Winter Is Coming by Garry Kasparov
Winter Is Coming by Garry Kasparov – Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped is a must read book, for many reasons. This is not a book only about Putin, but about what the west did while Putin was getting power, repressing the Russians, and started invading or interfering in other countries. He talks about the importance of values, which were slipping away from public discourse and politicians’ interests.
He talked about Sochi Olympic Games, which were embraced by the west, just as much as the recent ones were, in China. This ignored what these countries were doing to their people, to their neighbours, and of course, to the west. The narrative was (still is) that sport and politics should not be mixed, but these athletes are used for propaganda purposes by their countries. Some even support their repressive regimes, as is the case of Veronika Stepanova, the Russian skier who told Putin during the award ceremony for the winners of the Beijing Olympics that Russia will win in Ukraine.
The west was too busy with internal squabbles, with leftist intellectuals and advisors who ignored what the dissidents from Russia and other countries were saying because it didn’t fit their narratives. Putin was allowed because the right was happy with the economic progress and the stability, while the left was delusional about what communism is about. Putin reigns over a communist state and the west completely ignored this.
Kasparov’s book is so interestingly written, easy to read, and delightful if I can say that considering the subject. He was a critic of Putin for many years, two decades now. Initially I thought I will share some quotes from the book, but I decided against it. Read the book, is not long and it is beautiful to read. He is harsh with Putin and even harsher with the west, including Obama’s foreign policy, but also talking about Cameron and Merkel. The book was published in 2015, so it’s less about Germany. I imagine a book published this year by him, not only it would have the title: “Winter is here” (his words), but be more about Europe than US.
You can here his Ted talk from this month, it’s only 15 minutes, and well worth it.
Winter Is Coming by Garry Kasparov
Details about the picture: –
My rating: 5/5 Stars
Would I recommend it: YES!!!!
Published by: Atlantic Books
Year it was published: 2016 (first published in 2015)
Format: Paperback
Genre(s): History – European
Pages: 290
About the author: Chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, writer, and political activist, whom many consider the greatest chess player of all time. He was born in Baku while it was under Soviet rule.
Website & Social Media Links: –
Yes, it’s amazing how we keep ignoring human rights abuses in big, rich countries but are hypercritical of them in poor countries. The hypocrisy of the West never fails to astonish me. Especially while reading Churchill and being reminded that appeasement merely gives dictators time to grow stronger. Kasparov is always interesting to listen to, so I can imagine that his book would be equally insightful.
Yes, exactly. The west is squabbling over parties, a couple of licences for fishermen, and sausages to NI, when the far-right is getting traction in EU and far-left is dominating the resources in Russia and the manufacturing in China. Hopefully now the situation starts to get a bit more clear, although Germany is still vacillating.
I am thinking of reading Churchill in the summer, especially after seeing your review.
I never watched the ‘Ted Talk’ although I know that Dave did, so I might need to go back and catch up with that myself! (Those talks are so interesting and diverse, aren’t they?) – I do agree that the West has rather sleepwalked into the current situation, as we got complacent when a more Liberal leader like Gorbachev was in power in Russia and we had an almost open dialogue about world affairs. It’s just a shame that not more Russian citizens opened their eyes to the possibilities of what working with the West, rather than against them offered and went right back to hardline politics as soon as he had gone! – Change is ultimately only going to come from within the country, however meanwhile, a genocidal maniac like Putin, does need to be stopped, hopefully literally ‘dead in his tracks’!
It’s interesting how seldom one hears anything in this country about Obama’s foreign policy and how it influenced current events. This sounds like a very timely book despite being written in 2015.
Kelly recently posted…A puzzle, a death, and Blogger
He talked in 2015, an year after the Russian occupation of Crimea about escalation. Many said he was wrong, it showed that the west was weak, not only Obama, of course. If Obama would have stood up to Putin, after Syria and Crimea maybe this war wouldn’t have started. But, the west didn’t do much after the Skripal’s poisoning, even though a British national died. Now everybody pays the price, and most of all, the Ukrainians.
Thanks for a intriguing and very interesting review. I’ve seen him on numerous news channels discussing the war and impressed with him. It looks like I book I need to find.
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He is a great speaker. I started following him on twitter and he is fab.