Chess player Garry Kasparov blames Putin for destroying democracy in Russia

"Business is politics in up-to-date Russia. The government controls all aspects of the nation's life and the commercial field is not an exception," the chairman of the committee "2008: Free Choice", Grand Master Garry Kasparov said on September 13th at the Baltic Forum of Development in Hamburg. Below you can find excerpts from the chess player's speech.

"We must draw a distinction between the current Russian leadership and the citizens of Russia. The rich culture, creativity, the knowledge and humanity of our nation is still alive and means a lot more to the world than the whole Russian oil," Kasparov said. "High oil prices make the only support for Putin's regime. Citizens of other oil-extracting countries do not derive profit from the oil wealth. Both oil and all other natural resources of Russia should have their own markets and open ways to reach those markets."

Garry Kasparov believes that Russia should unite with Europe. "This union would be important to the Russian nation for social and economic reasons. The traditions of the European democracy and the relative economic stability will help Russia become a modern state. However, Putin's regime mixes up the past and the present. A lot of Russia's neighbors are still being suspicious about Russia, and they have reasons for it. An order in the past is necessary for the future progress. The European and Russian governments are living in two different worlds," Kasparov stated in Hamburg.

"One of the examples to prove it is the fact how our media outlets defend the notorious pact of 1939 between Nazis and Soviets. The USSR attacked Finland because of the pact, it invaded the Baltic republics, occupied a part of Poland and assisted in unleashing WWII. Russia needs to acknowledge the crimes of its Soviet predecessors.

"The avowal of guilt is a good spiritual remedy, which also means the acknowledgement of universal moral values, which the Kremlin currently rejects. One of these values is the ability to find common language. Putin's administration does not know how to speak this language.

"The Soviet past still dominates the Russian reality and politics. Putin is aware of that. In his address to the nation after the hostage crisis in Beslan, the president said that the nation is living under the conditions, which have been created with the collapse of a great state, which proved to be helpless in the changing world. It would be the same to say that you have been living in a house without the water supply system," Kasparov said.

"The Soviet Union could not and cannot be a part of modern Europe. It could become a part of Europe only with its conquests. We must distinguish between modern Russia that we need and the Soviet past that Putin is trying to retrieve.

"There is no place for Committee 2008 and the real opposition in the Russian press. However, there is a place for nationalists and Stalinists, who grieve about that "great state." They decline basic democratic values. These talks about the return to the erstwhile glory are becoming more frequent now. The Nazi propaganda is prohibited in Germany, but not in Russia," Kasparov said.

"Unfortunately, this is not the only aspect, in which Putin exercises himself as a Stalinist. He talks about everything in the old Soviet language. He suppresses freedom of speech, freedom of commerce, he has led Russia astray.

"Putin announced that he would cancel elections of regional governors as a measure to struggle against terrorism. Local parliamentarians will have to approve the selected nominees. Putin is destroying democracy at the time when we need it most. Western politicians might say that the Russian Constitution technically allows it. However, if the West keeps silent, we will most likely witness similar changes happening in the presidential election procedure.

"Even the national lucrative oil market does not function according to the standards of the civilized world. The scandal with Yukos and its CEO, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, has exerted a destructive influence on the economy.

"It is impossible for Europe to deal with the current Russian administration. Europe should press on Putin for changes. One should not let Putin mix the Soviet past with the Russian future in an attempt to keep the relations.

"Schroeder and Chirac are using double standards instead, which brings a lot of harm to the Russian nation. It is not time for Realpolitik. Each meeting of the Group of Seven with Putin's participation is perceived as the approval of Putin's home policy.

If the governors of two of our states allowed terrorists to plant explosives and bring on a nearly identical version of Beslan in our country, we would not change our system of governors coming into office. But Russia did.

The chechen women who blew up those planes bribed their way on board.

The US does not have only 12-14 years as a new country to deal with, and still try to fight terrorism at the same time.

It is sad that you cannot see this. Putin deserves our prayers and compassion. He was very hurt by what happened to those children and prayed at their bedside. There were several pics of him at Orthodox memorial services. He is taking a move which he believes will stop what happened from happening again. He does not know what else to do, other than accept the offer of help from Sharon and Israel.

For some time here after 9-11 we also lost many freedoms and some still complain about those losses. They are not the same but the provocation is the same.

I was detained at an airport for hours because I had a book of matches in my purse. I was treated horribly and I do mean horribly. My father had suddenly been taken very ill so I bought a ticket the day before I flew and paid cash. For this I had to stand in a bullpen of sorts for two hours while people stared at me as if I were on auction, and some idiot questioned me extensively about having matches in my purse and about having paid cash for the ticket.

Such is life after terrorism.

Putin Declares War

by J. R. Nyquist

Last week, in the Russian town of Beslan, nameless terrorists killed hundreds of children and adults. On Saturday Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a declaration of war, calling for his country’s mobilization. Grim before the television cameras, Putin blamed the breakup of that “vast great state,” the Soviet Union, for Russia’s sorry condition. “Despite all the difficulties,” said Putin, “we have managed to preserve the core of the colossus that was the Soviet Union.” And that core has come under attack. “Someone” wants to destroy what remains of the USSR. “We showed weakness,” Putin explained, “and the weak are trampled upon.”

There are many curious aspects to the Beslan massacre. In Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal, Russian chess champion Garry Kasparov noted the Muslim world’s “lack of interest” in the North Caucasus. So what was the Beslan terror spree about? According to Kasparov, Putin’s speech was “uncomfortably familiar to anyone who has lived under Soviet rule.”

As it stands today, the Russian security services control the Russian government. They control the “former” Soviet republics (even where there is a pretense of independence). They oversee the army districts of the “former” Soviet Union. They direct and coordinate organized crime. They continue to work with overseas communist parties, including the Chinese Communist Party. But there is more, much more, to this emerging picture. According to former FSB Lt. Col. Alexander Litvinenko, Russian state security regularly uses terrorism against the Russian people. This claim may sound outrageous to the uninformed, but Moscow built the infrastructure of global terrorism. Moscow trained and inspired a generation of terrorists.

Last week Litvinenko asked a question and provided an answer: “Who is the chief of the Islambuli Brigades who took credit for recent terrorist attacks in Russia? This chief is a high-ranking KGB officer named Mohammed al-Islambuli. He and his brother Khaled assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981. And now that organization is named in honor of Khaled. To tell the truth, they are mafia – they trade drugs and weapons in Russia.”

In 2002 Litvinenko wrote a book on the FSB/KGB’s involvement with organized crime and terrorism. The book’s English title is Blowing Up Russia: Terror From Within. The book documents “acts of terror, abductions and contract killings organized by the Federal Security Services of the Russian Federation.” Former KGB structures have used crime and terrorism to establish control over Russia’s economy and government. Litvinenko wrote, “To this must be added the corresponding line in foreign policy: a move towards Russia’s political isolation through confrontation with the West; militarization of the Russian economy; the beginning of a new arms race; an increase in the smuggling and sale of Russian weapons and military technologies to governments hostile to the developed nations of the world; the use of FSB channels for the smuggling of narcotics under the control and protection of the FSB….”

The Kremlin has played the Beslan massacre like classic provocation. “Some want to cut a juicy morsel from us,” explained Putin, referring to the oil-rich Caucasus region. “Others are helping them. They are helping because they believe that, as one of the world’s major nuclear powers, Russia still poses a threat to them, and therefore this threat must be removed. And terrorism, of course, is only a tool for achieving these goals.” In other words, “someone” wants to smash the Russian federation. They want to get hold of Russia’s oil. They want to break the back of the Russian state. They want to deprive Russia of its nuclear arsenal because it “still” threatens them. “This is a challenge to the whole of Russia,” Putin warned, “to the whole of our people. This is an attack on our country.” The plan is to “intimidate” Russia with “inhuman cruelty,” to “paralyze our will and demoralize our society.” The Russian president added: “It would appear that we have a choice of resisting them or agreeing to their claims, surrendering or allowing them to destroy and split Russia….”

The choice is clear. Destroy or be destroyed, kill or be killed. “One cannot fail to see the obvious,” said Putin. “We are not just dealing with separate actions aimed at frightening us, or separate terrorist sorties. We are dealing with direct intervention by way of terrorism against Russia, with total, cruel and full-scale war in which our compatriots die again and again.” The best course of action, explained Putin, is the “mobilization of the country in the face of a common danger.” The Russian people must unite. “Fellow countrymen,” he warned, “the aim of those who sent the bandits to carry out this horrific crime was to divide our people, to frighten Russia’s citizenry, to unleash a fratricidal bloodbath in the North Caucasus.” In response to this conspiracy the Russian president promised “measures to strengthen the unity of the country.” He promised to “create a new system for … controlling the situation in the North Caucasus.” According to Putin, “This is the only way for us to defeat the enemy.”

And who is this mysterious enemy that seeks to frighten and split Russia? Here is a hint: It is the same old enemy as before – the enemy of the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. And was the Beslan massacre a provocation? Here is another hint: the FSB was previously known as the KGB. Provocation was the KGB’s specialty. There is a great deal of evidence and testimony that President Putin came to power through FSB-sponsored terrorism. Russian state security provoked the Second Chechen War. Putin’s agents planted the bombs that leveled Russian apartment buildings in 1999. Furthermore, Chechen terrorists who take hostages have been publicly identified as Kremlin agents.

On Wednesday the Washington Times ran a story titled “Putin rips Washington’s calls for diplomacy with Chechens,” by Nicholas Kralev. According to this article, Putin has accused the United States of “undermining” Russia’s war on terrorism. Putin also accuses American officials of meeting with Chechen leaders. Even more blameworthy (from Putin’s standpoint), the United States granted political asylum to Ilyas Akhmadov, a Chechen rebel leader and foreign minister. The Kremlin uses this and other facts to show that Washington supports Chechen terrorism; that Washington seeks to demoralize and split Russia through “a fratricidal bloodbath in the North Caucasus.”

Do not mistake this for “Russian paranoia.” What we are hearing and reading is calculated propaganda. Characteristically, the mass murderer accuses his intended victim of harboring identical intentions to his own. It effectively appeals to the willing dupes, useful idiots and fellow travelers of the anti-American left. At the same time it covers President Putin with a halo of innocence.

Russian policy has entered a new phase. President Putin’s declaration of war against an unnamed country, his mobilization of Russia, his call for unity, his nostalgia for the Soviet Union already characterizes this new phase. Russia’s policy is clearly anti-American and anti-capitalist. As former FSB Lt. Col. Litvinenko stated in his book, “The philistine argument that ‘it’s just not possible’ is merely an expression of the potential victim’s psychological inability to accept the worst.”

Welcome to the New Cold War.

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