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Chess Champion Kasparov Urges
West to Stand Up to Putin
Mos
News
Friday April 27, 2007
Russian chess star and opposition leader Garry Kasparov urged
Western leaders to stand up to President Vladimir Putin saying that
inaction would make them accomplices in “crimes to come.”
“Time is now for the West to tell Putin that they will not
watch quietly anymore. The time is now to tell Putin and his gang
that there will be economic and political consequences if they continue
to turn Russia into a dictatorship because silence is an agreement,”
Kasparov was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
Earlier this month, Kasparov was detained by police as he tried
to enter a central square in Moscow where protesters had gathered
in defiance of authorities. Police beat dozens with truncheons during
the Moscow rally, which was part of a series of so-called Dissenters’
Marches that Kasparov helped organize.
Kasparov was later questioned for four hours by investigators with
Russia’s main security agency. Commenting on this he suggested
law enforcement authorities were being pressed by the Kremlin to
find evidence of extremism in his actions and words.
“Extremism is now whatever they say it is,” Kasparov
said.
Addressing to Western leaders Kasparov mentioned former U.S. Presidents
Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy.
“Kennedy and Reagan believed democracy was the most powerful
force in improving lives around the world and for making the world
safe. If they had acted like Bush and the others act today, I would
still be playing chess in the Soviet Union,” he said.
Kasparov also said that if Western leaders rewarded Putin’s
regime, they would share responsibility should matters deteriorate
further and if Putin and his followers used “brutal force
to preserve their power.”
INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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