Who is Kasparov.

[Alex157]

I know that Kasparov is popular in the USA (for example, he is publishing an article after article in the

Washington post) and considered as a democrat.
On the photo he is with

the second co-leader of Kasparov’s ‘Another Russia’ Eduard Limonov. And then some posters of Limonov’s personal

organization from its site http://www.nazbol.ru/galery/2.html
After such democrats Putin looks really attractive.








RUSSIA[FON

T=Tahoma] IS EVERYTHING, OTHERS ARE NOTHING.[/FONT]

[DrSmellThis]

So I take it the issue from

your perspective is that Kasparov is too much more concerned with overturning Putin at whatever cost; than he is

with a positive democratic solution (hence the tie with a radical, anti-Putin element). It seems Kasparov might have

little in common with that individual other than a hate for Putin? I know Kasparov views Putin as a sort of

criminal.

My personal affinity and respect for Kasparov has mostly to do with my association with him as a member

of his excellent but ill-fated chess website some years ago. It was one of the best websites in the history of the

web, easily. So it was day to day dealings, and watching him closely as an ambassador for chess. He was a "class

act" (no Marxist pun intended ); intelligent, gracious, even-handed, and reasonable at every turn, in that

context. He was a great advocate for democracy, striking me almost as a purist in that regard. What has happened

since I cannot speak to.

I also cannot speak to what you posted, as it is more a collection of provocative images

than anything I can draw a conclusion from. In my little reading on the issue, it just seemed there was a two sided

debate going on, but I couldn't make satisfactory sense of it.

[Alex157]

So I

take it the issue from your perspective is that Kasparov is too much more concerned with overturning Putin at

whatever cost; than he is with a positive democratic solution

Yes, absolutely. And it is right for all

our so called 'democrats'. They hate Putin and each other but nobody is able to create any working party or social

organization.

[DrSmellThis]

Yes,

absolutely. And it is right for all our so called 'democrats'. They hate Putin and each other but nobody is able

to create any working party or social organization.

Thanks for your response, Alex. Good to see you back

attempting to talk with us ugly Americans.

Have been enjoying Russian music lately, as there is a rather large

Russian (and eastern European, Western Asian) community here in Portland. I want to get one of those cotton shirts

with the cool horizontal stripes and no collar like so many Russians here wear.

How are things where you

live?

[DrSmellThis]

Yes,

absolutely. And it is right for all our so called 'democrats'. They hate Putin and each other but nobody is able

to create any working party or social organization.

That is truly a shame. You need a charismatic and popular

leader who is a uniter rather than a divider. Maybe then it will be possible.

But I think the lesson in the world

is that democracy takes many forms. There is not one right way that comes from an Adam Smith book or something.

There is not one kind of constitution, or one kind of bill of rights. There is nothing sacred about Jefferson,

Franklin, Washington, or any of our founding fathers, who were responding to specific political conditions at the

time, from within a collection of English colonies.

France, the Netherlands, and Canada have democracies that

differ significantly from ours. Yet it is not the case that we are clearly successful in every way while they

clearly fail in every way,

It would be quite an adjustment to go from "communism" to democracy and capitalism.

They are opposite in many ways.

In some sense, the form of government you have is determined by the fact of a

government trying to put down rebellions or control a population, rather than a philosophy of government. That will

hopefully change sooner rather than later.

My point is that it is more than OK for all of you to carve your own

unique path. It is required. Hopefully you will come up with something better than what we have.

If the former

soviet countries can devise something in the middle, or something that combines the best of both political mindsets

(minus the dictatorship part), it would be a major accomplishment for the world. That is something to shoot for. In

my opinion, people here think too black and white about capitalism versus socialism, for example, in a good versus

evil, "one or the other" manner; instead of seeing both as opposite ideas in search of a "dialectical synthesis"

(see Hegel) or third way that might be superior to both. Nothing is harder, perhaps. But nothing has more potential

to contribute to planetary history.

(Here I define "communism" as the versions actually practiced by Soviets,

Chinese, Cubans and others; not the Marxist version from the Manifesto, which strikes me as a bit utopian.)

[Alex157]

Thank you, the only thing which prevents me from coming here more often is that

we are promoting our site and I have to talk with ugly Russians all the time :

)
As for Russian music I advice Visotsky and Gradsky, I

think it is possible to download them for the Net for free.





I live in Moscow and everything is OK. I hope that our

opposition which is trying to 'swing the boat' as we say here will fail to start a civil war :

)



I'll answer your letter a bit later. As for a

charismatic leader we have a joke here.
A woman comes in

a subway train and asks 'are there no gentlemen here who will suggest me a place to

seat?'
- 'Madam, there are tons of gentlemen here. There

is a lack of seats'.
The same is with leaders here :

)

[Sigeoptop]

Bored

again...b/c there are still no good ads...so I thought I would ask you all this: Who here has snow for Thanksgiving

and/or Christmas? Im in NE Texas, so I dont get snow for any of the holidays. The last time I remember a lot of

snow near a holiday was either in 02 or 03, the day after Christmas. We usually dont get our winter weather until

after the first of the year, but then its only freezing rain and sleet...more dangerous than pretty.

[belgareth]

I'm in the Dallas/Fort Worth

area. It looks like we may see a little snow by the end of the week. Possible but not likely. But the cold is coming

fast, we should have hard freezes very soon. Of course, there's no telling what the weather is likely to do next

here. Possibly 90 degrees and sunny next week?

[idesign]

Bored

again...b/c there are still no good ads...so I thought I would ask you all this: Who here has snow for Thanksgiving

and/or Christmas? Im in NE Texas, so I dont get snow for any of the holidays. The last time I remember a lot of

snow near a holiday was either in 02 or 03, the day after Christmas. We usually dont get our winter weather until

after the first of the year, but then its only freezing rain and sleet...more dangerous than pretty.

I

live in the twilight zone, and we usually get snow on Thursdays. Freezing rain and sleet is for the Global Warming

bunch, and we usually don't go in for much of that, unless we're in the mood for parlor games, which, by the way,

is great fun if you're in a fraternity like Terra Delta Finale.

Love your home page, kinda like Spammus

Secretion Beta, reality show and all. Was that your g/f ???

[HornyMan]

And I thought Kasparov

was a great chess player :-)

[Alex157]

And I

thought Kasparov was a great chess player :-)

and he really was