No one realistically expects Kasparov to win, or even garner a substantial portion of the vote.
He will be crushed, and not even his most enthusiastic supporters-or even he himself-is insinuating otherwise.
Russians are still in thrall to a profoundly complacent, apathetic mindset.
That brief efflorescence of freedom that occurred in 1991-under Boris Yeltsin-was evanescent.
NTV is gone, the last independent reporter for Izvestiya is gone, and there are virtually no remaining broad-based channels for dissent.
The Russians have returned to the time of Samizdat, and subterranean outlets used by refuseniks to voice dissent from the diktats of the ruling regime.
Whether or not Khasnayov, or Kasparov, or Yavlinsky, or any other opposition leader is properly equipped to do battle with the forces of revanchism and blind allegiance to Putin's autocratic tendencies-and I'm not disputing your assertion that they aren't-is entirely beside the point.
People today-even ex-KGB agents such as Putin-love to valorize the achievements of heroic figures like Solzhenitsyn, Sharansky, Sakharov, Nureyev; cultural, religious, and political dissidents all.
They hail the same individuals that were mercilessly persecuted by their predecessors.
Let me tell you, this idea that they were supported by a silent majority of Russians is complete and utter bunkum.
They were not only a numerical minority, but they were a minority in terms of opinion.
Most people living in the Soviet Union-unfortunately-were reconciled to their misery, lest they provoke an even more harsh reality at the hands of the USSR's internal security apparatus.
The Mitrokhin Archive is illustrative in this regard.
It explores just how successful the KGB-domestic thought police-and FCD-international branch-were in eradicating political opposition with ruthless efficacy.
The sad truth is that, prior to Glastnost and Perestroika-and the arrival of Gorbachev on center stage-Yuri Andropov had almost completely eliminated any significant internal dissent, save for a few implacable religious groups, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses.
This is a perpetual struggle, in which men like Kasparov will ALWAYS be in the distinct minority.
That does not make their fight any less worthy, or mean that their efforts should be denigrated.
That statement is almost to funny. What happened under Yeltsin was a small clique of local billionaires and foreign interest raping Russia. Most of the population decline, economic collapse (there was very little real growth as the banking collapse of 98 showed and killed Yeltsin's regime), infrastructural theft and massive debt occurred under Yeltsin. All those liberal parties were the kings of the Duma from 1991-1998.
The Russian people got tired of being raped, poor, miserable and constantly told how dumb they were by the Liberal intelligentsia of Yablaka, SRS, etc and decided to show them where the door was. Good for them.
Oh and as far as Yeltsin and freedom...you mean the same Yeltsin who in 1993 massacred 500 members of parliament and their staffs in the Duma when they refused to sell off Russian assets directly to the Oligarchs and Western special interests (like the chums that Clinton sent over there)? Some freedom....surround the legislature and butcher it with tanks.
The Russian government owns one, ONE, television station out of 7 national stations and we're not even going to count the thousands of newspapers.
Good, since he is much closer to Gore or Kerry then to Bush.
Is it complacency among most Russians these days that keeps Putin's group in power or the same old rule-with-an-iron-fist tactics? I think it's complacency. But I think things could change. just not everywhere in Russia at once. I think the Russia's biggest problem is that it's just too darn big.