Reddit mentions of Winter Is Coming

You should read Garry Kasparov’s Winter Is Coming. It details the erosion of Russian democracy in its infancy. Putin has become a dictator and aggressively undermines democracy in its neighborhood and abroad. Every US and major European leader since the fall has appeased Russia and turned a blind eye to their atrocities. American foreign policy has discarded the lessons of the previous century. Instead of standing for human rights and democracy, we have ignored the outrageous behavior of powerful countries in the hopes of economic engagement. We make principled stands against Cuba, Libya, and Yugoslavia. Yet we appease countries like Russia and China.

As a Democrat, it pains me to say that Clinton and Obama were two of the worst when it came to Russia. We need a president that will partner with Europe and other likeminded nations to take a stand against human rights violators.

That's best summed up in chess grandmaster-turned-human-rights-activist Garry Kasparov's book WINTER IS COMING.

Basically, by not doing anything when Putin committed human rights violations, ran sham elections, or invaded neighbors. Sanctions only started to bite with the 2012 Magnitsky Act and at the end of 2014 after Russia invaded Ukraine. (The Magnitsky Act didn't hurt the Russian economy, it mainly hurt Putin and his cronies specifically). Most of the time, as when Russia invaded Georgia in 2008, other world leaders just called it "troubling" and did nothing.

It's surprising how the West has treated this mafia state as a legitimate government. They added Russia to the G7 to make it the G8 for a time. Bush said he looked into Putin's eyes and saw his soul, and liked what he saw.

It might sound like I'm just disparaging the Russian government, but it really is like the mafia.

One of the next people to be assassinated might be Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who used to be the richest man in Russia. (A guy who works for Khodorkovsky was poisoned last month)

Khodorkovsky was imprisoned after Putin rose to power because he was funding opposition parties.


What happened next was described in Bill Browder's Senate testimony last year:
> "After Khodorkovsky’s conviction, the other oligarchs went to Putin and asked him what they needed to do to avoid sitting in the same cage as Khodorkovsky. From what followed, it appeared that Putin’s answer was, 'Fifty percent.' He wasn’t saying 50 percent for the Russian government or the presidential administration of Russia, but 50 percent for Vladimir Putin personally. From that moment on, Putin became the biggest oligarch in Russia and the richest man in the world..."


Bill Browder is an American who worked in investment in Russia. He worked and became friends with Sergei Magnitsky, a tax lawyer who discovered and publicized theft of tax dollars by Putin's friends. After Magnitsky blew the whistle, Putin’s government arrested him, then tortured and beat him to death.


Because of this, the U.S. passed the Magnitsky Act, which imposed financial sanctions on Russian oligarchs connected to Putin.


Putin became richer than Bill Gates by stealing and self-dealing in his position at the top of Russia's government. The Magnitsky Act threatens that and is motivating Putin to increase his influence in other countries, hoping to get sanctions lifted.


That's the key to understanding the Russian government's behavior: Putin ruthlessly uses his government for personal gain, and badly wants sanctions lifted.

He's now getting what he wants:

1. Trump Jr. offered rescinding the Magnitsky Act in exchange for dirt on Clinton in that infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russian agents.
   
   
2. Trump Sr. told Maria Butina, a Russian activist, shortly after starting his campaign that he wanted to lift sanctions on Russia.
   
   
3. After it was revealed Russia had interfered in the 2016 election, the Obama administration imposed further sanctions on Russia, but Trump’s team had Mike Flynn contact the Russian ambassador to assure him Trump would undo those sanctions. Flynn was later indicted for lying to the FBI about those secret conversations.
   
   
4. The U.S. Congress mandated new sanctions on Russia, and Trump has refused to enforce them.

Kasparov's "winter is coming"
https://www.amazon.com/Winter-Coming-Vladimir-Enemies-Stopped/dp/1511365447

Russia's constitutions a two consecutive term limit on the presidency of four years. Putin took a break and had Medvedev step in, many argue to get around this limit as well as increase the duration of each term (see source at the time). He also, as proposed in this article, suggested removing the consecutive part of the limit, but of course stated that that wouldn't apply to him. You can also read Winter is Coming by Garry Kasparov (former Russian world chess champion) for some more interesting political two steps done to keep regimes in power.

> Why are americans so anti Russia?

It's not just Americans, it's anyone who opposes kleptocracy and autocratic rule. If you're really interested, don't ask on reddit, read a book about it instead.

Great to know!

Well lucky for you, that I am old! I'm actually quite a fan of him.

Even if he isn't in Putin's pocket, Trump and his administration are totally out of their league. Hillarious how all the Trump supporters claim he is some sort of grand master. Putin is the real wiz.

Have you read Kasparov's book, "Winter is Coming."?

https://www.amazon.com/Winter-Coming-Vladimir-Enemies-Stopped/dp/1511365447

I actually haven't read it yet, but I've heard some great interviews with him.

Yeah it was! His book isn’t too bad either. I read that before the election and didn’t think it would ever be relevant. 🙄

Garry Kasparov’s book Winter is Coming is really good too.

In a recent episode of Sam Harris' podcast Garry Gasparov (former world chess champion and political activist) predicted this very trend: https://www.samharris.org/podcast/item/the-putin-question Gasparov actually wrote a book about Putin that is now high on my reading list: https://www.amazon.com/Winter-Coming-Vladimir-Enemies-Stopped/dp/1511365447