Kasparov warns of Putin’s threat to freedom

In the 1980’s, World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov used his enormous prestige in the former Soviet Union to help bring down the Communist regime and to free the people it had enslaved. For his courage in defying the Kremlin and rallying opposition to it both inside the USSR and throughout the West, the Center for Security Policy in 1992 proudly conferred upon him its prestigious "Keeper of the Flame" Award.

Today, Mr. Kasparov is once again warning of the danger to the Russian people and to the wider world of a Kremlin bent on crushing freedom and expanding its authoritarian reach to the so-called "Near Abroad" and beyond. Most recently, he penned a powerful op.ed. column in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal entitled, "Say It in Russian: ‘Caveat Emptor.’"

Among Mr. Kasparov’s most compelling observations were the parallels he perceives between Vladimir Putin’s agenda and that of previous emerging totalitarians. For example, he warned:

Those who think they can influence Mr. Putin’s course by supporting him will see that accommodation won’t be any more successful here than giving the Olympic Games to Berlin was in 1936. Treating dictators kindly doesn’t soften a regime; it only makes it more arrogant and aggressive.

Particularly noteworthy is Garry Kasparov’s clarion call about the fascistic tendencies of the Putin regime – and their implications for Western behavior:

Perhaps Western leaders agree with last week’s New York Times editorial that made the stunning assertion that "a fascist Russia is a much better thing than a Communist Russia." I hope I am allowed to order something not on that menu. I am not ready to throw up my hands and surrender to the Putin dictatorship. It is still possible to stand up to the dictator and to fight for democracy.

In March, 1991, then-President George H.W. Bush and his European counterparts were still supporting Mikhail Gorbachev’s futile domestic endeavors. I wrote then that if we were left alone we would soon have no Gorbachev and no communism. Now we need to say no to Vladimir Putin and no to fascism. If the United States and the European powers are not willing to help us in this new fight, at the very least they should stay out of the battle and stop giving aid to the forces of fascism. (Emphasis added throughout.)

Say It in Russian: ‘Caveat Emptor’
By GARRY KASPAROV
The Wall Street Journal, 21 December 2004

If the West won’t stand up for basic human rights and democratic principles in Russia, one last hope was that it would come to the aid of free enterprise. But the only voice of protest against this weekend’s auction of Russian oil giant Yukos’s main asset came from Texas, and it wasn’t George W. Bush — it was a bankruptcy court in Houston. Needless to say, the auction of Yuganskneftegaz went forward on Sunday in Moscow despite the court order.

With the Russian state gas company Gazprom in a potential legal tangle over the injunction, the auction was won by a completely unknown entity from the Russian hinterlands that just happened to have $9.3 billion cash on hand. This company will soon prove to be the outer layer of a Russian matryoshka doll. We’ll find a Gazprom doll inside of that one and, like every matryoshka today, at the center will be Vladimir Putin.

* * *

If you are looking for a guide to the future of Russia, you need only listen to the words of President Putin. Listen carefully — and then take it for granted that the exact opposite will happen. One of the more lurid ways in which Mr. Putin’s Russia is coming to resemble ’30s-era Germany is this Orwellian doublespeak.

Adolf Hitler’s improbable mantra was "We want peace." Mr. Putin’s recent statements have proven equally truthful. "We won’t touch the Constitution" has been followed by one antidemocratic power grab after another. Elected regional governors have been abolished in favor of Kremlin appointees. Now even more power is being centralized as the nation’s natural resources are being put under direct federal control.

In case the changes to the constitution aren’t enough to satisfy the Kremlin, there is now a law moving forward that will allow the constitution to be suspended at will by the FSB — which is proudly showing its KGB roots — if they assert that there is threat of a terrorist attack. To criticism they say that America is "doing the same." Do not think for a moment that this is a fair comparison; equating the recent actions of the Russian parliament with the Patriot Act is like saying that chopping off your hand is similar to trimming your nails.

At the start of the Beslan terrorist crisis, Mr. Putin said in a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah that the well-being of the children was the top priority. A day later security forces attempted an assault and hundreds died. Mr. Putin likewise said that the government had no intention of letting Yukos go bankrupt.

Even more shameful is how little the so-called leaders of the free world have said and done in response to these attacks on the truth. While polls inside Russia can’t be trusted, Mr. Putin can count on votes of confidence from Silvio Berlusconi, Tony Blair, George Bush, Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroeder. Perhaps Mr. Schr?der and the others are afraid of losing their visas under another new law being contemplated by the parliament that will allow them to deny entry to any foreigner who "shows disrespect" for Russia. Meanwhile, Mr. Bush stubbornly called "Vladimir" his "good friend" at a press conference yesterday.

Capital is traditionally shy of joining such dubious enterprises as this weekend’s dismantling of Yukos. To participate in this state-run racketeering operation is no better than investing in the Chicago Mafia of Al Capone. Let us name the names of the Western entities that saw fit to fund Gazprom’s bid and thus endorse the looting of Yukos: Deutsche Bank AG, ABN Amro Holding NV, BNP Paribas SA, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.

But at least their employees are safe, unlike those of Yukos, dozens of whom are currently being persecuted — either in jail, under investigation, or on the run. All of this to settle a Kremlin vendetta against Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky and to send a message to other industry leaders that they had better toe the line if they want to keep their businesses and remain free.

The latest example of this trend is the harassment of Russian mobile-phone operator VimpelCom. They are being targeted much in the same way as Yukos. The company has been hit with tax bills totaling over $450 million dollars. It comes as no surprise that the owners of Megafon, one of VimpelCom’s main competitors, have close ties to Mr. Putin.

The message that Western banks and companies should be receiving is that doing business in Russia is a risky proposition. Everything depends on loyalty to Mr. Putin. This loyalty is dubious morally and it is also weak strategically. When an agreement has been negotiated in a lawless environment there is no guarantee as to the future safety of that investment.

Western institutions must keep in mind the inherent dangers of dealing with dictators. The day will come when we won’t need a court in Houston to establish justice in Russia. When law and order is restored to my land, those who put their faith and money in Mr. Putin’s cronies will come to regret their profiteering as these cases are revisited in the light of day.

In democracies, incoming governments rarely reverse the commercial decisions of their predecessors. But when Mr. Putin’s regime collapses under its own brutality, arrogance and incompetence, change will be sudden and the consequences will be dire. It will be too late to cry foul, to say that the law doesn’t apply to foreigners.

So supporting dictatorships has a practical as well as moral downside. Western leaders keep their mouths shut and Western banks keep their wallets open for Mr. Putin. Plans continue for a G-7 meeting in Moscow in 2006 that will transform the group into the G-8, something that will stand as an insult to democratic nations around the world. This meeting will be the final nail in the coffin of Russian democracy.

Those who think they can influence Mr. Putin’s course by supporting him will see that accommodation won’t be any more successful here than giving the Olympic Games to Berlin was in 1936. Treating dictators kindly doesn’t soften a regime; it only makes it more arrogant and aggressive.

Perhaps Western leaders agree with last week’s New York Times editorial that made the stunning assertion that "a fascist Russia is a much better thing than a Communist Russia." I hope I am allowed to order something not on that menu. I am not ready to throw up my hands and surrender to the Putin dictatorship. It is still possible to stand up to the dictator and to fight for democracy.

* * *

In March, 1991, then-President George H.W. Bush and his European counterparts were still supporting Mikhail Gorbachev’s futile domestic endeavors. I wrote then that if we were left alone we would soon have no Gorbachev and no communism. Now we need to say no to Vladimir Putin and no to fascism. If the United States and the European powers are not willing to help us in this new fight, at the very least they should stay out of the battle and stop giving aid to the forces of fascism.

Mr. Kasparov , the world’s leading chess player and chairman of the Free Choice 2008 Committee in Russia, is a contributing editor at the Journal.