Sept. 23, 2007
Garry Kasparov: The Match Of His Life
Steve Kroft Interviews The Chess Legend About His Political Ambitions
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Play CBS Video Video The Kasparov Revolution World chess champion Garry Kasparov is leading the political opposition against Vladimir Putin's government. It may be his hardest match ever. Steve Kroft reports.
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Garry Kasparov (CBS)
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"How Life Imitates Chess: Making the Right Moves, from the Board to the Boardroom"
by Garry Kasparov
by Garry Kasparov
Like most of these events, it was widely covered by the Western media, and all but ignored by the Russian press.
Despite a strong police presence, more than 1,000 people turned out to voice their displeasure with the government. And Kasparov enjoyed being in the middle of it. He told Kroft he always played his best chess in the most difficult situations.
"We've been together a couple of days, and this is the happiest I've seen you," Kroft remarked, while the two walked in St. Petersburg.
"Because I can see that people respond and they are overcoming their fear," Kasparov explains. "That’s how we can win."
In chess, when you are in danger of being checkmated, you have to do what you can to survive, and Kasparov has established an alliance called "The Other Russia," a broad coalition of widely divergent political parties, that have little in common other than their opposition to Putin's regime.
The tactic has produced some of the largest political protests since Putin came to power, and raised eyebrows about some of his allies, like the National Bolshevik Party, which envisions a socialist Russian empire stretching across most of Europe, and reminds some people of the Nazis.
The National Bolshevik Party's flag, already banned, is reminiscent of the Nazi flag - except that the swastika is replaced by a hammer and sickle.
"If you're fighting for democracy, how can you march with fascists?" Kroft asks.
"They're not fascists," Kasparov says.
"You say they're not fascists. That's not what we're told," Kroft remarks.
"Yeah, but fascist is a word. I'm also called fascist by some of the Kremlin factions," Kasparov replies.
Asked if he agrees with what the National Bolsheviks stand for, Kasparov tells Kroft, "They stand for number of things that I may disagree. But we agree on one thing: the restoration of free and fair elections, no censorship and diminishing of presidential powers. What's wrong about that?"
"Kasparov was a great chess player. There's no doubt about it. I don't think he's a very good politician," says Vladimir Posner, once one of the Soviet Union's leading spokesmen.
Today, Posner hosts Russia's most popular political talk show.
Asked if the average Russian knows who Kasparov is, Posner tells Kroft, "Yes, everyone knows that he was a great chess player but today they know him as a fringe, as they would say, political figure. And he could not be elected dog catcher, really not."
According to public opinion polls, Putin's approval rating is nearly 80 percent. He's viewed as being young, energetic, and well-spoken. And with Russia's huge energy reserves, and soaring oil and gas prices, the economy is booming.
Across from Lenin's tomb on Red Square, you'll find some of the most fashionable boutiques in the world. But most of all, Putin is seen as having restored Russia to its role as a world power, and he has effectively managed to associate the word democracy with the economic chaos and drunken behavior of the late Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
What has Putin given to people?
"Stability for most people, a better living standard gradually," Posner says. "A returned sense of pride. We're back, guys. You thought we were gone forever. You thought we'd play no more role, that Russia was now a third class country. Well, you were wrong."
Posner disagrees with Kasparov's statement that Russia today is a police state. "The Soviet Union was a police state," he says. "And he should know the difference. Had this been the Soviet Union, he would've been in jail long ago…or sent to a camp, the gulag," Posner adds. "Today, he talks, you know he's out there."
Posner acknowledges Kasparov has been detained and that his office have been raided, but he says, "Compared to Soviet times, that's not persecution. That's, ya know, little red riding hood kind of thing."
"I mean we're sitting here in your apartment. You're saying these things to us on television. There's nobody…," Kroft remarks to Kasparov.
"American television," Kasparov points out.
"American television. But you'd say them on Russian television if you could?" Kroft asks.
"If I could, yes," Kasparov says. "But I cannot."
Produced By Andy Court and Keith Sharman
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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"Like most of these events, it was widely covered by the Western media, and all but ignored by the Russian press."
I say:
Where were you, Mr. Kroft and 60-Minutes, when nearly 300,000 Americans marched against the Iraq war last January? Where were you when tens of thousands demonstrated against the war on September 15? Where have you been as repeated vigils against the war have been taking place since before the "shock and awe" campaign began?
Where will you be on October 27th when hundreds of thousands in ten major cities across our country will take to the streets once again to wage their protests against continuing this disastrous war? Will you air a segment covering voices of dissent in our own country?
"Like most of these events, it was widely covered by the Western media, and all but ignored by the Russian press."
I say:
Where were you, Mr. Kroft and 60-Minutes, when nearly 300,000 Americans marched against the Iraq war last January? Where were you when tens of thousands demonstrated against the war on September 15? Where have you been as repeated vigils against the war have been taking place since before the "shock and awe" campaign began?
Where will you be on October 27th when hundreds of thousands in ten major cities across our country will take to the streets once again to wage their protests against continuing this disastrous war? Will you air a segment covering voices of dissent in our own country?
"Like most of these events, it was widely covered by the Western media, and all but ignored by the Russian press."
I say:
Where were you, Mr. Kroft and 60-Minutes, when nearly 300,000 Americans marched against the Iraq war last January? Where were you when tens of thousands demonstrated against the war on September 15? Where have you been as repeated vigils against the war have been taking place since before the "shock and awe" campaign began?
Where will you be on October 27th when hundreds of thousands in ten major cities across our country will take to the streets once again to wage their protests against continuing this disastrous war? Will you air a segment covering voices of dissent in our own country?
"Like most of these events, it was widely covered by the Western media, and all but ignored by the Russian press."
I say:
Where were you, Mr. Kroft and 60-Minutes, when nearly 300,000 Americans marched against the Iraq war last January? Where were you when tens of thousands demonstrated against the war on September 15? Where have you been as repeated vigils against the war have been taking place since before the "shock and awe" campaign began?
Where will you be on October 27th when hundreds of thousands in ten major cities across our country will take to the streets once again to wage their protests against continuing this disastrous war? Will you air a segment covering voices of dissent in our own country?
"Like most of these events, it was widely covered by the Western media, and all but ignored by the Russian press."
I say:
Where were you, Mr. Kroft and 60-Minutes, when nearly 300,000 Americans marched against the Iraq war last January? Where were you when tens of thousands demonstrated against the war on September 15? Where have you been as repeated vigils against the war have been taking place since before the "shock and awe" campaign began?
Where will you be on October 27th when hundreds of thousands in ten major cities across our country will take to the streets once again to wage their protests against continuing this disastrous war? Will you air a segment covering voices of dissent in our own country?
"Like most of these events, it was widely covered by the Western media, and all but ignored by the Russian press."
I say:
Where were you, Mr. Kroft and 60-Minutes, when nearly 300,000 Americans marched against the Iraq war last January? Where were you when tens of thousands demonstrated against the war on September 15? Where have you been as repeated vigils against the war have been taking place since before the "shock and awe" campaign began?
Where will you be on October 27th when hundreds of thousands in ten major cities across our country will take to the streets once again to wage their protests against continuing this disastrous war? Will you air a segment covering voices of dissent in our own country?
"Like most of these events, it was widely covered by the Western media, and all but ignored by the Russian press."
I say:
Where were you, Mr. Kroft and 60-Minutes, when nearly 300,000 Americans marched against the Iraq war last January? Where were you when tens of thousands demonstrated against the war on September 15? Where have you been as repeated vigils against the war have been taking place since before the "shock and awe" campaign began?
Where will you be on October 27th when hundreds of thousands in ten major cities across our country will take to the streets once again to wage their protests against continuing this disastrous war? Will you air a segment covering voices of dissent in our own country?
mr.Steve Kroft what kind of drugs do you us,when a write article ?
I was birthed in a berth, fathered by
dock workers, formed of steel, alive
with sinew and blood, launched too early
by far from the womb and christened at
Cammell Lairds at Birkenhead and after
tea with a German Chancellor, hauled a
nasty fat man to Newfoundland. But,
while touring the Pacific, ill
advisedly, I might add, was lost
beneath the waves after leaving
Singapore and reborn...and re-christened
"Prinzowhales", by my new sounding friends.
vesper lynd, is so sadly a traitor due to her
country sweden, being bankrupt and somehow she
must get that money for her country sweden. the
lynds have been hounded for years ever since
jenny lind took more than her fair share from
p.t. barnum when she was the most famous singer
in the world, the swedish songbird. she was one
of the biggest draws in the world in the century
of dickens. a most interesting biography to read,
jenny lind. some spell it lynd. daniel tried
so hard to save vesper even if she had to go
over to the enemy with the money. but in the end
we find out the evil isle of wight is behind it,
rather like the old nazi actor, wilfred hyde-whyte,
with his always sly fox grin. get him james.
scandinavia is no longer neutral. who says
a cartoonist cannot draw what he wants? blasphemy
laws? c''mon. lapland, sweden station to the
rescue. now, let''s all get along on the curling
ice.
of wales. the cavaliers are up against the roundheads again as they have been for quite some
time. in 1967, with mick jagger under house
arrest at kings row, i was no more than ten yards
from your mother, elizabeth and king faisal as
they rode through hyde park in royal carriage.
my first impulse was violent. with american
brainwashing. but i checked myself, even though
i was a rather ardent stones fan. i saw mick
jagger too, emerge from kings row apartments
where he was under house arrest, as we whizzed
by on a double decker red bus. what a thrill
for me. i hope fickling''s disease can be stopped.
fickle fickling of norfolk and norwich. a long
distinguished line. they are so indecisive at times.
but ever so determined to crank out super profits
and defeat that mountebank trump. i had to work
for my uncle for free in after the 1987 crash
in sayville, ny. the least we could do after
my ma found him her birth family, and he almost
fainted dead away. so we pitched in there, got
him going again. its a strange disease first
appeared in the medical literature after the
magna carta in the 13th century to oddly enuff
only ficklings there in norfolk county. and
it spread. very contagious disease. has definite
symptoms, especially of vendetta and revenge.
like the count of monte cristo. good luck charles.
nobody likes you really, but i think you''re a real
swell guy, just to be in the british military. wow.
match i spoke of in 2002 was an israeli championship
between emil sutovsky and ilia smirin, both soviet
emigres'' to israel. they are still both only
in their twenties. do not underestimate the power
of senility. some of us, receive dementia early
in life against their will, from many causes, even
chemical warfare. the german swiss corporation
sandoz inc. was most effective for the nazis.
hoffman was most diligent in 1939 in developing
lsd-25 and many other derivatives for use by
the fuehrer at a great price of course, for
world conquest as one of hoffman''s favorite
songs also was ''ride of the valkyries'' by wagner.
mine happens to be swan lake by tschiaowsky.
and the nutcracker suite. saw it at the pilgrimage
theater in hollywood, ca at about 3 years of age.
born in los angeles, just off skid row on hope st.
its only natural that ''colorful'' things happen
to them, even in checkmate, one of the shows i
was in with doug mcclure and sebastian cabot.
looks like the Greatest Depression is the way.
can we get out of checkmate even after it has
happened. perhaps. thanks for the circus comment.
was fascinating with the sicilian defence. israel
won, russia resigning about five moves before
checkmate. odds isn''t it. i was kinda a chess
fan there for some time, even with clocks way
back in the early 70''s. learned as a little kid
from my neighbor genius. actually rootin tootin
putin disputin rasputin. in the union of soviet
america, it is somewhat the same way as in russia.
thanks mr. kroft for the great story. as the 90th
anniversary of the bolshevik revolution approaches,
try and remember how the bums were thrown out,
the soviets withdrew from the great war, and people
in russia obeyed the edicts of fatima, portugal
and shared and shared alike. october 17th is
going to be quite some day, for stock markets
around the world. some say us stock markets
will plummet 90% in one hour on that day. sober
nations is angry. charity is a joke. we get
calls from organziations who allegedly feed the
poor of russia. its a bunco racket. nothing
gets to the poor at all. the return of the bolshoi.
but should you be forced to share and share alike?
common stock? peasant stock?
http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/12/30/41541.html
Kasparov is a good Neo-Con--he is a liar--a slinking, no good cur whose loyalty is measured in shekels...yet another piece of flotsam picked up for a song by criminal oligarchs hiding out in London and Israel and used to attack the democratically elected Vladimir Putin.
This idiot savant of the chess world talks of the emasculation of the Russian Parliament under Putin and whines that, "The glimmer of democracy during Boris Yeltsin''s years, however messy, [is] being entirely extinguished %u2026 Russia today is a police state masquerading as a democracy," Kasparov said.
Do you really think that the chess champ has forgotten that the drunkard Yeltsin SHELLED PARLIAMENT INTO SUBMISSION!! Do you think he fogets that this Parliament supportED President Putin freely and is freely elected--unshelled, un-threatened and unharmed?
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/06/19/kasparov-speech.html?ref=rss
Kasparov presents us with the same old lies and the same old grudges. Perhaps he would be more convincing if he were not the lackey of oligarch Berezovksy. President Putin has been elected and re-elected President...while Kasparov plays his lying games.
- by truthheals September 23, 2007 11:23 PM EDT
- So Gary, how much is billionaire Boris Berezovsky paying you to challenge Putin?
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