Wow... 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7110910.stm

Yikes! I hope Gary is ok.

so much for russian reforms, says he was beaten, very disturbing

"The city gave the organizers permission to hold the rally but forbid them to march to the Central Elections Commission."

 

"They moved in after the rally had ended and about 150 of the protesters, mainly Limonov's young activists, began to march toward the Central Elections Commission. "

 

"Kasparov had not joined the young protesters who had broken away from the crowd. He was detained after walking over to see what had happened to them."

 

"The former chess champion was forced to the ground and beaten, his assistant Marina Litvinovich said in a telephone interview from outside the police station where Kasparov was held."

Gary is going to keep fighting that regime until he ends up poisoned, shot, or stabbed to death. But just how far would you go for true freedom? I admire him.

Kasparov's arrestment (a photo from Russian site)

Ay, ay,  ay!

this is the new Russia?

Thanks for the picture, fleiman.  So much for the new 'democratic' Russia.

This throws a negative light on Russia, but let's not forget that this happens everywhere.  I can recall several similar incidents here in my country.

Response to dio-gen: You think Kasparov is a clown because you were deceived. A lot of people know that the current president of Russia Putin became president because of the faked elections and with the help of Yeltsin's speech in which he declared Putin as his successor. Of course he did so because he was blackmailed by the FSB, as he used government money for private purposes. Many people were arrested during Putin's cadence, because they talked or acted against him (the freedom of voice is legal in any normal democratic country). Now this hypocrite who says he's with the west, but sells weapons to Iran wants to stay another cadence beyond his 2nd cadence (which will end at the beginning of 2008). This is against their own constitution, and can be considered only at time of war. Some of the russian people understand this threat and try to act in order to avoid this scenario. I don't know if Kasparov is a good leader, but i know for sure he's not so corrupt like Putin.

He was on Bill Maher a little while back talking about his campaign for the presidency among other things -- here's the interview:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1Z9g7jN3Kso

 

dio-gen wrote:

AFAIK, Kasparov isn't russian. He was born in Baku, so he is native Azerbaijanian, I think. What does he do in russian politics and why?  

 

JFYI: Kasparov arrested for five days due to legal abuse.

 

note to StacyBearden:

I'm sure Kasparov will not be poisoned or shot. There is no need to kill a clown.  He'd better play chess, not politics...

---

There's a list of the other "clowns" Putin and the other "former" KGB men have silenced. I don't know much about Kasparov's political leanings other than what I've seen on interviews and read on-line, but he's no Putin. And he's no communist. Kasparov is an intellectual. Putin is a thug. Russia would be lucky to have any clown in place of Putin and his criminal followers. By the way: Israel's security and mid-East diplomacy would have to benefit with Kasparov replacing Putin.

What do the Russian people say/think of Putin? Isnt his approval rating higher than that of Bush in the US? Will someone from Russia, who knows, please answer this question? Isnt Kasparov working for the "oligarghs"? If he isnt Russian and cant be president of Russia (just as Arnold can never be of US because he was foreign born) why is he running anyway and why do those people who support him do so?

dio-gen,

Kasparov is a "clown" because you disagree with him?

There can never be too many opposition parties, for there is always the danger of a one-party system.

 I agree that your critics should not pay attention to mass media, but perhaps you should not set so much store by what you "know" either. The elections probably were not faked, but then again there is the off-chance that they might have been. And since in this case it would have been you, the voters, who would have been hoodwinked, how can you be sure?

dio-gen wrote: StacyBearden wrote: dio-gen wrote:

note to StacyBearden:

I'm sure Kasparov will not be poisoned or shot. There is no need to kill a clown.  He'd better play chess, not politics...

---

I don't know much about Kasparov's political leanings other than what I've seen on interviews and read on-line, but he's no Putin. And he's no communist. Kasparov is an intellectual. Putin is a thug. Russia would be lucky to have any clown in place of Putin and his criminal followers. By the way: Israel's security and mid-East diplomacy would have to benefit with Kasparov replacing Putin.

---

 Wow!

You don't know anything about his political leanings but you make your conclusion that he would be good president.

Do you vote on USA presidential election the same way? 

 

By the way: I think that russian president must take care of Russia's securuty, not Israel's one.

---

I don't know any specifics on his political leanings, I said, other than what I have read and seen. Read my post completely before you insult me ignorantly. And for Israel's security issue, Russia is being reported as having talks with Israel's enemies and supporting them against Israel. Since Israel is the only real ally to the West in the mid-East, their security should be an importance to every nation, Dio-gen. You should have learned from history that a nation's security, in part, relies on keeping its allies secure. That's just common foreign policy. It does strike me, and the rest of the world, that the current Russian government is not an ally of Israel. That puts Russia somewhat at odds with the West...and with God, for that matter. But that's for a whole different post. 

Go Kasparov! A true freedom fighter.

  

I admire Kasparov, though I think he'd better stick to chess, not Russian politics.

Response to dio-gen: You are again deceived. I suppose you watch all the russian channels except RTVi. It's a pity, because all the other channels are censorized by the government (they can't say anything direct against Putin). I'm sure that you know why RTVi it's free from censor, if no i'll explain. Few years ago the russian government wanted to stop the broadcasting of the channel NTV, because the people there expressed their opinion against Putin (non-official reason). They nearly succeeded. An american businessman bought most of the stocks of this channel. It's name was changed to RTVi and now a big amount of broadcasting is from New York. Putin can do nothing because this channel is no longer under the jurisdiction of the russian government. Watch for example the program "Your opinion". They are going to talk a lot about this theme before the elections in russia (i hope this time the elections will be real).

When i said: "Many people were arrested during Putin's cadence, because they talked or acted against him" i ment people for whom the government can find formal pretext to arrest them. The government can't arrest people for whom there is no formal pretext, because they are afraid of public opinion and of press as i explained. For example, why were the oligarches jailed? the official reason is that they stole government money. When the Soviet-Union fell, people could buy huge factories for cheap cost (they were at the right place at the right time).  For example, The oligarch who bought the oil company Yukas is now at jail. Several oligarches escaped from russia, because they knew they will be jailed for the same excuse- stealing government money.

As i said: "I don't know if Kasparov is a good leader", but i know for sure he's an intellectual who wants to promote russia towards real democracy. The fact that he passed from one party to another only stresses that he has different opinion from the other members of the party. By the way, according to the laws of a democratic country any person with this country citizenship can become a president, no matter what is his nationality. 

If someone violates the law in a democratic country the police should stop him and bring him before court. They may use limited force to stop him, but they violate basic human rights if they beat him. Why the police had to beat Kasparov?, he's not young person and can't resist too much. The only reason is his dirrect challenge to Putin.

I'll improve your last sentence: Don't be naive, and don't trust censorized mass media.