From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 10/15/2007 1:07 AM
Kasparov's new opponent proves formidable
14-October-2007     
Gary Kasparov is the leading candidate for "The Other Russia," a coalition of liberals and former communists who want Russia's politics to be decided in open debate. He says Putin's opponents have been involuntarily committed to mental institutions.     
Enlarge image Enlarge     By Alexander Natruskin, Reuters
Gary Kasparov is the leading candidate for "The Other Russia," a coalition of liberals and former communists who want Russia's politics to be decided in open debate. He says Putin's opponents have been involuntarily committed to mental institutions.
By Oren Dorell, USA TODAY
 
WASHINGTON — Former chess great Garry Kasparov became famous as the youngest chess champion ever and for taking on an IBM supercomputer as an opponent.

But his match now is against Russian President Vladimir Putin, who Kasparov says is engaged in an effort to strangle democracy in Russia and push the country to resemble the former Soviet Union.

"We're not fighting to win elections, we're fighting to have elections," Kasparov said. "The regime is facing an ultimate crisis and it might be even sooner than we expect. It's important that we are there when the crisis emerges."

Kasparov, 44, is running for president as head of "The Other Russia," a coalition of liberals and former communists who want the country's leadership decided through open debate, something that Kasparov says is ever more rare and dangerous in Russia today.

Although Putin is not a candidate for re-election in 2008, Kasparov says Putin will decide who will win by eliminating independent media and creating registration requirements for opponents that are almost impossible to meet.

Kasparov's remarks followed his attendance Wednesday at a conference in Washington to discuss oppression in Russia and to pay homage to journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was murdered last year in Moscow while investigating atrocities in Chechnya.

That same day, Russia's Central Elections Commission rejected Kasparov as an official presidential candidate.

"Extremism is a very broad concept in the new Russian law, so that's why everything we're doing can easily qualify as extremism," Kasparov said. "Anybody who helps us or is thinking of helping us officially will be facing the tax police the next day."

Kasparov did not discuss his platform. He said his goal is to reform a corrupt system so that free elections can take place.

The Russian Embassy could not be reached for comment.

Kasparov said the West should make Russian human rights a priority. He said Putin is demanding that the West look the other way in return for Russia's cooperation in international trade.

"Putin succeeded in treating democracy as just one of the bargaining chips on the table," he said.

All the viable contenders to replace Putin are former KGB agents, said Ariel Cohen of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington think tank.

"What's going on in Russia right now is a struggle between different factions of secret police around Putin who are jockeying for power and the best position for a post-Putin environment," Cohen said. "That just indicates how weak the institutions are and how weak is Russian democracy."

But Gordon Smith, director of international studies at the University of South Carolina, said Putin has made some moves that the public appreciates. He said Putin created rules for law enforcement and business that resulted in more criminal acquittals on constitutional technicalities, and more commercial disputes being settled in court rather than by mafias in the streets of Moscow.

Kasparov and his allies say Putin's opponents have suffered treatment reminiscent of the former Soviet Union. They say he has ordered heavy police presence at opposition rallies to intimidate protesters and had opposition leaders involuntarily committed to state psychiatric hospitals.

Kasparov is denied the ability to make his case on television and in national newspapers. "Tight control of the media is a key condition for their survival," he said.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-10-14-kasparov_N.htm