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Garry Kasparov Profile picture
@Kasparov63
Feb 20, 2022 • 9 tweets • 3 min read • Read on X
After warning so many White House admins blundering with Putin, I don't care if they listen to me as long as they are listening to reason. If you make the same mistake twice you are either a fool or it's not a mistake at all, it's collusion & corruption.
I blasted W Bush for treating Putin like an ally after 9/11, but they were both new on the job in a crisis. By 2008, Putin wasn't a mystery, but Obama gifted him the Reset. Trump was Putin's fan and beneficiary. Biden talked tough, but is repeating the reactive pattern.
As I just said on CNN, I *hear* Scholz, Macron and Biden talking, but I don't see anything new. Putin was "a pariah" in 2008 when he invaded Georgia, invaded Ukraine & shot down MH-17 in 2014, etc. And? He hosted the World Cup in 2018 and Nord Stream 2 went ahead. Pariah? Image
I'm not in the mood to be charitable when thousands more innocent people may about to be murdered by a man I was told repeatedly I was overreacting to call a dictator and threat.
Once again, dictators don't ask why, they only ask why not. If you don't act to stop them, they assume you are fine with what they are doing, but must say that you aren't for show. It's up to the leaders of the free world to prove Putin wrong. I'm not sure he is.
Just one example of the thinking that got us here, the dismissive tone of a so-called Russia expert in a review of my 2015 book Winter Is Coming. He had already invaded Ukraine & annexed Crimea, but I was overreacting! washingtonpost.com/opinions/chess…
Many lives are at stake, but so is the global order based on the rule of law. Putin's invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea shook its foundation. Now he wants to shatter it. If the free world is worth defending, it must be defended now. video.snapstream.net/Play/79yBSXy8o… Image
Words matter. It's a Putin crisis, not a Ukraine crisis. There are no separatists; they are Russian occupation forces. There is no Russian president; there is a dictator with nukes who wants the world to dance to his tune. Words matter, but they have never stopped a dictator.
For predicting Putin's moves, just see what he sees. He looks around and doesn't see forces coming to defend Ukraine. He hears leaders of mighty nations only talking instead of acting to stop him. He sees promises, not action, and he knows promises are made to be broken.

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More from @Kasparov63

Garry Kasparov Profile picture
Nov 11
It’s not that they think they wouldn’t be confirmed, at least not in most cases. It’s that they want to plant a big flag early that there will be no transparency or oversight of Trump's wishes and power. Everything will be like this.
Putin steadily reshaped Russia's fragile democracy with the willing aid of the Russian Duma (Congress) and courts who didn’t want to cross him. Power is voluntarily ceded to the president and an autocratic vertical is created. Federal over state power next.
Same with all the constitutional changes that Putin made to cement his power. Why would a dictator bother with laws and elections? They want the argument of "well, everything was done legally so it’s fine". Autocrats adore sham democracy.
Read 4 tweets
Garry Kasparov Profile picture
Nov 6
I’ll be writing on the election soon, but a few thoughts. Beyond the tactical, the resounding result is more evidence that far-right success follows far-left overreach. The media normalized Trump, but also downplayed how strongly many Americans disliked leftist agitation. 1/7
I.e., the prevailing tone was that leftist social agendas were simply progress, and anyone who didn’t embrace them was a fascist or dinosaur. But even if that’s an argument to be had on a talk show, it provokes moderate resentment and is a losing proposition electorally. 2/7
Harris was what we thought she was in 2020, an ineffectual candidate who only had a chance because she was running against Trump. The Dems missed the chance to find a stronger one due to Biden’s refusal to step down, as I proposed in October 2023. 3/7wsj.com/articles/biden…
Read 8 tweets
Garry Kasparov Profile picture
Nov 4
American elections vote for people, not parties. This isn’t complicated. I supported GOP candidates almost exclusively before Trump, even meeting with some of their campaigns. Trump and the MAGA GOP have nothing to do with those good men or their policies.
If you had bothered to learn anything about me, my background, and my decades of public writing and speaking on politics, or even read my article you replied to, you would realize how dangerous Trump must be for me to endorse Harris. But Trump makes it obvious and necessary.
This list of questions are about politics and social tides. What a luxury to have those arguments, to vote your beliefs and opinions! In 2028, if the GOP has recovered its sanity, perhaps I will support Harris's challenger, as I supported Romney, McCain, and Haley.
Read 5 tweets
Garry Kasparov Profile picture
Nov 2
When I was forced to escape Putin's crackdown in Russia and made my home in America, I never imagined I would be warning my new home about the threat of authoritarianism. But thanks to Trump, here we are. My article: thedispatch.com/article/us-des…
My endorsement of Harris is an endorsement of democracy, of institutions, of the country I grew up admiring from afar. America must not fall into the corrupt oligarchy that MAGA wants to build, one modeled on Trump's idol Putin, btw.
I warned about Trump from the beginning because I know from experience what autocrats look & sound like. I also know from experience what Communists sound like, and Harris, for all my concerns about American far left, is no Communist.
Read 5 tweets
Garry Kasparov Profile picture
Oct 26
Like the Russian oligarchs, Musk sees himself as part of a shadow government—outside and above, unaccountable. It would be far worse with him inside Trump's government, operating with great power but no transparency. I’m sure Putin is a valuable mentor.
I called the Putin system an unholy mix of Adam Smith and Marx; they nationalize the costs and privatize the profits. They loot the state and then turn the state into a looting machine. Look at how Trump runs his campaigns, his foreign policy. Friends & family for profit.
Musk spews Russian misinformation & twists this platform into his image to elect Trump. It was purchased at great loss and dubious foreign cash for this purpose. Why, because he and his handlers really think the foaming, incoherent criminality of Trump is good for America?
Read 4 tweets
Garry Kasparov Profile picture
Oct 23
Dictatorships export sabotage, murder, and terror into the free world, and not only against dissidents like the brave Masih. Unless there are real consequences, such campaigns will only spread.
It’s the democratic world that often downplays and covers up these attacks against their citizens, residents, and sovereignty. To avoid "escalation," of course, meaning having the courage to actually do something. This creates impunity and escalation by the terror states.
Remember what happened after the 2006 murder of Alexander Litvinenko in London with a nuclear toxin that could have caused a mass casualty event. Successive UK admins kept the investigation quiet, even as Putin's pet assassin was elevated in Moscow.
Read 4 tweets

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