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

Apr 14
Trump again rushes to humiliate his sycophants and defenders with a full-throated embrace of Russia, the day after it murdered 30 civilians in Sumy, Ukraine with ballistic missiles on Palm Sunday. Where are the condemnations and resignations of the GOP who spoke out yesterday?
Did Biden launch those missiles? Zelenskyy? Nor did either of them start this war, but you couldn’t tell that from Trump's insane ravings. No mention of Putin, of course, who launched this attack the day after Trump's envoy personally kissed his ass, just to show who’s in charge.
This is the only formula Trump has left to defend his embrace of Putin & Russia. As for his "it wouldn’t have happened on my watch", 1, the war WAS going on during his term and he did nothing. 2, as I explained again in the Atlantic, Putin expected Trump to help him as he is now: Image
Read 4 tweets
Apr 13
Sycophants and conspiracy loons praising the ass-kissing of a Russian mafia dictator by a US president and his envoy. This is Trump's America, and they want you to be as proud of it as they are. And on the day of Russia's bloodiest civilian attack of the year in Ukraine.
Much as Biden's "as long as it takes" was slippery rhetoric to avoid committing to Ukrainian victory, the Trump admin's "working for peace" is a merely a mask for collaborating with Russia to try to force Ukraine to surrender and be destroyed. Capitulation is not negotiation.
The US is siding with the Putin dictatorship, unable even to say Russia is the aggressor that started and that continues this war. That’s not being diplomatic, it’s being a liar and a collaborator with the Russian evil that slaughtered over 30 civilians today in Sumy.
Read 6 tweets
Apr 3
During Trump‘s first term, I pointed out that anyone skeptical of what propaganda could do in an authoritarian state like Russia only needed to look at how easily one cable channel and some talk radio hosts flipped the GOP into worshiping a reality show host and hating the FBI.
Surveys follow the Dear Leader's agenda with terrible predictability. Russians had balanced views of the United States & NATO and were positive on the European Union until it suited Putin to make enemies out of them one by one. Public opinion quickly followed the propaganda line.
27% of Republicans now call Canada unfriendly or enemy. Canada! It is a measure of propaganda power and cult loyalty tests. Do they believe it or just know that’s what they’re supposed to say now? Is there a difference in practice? Russia and China as friends coming up next…
Read 4 tweets
Mar 27
🎯 Ceasefires and negotiations are a way of telling Russia you are weak. Dictators act only from strength and assume others do the same. If you wanted them to stop and were strong enough to stop them, you would. If you don't, it's a green light.
Realize this is not a failure of Trump's negotiations. This is the actual point of Trump's negotiations, to protect Russia & Putin and to divide Ukraine into pieces and assets. There is no longer a charitable interpretation. It's Russia & USA vs Ukraine and Europe.
I'll keep repeating this because I still see people speaking as though Trump has been tricked by Putin or that he and his incompetent administration are just ignorant. No. Trump & Musk are taking instructions and working to save Putin & Russia and to destroy and loot Ukraine.
Read 6 tweets
Mar 26
My new op-ed in @Welt on the need for Europe to prepare itself to wage war--without Trump's pro-Kremlin America. This will require matching Ukraine's level of courage, and now. | Garri Kasparow: "Europa muss bereit sein, Krieg zu führen" welt.de/debatte/plus25…
This WH's contempt for Europe was again on display in the "secret" chat. Trump is fulfilling everything on Putin's wishlist, so Europe needs a checklist to stand up to Russian aggression. It cannot wait and hope for when Trump & his gang leave power.
Items include: Shut down Russia's oil shadow fleet; suspend Hungary's voting rights & EU aid; form a European defense bloc separate from NATO; arm Ukraine to the teeth, the only way real peace will ever happen.
Read 5 tweets
Mar 25
How far down is the Trump admin on the autocracy fuckup checklist? Deny, lie, attack the source, attack the media, say it was someone else, say it was no big deal, say it was a brilliant maneuver, boast about it, create new scandal. Let’s see how good at Putinization they are.
Never admit error, never apologize, always double down, always counterattack, always distract. It’s better to be twice a liar and do more damage than for Dear Leader to show weakness by admitting error or apologizing to those harmed.
Trump appointed amateurs and known security risks whose only job is to please him and Senate Republicans enthusiastically confirmed all of them. Realize that Goldberg is the tip of the iceberg. It was a lucky fluke. The stupidity and corruption you don’t see is far bigger.
Read 4 tweets

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