Russian expatriate Garry Kasparov, who rose to prominence as a chess champion and famously took on the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue in the mid ‘90s, appeared on Anderson Cooper 360, Tuesday, where he spoke about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the mentality of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In the lead up to the invasion, Putin ordered nuclear drills. Though Kasparov doesn’t believe Putin would actually use a nuclear weapon, that caused Kasparov to question the Russian leader’s grasp on reality.
“I think that now he reached a point where he’s not listening to [the] voice of wisdom in his immediate entourage, and I think his view about the world is sick,” Kasparov said. “That makes the situation even more dramatic… Let’s not forget, Putin has his finger on a nuclear button. Though I think we’re far from the moment where he could consider it, but the fact is that he talked about it is sending a signal that he lost the sense of reality.”
We are witnessing the end of the post-WWII order.Garry Kasparov
In a rambling speech on Monday, Putin called Ukraine’s statehood into question, and recognized two areas in Ukraine as independent territories. This came as Russia moved troops into the region as “peacekeepers.” Kasparov believes that Putin’s latest moves mark the end of the post-WWII era.
“What is happening now is we are witnessing the end of the post-WWII order. International security and cooperation was based on the core principles of territorial integrity,” Kasparov said, adding, “Now Putin demonstrated to all the thugs and dictators and terrorists around the world that borders can be ignored if you have enough strength, and the free world had no power to stop you, if you are brazen and swift.”
And Kasparov, who has been jailed for protesting against Putin, bears some of the blame for Putin’s actions for turning a blind eye for so long.
“The whole world is paying for 20 years of appeasement and 20 years of ignored warnings about the danger from [the] KGB lieutenant colonel who became the leader of Russia more than two decades ago,” Kasparov said, “and who believes sincerely the collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the twentieth century.”
Anderson Cooper 360 airs weeknights at 8 p.m. on CNN.
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