Kasparov

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Russian chess master Garry Kasparov’s harsh critiques of Bernie Sanders and socialism | Washington Post

Pleased to see our viral Facebook discussion about Sanders and socialism go from a little polemic (https://www.facebook.com/GKKasparov/posts/10154026469573307) to an article (http://www.thedailybeast.com/…/garry-kasparov-hey-bernie-do…) to a real discussion in the news in this Washington Post article. Interesting that the Sanders campaign has declined to discuss my articles, but not surprising. Not because they are wrong and I am right, but because discussing the soul of America and the long-term impact of government intervention is a lot harder than promising free stuff you can’t pay for.

From what I see from many of Bernie’s defenders in the comments here, they want to have it both ways. Whatever is bad either isn’t socialism at all or wasn’t socialist enough! This tradition does go back to the USSR, where our constant hardship was blamed on not being pure enough in following the teachings of Lenin, for example. Corrupt officials, inefficient bureaucracies, external enemies and internal saboteurs—there are always plenty of scapegoats for why socialist regimes impoverish and imprison their citizens. Socialism is such an attractive theory that it’s far too easy to ignore that it always fails in practice.Read More

Kasparov: Putin’s decision on withdrawal from Syria was made in ‘some kind of panic’

Mar. 15, 2016 – 5:55 – Human Rights Foundation Chairman Garry Kasparov weighs in on Russia’s withdrawal of troops from Syria and Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign.

Garry Kasparov: Hey, Bernie, Don’t Lecture Me About Socialism. I Lived Through It.
Why my rant against the Democratic candidate’s prescription for America went viral.

2016 seems like a strange time to be arguing the merits of socialism in an American presidential campaign. But it’s also strange for the prospective leaders of the free world to be talking about the KKK and their appendages, so clearly this year is not like any other. While the latter topics are, thankfully, beyond my purview, I have a great deal of interest in socialism.

Last week I expressed some of these thoughts on Facebook after hearing a clip of “democratic socialist” candidate Senator Bernie Sanders on Super Tuesday. This was already a rarity, considering how little time the networks have left after their blanket coverage of Donald Trump’s latest outrages. My post on the nature of socialism was 113 words long, a quick response to critics of a cartoon I had posted of Bernie Sanders wearing a baseball cap reading “Make America Greece Again.”

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