Topic: hmmmmmm

[gpw11]

Shaaaaaaady

I think the smart money is on Russia being a huge international problem in 5-10 years.

[Quemaqua]

Oh good, another one.  We don't have enough of them already.

[scottws]

Russia has always been a bit of a police state.  It relaxed a bit after the Soviet government fell, but Putin has been steadily moving Russia back in that direction ever since he took office.

[gpw11]

That's very true, but in the last few months he's really done some fucked up shit.  REALLY fucked up shit.

[Ghandi]

I saw this man in a number of different interviews last month when he was going around plugging his book. He is extremely smart and understanding of the implications of what he is doing. In fact, he was on the Colbert Report and Stephen Colbert made a joke about this very thing happening, and he had a  pretty good response to it.

[gpw11]

Yeah, I've seen a few interviews with him as well recently.  A lot more well spoken than I thought he'd be.  I always imagined him to be some sort of robot.

[Pugnate]

Garry Kasparov!! He is a Russian icon! Anyone who knew chess knew who he was.

Well I guess dictators are just becoming a trend now.

[Cobra951]

He's a genius at the game.  That doesn't make him a genius at politics, though.  Openly opposing the Kremlin is almost literally Russian roulette.

[Quemaqua]

I found it interesting that he chose to do that.  I used to study him back when I was a kid.  I was very heavily into the game back then.

[Pugnate]

Man we should play sometime. My grandfather was a grandmaster at one point. He lead his country as captain and came second in Asia. This was a long time ago.

I used to play a lot... but haven't in years. Damn.. it was such a huge part of my life too.

[Ghandi]

He's a genius at the game.  That doesn't make him a genius at politics, though.  Openly opposing the Kremlin is almost literally Russian roulette.

I have no clue how he would handle political matters, as he has never been a politician. His answers to political questions were well thought out and articulated, but saying and doing are two different things. But it definitely takes balls to oppose the Kremlin.

Also, Pug, we should play through Facebook.  I have an application that allows it. I'll send you a link.

[Xessive]

Is the term "unauthorized protest" redundant?

I mean if they had arrested him on the claim of disturbing the peace I'd understand but "unauthorized protest" as oppose to what? An authorized protest?!

Anyway, it's nice to see someone is actively trying to change things. I don't know what his politics are, but I admire his drive.

[Quemaqua]

I used to play a lot... but haven't in years. Damn.. it was such a huge part of my life too.

I was thinking the same thing.  It's literally been years and years for me.  I even have a beautiful handmade wooden chess set that my parents imported for me from somewhere.  Haven't used it in so, so long.  Used to have one of those little portable Radio Shack chess games too, with the super tiny pieces you could peg into the holes and play with the computer.  I played the hell out of that thing.  Honestly, I remember virtually nothing about the game now it's been so long.

This makes me kind of sad.  =(

That's really cool that your grandfather was a grandmaster, though.  Such a wonderful game.