Garry Kasparov Profile picture
Mar 3, 2022 13 tweets 3 min read Read on X
We are witnessing, literally watching live, Putin commit genocide on an industrial scale in Ukraine while the most powerful military alliance in history stands aside. It's impossible not to be emotional, but let us also be rational and focus our rage on the facts. 1/13
Putin once again told Macron to go to hell, no surprise. NATO/EU has already told Putin they won't touch his forces, so why should he listen? Russia is lifting target limitations and the death toll is rising every hour and lack of water & electricity is critical. 2/13
No treaty forbids NATO nations from fighting to defend in Ukraine. It's a choice based on the risk of Putin going nuclear, many say. That arming Ukrainians is an acceptable risk of WWIII & the citizenship of the pilot or soldier changes Putin's nuclear calculus, or NATO's. 3/13
If they care so much about the fine print and think Putin does too, ask Zelensky to issue Ukrainian passports to any volunteer to fly in combat. Sell jets to Ukraine for €1 each and paint UKR flags on them. Do you think Putin will care? Is it worth the lives lost? 4/13
This is already World War III. Putin started it long ago & Ukraine is only the current front. He will escalate anyway, and it's even more likely if he succeeds in destroying Ukraine because you have again convinced him you won't stop him even though you could. 5/13
Biden & others insist NATO would retaliate should Putin attack Baltic members. Watching Ukraine, I am not sure of that at all, and Putin won't be either. If the calculation is about nuclear risk, it's no different over Estonia than Ukraine. Don't say "Putin would never". 6/13
If this sounds familiar, it's the same argument from 2014, when Putin invaded E Ukraine and annexed Crimea. It was too risky to stop him, I was told, as I pleaded for intervention and warned he would never stop there. Here we are, with bombs raining down. 7/13
Risk and costs are higher now because the "reasonable" people in the West always choose lower risk today to guarantee higher risk tomorrow. Clearing the UKR skies after a warning period is risky. Letting Putin destroy Ukraine is riskier, & a human and moral disaster. 8/13
There is no waiting this out. This isn't chess; there's no draw, no stalemate. Either Putin destroys Ukraine and eventually hits NATO with an even greater catastrophe, or Putin falls in Russia. He cannot be stopped with weakness. 9/13
The corridors to get weapons, food, and medicine in and refugees out are narrowing and can be closed. Putin can bomb the trains, close the borders with NATO nations. The odds of Russian forces hitting a NATO asset are increasing, and then what? Still watching? 10/13
If your answer is no, that if a wing of a RU jet crosses Polish airspace, of course NATO will engage immediately, ask why thousands of Ukrainians civilians dying first matters less than a treaty, and what that says to Putin. That you're honorable, or a fool? We know. 11/13
As I said in 2014 and a fateful week ago, the price of stopping a dictator always goes up. What would have been enough to stop Putin 8 years or 6 months or 2 weeks ago is not enough today, and the price will rise again tomorrow. Fight. Find a way. 12/13
Putin vows to exterminate Ukrainians while we watch. Ukraine did nothing wrong but try to join the democratic world that is now witnessing crimes against humanity in real time. Not unable. Unwilling. #CloseTheSky 13/13

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More from @Kasparov63

Mar 7
Talk is cheap. And has there ever been a Trump statement that acknowledges Russia is the invader and could end the war by going home? Ukraine could "get to the table" & Russia would blow up the table. Limiting Ukraine's ability to defend only encourages Russia to keep attacking.
Russia’s latest massive attacks against Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure came right after Trump limited Ukraine’s ability to defend itself and threats to withdraw aid completely. Putin sees weakness to be exploited so why would he stop?
As for Trump’s sanctions threats, let’s see it. There are plenty of expert recommendations on how the US could lead a much tighter squeeze on the Russian economy and Putin‘s cronies. Biden didn’t and I don’t think Trump will. Some superficial Kremlin-approved PR, maybe.
Read 4 tweets
Mar 5
It felt like a curiously Soviet entrance, as if every Republican there knew someone would be going over video to see who was clapping hardest and longest, but maybe my imagination...
Never mind, Trump is already into the "enemies of the people" material, so my original diagnosis was accurate. Will he be announcing record grain harvests next?
Trump won on inflation and culture wars. He's making inflation and the economy worse, so time to triple down on woke. This will be his theme forever, an immortal boogeyman to kill over and over.
Read 8 tweets
Mar 4
Just remember that whenever Vance, Trump or Musk and the rest talk about Ukraine and Zelenskyy, ask why they aren’t talking about Russia and Putin, the cause of the war that could end it today.
Minerals, suits, thank-yous, it’s all chaff. Putin’s wishlist for the Trump admin, in no particular order: 1) Halting or delaying Ukraine aid 2) Lifting sanctions 3) Splitting US from EU allies & NATO 4) Stopping Ukraine's attacks on RU energy infrastructure …
5) Weakening Zelenskyy in Ukr to attempt pro-Kremlin replacement 6) Approval of taking territory by force 7) Rehabilitation of Russia & Putin on world stage 8) Sabotage of global economy to raise value of oil & gas 9) Elevation of pro-Kremlin politicians & policies in EU.
Read 6 tweets
Mar 3
Btw, this echoes the pleas of the Russian opposition back in the Obama era when Putin might have been deterred. Obama wanted peace with everyone and we warned him Putin didn't care. But if he wasn’t going to stand up to him, at least stop legitimizing him and working against us.
Biden became more of the same, although his old Cold War instincts had initial promise in clearly seeing Russia and Putin as enemies of the USA who would do far greater damage if not stopped in Ukraine. But despite my many complaints, Trump was the greater danger and we see why.
Trump didn’t campaign on embracing Russia & saving Putin. He talked about ending the war—on day one—but since Jan 20 it’s clear that was a euphemism for giving Russia whatever it wants with no concessions. Russia started the war and could end it today. But he pressures Ukraine.
Read 6 tweets
Mar 3
Russia is a threat to America's interests, not to Trump's or Musk's. This distinction must now be embedded in any conversation about national security, as happens in every autocracy. Kissing up to Putin, destroying the Atlantic alliance, tanking the economy with tariffs, etc.
Western media, leaders, and analysts still struggle to realize Russian policy has nothing to do with "good for Russia" or Russians. It’s Putin, personally, and his cronies. Dictatorships don’t exist as states for long; they become public fronts for private mafias. Putinization.
There’s no US foreign policy interest in teaming up with Russia's dictatorship. No mythical "split them from China" or economic benefits. Legitimizing Putin's use of force in Ukraine encourages more of it & promotes nuclear proliferation. But good for Trump & Musk, somehow yes.
Read 4 tweets
Feb 28
Zelensky is a wartime leader watching his people suffer and die under Russian attacks every day. To be lectured and lied to by Trump and Vance, as they defend the war criminal dictator committing these atrocities, is unimaginable agony. An everlasting shame for America.
All Ukraine advocates have tried to give the new Trump admin time in good faith despite the clear pro-Kremlin track record of Trump, Musk, and others. But today's performance demolished that hope. It could have been choreographed by Putin himself, and perhaps it was.
This was an ambush, but Trump isn't reliable so Vance got the task of provoking Zelensky. Zelensky could ignore personal attacks, but won't allow the suffering of Ukrainians to be diminished by the likes of Vance, who had no reason to be there other than to perform sabotage.
Read 6 tweets

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