Garry Kasparov Profile picture
Feb 21 5 tweets 2 min read
If the world lets this go forward, I hope they have a list of the next pieces of the map they are willing to concede to Putin's use of force. Because he does have such a list and facing no opposition he will continue to work down it.
As Putin continues his invasion of a sovereign nation, watch what Europe & America do. They will tell Ukraine, the invaded country, the country losing lives in this war, to not fight back. As they did to Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine 2014.
"if you fight for your territory and your people, we will not help you," they will say. This is how the West treats democratic allies for the past 20 years. Bow to dictatorship, suffer for us while we do business with your invader and do nothing to help you. Shame.
Where is Macron now? Where is Blinken, now that Putin declared war and said they have been planning everything for months? All their stupid talk yesterday about diplomacy was like an energy drink for Putin, composed of their cowardice, incompetence, and corruption.
I wish Putin had invited Macron and Scholz and the rest to this meeting so they could hear to their faces how pathetic they have been and how Putin and his cronies have been laughing at them this whole time. He had a plan. He's executing it on time. They did nothing but talk.

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More from @Kasparov63

Feb 21
And so it begins. They will carry the goalposts all the way to Warsaw before standing up to Putin.
What is preventing the US from launching its "overwhelming" sanctions now, other than cowardice and corruption? What do they need from Putin? To store Iranian uranium as part of the deal? What?
As I always feel obliged to do when Putin violates another agreement or norm, I ask to hear from his many appeasers through the years, as he turned Russia into a police state, murdered & jailed my colleagues, and makes war.
Read 6 tweets
Feb 21
Putin's forces on Ukrainian soil is, and always has been, an invasion. But watch how Western leaders try to weasel out of their promises by saying it's anything else. Remember they called Crimea "an unauthorized landing".
We can call Putin's invaders "peacekeepers" if he calls the billions in assets to be seized from him and his cronies "charitable donations".
We need a children's textbook for the media:
WRONG: "President Putin to send peacekeepers to breakaway regions of Ukraine."
RIGHT: "Russian dictator formally announces annexation of additional Ukrainian territories after 8 years of military occupation."
Read 4 tweets
Feb 21
Putin’s speech became raving, a screed of ahistorical grievances and delusions, the myth of Russian humiliation. The focus on NATO and the US is because big bosses need the biggest enemies and Ukraine won’t do. But Ukraine must suffer for Putin’s incompetence and viciousness.
No one should bother deciphering this garbage. Putin wants conflict because he needs conflict. He must distract from his failures in Russia, destroy any democratic model nearby. He looked around to see if anyone with the power to stop him would use it, and they all declined.
Years of Western blather about the Minsk agreements and diplomacy and Putin, as he knew he would do all along, just spat on them and said Russia is taking more Ukrainian territory by force. Let’s see the “swift and firm response” the US and allies promised.
Read 5 tweets
Feb 20
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
Read 9 tweets
Feb 18
Putin doesn't care if it's convincing or that something "looks bad". He only cares about consequences. He invaded Georgia in 2008 & Ukraine in 2014. He's still in power and still runs the richest mafia in the world.
Putin has been in power for 22 years, crushing Russian society while killing, jailing, and exiling all rivals and critics. He has assassinated across Europe and made war on neighbors. Calling anything he does a "miscalculation" requires proving it.
"Doesn't Putin realize how bad this looks?!" is one of most idiotic critiques of his oppression and aggression. Maybe he's better at being a brutal dictator than you are. Nemtsov murdered. Navalny poisoned and jailed. Ukraine occupied. How does that look?
Read 6 tweets
Feb 17
Calling Putin a chessplayer is wrong even if it weren't insulting! Dictators have advantages in bluffing & tactics because they can act quickly with no oversight. Democracies have, or should have, institutional consistency to rely on. bulwarkpodcast.thebulwark.com/p/garry-kaspar…
If Putin carries out his attack on Ukraine, it will be because he believes he won't suffer serious consequences, a calculation based on previous feeble responses to his aggression. By waiting & reacting only, instead of deterring, the West is encouraging more war.
It's good but not enough to openly and robustly support Putin's targets. Do not allow Ukraine to become a proxy battlegrounds. Putin and his mafia must have skin in the game, real consequences for the only thing that matters to them: money and the power in Russia to keep it.
Read 4 tweets

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