teaches.”

Of course, this latest addition to the platform comes at a price. While Kasparovchess offers a range of services from its base platform for free, players will have to spend $13.99 a month or $119.99 annually for access to the service.

As part of his record-breaking career, Kasparov became the youngest world chess champion in 1985, before retiring from playing the game competitively in 2005. While much of his recent work has focused on human rights, specifically in Russia, he recently returned to his most famous skill by becoming an advisor for “Queen’s Gambit,” a show about a chess prodigy that became Netflix’s most-watched scripted limited series to date.

Garry Kasparov discusses Russia-US relations | Yahoo Finance | October 15, 2021

“The Biden administration is a big disappointment,” @Kasparov63 says. “I thought that after Trump’s games with Putin… [the] Biden administration could restore American leadership. Unfortunately, we saw almost the opposite.” pic.twitter.com/9KxfH56Fjc

— Yahoo Finance (@YahooFinance) October 15, 2021

The following is a transcript of Garry Kasparov’s interview with Yahoo Finance. You can watch the original interview above.

 

Garry Kasparov, author, speaker, 13th World Chess Champion joins Yahoo Finance to discuss his latest Chess venture and his opinion on Russia’s place in geopolitics.

Video Transcript

GARRY KASPAROV: I prefer to talk about Putin because Russia is a one-man dictatorship. So that’s why we’re not talking about Russian long-term strategic interests as a country, but about survival and blossoming of Putin’s dictatorship, Putin’s regime, and his cronies. And it’s very unfortunate that over 20 years of Putin’s reign, Europe did nothing to eliminate the dependence on Russian oil and gas.

And the latest devotion, let’s use the word of Biden administration, to a Green New Deal. And consequently, the elimination of some of the Big Oil projects in America like Keystone obviously played in Putin’s hands. And right now, Putin has been using it very effectively, to his advantage. I don’t understand why you say maybe. Russian diplomats aren’t even hiding the fact that they are planning to use the Nord Stream 2 and other projects, , energy project with Europe, for the political advantage of Putin’s regime.

It’s a direct message. You stop treating Russia as a pariah state, and then we may be helping you with your energy crisis, which is, by the way, self-made. Don’t forget that 10 years ago, Germany I think stupidly eliminated nuclear energy, which is the only affordable replacement of dependence on Russian gas and oil.

– Well Garry, I guess how would you then– what’s your assessment of how the Biden administration has handled its relationship with Vladimir Putin so far? Because earlier this week, Putin was saying that his relationship with Biden is, quote working and stable? What’s your take?

GARRY KASPAROV: Oh, absolutely. That’s– the Biden administration was a big disappointment. Yeah, I thought that after Trump’s games with Putin, that definitely played into Putin’s hands. So Biden administration could restore American leadership. Unfortunately, we saw almost the opposite and Biden’s meeting with Putin, the summit in Geneva, which I think was a big mistake added to Putin’s confidence and emboldened him for further aggressive actions.

Russian foreign policy and domestic policy is getting– every day is getting more aggressive and more dictatorial. And right now, this American prestige in the world is probably hitting new low after the debacle, or I would say disaster in Afghanistan. And of course, there’s no vacuum in the geopolitical relations. So America goes out, America is weak, and obviously every dictator, every thug, every authoritarian regime now gets an advantage. And Putin, of course, is on the top of this list.

– So Garry, if you were advising the president, or if you had some advice that you wanted to share with him just on how we should be handling this relationship, what would you say?

GARRY KASPAROV: First, fire John Kerry. That’s number one. As long as John Kerry, who is the big fan– for some reasons a big friend of autocrats in the world, and who is pushing his green agenda above everything else. So nothing is going to happen.

He you should restore normal relations within the administration. The State Department and Pentagon should have their say, and John Kerry and National Security Council, they should play a subordinate role. Actually, John Kerry should be fired. If it doesn’t happen, I don’t think we will see any improvement anytime soon.

– Well Garry, I want to do a hard pivot here because you’re very passionate obviously about that topic. But it’s something that you’re also very passionate about, and that of course, we’ve talked to you about in the past, and that’s chess. And I know you have some big news here.

But curious, just before we get to the news that you will be launching next week in terms of a new platform, what’s your assessment just on the popularity of chess? Because I know last time you were on Yahoo Finance, we talked to you about “The Queen’s Gambit,” how that’s playing into the popularity of chess, how that’s enticing many new people to try the game. Is that still the case?

– Oh, absolutely. And thank you so much for bringing me back home from this murky world of geopolitics into the crystal-clear world of chess. Because in chess, we have rules, and everybody must follow the rules. So there are no exceptions for dictators.

And I’m very, very pleased with the lasting effect of “The Queen’s Gambit.” And I can probably say that you know, that was one of my best job as a consultant in my life. Because it helped to create something that affected millions and millions, endless millions of people around the world. And we see just it’s in sheer numbers. More and more people playing chess.

They want to know more about the game of chess. There is the boom in sales of the chess sets, and chess computers, chess programs. And it’s natural place in the hands of any chess venture. And the Kasparov Chess couldn’t have a better moment to be launched. And in a few days, I will be launching my new masterclass, and this is something that I believe will attract hopefully hundreds of thousands of people that will get into this chess well full of excitement, and treats, and entertainment.

– And Garry, you’re looking to capitalize on the rising popularity. I know you’re launching a 55-part series masterclass next week. You’re doing this in partnership with Vivendi. What are you most excited about this venture and what can we expect?

GARRY KASPAROV: It’s actually 57 episodes. Yes, it’s nearly 10 hours of recording. So we spend almost a week in Paris recording it. It’s a part of the Kasparov Chess Platform that already has nearly 1,000 lessons from greatest chess players, chess coaches, the other members of chess elite. So it’s a great mixture of entertainment and education.

And my masterclass is the unique combination of some chess tips and very useful material to improve your mental skills, and your chess level. You know, whether you’re a beginner or you are an expert. And also, in never before told stories. So it’s my personal life within this 10 hours, plus advices that I’m sure will be helpful for you, even beyond the board of chess.

– Now, a lot of people are looking forward to this. Garry Kasparov, author, speaker, human rights activist, and 13th world chess champion. Thanks so much for taking the time to join us, and we look forward to having you back soon. Have a good weekend.

Celebrate Columbus’s Achievements | WSJ | October 10, 2021

You can read the original article at the Wall Street Journal.

Honoring great deeds and risk-takers who defy conventional wisdom can inspire others to follow in their footsteps, be it into uncharted waters or outer space, and we sorely need such daring today. My op-ed on why I celebrate Columbus Day: https://t.co/9ESB79ubAF

— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) October 11, 2021

Friends, Americans, citizens of the world, lend me your ears. I come to bury Christopher Columbus, not to praise him.

In Shakespeare’s famous Marc Antony speech, he speaks of Julius Caesar’s “grievous fault” of ambition, and of the honorable nature of Caesar’s friend and assassin, Brutus. Antony then subverts the accusations against Caesar, skillfully and sarcastically reminding the gathered crowd of Caesar’s achievements and love of the Roman people—and how they all used to love him in return.

I doubt my abilities will be so convincing on behalf of Columbus, who achieved great things and is worthy of being honored for them with a national holiday, but I must express what I know to be true. His incredible feats of exploration were due to individual qualities that Americans should find admirable, and once did in near unanimity. Holding historical figures to modern standards of morality is a method of antihistorical political control—much like the pseudohistory I grew up being taught in the Soviet Union.

My earliest memories of my father are not of chess, but of his gift to me of a globe and our reading the stories of the great explorers together—stories by authors like Stefan Zweig, not communist propagandists. So I was prepared to be critical when the Soviet history books portrayed these men as callow imperialists who exploited the natives the way their capitalist descendants exploited the proletariat. This also prepared me to hear the same tropes repeated by Western leftists today.

This caricature of Columbus as little more than a rapacious villain is as simplistic and wrongheaded as the version of him as a savior-hero who proved the world was round. As usual, reality is complex and doesn’t provide easy, comfortable answers.

It could be said that Columbus’s years of navigating the Spanish courts and courtiers was a greater feat than navigating the Atlantic, which hardly went as planned. He was driven but diplomatic, traits he employed in his dealings with indigenous communities of the Americas, where he and his men also committed atrocities in the name of holy conquest.

As I said, I’m not here to praise the man but to celebrate his deeds. Columbus taught himself Latin to study ancient and medieval manuscripts for clues about the circumference of the globe and his prospective journeys. True, his calculations were wildly off, overestimating the size of Asia and underestimating the size of the globe. But he also knew that he had to make the mission sound easier, like any startup seeking venture capital. Columbus yearned to fulfill the prophecy of Seneca’s Medea: “An age will come after many years when the Ocean will loose the chains of things, and a huge land lie revealed.” And so he did, in four remarkable voyages that charted and changed the world.

Revisionism has a vital role in history, as we discover new information and apply new insights to past events. There should be no place for whitewashing and jingoism in the service of a supposedly patriotic agenda—or any agenda. We must teach the good and the bad of our leaders, our founders, our heroes and saints.

Otherwise, myths take hold too easily, such as the Confederate “Lost Cause,” left to fester like an open wound. Its infection has spread into the 21st century. There should be no honoring those who fought a war against the Union to preserve the evil institution of slavery—which, critically, even some of its defenders at the time understood as evil.

Comparing American statues of Columbus to those of Robert E. Lee fails this test of context. The call for objectivity applies also to those who would judge a 15th-century European who took outrageous risks and performed incredible feats of exploration to advance modern civilization. Humanism and the Enlightenment were still two centuries away. The year of Columbus’s iconic voyage, 1492, was also the year Spain expelled many Jews and subjected others to the horrors of the Inquisition.

The line of ambitious explorers runs through Columbus to the likes of Elon Musk. Their accomplishments should not blind us to their flaws, but neither should their flaws blind us to their achievements. Honoring great deeds and risk-takers who defy conventional wisdom can inspire others to follow in their footsteps, be it into uncharted waters or outer space, and we sorely need such daring today.

We too, are complex. We are capable of judgment and reason, unlike the “brutish beasts” invoked by Marc Antony. History is not a zero-sum game. We can honor indigenous people and all they represent—and all they lost—without erasing the greatest achievements of the Age of Discovery. I will be celebrating Columbus Day, and I hope you’ll join me.

Mr. Kasparov is chairman of the Renew Democracy Initiative and the Human Rights Foundation.

 

In Conversation w/ Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya | Oslo Freedom Forum | October 4, 2021

Yesterday, at the @OsloFF Freedom Forum, @kasparov asked me what advice I could give to those fighting for freedom. Be brave. Be patient. Be prepared. Changes can happen at any moment – be ready to catch it. If you fight for a good cause – be on the frontline of this fight. pic.twitter.com/VlVdsRzIuU

— Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (@Tsihanouskaya) October 5, 2021

Watch Human Rights Foundation Chairman Garry Kasparov’s conversation with Belarusian pro-democracy leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

Introducing Václav Havel Prize Laureate Badiucao | HRF | October 4, 2021

You can watch the full recording of Human Rights Foundation Chairman Garry Kasparov speaking at Day One of the Oslo Freedom Forum, 2021 here.

Human Rights Foundation Chairman Garry Kasparov introduces the Václav Havel Prize and one of this year’s laureates, Badiucao of China

“For all of us born on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain, Václav Havel was the brightest symbol of intellectual vigor and moral resistance to Communist dictatorship. During his remarkable life, Havel played many roles. He was a democrat devoted to the cause of freedom and human rights, a dissident against the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia—and spending a few years in jail for it—and a successful statesman of the first president of the newly independent Czech Republic. But beyond politics, he was also a famous poet, philosopher, and playwright. But above all, he was a truth teller.

In his essay, the Power of the Powerless, he describes the concept of “living in truth,” that is, an unwavering commitment to living according to one’s belief in democracy and civil liberty.

Our theme this year, TRUTH IGNITED, resonates strongly with Havel’s idea. This year at our Freedom Forum, we celebrate the powerful stories that spark action across the world in service of the truth.

Tomorrow is Havel’s birthday. Today we honor his legacy by amplifying the voices of those who speak truth to power—no matter the personal cost—and awarding the Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent to activists who creatively unmask the deception of dictatorship.

Last year, we awarded the Havel Prize virtually to three laureates: Saudi political satirist, activist Omar Abdulaziz, Rwandan singer and peace and reconciliation activist Kizito Mihigo—who received the prize posthumously after being killed by the Rwandan regime’s henchmen—and Chinese dissident artist Badiucao. This year, it is my honor to introduce one of those winners of the 2020 Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent to receive his prize in person. For Badiucao, a political cartoonist and human rights activist from China, his perilous journey to live in truth began when he was a teenager in China and realized the fanatical level of censorship around the subject of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Instead of becoming a lawyer, a safe and reputable job, he became an artist—a far less rewarding and far more dangerous career choice in Communist China. He is best known for his online cartoons which are shared on Twitter.

For years, his artwork has revealed the heinous crimes of the Chinese regime, rallied support for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, advocated on behalf of political prisoners in China, and, lately, helped expose the lies of the Chinese government’s about the coronavirus pandemic.

In a dictatorship, such courageous activism might come at a steep price. Not surprisingly, he did not want to reveal his identity, and decided to wear a ski mask covering his face in public. However, that all changed in 2019, when he bravely decided to reveal his identity. He currently lives in exile in Australia.

His artwork remains at the forefront of spreading awareness about never-ending human rights abuses in China, Hong Kong, Tibet, and the Uyghur Region. Furthermore, beyond China, his art has shined a spotlight on pro-democracy demonstrations in Thailand and Burma as well.

Let me emphasize what we all know: protest art can galvanize and sustain a movement. This Havel Prize laureate has made history by inspiring countless millions of people to keep their hopes and faith in freedom and democracy alive. Ladies and gentlemen: Badiucao”

Risk with Garry Kasparov | No Turning Back | September 24, 2021

This week, Stan and Chris speak to chess grandmaster, Garry Kasparov, about risk: in the game of chess, and more broadly, in society. Garry is well-known as a World Chess Champion who famously dueled against IBM’s supercomputer, Deep Blue. In recent years, Garry has been translating and expanding his focus to the Renew Democracy Initiative, which aims to promote and protect democracy worldwide.

Garry first came onto No Turning Back this past January, and Stan and Chris were intrigued by all Garry had to say about risk. This week, they take a fascinating deeper dive into how Garry thinks about risk and opportunity against an opponent, and the risks that Garry faced when he decided to play chess against a machine. Garry speaks to broader topics on how society now has a new relationship to risk post-COVID-19, and also speaks to disinformation – the risks it presents to our society on a national and global scale.

Risk: A User’s Guide, will publish one week from today. You can learn more about Risk: A User’s Guide, here: https://www.mcchrystalgroup.com/libra....

Interview: Everything Is Under Control | The Signal | September 24, 2021

“Right now, the free world shows no political will to take on Putin. Some cosmetic sanctions and statements don’t really bother him, as long as the West is willing to play by his rules. @Kasparov63: https://t.co/dOWDbujWSQ pic.twitter.com/W7j6hSsd5z

— The Signal (@thesignal) September 30, 2021

You can read the original interview here.

By Michael Bluhm

As soon as parliamentary election results in Russia were announced on September 20, opposition parties, independent observers, and Western countries decried blatant ballot-stuffing to favor President Vladimir Putin’s party, United Russia. Election authorities credited the party with about 50 percent of the national vote, despite preliminary results and pre-election polling projecting a far lower tally. The distribution of votes will allow United Russia to maintain a constitutional majority in the Duma, Russia’s legislature. Protests against the vote-rigging were nearly nonexistent, as the only party to organize a demonstration defending free and fair elections was, in a historical irony, the Communist Party. And despite criticism of the tainted vote from the United States and the European Union, democratic countries are sparing Putin any repercussions from stealing the election. Why isn’t Vladimir Putin facing any international consequences—or even any significant opposition in Russia—for falsifying election results?

Garry Kasparov, one of the greatest chess players in history, is a longtime Putin critic who fled Russia in 2013 and now serves as the chairman of the Human Rights Foundation. In Kasparov’s view, Putin’s power in Russia is almost untouchable, regardless of the level of public support he might have. He controls an enormous financial arsenal, including the country’s entire budget, filled with revenue from gas and oil exports, and he has the obedience of the country’s oligarchs. Western European democracies shy away from confronting Putin, Kasparov says, because they depend on Russia for natural gas, a dependence reinforced by the recently completed Nord Stream 2 pipelines, which will transport gas directly from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea. As Kasparov sees it, the United States is in a phase of retreating from global engagement, which leaves autocrats like Putin secure.

Michael Bluhm: What happened in the elections?

Garry Kasparov: When you use the word elections in Russia, you have to put it in quotation marks, because it’s not elections. It’s a charade. It’s a decoration.

Fifteen years ago, the organization I founded there—the United Civil Front—declared that the regime would never change through the ballot. People pointed at us and said, Radicals! They want revolution. We were pragmatists. We knew that, once KGB, always KGB.

With the worsening economic situation, growing dissatisfaction and apathy, and a rejection of the regime’s policies, they have to add more and more fraudulent votes to their tally. The latest report I saw from experts said that United Russia got an extra 14 million votes. That’s 50 percent of what they got overall. It shows that there’s no bottom.

As Joseph Stalin used to say, It doesn’t matter how you vote. What’s important is who counts. It’s very important for the free world to understand that it’s a charade, and it has nothing to do with the will of the Russian people. Russia is a one-man dictatorship, and the dictator finds it convenient to use this procedure to keep some democratic decorations to cover his dictatorial powers.

Ignat Arapov

Bluhm: How would you estimate the level of public support for Putin and United Russia?

Kasparov: It’s a very hypothetical question, because Putin never participated in free and fair elections. He never took part in any debates.

We can speculate whether they will get 15 percent, 20 percent, but we know that when people had some competing candidates, like in Moscow—and with a very limited offer of opposition candidates, because all real opposition candidates have been ruined and removed from the lists—they often voted against United Russia candidates.

This regime will never face free and fair elections, because it’s alien to its nature.

Bluhm: The economy is getting worse, and many Russians took to the streets in January to support dissident Alexei Navalny, and yet Putin’s power seems secure. How is that?

Kasparov: The main source of his power is the money he controls. We can say with certainty that Putin controls more money than any other individual in human history. The funds that he could move probably reach over $1 trillion. When you start looking at the Russian budget, and all the funds that are under the control of the Russian government, and some of the oligarchs’ fortunes that naturally will follow Putin’s orders, it’s an insane amount of money.

That’s why his power is intact. The Russian population is not in a position now to rise, because dictatorships of that type never collapse without major geopolitical defeat.

Russia is a one-man dictatorship, and the dictator finds it convenient to use this procedure to keep some democratic decorations to cover his dictatorial powers.

Right now, the free world shows no political will to take on Putin. Some cosmetic sanctions and statements don’t really bother him, as long as the West is willing to play by his rules.

Putin knows that he can buy almost anyone. He is not shy to use this enormous financial power to buy favors, politicians, and businesspeople. Look at the influence that Putin exercises outside of Russia—if you told me 20 years ago that the KGB would be able to control so many layers of political, economic, and social life in the free world, I would have laughed in your face.

Bluhm: Other than the oligarchs, which groups or types of people still support Putin?

Kasparov: I don’t know. All the data collected in a dictatorship can be questioned. Many people are not comfortable saying what they think about Putin, because they grew up or were born in the Soviet Union. Speaking truths about power might be dangerous. Instincts are telling people not to reveal their true emotions.

We don’t know how many people support Putin. Even by the Kremlin’s data, this support has been shrinking. The fact that they have to add more and more votes to the United Russia tally tells you that this support has been steadily disappearing. With real opposition parties participating, the results could be very different.

Rene Bohmer

Now that there is less money available for distribution to citizens, because of the shrinking economy, and more falsified votes given to United Russia, the regime is getting more repressive. Anyone expressing his or her opinion about it, even with a tweet—or a retweet—can be prosecuted. You can spend two years in jail for a tweet if a local party boss or local KGB chief decides that it hurts him.

Bluhm: Is this why there were so few protests against an obviously stolen election?

Kasparov: Some of your readers might be confused that nobody protests against blatantly falsified elections, but they were born and raised in different countries. This is simply the work of fear: If you go to the street, then you end up in jail. That’s a clear message. Navalny is in jail. I’m in exile. [Former Deputy Prime Minister and longtime Putin critic] Boris Nemtsov was killed.

The regime demonstrated that it wouldn’t stop at any cost to suppress the protest. Now, it’s not just the leadership—now, anybody can be punished severely for any form of protest. People aren’t scared—people are terrified. The regime looks too strong, and there are no cracks in the regime, because Putin has enough money and there’s no geopolitical defeat.

In America, police brutality is a problem. In Russia, police brutality is the system.

No one challenges a dictator when he looks strong. He doesn’t have to be strong—he has to look strong. Any attempt to overthrow the dictatorship should be based on mass protests connected to a public that’s willing to take the risk. Right now, there’s no chance. You go to the street, you end up in jail. At best, you’ll be beaten, but most likely you will be arrested, and then your life is ruined. And what are the chances to change things? Minimal.s

Navalny was arrested despite all the support from the free world. Putin paid no attention, and nothing happened. It’s very demoralizing for anyone who thinks that the Putin regime must go.

Bluhm: Conditions in Russia are deteriorating. Prices are rising, wages are stagnating, and the economy is almost wholly dependent on exporting natural resources. How are these conditions changing the political dynamics?

Kasparov: Official numbers and reports on what’s left of the free internet in Russia all confirm what you just said: stagnant wages, the deterioration of living standards, and the coronavirus demonstrated the total collapse of the healthcare system.

Desperate people are not good material for an uprising. People have to survive. The regime has enough money to buy the loyalty of the army, the police, the security apparatus, and the bureaucrats. There are no signs of cracks in the regime.

Don Fontijn

Let’s go back to the Gorbachev years. Oil prices dropped. Gorbachev was bankrupt. He needed Western credits. Putin doesn’t need it. He has enough gas, oil, and other natural resources to pay for his regime to survive.

The free world shows no appetite to cut this financial supply. Sanctions are mostly cosmetic. They don’t affect the well-being of the regime. There are no real actions against oligarchs. No matter what Germany said about the annexation of Crimea, since 2014, Germany has doubled the amount of Russian gas it consumes. For Putin, that’s a clear sign that nothing changes.

The Biden administration, with all its rhetoric, ended up lifting sanctions on Nord Stream 2. Nord Stream 2 is open, and it will start supplying gas, going around Ukraine and Poland, which will put Putin in an even more powerful geopolitical position in Eastern and Central Europe.

That sends a message to those bureaucrats and Russian officials who might be concerned about Putin losing touch with reality. There are no signs of him losing his geopolitical importance. As long as he looks—and I repeat the word looks—powerful, I don’t see any real challenge to him.

Bluhm: Regime critics held out some hope for the Smart Voting system, an app intended to consolidate the opposition vote in each district for one opposition candidate. But Google and Apple removed access to the app. Why did Google and Apple bend to Putin’s wishes?

Biden’s speech at the United Nations was a ton of good words, making a big statement that We’re no longer at war. That’s wrong. We are still in this never-ending conflict between democracy and an undemocratic world.

Kasparov: I don’t think this episode tells us anything new about Putin and about Google, Apple, and other Big Tech companies. They showed a total lack of compassion—an unwillingness to consider the well-being of people in dictatorial countries.

It’s hypocrisy and double standards. The same companies show their adherence to civil rights in the United States, but the violations are incomparable to Russia. In America, police brutality is a problem. In Russia, police brutality is the system.

Google and Apple are not paying any price for that. If you had the American public protesting against these companies’ behavior in Russia, China, and where regimes are threatening the well-being and the lives of those who are dissenting, then they might be considering a different algorithm of behavior. Now, it’s just business, and they feel that it benefits them.

They don’t want to endanger their offices, because Putin will not hesitate to go after people who work for Google or Apple in Moscow. The alternative is that you walk away. That would be the right moral choice, but they don’t even consider that, because there’s no price to pay in the American market.

They’re so aggressive in defending human rights and political freedom in America, and they turn a blind eye to dictators like Putin.

Marc Kleen

Bluhm: How is the Biden administration approaching Putin?

Kasparov: There’s no consensus in America about domestic policy, but the far left and far right, which have so much influence now in their respective parties, agree on diminishing America’s role worldwide. That’s why you don’t see much of a difference between Biden’s and Trump’s foreign policy.

Biden spoke so much about the league of democracy and defending human rights around the world, and his actions are the opposite. Words are cheap. Putin and Xi Jinping pay no attention to words. The authoritarian and totalitarian world thinks this administration is a paper tiger.

Biden’s speech at the United Nations was a ton of good words, making a big statement that We’re no longer at war. That’s wrong. We are still in this never-ending conflict between democracy and an undemocratic world.

I supported Biden. I thought that this administration could repair the damage made by Trump’s administration. So far, I see no difference. Biden just walked away from Trump’s sanctions on Nord Stream 2. I don’t know how sincere Trump was in imposing the sanctions, but at least they were in place.

Bluhm: What could the United States and European countries do to help undercut Putin’s power?

Kasparov: The problem in a globalized world is that you cannot ignore problems in Russia, China, or Afghanistan without paying a price at home.

Donald Trump is very much the creature of KGB interference in American elections. That’s the price that America paid for Obama’s unwillingness to confront Putin in Syria in 2013 and in Crimea in 2014.

Unless America takes the lead, the empty spots will be filled by dictators, thugs, and terrorists, and it will eventually backfire on you. No one is immune from events in other parts of the world.

You think that you can live this quiet life, protected by two oceans, but you’re wrong. Now, America is showing weakness; it’s like an open invitation to keep interfering in American political life. The divided American society is the best news for dictators around the world. On one side, Trump and his followers with the Big Lie and their outrageous policies. On the other side, the far left with their theories denigrating American democracy and history, which is another gift for dictators.

You have to fix things at home. Unless America takes the lead, the empty spots will be filled by dictators, thugs, and terrorists, and it will eventually backfire on you. No one is immune from events in other parts of the world. Separating American domestic affairs from international affairs doesn’t work any longer.

Bluhm: You mentioned Biden’s rhetoric about the world’s democracies banding together to confront autocracies such as Russia and China. At the same time, there’s evidence of democratic backsliding in the U.S. and other Western countries, and many powerful nations are now ruled by elected autocrats. What are the challenges to democracy today, and what should democracies be doing about the spread of autocracy?

Kasparov: I don’t know if we’ve reached the bottom, or there’s still room for us to fall further down. The threat to democracy comes from both extremes. The extremes on both sides of the political spectrum are chipping pieces from the center, decimating mainstream politics.

My biggest concern is that mainstream politics is not as strong as it has to be, and mainstream political parties are losing ground to either far-right or far-left extremist views.

Amina Khasanova

The strength of democracy is strategy. If we have a strategic view, we can rely on consecutive administrations to carry it through. This started with the Harry Truman administration that put policies and institutions in place, and it led to winning the Cold War 40 years later. Democrats and Republicans had consecutive presidents following this course.

Now, the free world has no policy, no vision for the future. There’s no strategy. We are playing reactive games rather than proactive, and dictatorial regimes are much better at quick responses to crisis.

Putin doesn’t care about consensus, Parliament, debates, free press, public opinion—he moves people and money instantly. In the United States, we go through endless debates. It’s good, as long as we understand the purpose of it. Now, the free world is stuck with no vision of the future and never-ending fights for the immediate benefits of the political parties.

Obama, Trump, and Biden were not presidents of the United States—they were presidents of their parties. This divide is not going to be healed in the foreseeable future. That is the biggest problem.

America has to wear the mantle of a global leader. America out of global politics is a recipe for disaster. But it’s impossible for America to take the lead unless you understand what America is, why American democracy is worth saving, and how we are going to move forward.

There are so many questions to be answered by reasonable people in the middle of this turmoil, and right now I see very little happening in the political center to recover the traditional strengths of democracy.