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Garry Kasparov has written up for the Wall Street Journal his rude encounter with the cops during the protest over the Pussy Riot verdict, taking his best shot at the Putin government.
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Mr. Putin is not worried about what the Western press says, or about celebrities tweeting their support for Pussy Riot. These are not the constituencies that concern him. Friday, the Russian paper Vedomosti reported that former Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann could be put in charge of managing the hundreds of billions of dollars in the Russian sovereign wealth fund. As long as bankers and other Western elites eagerly line up to do Mr. Putin's bidding, the situation in Russia will only get worse.
If officials at the U.S. State Department are as "seriously concerned" about free speech in Russia as they say, I suggest they drop their opposition to the Magnitsky Act pending in the Senate. That legislation would bring financial and travel sanctions against the functionaries who enact the Kremlin's agenda of repression. Mouthing concern only reinforces the fact that no action will be taken.
Mr. Putin could not care less about winning public-relations battles in the Western press, or about fighting them at all. He and his cronies care only about money and power. Today's events make it clear that they will fight for those things until Russia's jails are full.
-- Garry Kasparov at The Wall Street Journal
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I imagine that he writes in the bitter understanding that nothing is going to change for the better, that billions of dollars will trump humanitarian principles and the welfare of the masses every time. It's not just Russia. This is true for the whole world over. In light of what Wall Street has been getting away with, this is obviously true of America as well. Mr. Kasparov is up there in age and presumably enjoys a comfortable level of wealth of his own. Instead of beating his head against the iron wall, maybe he should just relax and enjoy what life he has left.
_ _ _
Mr. Putin is not worried about what the Western press says, or about celebrities tweeting their support for Pussy Riot. These are not the constituencies that concern him. Friday, the Russian paper Vedomosti reported that former Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann could be put in charge of managing the hundreds of billions of dollars in the Russian sovereign wealth fund. As long as bankers and other Western elites eagerly line up to do Mr. Putin's bidding, the situation in Russia will only get worse.
If officials at the U.S. State Department are as "seriously concerned" about free speech in Russia as they say, I suggest they drop their opposition to the Magnitsky Act pending in the Senate. That legislation would bring financial and travel sanctions against the functionaries who enact the Kremlin's agenda of repression. Mouthing concern only reinforces the fact that no action will be taken.
Mr. Putin could not care less about winning public-relations battles in the Western press, or about fighting them at all. He and his cronies care only about money and power. Today's events make it clear that they will fight for those things until Russia's jails are full.
-- Garry Kasparov at The Wall Street Journal
_ _ _
I imagine that he writes in the bitter understanding that nothing is going to change for the better, that billions of dollars will trump humanitarian principles and the welfare of the masses every time. It's not just Russia. This is true for the whole world over. In light of what Wall Street has been getting away with, this is obviously true of America as well. Mr. Kasparov is up there in age and presumably enjoys a comfortable level of wealth of his own. Instead of beating his head against the iron wall, maybe he should just relax and enjoy what life he has left.
