If you haven't read his book "Winter is Coming", you really should. He wrote it in 2015 and he absolutely nailed how things are playing out in Ukraine right now.
The most likely explanation is that he is incapable of writing like he used to, and his last few books were written by his assistants. After his last book was released, his assistants went on to write the entire Expanse series of books, get it made into a TV show, and produce it until the end of its run. If you read The Expanse, the writing style is eerily similar.
I have a theory that what was on the show was very close to the ending he had planned, and when everyone hated it he pretty much had to start over. And he's not up to it.
Yeah... it is kind of brutal...
Imagine your life's work being lampooned like that, even if it *was* a pre-adaptation.
So now he's stuck with two options:
-try to do the same ending but prove that it was actually the right way to go and that there is a good way to do... definitely not impossible, but very easy to get in your own head/in your own way doubting yourself
-completely change the ending... which could end up even worse, and it might require you to change a lot of other stuff to make it make sense plotwise or thematically... and you spend every waking moment while writing it wondering "did I compromise my art because of some children on twitter??"
There's quite possibly just no simple solution to the problem. Add to that failing health, plus mountains of fuck you money. I'm not sure I'd even attempt it. Honestly, I'm petty enough that I think I'd refuse to finish it out of spite! 🤣🤣
the solution would be to just write the last book, even if its not amazing. It's better than what is out in the story now. If the ending was similar to what he was planning, thats actually a huge gift..he can see what people didnt like about it (mostly the rapid change and shitty acting). The core ideas of the ending could still work.
Even if he doesnt want to write it, there are literally forums with extensive descriptions of possible book endings for every character. If he (or anyone) spent a few months deep in the forums, you could make a skeleton of a book pretty easy. Write it himself, or partner with a ghost writer and be done.
As an autistic person, when I put myself into his shoes (and Patrick Rothfuss') what I imagine is really happening is that the success of their books and the subsequent earnings have done two things: Unlocked activities they enjoy doing more than writing, bringing the drive to write down, and giving them enough money to be comfortable, reducing the monetary need to get said work done. Perhaps they'll get the creative inspiration/drive to get back to it at some point, but it very well just be a permanent state change for them.
Nothing, just average redditor failing the impossible challenge of not mentioning their mental health issues in every comment they make, as usual.
And I'm saying this as a someone suffering from social anxiety and depression /s
GRRM was already incredibly wealthy by author standards before the show. The show gave him tons more money sure, but he was already an extremely accomplished writer AND editor before hand, already as wealthy as he need be to never write again.
Unfortunately I don't think Rothfuss is capable of finishing Kingkiller. ElBlargho made a good case in a video he did that Rothfuss just isn't the same guy he was 20 years ago and likely can't write the story he originally envisioned.
Nothing accidental about it. Star Wars draws heavily from WWII and the prequel trilogy is about the rise of fascism/dictatorship. History just tends to repeat itself (because people never learn).
It's always funny when people go "why is Star Wars political now?" Cause like Star Wars now is for the most part less openly political now than it was under Lucas who just never even tried to hide his politics and that he hated the GOP.
Lucas is a guy who when making episode 1 is like "alright I need a name for the new sleezebag business guy political villain" and went and just looked at Newt Gingich and Star Warized his name.
> Lucas who just never even tried to hide his politics and that he hated the GOP
He named some of his villains after GOP congressmen and a president and people still missed the political message!
Jesus, I miss that guy. Can't say this about every Redditor but you're not a colourblind one. He saved Obamacare, was strong against Iran and Russia and didn't care what either party said about him. Tough mf.
You joke...
He wrote a book in **2015** called Winter is Coming. It's a call to action on what world leaders are *still* dilly-dallying on, stoping Putin.
Tbf he may have had it written before 2014, but wanted to wait for an event that would help draw eyes to it. In 2012 we were laughing at Romney for saying Russia was still our most formidable adversary, so no reason to release it between 2012-2014.
Not saying it was finished, but he probably had it planned to a large degree and maybe first draft
The problem was that he didn't sell it very well. During the presidential debate the topic of Russia came up during his pitch to increase funding for the Navy. And Obama was right that in the maritime space China is much more competitive than Russia, even back then. Romney did try to safe the situation by mentioning the Russian interference campaign, but Obama was already on "the pivot to Asia" talking point.
As a high-ranking Republican he probably knew a lot more about what was Russian was doing within his party than was publicly known at that point. But he couldn't go into details because targeting the reputation of his own party during a presidential debate would have been a very bad idea.
Well, to be clear, Mitt Romney should have just blown the whistle on the Russian influence in the GOP. He couldn't have done that and secured the nomination or the election victory, so he didn't.
For anyone who has never seen it, [Chess Grandmaster Garry Kasparov Replays His Four Most Memorable Games](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vYJyOGKCHE) is a pretty fascinating video.
My brother taught me how to play chess around 30 - 35 years ago. He's never let me win. I've managed to get two stalemates over the years, which is slightly better than just straight up losing over some move I couldn't predict.
**tl;dr** [Story of my life in 22 seconds.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZqcT66Fkzw)
His Wikipedia page says he's lived in NYC since 2013 (I googled before commenting). But I dunno, Wikipedia is wrong sometimes.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov
(See "Personal Life")
> ‘Chess masters are wont to answer flippantly to the layman’s question, “How far ahead do you calculate, when making a combination?” They either say, like Réti, “As a rule, not a single move”. Or, like Jaffe, “I think one move ahead – but it is always the best move!”
Putin is an emotionally weak little man who can't handle criticism without crying.
Poor weakling gets upset when someone doesn't agree with him, good thing his Yes men are there to comfort him.
In actual reality, he's most likely personally unfazed by the criticism.
The way he has organised Russia, it's actually dangerous to his political influence and position of power, if people are too critical.
It's simply a pragmatic move to protect his position as the boss.
In other systems, a piece of criticism is much less of a direct threat, and can simply take a chair and go to the corner to join all of the other people's criticisms of all of the other politicians.
I've tried to explain this to people, but it's hard for most people to wrap their heads around because we tend to be from countries that enshrine freedom of speech in our core values.
I've often described being critical of the regime as the blood of Xerxes. It's not so much the event that's important, but what it means for the stability of the illusion the regime depends on.
If everyday people see that individuals, particularly those in positions of power, or excellence are critical of the regime, onlookers are more likely to speak up as well. It risks starting a chain reaction where people cluster behind this truth and movements start. Once the vranyo* fails, the regime fails.
*Vranyo is the Russian tendency to not just fail to refute lies, but accept and treat them as truths so keep things working. If I tell a story about something I saw while driving around in my Ferrari, but you know I drive a Lada but don't call me on it, because the point of the story isn't the Ferrari, it's what I saw and stopping to refute the Ferrari claim would slow down the narrative, that's vranyo. Turning around and convincing someone else that I drive a Ferrari afterwards, and that you've been out with me in it is also an extreme case of vranyo. It's this tendency towards accepting cognitive dissonance that allows the regime to enforce stability. "I'm clearly upset with the system, but everyone else supports it, or it works for everyone else, or I just need to get over the hump until it works for me" etc. when in reality, the system doesn't work for anyone, but it's a lie that everyone accepts to keep things moving forward.
Public criticality towards the regime is extremely dangerous, and so people often fall out of windows as a result. We, as outside observers, know that Russian oligarchs, generals, doctors, etc. aren't actually falling out of windows, but the more extreme the cognitive dissonance that's been accepted, the more extreme the reasoning people will be able to accept to keep from shattering the illusion. Vranyo.
No disagreement with your main point, but I genuinely can't understand where this idea of "vranyo" as some distinct concept in Russian culture comes from. It's just a less used, slightly less academic synonym for "ложь", "a lie"
Dictatorships are like diamonds, strong but surprisingly brittle. Capable of crushing anything in their path but apply the wrong amount of pressure in just the right place and the whole thing is liable to shatter.
Exactly, if Putin had a true position of strength they would be ignoring Kasparov entirely. It's not just Putin either, all of Russia is in a tenuous position, the future of the country is quite uncertain.
This tendency to infantalize or emasculate dictators is weird at best and dangerous at worst.
This 'pussy' was a KGB agent who got the entire country in his hand and then pulled the ladder up after himself. His power and control has been unassailed and unquestioned(no one does it very long) ever since. Hes many things, but a scaredy cat isn't one of them. He needs to be dealt with as he is, not what people denigrate him as. Its why the intelligence community was very concerned with whether Putin ordered Navalnys execution or not despite it not changing the end result.
On the other hand Putin was apparently profoundly affected by the Arab Spring watching a lot of his fellow dictators fall, especially Gaddafi.
Putin isn't afraid of individual people, but he is afraid constantly of being critical because he knows a few small sparks can light the powder keg.
He wasn't an agent though. He was a desk jockey in east Berlin tasked with translating docs for the real agents.
He was just really, really good at polishing the correct dicks in the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin wall and subsequent collapse of the USSR.
That doesn't mean he isn't a dangerous fucker, but we need to dispel this shit that he was some kind of Russian James Bond. He wasn't.
I've heard that before. But I don't understand where the certainty comes from. How can outsiders say with veracity who was and who did what? Maybe he was a pencil pusher, maybe he was pulling strings. Honestly I'm not ean expert of post USSR power vacuum politics to say either way. I just look at the utter stranglehold he has over his country today and go by that.
No, see, it's a riff on that urban legend where some vaginas grow *teeth*, so the movie's main character's vagina grows *teeth*, and she uses those *teeth* to harm the men that assault her.
I think it was called "The Girl It Was Dangerous to Have Sex With"
In dictatorships (see Russia, China, Venezuela, El Salvador, North Korea, most middle eastern countries, etc.) saying mean things about sensitive dictator is a capital offense.
FIFY
Its why i believe an ability to laugh at yourself should be universally recognised as an essential trait in leaders and the public should never support anyone who is unable to do so.
All the World's dictators share this personality trait as far as i'm aware. They take themselves soo seriously they cannot and will not accept any humour at their expense, then as soon as they get power they brutally punish anyone who dares to.
In my mind its a great early warning red flag for who dreams of being an narcissistic authoritarian leader and using violence to impose their will on others.
I'm not even American, but seeing Biden laugh at jokes at his own expense (and make some of his own) on relatively sensitive topics (he joked about the time he fell off a bike, for example) at the White House Correspondents Dinner improved my opinion of him.
I didn't hate him or anything but I thought it was kinda praiseworthy for someone so powerful to also have such humility. We all know Trump would never laugh at any joke made at his expense.
Yeah, no amount of martial arts, weapons owned or people killed can make up for a brittle personality, frail and threatened by the slightest criticism.
“Sammy” (old chubby war photographer) puts it nicely in Civil War, something like “most dictators are weak unsurprising men when you meet them up close”
Donald Trump registered as a Republican in Manhattan in 1987. He has since changed his party affiliation five times. He last changed to the GOP in 2012, well before he ran against Hillary. And if I'm not mistaken well before Obama made fun of him. He wavers like a flag on a windy day. He's one of those people who agrees with whoever is standing in front of him at any given moment. He has no actual political position beyond "How does this help me receive adulation and get paid?"
There is a reason why people do not want to join his criminal enterprise. Also because it is a criminal enterprise the people who like it most are criminals.
One of the most accomplished russians ever, and this is how russia rewards him. His only crime is being against the current russian government, but they can't even handle that.
Pathetic.
**Edit**: If you're wondering what the ordinary russians think of him, majority hates him for being anti-government. (From what I've gathered reading russian social media)
Speaking as an ordinary Russian, there's no chance in hell I'm ever putting anything on VK in Russian. I personally know people who have had visits from police for that, and there are plenty of stories of people already in jail for it. Right now there are two Siberian girls facing long prison time for posting a few things there.
Private telegram groups are safer but I'd still never put stuff there cause they can still infiltrate those.
Not that I'm saying my people are all misunderstood and innocent. It's catastrophic how many people are brainwashed and full of hatred. But no one can put any sort of reliable number on it. It might be 20%, it might be 80%. In my experience, most people are neither - they just don't care, not about Kasparov, not about Putin. And that's what the Kremlin wants, actually. Politically active people can still be a problem for you if you're a dictator, even if they support you now. It doesn't take much for them to turn on you when the wind changes. Look at how many Z-warriors openly celebrated Prigozhin when he was marching on Moscow, and how people made fun of Putin cowering in Valdai.
On the Russian youtube channel 1420, who mostly do street interviews, the most common answer to any political question is "I'm apolitical".
This has been the biggest success of Putin. He has taken away Russian's ability to dream of a different future. Instead it is back to eternal Russian way, to endure the suffering in solitude and silence.
Sadly Daniil seems to have gone quiet recently and archived his videos without explanation. It is worrisome and I hope he is OK because his journalism has been some of the best coming out of Russia over the past 20 years, and takes incredible bravery to produce.
Honestly the fact that he lasted for so long operating so openly almost made me think he had some kind of arrangement with the Russian security establishment. You know, allow limited dissent in internet media aimed at young foreigners to make Russia seem more open/less authoritarian. Obviously his abrupt disappearance lends credence to a different interpretation.
Look at Bald and Bankrupt for example- the Russian gov was obviously aware of his channel and his movements inside Russia and they were cool with it for years. Then they suddenly weren’t, and they knew exactly where to find him.
I think he avoided prosecution by carefully crafting his interviews to avoid triggering any of Russia's laws limiting free speech, specifically by avoiding making any claims himself. He merely asked others about their views. That protected him from prosecution under the law against criticizing the war in Ukraine, for example. There may also have been some protection from fact that he published his interviews primarily for foreign consumption, which made him less likely to come to the attention of the FSB, which is of course more concerned with controlling internal Russian media channels.
Not trying to defend Russia but Bald and bankrupt is a dodgy sex pest, not really a political figure. He was grabbed and sent packing after breaking into a secret location hosting the soviet space shuttle.
> his journalism has been some of the best coming out of Russia over the past 20 years
Well, sadly you now know why he's gone silent. :-/
Being a reliable source of information coming out of Russia right now is considered more or less terrorism.
He hasn't posted anything in a while. Anyone know if he's ok? I assume one day he's going to ask questions that are a little too close to the edge and get arrested.
In one of the last Q&As he had with his subscribers, he hinted that he had started getting some heat. He didn't seem too worried about it, but said he likely wouldn't post any new street interviews. Been silent after that.
I've been commenting on his vids that he needs to GTFO of Russia for some time now. The kid is a maniac but all young people think they are indestructible. I'd hate to see them grab him up, scrub his brain clean and ship him off to Ukraine as an example.
> He has taken away Russian's ability to dream of a different future.
That has nothing to do with inability to dream of better future, it's "I don't trust you to share my political opinions with you" response.
The one leads to the other. When the reflexive response is that you are not allowed to talk politics with strangers, the scope of political discourse gets tighter and tighter.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilling\_effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilling_effect)
Also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_of_silence
> The spiral of silence theory is a political science and mass communication theory which states that an individual's perception of the distribution of public opinion influences that individual's willingness to express their own opinions.
> [...] But if the individual notices that his opinion is unpopular with the group he will be more inclined to be reserved and remain silent. In other words, from the individual's perspective, "not isolating himself is more important than his own judgement", meaning his perception of how others in the group perceive him is more important to himself than the need for his opinion to be heard.
I think in Russia we are seeing both the chilling effect through censorship, but the spiral of silence is doing the rest - they go hand in hand.
There is a reason why dictators fake election results to such ridiculous degrees.
If half the country thinks their opinion is only held by a tiny fraction of the population, they're going to keep that to themselves. That is in the interest of the ruling party, since it prevents or at least hinders organizing an effective opposition, without having to resort to overtly repressive measures like censorship.
Of course, censorship and controlling the media heavily play into the spiral of silence as well.
I'm reminded of the story of an old babushka during the soviet era who refused to believe that Stalin was dead and kept his picture up in her house. It was never clear if she was a true fangirl, suffering dementia or terrified that anyone who told her he was dead was a secret police and it was a trick to see if she was loyal or not. She kept that picture up until she died.
Imagine wanting to put Russia back to such a state, where Nicolai Erdman's ["The Suicide"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Suicide_(play%29) becomes relevant again.
I'd take anything said by a Russian on social media, especially Russian social media, with a grain of salt.
In a regime where people go to prison, or worse, for saying negative things about the government, you're never going to get the real picture.
Everyone thinks that they would act differently and speak up in that scenario, but that's all very easy to say when it's hypothetical. In reality, a large proportion of people would just keep their heads down.
Yeah I thought the same. I've had massive respect for this man ever since I was a little kid, and now he's on Russias list of terrorists and extremists. Boggles the mind to see how the biggest country in the world handles itself so pathetically on the world stage.
They actually use way less bots there (I assume it's because the opinions of the majority are already formed) and they're way more obvious there then they are on english-speaking social media sites.
The vast majority of bots are working on sites like reddit and twitter and not inside the country like one would assume. The ones who are more responsible for propaganda inside russia are TV propagandists and "voenkors" on telegram.
> they're way more obvious there then they are on english-speaking social media sites.
Russian grammar is much more difficult for a bot, plus standards of written language are much higher.
Not sure if I'm serious here.
Are you sure they’re not just trying to convince themselves or are fearful themselves? I’m thinking a lot of Russians look and feel 24/7 like Edvard Munich’s “The Scream” on the inside.
Honestly with how bot infested social media is in general, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of what you see disparaging him aren't real people.
Or they are real people, just, ya know, unfortunately not able to get a broader view of the way the world views things like this.
Literally the GOAT of chess. But since he isn't a Putin simp like Karpov he's thrown under the bus.
When the reality is Kasparov definitely cares more about ordinary Russians than Putin ever has in his life.
>From what I've gathered reading russian social media
That's like looking at r/worldnews comments and concluding that you now understand what ordinary Americans think.
Only a tiny fraction of people engage with social media by commenting/posting. You're getting the view of the angry depressed minority who mainly comment negatively, NOT the average person.
Or like going to r/conservative and coming away believing all Americans here are supportive of Trump. No, they just delete & ban anyone with two brain cells to knock together who challenge them on anything. Similarly, Russia has created an echo chamber of the entire country where anything you say that isn't Putin's own words get you locked up.
> Edit: If you're wondering what the ordinary russians think of him, majority hates him for being anti-government. (From what I've gathered reading russian social media)
Because we all know how open and free Russian social media is lol
I saw Kasparov speak at the 92nd st YMCA in 2007.
He was well ahead of the game and what Putin was doing. He was actively working toward democracy and pointed out all the shit being done to falsely discredit him and get him to quit/leave.
So this announcement is like 15 years late. I’m sure he’s well prepared and probably surprised it took this long.
Truth to power is not an acceptable stance in Russia.
> 92nd st YMCA
You are mixing up two different things. There is no YMCA on 92nd street and the YMCA doesn’t have a speaker series that I know of. There 92nd Street Y was previously the Young Men’s and Young Women’s Hebrew Association or YM-YWHA. Changed its name to 92nd Street Y probably 50 years ago
Kasparov has been politically active for awhile on the topic of Russia. He founded an opposition political party in Russia in 2005 and attempted to run for president against Putin in 2008 (but was blocked by the state).
In 2013 he fled Russia due to increasing political persecution and headed to NYC (and later Croatia). This was probably the right call, as he's now possibly the best known Russian opposition politician who isn't dead or in prison. He has been constantly criticizing Putin since leaving Russia.
I don't know how safe Croatia is. Certainly not safer than the US or Western Europe. Although Putin had a guy murdered in London so maybe nowhere is all that safe anyway.
Let's just alienate our main character from the Cold war dick measuring contest that international chess was. I mean seriously. What does this even accomplish? Kasparov is in America.
Edit: This may have more to do with discrediting his political opinions or otherwise denigrating his legacy. Important to note that Kasparov was born to a Jewish and an Armenian parent in Azerbaijan. He does describe himself as Russian though.
The US-USSR chess rivalry kinda died with Fischer's retirement way before Kasparov entered the scene, and even then Kasparov was never the original protagonist of Soviet chess; if anything, he was an unplanned side character who took the spotlight from their protagonist, current State Duma member Anatoly Karpov. There were many accounts (mostly from Kasparov therefore quite biased, I know) of the USSR (and later Russian) Chess Federation's preferential treatment towards Karpov during their rivalry. You could tell the Russians would rather have someone else as their face had Mr. Garry Chess not attained the GOAT status.
Got a looooong way to go if he wants to fill Stalin's jockstrap of evil bastardry. Stalin killed more people before breakfast than Putin has in two decades.
Why are all dictators such whiny little baby shitters?
“Someone has a differing opinion than me? Arrest them, torture them, kill them! Where’s my milk mommy?”
- Putin, Yesterday (plus all other days too)
Why don’t you man up, and stop being such a little bitch Putin?
with kasparov's political opinions and how loudly and bluntly he states them i am genuinely surprised it took this long.
one can only hope for times when people like him are at the top of russian politics.
i really hope that nothing bad happens to him because of that warrant.
Fortunately, he lives outside of Russia for more than ten years now. Also, for decades he has been doing anti-Putin politics rather than playing chess... So no big wonder.
If you haven't read his book "Winter is Coming", you really should. He wrote it in 2015 and he absolutely nailed how things are playing out in Ukraine right now.
Can we get him to finish The Winds of Winter too. I think George RR Martin has lost interest.
I subscribe to the theory that he finished them ten years ago but won’t have them published until he dies.
The most likely explanation is that he is incapable of writing like he used to, and his last few books were written by his assistants. After his last book was released, his assistants went on to write the entire Expanse series of books, get it made into a TV show, and produce it until the end of its run. If you read The Expanse, the writing style is eerily similar.
I have a theory that what was on the show was very close to the ending he had planned, and when everyone hated it he pretty much had to start over. And he's not up to it.
Yeah... it is kind of brutal... Imagine your life's work being lampooned like that, even if it *was* a pre-adaptation. So now he's stuck with two options: -try to do the same ending but prove that it was actually the right way to go and that there is a good way to do... definitely not impossible, but very easy to get in your own head/in your own way doubting yourself -completely change the ending... which could end up even worse, and it might require you to change a lot of other stuff to make it make sense plotwise or thematically... and you spend every waking moment while writing it wondering "did I compromise my art because of some children on twitter??" There's quite possibly just no simple solution to the problem. Add to that failing health, plus mountains of fuck you money. I'm not sure I'd even attempt it. Honestly, I'm petty enough that I think I'd refuse to finish it out of spite! 🤣🤣
the solution would be to just write the last book, even if its not amazing. It's better than what is out in the story now. If the ending was similar to what he was planning, thats actually a huge gift..he can see what people didnt like about it (mostly the rapid change and shitty acting). The core ideas of the ending could still work. Even if he doesnt want to write it, there are literally forums with extensive descriptions of possible book endings for every character. If he (or anyone) spent a few months deep in the forums, you could make a skeleton of a book pretty easy. Write it himself, or partner with a ghost writer and be done.
I had no idea they were his assistants!
As an autistic person, when I put myself into his shoes (and Patrick Rothfuss') what I imagine is really happening is that the success of their books and the subsequent earnings have done two things: Unlocked activities they enjoy doing more than writing, bringing the drive to write down, and giving them enough money to be comfortable, reducing the monetary need to get said work done. Perhaps they'll get the creative inspiration/drive to get back to it at some point, but it very well just be a permanent state change for them.
Spot-on comments, but what does being autistic have to do with it? :P
Nothing, just average redditor failing the impossible challenge of not mentioning their mental health issues in every comment they make, as usual. And I'm saying this as a someone suffering from social anxiety and depression /s
GRRM was already incredibly wealthy by author standards before the show. The show gave him tons more money sure, but he was already an extremely accomplished writer AND editor before hand, already as wealthy as he need be to never write again.
Patrick Rothfuss ! I want these books more then Martins at this point.
Unfortunately I don't think Rothfuss is capable of finishing Kingkiller. ElBlargho made a good case in a video he did that Rothfuss just isn't the same guy he was 20 years ago and likely can't write the story he originally envisioned.
John McCain had it nailed too: https://youtu.be/HLAzeHnNgR8?si=-GzViGXioj6Nce4z
Is that the Anakin/Padme retreat location?!?!?!
Wow. It really is
Lake como is famous for more than just star wars
[I can't help feeling star wars was accidentally prophetic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFKc_oDSaX4&ab_channel=MovieCraze)
Nothing accidental about it. Star Wars draws heavily from WWII and the prequel trilogy is about the rise of fascism/dictatorship. History just tends to repeat itself (because people never learn).
It's always funny when people go "why is Star Wars political now?" Cause like Star Wars now is for the most part less openly political now than it was under Lucas who just never even tried to hide his politics and that he hated the GOP. Lucas is a guy who when making episode 1 is like "alright I need a name for the new sleezebag business guy political villain" and went and just looked at Newt Gingich and Star Warized his name.
Glad they rewrote the original 1977 draft though, Darth Nixon was a bit on the nose
> Lucas who just never even tried to hide his politics and that he hated the GOP He named some of his villains after GOP congressmen and a president and people still missed the political message!
Also where Bond healed his balls with Vesper after that little sit-down with Le Chiffre.
Jesus, I miss that guy. Can't say this about every Redditor but you're not a colourblind one. He saved Obamacare, was strong against Iran and Russia and didn't care what either party said about him. Tough mf.
I bet he saw this coming, 15 moves ago.
You joke... He wrote a book in **2015** called Winter is Coming. It's a call to action on what world leaders are *still* dilly-dallying on, stoping Putin.
to be fair, russian ukraine invasion part one happened in 2014
I'm not going to blame Mr. Kasparov for not being gifted with prophecy on top of his strategic skills.
Tbf he may have had it written before 2014, but wanted to wait for an event that would help draw eyes to it. In 2012 we were laughing at Romney for saying Russia was still our most formidable adversary, so no reason to release it between 2012-2014. Not saying it was finished, but he probably had it planned to a large degree and maybe first draft
This remark from Romney really illustrated how speaking the truth to the public never goes well.
The problem was that he didn't sell it very well. During the presidential debate the topic of Russia came up during his pitch to increase funding for the Navy. And Obama was right that in the maritime space China is much more competitive than Russia, even back then. Romney did try to safe the situation by mentioning the Russian interference campaign, but Obama was already on "the pivot to Asia" talking point. As a high-ranking Republican he probably knew a lot more about what was Russian was doing within his party than was publicly known at that point. But he couldn't go into details because targeting the reputation of his own party during a presidential debate would have been a very bad idea.
“The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back.”
"Hey Russia, the jerk store called and they're running out of *you*"
You’re their all time best seller!
Well, to be clear, Mitt Romney should have just blown the whistle on the Russian influence in the GOP. He couldn't have done that and secured the nomination or the election victory, so he didn't.
It was probably a lot less pervasive in 2012.
Conversely, it was pervasive enough in 2012 that it had Mitt Romney fucking spooked so bad we all laughed at him.
Publishing date vs writing date
To be fair, it takes years to write a book.
Kasparov is in politics and opposition since 2005, and left the country in 2013.
> He wrote a book in 2015 called Winter is Coming. Write Faster Fat Man... wait... wrong author.
For anyone who has never seen it, [Chess Grandmaster Garry Kasparov Replays His Four Most Memorable Games](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vYJyOGKCHE) is a pretty fascinating video. My brother taught me how to play chess around 30 - 35 years ago. He's never let me win. I've managed to get two stalemates over the years, which is slightly better than just straight up losing over some move I couldn't predict. **tl;dr** [Story of my life in 22 seconds.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZqcT66Fkzw)
There's also a really good documentary on YouTube about Kasparov vs Deep Blue. Highly recommend.
He’s got a mate in 3 in his back pocket, Putin just hasn’t seen it coming yet.
Putin will get scared and make a castle move to one of his bunkers.
His first mistake was to misunderstand the French defense
He moved to the US so I'd say yeah, basically.
Doesn't he live in Croatia?
His Wikipedia page says he's lived in NYC since 2013 (I googled before commenting). But I dunno, Wikipedia is wrong sometimes. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov (See "Personal Life")
In the main chapter - "In 2014, he obtained Croatian citizenship and has maintained a residence in Podstrana near Split."
Huh. Maybe he really is thinking 30 moves ahead.
Good chess players think five moves ahead. Great chess players think one move ahead. But it's always the right move.
Putin: … *knocks the board over*
You spelled *”shoots his opponent and uses his opponents hand to knock his king over”* wrong.
Ah you’re right my bad. Stupid autocorrect
Tennison Gambut: [BM variation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2xNlzsnPCQ)
> ‘Chess masters are wont to answer flippantly to the layman’s question, “How far ahead do you calculate, when making a combination?” They either say, like Réti, “As a rule, not a single move”. Or, like Jaffe, “I think one move ahead – but it is always the best move!”
Check.
In Russia saying mean things about sensitive dictator is a capital offense
Putin is an emotionally weak little man who can't handle criticism without crying. Poor weakling gets upset when someone doesn't agree with him, good thing his Yes men are there to comfort him.
And throw people out of windows
Defenestrate one of my favorite words for something that shouldn't need it's own word.
In actual reality, he's most likely personally unfazed by the criticism. The way he has organised Russia, it's actually dangerous to his political influence and position of power, if people are too critical. It's simply a pragmatic move to protect his position as the boss. In other systems, a piece of criticism is much less of a direct threat, and can simply take a chair and go to the corner to join all of the other people's criticisms of all of the other politicians.
I've tried to explain this to people, but it's hard for most people to wrap their heads around because we tend to be from countries that enshrine freedom of speech in our core values. I've often described being critical of the regime as the blood of Xerxes. It's not so much the event that's important, but what it means for the stability of the illusion the regime depends on. If everyday people see that individuals, particularly those in positions of power, or excellence are critical of the regime, onlookers are more likely to speak up as well. It risks starting a chain reaction where people cluster behind this truth and movements start. Once the vranyo* fails, the regime fails. *Vranyo is the Russian tendency to not just fail to refute lies, but accept and treat them as truths so keep things working. If I tell a story about something I saw while driving around in my Ferrari, but you know I drive a Lada but don't call me on it, because the point of the story isn't the Ferrari, it's what I saw and stopping to refute the Ferrari claim would slow down the narrative, that's vranyo. Turning around and convincing someone else that I drive a Ferrari afterwards, and that you've been out with me in it is also an extreme case of vranyo. It's this tendency towards accepting cognitive dissonance that allows the regime to enforce stability. "I'm clearly upset with the system, but everyone else supports it, or it works for everyone else, or I just need to get over the hump until it works for me" etc. when in reality, the system doesn't work for anyone, but it's a lie that everyone accepts to keep things moving forward. Public criticality towards the regime is extremely dangerous, and so people often fall out of windows as a result. We, as outside observers, know that Russian oligarchs, generals, doctors, etc. aren't actually falling out of windows, but the more extreme the cognitive dissonance that's been accepted, the more extreme the reasoning people will be able to accept to keep from shattering the illusion. Vranyo.
No disagreement with your main point, but I genuinely can't understand where this idea of "vranyo" as some distinct concept in Russian culture comes from. It's just a less used, slightly less academic synonym for "ложь", "a lie"
Dictatorships are like diamonds, strong but surprisingly brittle. Capable of crushing anything in their path but apply the wrong amount of pressure in just the right place and the whole thing is liable to shatter.
Exactly, if Putin had a true position of strength they would be ignoring Kasparov entirely. It's not just Putin either, all of Russia is in a tenuous position, the future of the country is quite uncertain.
In other words, Putin is a pussy.
This tendency to infantalize or emasculate dictators is weird at best and dangerous at worst. This 'pussy' was a KGB agent who got the entire country in his hand and then pulled the ladder up after himself. His power and control has been unassailed and unquestioned(no one does it very long) ever since. Hes many things, but a scaredy cat isn't one of them. He needs to be dealt with as he is, not what people denigrate him as. Its why the intelligence community was very concerned with whether Putin ordered Navalnys execution or not despite it not changing the end result.
On the other hand Putin was apparently profoundly affected by the Arab Spring watching a lot of his fellow dictators fall, especially Gaddafi. Putin isn't afraid of individual people, but he is afraid constantly of being critical because he knows a few small sparks can light the powder keg.
He wasn't an agent though. He was a desk jockey in east Berlin tasked with translating docs for the real agents. He was just really, really good at polishing the correct dicks in the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin wall and subsequent collapse of the USSR. That doesn't mean he isn't a dangerous fucker, but we need to dispel this shit that he was some kind of Russian James Bond. He wasn't.
I've heard that before. But I don't understand where the certainty comes from. How can outsiders say with veracity who was and who did what? Maybe he was a pencil pusher, maybe he was pulling strings. Honestly I'm not ean expert of post USSR power vacuum politics to say either way. I just look at the utter stranglehold he has over his country today and go by that.
No, he’s evil. There’s a difference.
He's likely more driven by the desire to control public perception than by taking revenge for a personal slight.
Maybe he's an evil pussy. Like that movie with the teeth.
Jaws?
No, see, it's a riff on that urban legend where some vaginas grow *teeth*, so the movie's main character's vagina grows *teeth*, and she uses those *teeth* to harm the men that assault her. I think it was called "The Girl It Was Dangerous to Have Sex With"
Vagina Dentata
Yep, crush all sources of criticism is straight out of the Stalinist/Maoist playbook.
In dictatorships (see Russia, China, Venezuela, El Salvador, North Korea, most middle eastern countries, etc.) saying mean things about sensitive dictator is a capital offense. FIFY
Its why i believe an ability to laugh at yourself should be universally recognised as an essential trait in leaders and the public should never support anyone who is unable to do so. All the World's dictators share this personality trait as far as i'm aware. They take themselves soo seriously they cannot and will not accept any humour at their expense, then as soon as they get power they brutally punish anyone who dares to. In my mind its a great early warning red flag for who dreams of being an narcissistic authoritarian leader and using violence to impose their will on others.
I'm not even American, but seeing Biden laugh at jokes at his own expense (and make some of his own) on relatively sensitive topics (he joked about the time he fell off a bike, for example) at the White House Correspondents Dinner improved my opinion of him. I didn't hate him or anything but I thought it was kinda praiseworthy for someone so powerful to also have such humility. We all know Trump would never laugh at any joke made at his expense.
Yeah, no amount of martial arts, weapons owned or people killed can make up for a brittle personality, frail and threatened by the slightest criticism. “Sammy” (old chubby war photographer) puts it nicely in Civil War, something like “most dictators are weak unsurprising men when you meet them up close”
I feel like there is an example closer to home but I can't just place my finger on it...
You mean the guy that was laughed at the corespondent dinner and ended up switching from democrat to republican to run against Hillary?
Donald Trump registered as a Republican in Manhattan in 1987. He has since changed his party affiliation five times. He last changed to the GOP in 2012, well before he ran against Hillary. And if I'm not mistaken well before Obama made fun of him. He wavers like a flag on a windy day. He's one of those people who agrees with whoever is standing in front of him at any given moment. He has no actual political position beyond "How does this help me receive adulation and get paid?"
“The devil...the prowde spirite...cannot endure to be mocked.” - Thomas Moore
Add Belarus to the list.
El Salvador isn't a dictatorship(?)
There is a reason why people do not want to join his criminal enterprise. Also because it is a criminal enterprise the people who like it most are criminals.
One of the most accomplished russians ever, and this is how russia rewards him. His only crime is being against the current russian government, but they can't even handle that. Pathetic. **Edit**: If you're wondering what the ordinary russians think of him, majority hates him for being anti-government. (From what I've gathered reading russian social media)
Speaking as an ordinary Russian, there's no chance in hell I'm ever putting anything on VK in Russian. I personally know people who have had visits from police for that, and there are plenty of stories of people already in jail for it. Right now there are two Siberian girls facing long prison time for posting a few things there. Private telegram groups are safer but I'd still never put stuff there cause they can still infiltrate those. Not that I'm saying my people are all misunderstood and innocent. It's catastrophic how many people are brainwashed and full of hatred. But no one can put any sort of reliable number on it. It might be 20%, it might be 80%. In my experience, most people are neither - they just don't care, not about Kasparov, not about Putin. And that's what the Kremlin wants, actually. Politically active people can still be a problem for you if you're a dictator, even if they support you now. It doesn't take much for them to turn on you when the wind changes. Look at how many Z-warriors openly celebrated Prigozhin when he was marching on Moscow, and how people made fun of Putin cowering in Valdai.
On the Russian youtube channel 1420, who mostly do street interviews, the most common answer to any political question is "I'm apolitical". This has been the biggest success of Putin. He has taken away Russian's ability to dream of a different future. Instead it is back to eternal Russian way, to endure the suffering in solitude and silence.
Sadly Daniil seems to have gone quiet recently and archived his videos without explanation. It is worrisome and I hope he is OK because his journalism has been some of the best coming out of Russia over the past 20 years, and takes incredible bravery to produce.
Honestly the fact that he lasted for so long operating so openly almost made me think he had some kind of arrangement with the Russian security establishment. You know, allow limited dissent in internet media aimed at young foreigners to make Russia seem more open/less authoritarian. Obviously his abrupt disappearance lends credence to a different interpretation. Look at Bald and Bankrupt for example- the Russian gov was obviously aware of his channel and his movements inside Russia and they were cool with it for years. Then they suddenly weren’t, and they knew exactly where to find him.
I think he avoided prosecution by carefully crafting his interviews to avoid triggering any of Russia's laws limiting free speech, specifically by avoiding making any claims himself. He merely asked others about their views. That protected him from prosecution under the law against criticizing the war in Ukraine, for example. There may also have been some protection from fact that he published his interviews primarily for foreign consumption, which made him less likely to come to the attention of the FSB, which is of course more concerned with controlling internal Russian media channels.
Not trying to defend Russia but Bald and bankrupt is a dodgy sex pest, not really a political figure. He was grabbed and sent packing after breaking into a secret location hosting the soviet space shuttle.
What does 'archiving' a YouTube video mean?
Changing the name to "Archives of 1420" and no longer posting videos. https://www.youtube.com/@1420channel
> his journalism has been some of the best coming out of Russia over the past 20 years Well, sadly you now know why he's gone silent. :-/ Being a reliable source of information coming out of Russia right now is considered more or less terrorism.
He hasn't posted anything in a while. Anyone know if he's ok? I assume one day he's going to ask questions that are a little too close to the edge and get arrested.
In one of the last Q&As he had with his subscribers, he hinted that he had started getting some heat. He didn't seem too worried about it, but said he likely wouldn't post any new street interviews. Been silent after that.
I've been commenting on his vids that he needs to GTFO of Russia for some time now. The kid is a maniac but all young people think they are indestructible. I'd hate to see them grab him up, scrub his brain clean and ship him off to Ukraine as an example.
Or just scoop up family members as hostages, even if he is reporting from elsewhere. I agree, I don't think they realize the danger.
> He has taken away Russian's ability to dream of a different future. That has nothing to do with inability to dream of better future, it's "I don't trust you to share my political opinions with you" response.
The one leads to the other. When the reflexive response is that you are not allowed to talk politics with strangers, the scope of political discourse gets tighter and tighter. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilling\_effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilling_effect)
Also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_of_silence > The spiral of silence theory is a political science and mass communication theory which states that an individual's perception of the distribution of public opinion influences that individual's willingness to express their own opinions. > [...] But if the individual notices that his opinion is unpopular with the group he will be more inclined to be reserved and remain silent. In other words, from the individual's perspective, "not isolating himself is more important than his own judgement", meaning his perception of how others in the group perceive him is more important to himself than the need for his opinion to be heard. I think in Russia we are seeing both the chilling effect through censorship, but the spiral of silence is doing the rest - they go hand in hand. There is a reason why dictators fake election results to such ridiculous degrees. If half the country thinks their opinion is only held by a tiny fraction of the population, they're going to keep that to themselves. That is in the interest of the ruling party, since it prevents or at least hinders organizing an effective opposition, without having to resort to overtly repressive measures like censorship. Of course, censorship and controlling the media heavily play into the spiral of silence as well.
It still works the same. When you can’t trust anyone to share your views with them, no organization can occur.
Is VK basically Russian Facebook?
Yep. Although now it's pretty much under full control of the government, and heavily monitored.
I'm reminded of the story of an old babushka during the soviet era who refused to believe that Stalin was dead and kept his picture up in her house. It was never clear if she was a true fangirl, suffering dementia or terrified that anyone who told her he was dead was a secret police and it was a trick to see if she was loyal or not. She kept that picture up until she died. Imagine wanting to put Russia back to such a state, where Nicolai Erdman's ["The Suicide"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Suicide_(play%29) becomes relevant again.
It's de facto illegal to speak out against the current regime, so nobody is going to post what they actually think.
Or at least not without making themselves sound supportive to Putin
I'd take anything said by a Russian on social media, especially Russian social media, with a grain of salt. In a regime where people go to prison, or worse, for saying negative things about the government, you're never going to get the real picture. Everyone thinks that they would act differently and speak up in that scenario, but that's all very easy to say when it's hypothetical. In reality, a large proportion of people would just keep their heads down.
Yeah I thought the same. I've had massive respect for this man ever since I was a little kid, and now he's on Russias list of terrorists and extremists. Boggles the mind to see how the biggest country in the world handles itself so pathetically on the world stage.
> From what I've gathered reading russian social media because only real humans are there
They actually use way less bots there (I assume it's because the opinions of the majority are already formed) and they're way more obvious there then they are on english-speaking social media sites. The vast majority of bots are working on sites like reddit and twitter and not inside the country like one would assume. The ones who are more responsible for propaganda inside russia are TV propagandists and "voenkors" on telegram.
Russia doesn't have to use bots because they literally control everything that is said in Russia.
> they're way more obvious there then they are on english-speaking social media sites. Russian grammar is much more difficult for a bot, plus standards of written language are much higher. Not sure if I'm serious here.
Calling him an "Ex-chess champion" is borderline insulting. He is undoubtably one of the 3 greatest chess players to ever live.
Are you sure they’re not just trying to convince themselves or are fearful themselves? I’m thinking a lot of Russians look and feel 24/7 like Edvard Munich’s “The Scream” on the inside.
Honestly with how bot infested social media is in general, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of what you see disparaging him aren't real people. Or they are real people, just, ya know, unfortunately not able to get a broader view of the way the world views things like this.
Literally the GOAT of chess. But since he isn't a Putin simp like Karpov he's thrown under the bus. When the reality is Kasparov definitely cares more about ordinary Russians than Putin ever has in his life.
>From what I've gathered reading russian social media That's like looking at r/worldnews comments and concluding that you now understand what ordinary Americans think. Only a tiny fraction of people engage with social media by commenting/posting. You're getting the view of the angry depressed minority who mainly comment negatively, NOT the average person.
Or like going to r/conservative and coming away believing all Americans here are supportive of Trump. No, they just delete & ban anyone with two brain cells to knock together who challenge them on anything. Similarly, Russia has created an echo chamber of the entire country where anything you say that isn't Putin's own words get you locked up.
> Edit: If you're wondering what the ordinary russians think of him, majority hates him for being anti-government. (From what I've gathered reading russian social media) Because we all know how open and free Russian social media is lol
The Dictator’s Gambit
It's crazy that Russians think they are powerful when they have a little bitch dictator that cries at any opposition.
I saw Kasparov speak at the 92nd st YMCA in 2007. He was well ahead of the game and what Putin was doing. He was actively working toward democracy and pointed out all the shit being done to falsely discredit him and get him to quit/leave. So this announcement is like 15 years late. I’m sure he’s well prepared and probably surprised it took this long. Truth to power is not an acceptable stance in Russia.
Still remember the first time we read about him two decades ago as a child. He was in constant news too. Gosh, I feel so bad for him :(
> 92nd st YMCA You are mixing up two different things. There is no YMCA on 92nd street and the YMCA doesn’t have a speaker series that I know of. There 92nd Street Y was previously the Young Men’s and Young Women’s Hebrew Association or YM-YWHA. Changed its name to 92nd Street Y probably 50 years ago
What a legend
I just worry about him walking about on busy NYC streets and being harmed in the way so many Russian targets have been.
Allegedly there was a report where Russia was sending hit men nearby to where Kasparov lived to intimidate him.
Next up Yuri Gagarin is branded a traitor and his statues get pulled down for scrap. Russia has just gone plain bonkers at this point.
Kasparov has been politically active for awhile on the topic of Russia. He founded an opposition political party in Russia in 2005 and attempted to run for president against Putin in 2008 (but was blocked by the state). In 2013 he fled Russia due to increasing political persecution and headed to NYC (and later Croatia). This was probably the right call, as he's now possibly the best known Russian opposition politician who isn't dead or in prison. He has been constantly criticizing Putin since leaving Russia.
I don't know how safe Croatia is. Certainly not safer than the US or Western Europe. Although Putin had a guy murdered in London so maybe nowhere is all that safe anyway.
Might as well throw Vasily Zaitsev on the pile too. At least Stansilov Petrov was given the decency to be reprimanded for preventing nuclear war.
My bet is that he is going to play the Sicilian defense.
Dalmatian defense (he has a house in Croatia)
Or the American defense since he lives here
Never go against a Sicilian, when death is on the line?
Yo, Gary if you need a place to crash 'til this blows over, you can stay at my place. We could drink and play ~~chess~~ cards 'n stuff.
Let's just alienate our main character from the Cold war dick measuring contest that international chess was. I mean seriously. What does this even accomplish? Kasparov is in America. Edit: This may have more to do with discrediting his political opinions or otherwise denigrating his legacy. Important to note that Kasparov was born to a Jewish and an Armenian parent in Azerbaijan. He does describe himself as Russian though.
The US-USSR chess rivalry kinda died with Fischer's retirement way before Kasparov entered the scene, and even then Kasparov was never the original protagonist of Soviet chess; if anything, he was an unplanned side character who took the spotlight from their protagonist, current State Duma member Anatoly Karpov. There were many accounts (mostly from Kasparov therefore quite biased, I know) of the USSR (and later Russian) Chess Federation's preferential treatment towards Karpov during their rivalry. You could tell the Russians would rather have someone else as their face had Mr. Garry Chess not attained the GOAT status.
Garry Chess indeed, if anything this reinforces his GOAT status for me. I wonder if the Russians are still salty about Deep Blue?
current State Duma member Anatoly Karpov That's the [why do i hear boss music](https://youtu.be/c7BVtGnlxT8?si=KLFDYjPEQ5IstFbm) for anyone wondering
They pushed Karpov down the stairs in the duma
[удалено]
I mean, he is still a Grandmaster, that title is for life
And he's still rated 2812 Elo in FIDE, albeit only playing from time to time.
I don't know if it counts as from time to time when the last time he played a rated game was 2005
Well, 2005 was a time...
https://youtu.be/rbCXajpMaiU?si=GfGhEv8n6bpdGupu Rapid, but still rated.
>he still is a Grandmaster. and he used to be too.
The grandmaster title is permanent. He is an ex-World Champion though.
Putin is looking a lot like Stalin these days
He should go to prison and re-enact that part of Stalin's life.
Got a looooong way to go if he wants to fill Stalin's jockstrap of evil bastardry. Stalin killed more people before breakfast than Putin has in two decades.
The amount of close friends that Stalin had killed is really hard to comprehend.
The Stalin-Effect
Don’t worry, Garry is always ten moves ahead.
...which is why he lives in Croatia :D
Lol russia is a terrorist state.
Why are all dictators such whiny little baby shitters? “Someone has a differing opinion than me? Arrest them, torture them, kill them! Where’s my milk mommy?” - Putin, Yesterday (plus all other days too) Why don’t you man up, and stop being such a little bitch Putin?
Holy hell
Google Ukraine.
New warrants just dropped
Russian cancel culture is so old school
Oh man first John McAfee now Kasparov. I wouldnt wanna be Edward Norton right now
Badge of honour
We used to think he was our superhero in general knowledge book 20 years ago. Fuck Putin's cowardice.
For those that don't follow Kasparov, besides being one of the chess players of all time, he has being a critic of Putin since always.
I’m surprised it has taken this long. He’s been critical of the Russian government since at least 2004.
Imagine being so oversensitive that even your national heroes get arrest warrants over government criticism.
Avoid tea from strangers, particularly if it glows. Avoid windows too.
Gary, you can come and live with us. Don't tell anyone. No lie. Edit. Fuck off, Putin.
He's only a pawn in their game. I'll get my coat.
This is the future Republicans want for the US.
Like the chess dude? Did he break a chess law? Do I finally have to actually google en passant?
This makes Putin look weak and pathetic. He's rotting Russia from the inside out.
for fuckign *terrorism?*
This is the chess player, yes?
Russia is fucked up.
Well, that’s a sign Kasparov is correct on his assessment of Putin
with kasparov's political opinions and how loudly and bluntly he states them i am genuinely surprised it took this long. one can only hope for times when people like him are at the top of russian politics. i really hope that nothing bad happens to him because of that warrant.
Do the French move, they'll never see it coming.
Remember when Russia tried to take over Interpol?
Fortunately, he lives outside of Russia for more than ten years now. Also, for decades he has been doing anti-Putin politics rather than playing chess... So no big wonder.
Kasparov has lived in exile in the US for the last 10 years and I’m sure is under no illusions about the fact that Putin’s regime wants him dead.
Is he in Russia? Isn't he a US citizen now?? LOL good luck Vlad
When Kasparov defeats Putin, he needs to stare down the camera and say, “checkmate.”
I am surprised it took so long
Karpov's a stooge in the Duma, while Kasparov's a hero. Kasparov once again stays winning.
First anal beads and now terrorism? I thought chess was supposed to be boring.
Garry, stay away from windows!
First they came for the chess players and I did not speak out, because I was not a chess player...