BLOWING IT:

Opposition manoeuvres to place Kremlin's grandmaster in check (Simon Tisdall, March 15, 2005, Guardian)

The decision by Garry Kasparov, the world's top chess player, to retire from the game and devote his talents to opposing Vladimir Putin will hardly induce the Kremlin's grandmaster to resign his position. But Mr Kasparov's move reflects broader, increasingly vocal discontent over the president's perceived descent into authoritarianism. The Putin paradox is that the more he tries to exert control, the more uncontrollable a changing Russia may ultimately prove to be.

Mr Kasparov's assertion that the country "is heading down the wrong path" echoed the words of a more formidable political figure, Mikhail Kasyanov, prime minister during Mr Putin's first term and finance minister under Boris Yeltsin.

Accusing Russia's leader of abandoning democratic values by stifling political pluralism, undermining judicial and media independence, and turning his back on a free-market economy, Mr Kasyanov called on the democratic opposition to unite. "I have reached the view that not one of these values is being implemented or respected," he said last month. "The direction has changed _ The country is on the wrong track."

This view has found prominent supporters. Former president Mikhail Gorbachev warned last week of social upheaval and a "merciless revolt" unless Mr Putin sacked incompetent advisers and changed tack.

Mr Yeltsin is also believed to have lost faith in the protege he raised from obscurity in 1999. "He doesn't say it in public but Yeltsin thinks he made a mistake with Putin," a source said.

Mr Kasyanov's hint that he might seek the presidency in 2008, when Mr Putin is constitutionally bound to step down, has prompted comparisons with Viktor Yushchenko and Ukraine's "orange revolution".

Russians would happily give Mr. Putin some room to be rather authoritarian so long as he was effecting genuine reforms and improving their lives--he needs to get back on track though and, in particular, forget about foreign affairs.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 21, 2005 8:01 PM