It’s time to fight Putin! – Garry Kasparov.

How to checkmate Vladimir Putin, according to the former World Chess Champion, political activist and harsh critic of the Russian president.

Garry Kasparov. | Flickr/US House Committee on Foreign Affairs

Garry Kasparov, Russian Chess Grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, Writer, Political activist, Chairman of the Human Rights Foundation:

“Ok, after years of warnings were ignored and hearing “Garry, you were right!” all damn day today, I’ll repeat what I said in 2014: Stop telling me I was right and listen to what I’m saying now.

“My recommendations follow:

• Support Ukraine militarily, immediately, everything but boots on the ground. All weapons, intel, cyber.

• Bankrupt Putin’s war machine. Freeze and seize Russia’s finances and those of him and his gang.

• Kick Russia out of every international and financial institution. PACE, Interpol, etc.

• Recall all ambassadors from Russia. There is no point in talking. The new unified message is “stop or be isolated completely”.

• Ban all elements of Putin’s global propaganda machine. Turn them off, shut them down, send them home. Stop helping the dictator spread lies and hate.

• Expose and act against Putin’s lackeys in the free world. If Schröder and his ilk continue to work for Putin, bring charges. Ask the owners and advertisers of networks platforming Putin propagandists like [Tucker] Carlson why they allow it.

• Replace Russian oil and gas. Pressure OPEC, increase production, reopen Keystone [pipeline]. You can’t save the planet if you don’t save the people on it.

• Acknowledge there will be costs, sacrifices. We waited too long, the price is high, but it will only get higher. It’s time to fight.

“We cannot ignore the political fifth column of Putinists, from the far-right and left in the EU to the tankies [communists] and Trump and his GOP followers in the US.

“They may have the right to support a brutal dictator’s war in order to criticize Biden, but it’s disgusting and anti-American. Do not forget.”

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Going further:

• Putin's Propaganda Machine: Soft Power and Russian Foreign Policy | Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• We must rethink Russia’s propaganda machine in order to reset the dynamic that drives it | London School of Economics Blog
• Some, but not all, former European leaders quit Russian boards. | New York Times
• These Are the American Right-Wingers Covering for Putin as Russia Invades Ukraine | Rolling Stones
• Owner cancels Keystone XL pipeline months after Biden revoked permit | The Guardian
• Why Donald Trump can't stop praising Vladimir Putin | CNN

Sources

• Text: This piece was first published in PMP Magazine on 25 February 2022. | The author of the tweets writes in a personal capacity.

• Cover: Unsplash/Vladyslav Melnyk. - Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany. Ukrainian flag was illuminated on Brandenburg gate to show solidarity with Ukraine. | 23 February 2022. (Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.)