In 1972 the American Bobby Fischer took on the Soviet Boris Spassky for the world chess championship in Reykjavik, Iceland. The match became a symbolic clash between the US and the USSR, locked in a cold-war struggle for dominance. Fischer's convincing and thrilling victory made him a household name across America and propelled chess to new heights of popularity. When he abdicated his crown a few years later and went into self-imposed exile, the technically proficient but dry Soviet player Karpov became world champion, and the sport went into decline. In 1985, the brilliant Garry Kasparov wrestled the title from Karpov (in a rematch of their drawn controversial 1984 battle) and began a reign of dominance that would transform chess, both on and off the board. Kasparov's break with FIDE, his battles with Deep Blue, and his scintillating style of attack made chess interesting to the non-expert again. While Kasparov lost his title to Kramnik in 2000, he remained among the top players in the world until his retirement in 2005. Today he focuses his efforts on a different sort of struggle.
Kasparov is currently involved in Russian politics as the founder of United Civil Front, dedicated to combatting Putin's increasingly repressive rule. Even while Putin enjoys (apparently) high approval ratings, Kasparov expresses concern about instability and inequality in Russian society:
In Yakutsk, for instance, there are diamonds, gold, oil, coal, but 100 yards left or right of the main street, no roads! In the middle of this total misery is a five-star hotel. It’s Third-World stuff. In my country, expenses are nationalised, profits are privatised. Gas enters a pipeline as a state monopoly, when it comes out the profits go into private pockets. A lot of villages in Russia don’t have gas.
Putin gained power in 2000 and was re-elected president in 2004. The political foes of this ex-KGB operative have a disturbing habit of getting themselves poisoned (1 2). The Russian Supreme Court recently banned one of the few remaining opposition parties, prompting protests against Putin. The protests yesterday were broken up by police:
Morar said hundreds of activists had been pulled off trains and buses and detained on their way to the rally.
She said several dozen journalists, including foreign reporters, were also detained.
Among those arrested was Marina Litvinovich, an aide to liberal opposition figure Garry Kasparov, a former world chess champion turned fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin.
Over at Captain's Quarters, Ed suspects Putin will modify the constitution to allow himself to remain in office beyond 2008 and continue his autocratic regime: "After a season of freedom, political winter once again descends on Russia, and the spring may be long in coming." With fewer and fewer able or willing to oppose him, who would deny Putin such power? From an interview with Der Spiegel, here is Kasparov on "democracy" in Russia today:
The people in power have put together a list of 10,000 alleged extremists, which is maintained by the intelligence service's anti-terrorism committee. Putin's talk about fighting terrorism and extremism has a purpose: He wants to create the option of using the tools of oppression against the opposition.
[...]Pressure is counterproductive. The regime uses it to its advantage. The West should simply be objective. Russia is not a democracy.
It's hard to miss the parallels between Putin and Bush. Both came to power in 2000, were re-elected in 2004, and have terms scheduled to end in 2008. Both have curtailed civil liberties in the name of fighting terror. Both demonize their political opposition. Heck, we could even note that Bush's dad was CIA while Putin was KGB. However, there are very real differences between Bush and Putin and between the US and Russia. I have no real fear that Bush would refuse to leave office, while it is not unreasonable to suspect Putin could try to stay. I have no real fear that people who criticize Bush will end up assassinated; such cannot be said for foes of Putin. Russia (and China) consistently undercut attempts to deal with rogue nations like Iran; while I'm not thrilled with the US approach, at least we recognize a potential problem. Bush stumbles over simple English but Putin makes genuinely awful remarks. Unlike in Russia, the press in the US is fundamentally free and capable of exposing governmental abuse. Like any liberal I find much to despise in the actions of our current administration, but folks in Russia have it a lot worse. Hopefully the efforts of Kasparov and others will revive democracy in Russia. Kasparov's formidable intellect has overcome challenges before, but this may be his most demanding and important struggle.