Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped

Vladimir Putin is certainly a dictator and has slowly consolidated his power in Russia. The book is timely as we are investigating the Russian connection in the last election.Much admiration for Mr. Kasparov and his working for democracy in Russia. I do not completely agree with him that we should go to war over Russia's interference in many countries: eg Crimea, Georgia, Macedonia, France etc. Very interesting read.

A must read for any individual (and western members of parliament) interested in the future of Russo-American relations, and the future of Europe. It unmasks the strategy of Putin and shows with scary clarity how he has turned Russia today into a Potyomkin village far beyond anything we have seen before.

If you are looking for an unbiased and informative read that takes you through the sequence of events that lead us from the fall of the USSR to Russia today... this book is not it.

Kasparov begins with the premise that Putin is evil and tries his best to support this premise in the next 250 or so pages often skipping around, omitting related events and glossing over important details. I would have preferred an account with more specifics. Overall, the book failed to provide the analysis that I was expecting and is riddled with hypocrisy. Still, a decent read if you want to understand Kasparov's point of view.

Excellent history and discussion of the issues in Russia, specifically in how Putin has rolled back freedoms and repressed Russian citizens.

The negative reviews on this book smack more of trolls than a serious discussion of Kasparov's writings. Great read that is sourced thoroughly.

The book is highly informative, and Kasparov certainly knows Russia and Russian's well. I did, however, dislike his hypocrisy at the end of the book, when he goes on the blame and praise various US politicians, while apparently ignoring the politics at the time.

must be a required reading by politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen throughout the Free World who think we should maintain “normal” diplomatic and commercial ties with any dictatorial regime. I read it to understand what happened in Iraq in light of Russian history. Here is what I think about the concept of dictatorship from my personal blog and live under another dictatorship - Saddam

http://nninoss.com/2014/07/29/i-am-sorry-saddam-a-nation-longing-for-leadership-or-dictatorship/

While I learned a few things about Putin from this book, mostly what I learned is that Garry Kasparov has a huge ego. It seems to be mostly about how smart he was to recognize the danger of Putin and how stupid everyone else was to ignore him.

Superbly written account of how Russia got to where it is today by a dedicated and famous dissident who has been in the middle of it for a long time. All of this has pretty much been glossed over in the US media in my view. It is truly scary to contemplate what has actually been happening there. Many brave souls have been in the fight to maintain some level of democracy but have unfortunately received little assistance from the West. Some have died for their efforts. It is chilling to contemplate where the Putin mafia will go next. God help us all!

kasparov's chessboard of the world and HIS understanding of it is articulated eloquently. HOWEVER, I read a very critical review of President Trump by a Kasparov; there must be two Gary Kasparovs? One does not support the other.
Kasparov is in the world of we must all get together and do something. It has not happened. League of Nations or United Nations concepts do not work. The world needs one power (referee) to deal with today's issues. Forget asking for a united response. To continue to do something that doesn't work will not win a chess game.

With all due respect, the book lacks substance. Kasparov is a great person and a highly influential politician (chess aside here), but the book is full of generic phrases and declarative sentences. I'd expect more analysis and/or life stories to substantiate the key idea. It's well known that Putin's clique is no good for Russia and dangerous to the world, and there were many great books on the subject. Why another one? Only to add another angle to the problem, light up more "why's", propose a program... Didn't find any of these here.

Kasparov is self-centered and opinionated and that hurts this book. The book is not objective, although I doubt that is Kasparov's intention. He is an active and visible spokesman for human rights and this book gives him another forum. He is right, of course, that Vladimir Putin has little use for human rights or, for that matter, the rule of his country's laws or constitution. But his observations about the West's, and the U.S.'s attempts to deal with Putin are simplistic and reflect only his desires, not the reality of diplomacy.
Having said all this, Kasparov does make certain points that are sensible and right on point. For example:
--He reflects on how Putin deals with the West as though it's some sort of video game: he chooses inputs and the West reacts. This allows him to adjust his strategy (f even necessary) and tells him that the West remains focused on appeasement (his word) to allow him to continue on his path.
--He often talks about the myriad of arrests, murders and intimidations that rule Russia and permit Putin to focus on nationalism and victimization and ignore the economic misery of his countrymen, especially outside of St. Petersburg and Moscow.
All in all, I would suggest other books on Putin and Russia (and there are plenty) to get a more objective idea of what's going on in Russia.

This is a really excellent and important book, still important two years after publication and with a new president in office. Kasparov is intelligent, knowledgeable, thoughtful, has watched Russia's transition from communism to Putinism from the inside, and has been actively involved in pro-democracy, anti-Putin resistance for years. There's a lot to be learned here, and you're making a mistake if you don't read this book.

But I have one criticism, and it's a big one.

Kasparov's entirely natural and appropriate focus on the concerns of his own country, especially since that country is a major nuclear power, has resulted in some major blind spots. That's what I'm going to talk about.

One of his great concerns is that morality should play a role in foreign policy. I totally agree with him on that. Unfortunately, he thinks Ronald Reagan and at least the first term of George W. Bush are examples of moral clarity in foreign policy. Reagan told Gorbachev to tear down that wall! GWB didn't turn back from taking down Saddam Hussein like his wimpy father did! (That's hyperbole; Kasparov doesn't call Bush 41 a wimp.) They made western democratic values a key factor in foreign policy decisions!

Except, of course, they didn't, and it's only possible to think they did by a laser-focus on US-Russia relations.

They did, however, talk a lot about morality in foreign policy, while doing some utterly outrageous and, in GWB's case, seriously destabilizing thing.

Reagan did tell Gorbachev to tear down that wall. His strong stance on related matters did contribute to helping break up the USSR. But he also (1) traded arms for hostages to Iran, (2) to raise money to fund right-wing rebel forces to overthrow the very suspect but democratically elected left-wing forces led by Daniel Ortega, (3) a policy which had been decisively rejected more than once by the American people and our elected representatives. You can't support democracy while rejecting the right of democratic peoples to make decisions you disagree with. Even if you believe selling arms to Iran to get hostages released and to fund the activities of forces opposing a distasteful but lawfully elected foreign leader was a good idea, the American people still had the right to disagree with you, and to vote for people who disagree with you.

It doesn't get better when we look at George W. Bush, not even in his first term.

There's nothing moral about lying your country in to a war.

GWB built a structure of lies to convince the American people and the world that Saddam Hussein was involved in the 9/11 attacks, or supported Al Qaeda, or was pursuing the building of nuclear weapons, or perhaps all three. None of these things was true. Yes, Saddam Hussein was a bad guy. No, he wasn't the source of the 9/11 attacks. Religious fanatic Osama bin Laden and secularist Saddam Hussein hated each other; they weren't working together. Saddam Hussein wasn't at that time trying to restart either a nuclear weapons program or a chemical weapons program.

And Bush 41, even though Saddam was really a bad guy, wasn't wrong to turn back from Baghdad. Taking out Saddam without pouring in enormous resources with a well-thought-out plan for rebuilding Iraq could only destabilize the entire Middle East, increasing the danger to the entire world. Bush 41 said that. No one really listened to him. When GWB quite determinedly shifted as much as possible of the blame for 9/11, as well as dreaming up fantasies of new Iraqi weapons programs, quite a lot of people, at all levels, did try to point out that defeating Saddam would mean occupying Iraq, and that occupying Iraq would require enormous resources to stabilize and rebuild it afterward in order to avoid destabilizing the Middle East. GWB and those around him brushed all objections aside and spun more fantasies, this time about how democracy and western values would just naturally break out in Iraq after Saddam was killed.

It didn't work out that way, and we are still paying the price for the badly conducted war and occupation that GWB led us into under false pretenses.

Lying your country into an unnecessary war isn't moral.

There are other areas where I disagree with Kasparov, but those are areas of simple disagreement. Intelligent people of goodwill can disagree, even profoundly, on many issues. But lying your country into a war under false pretenses, or funding death squads in other countries because you don't like that country's elected government, or trading arms for hostages, are not mere matters of disagreement. They are profoundly immoral, anti-democratic practices.

(Among those mere matters of disagreement are Georgia and Ukraine. He thinks Europe and the US need to get actively, militarily involved in these acts of aggression. I agree that we can't ignore them, and need to find a way to address them, but Europe won't be committing its armies anytime soon, and American armed forces have been run through the wringer for the last decade and a half. Some of that has been for good reasons and some for bad, but, they've been run through the wringer. And getting involved in Ukraine is perilously close to committing one of the Classic Blunders, "Never get involved in a land war in Asia." [It's possible Mr. Kasparov has never either read or seen The Princess Bride. If not, you really should at some point, Mr. Kasparov. If nothing else, it will be fun.] But that, as I think you'll agree, is merely a disagreement, a different view of a real issue that I think naturally concerns him more directly and immediately.)

Having said all that, you may think I disliked this book or think you shouldn't bother to read it. Mr. Kasparov is worth arguing with because he is knowledgeable, thoughtful, and serious. You will learn a lot about Russia, what has happened there, ans why we shouldn't ignore Putin that you won't learn as easily or in as interesting a way anywhere else. You may agree with him on matters where I disagree with him. You may disagree with him where I agree with him.

But read him. And take him seriously.

Highly recommended.

I bought this audiobook.

A showcase Olympic Games with a dictator prominently overseeing events.
Stories of repression dismissed and covered up as the world gathers
The games quickly followed by demands on the territory of a neighbor
The nations of the world appease the dictator as he invades and takes part of the neighbor, citing the ethnicity of the local population as an excuse

Hitler in 1936 and 1938 ?

Putin in 2014.

Kasparov's book is set apart from other books on Putin by his tragic perspective, having grown up in the USSR, lived through the thaw of the 1990s, and then the return to winter as Putin secured absolute power.
The book covers a wide range of topics, but his comparisons to Hitler's rise are striking and are too detailed and resonant in many points of comparison to be dismissed.

A very detailed look from a humanist, world ranked chess player who pulls no punches in describing Putin's Russia today, and how it got to where it is today.

Kasparov goes to great lengths to describe the oligarchy/ kleptocracy that rules Russia now. The stifling of freedom of press, speech, assembly and others is a gut wrenching acknowledgement that Russia is no different now than it was in 1984.

One instance is visas and how the government uses them in law and order. Read to find out.

The hypocrisy of Sochi, the IOC, celebrities and heads of states. Read to find out.

The blind eye we in the west have for oppressed people now that the cold war is over. Read to find out.

And lastly, the overall simple way Putin and his minions could be stopped. Really, it's simple. Again, read to find out.

Very happy to have read this, sad to know of its truth, better for knowing in detail.

Putin is the biggest threat to the free world. Europe and America will see more of his power projection and opportunistic taking soon. Putin is laughing at the west's politically correct leaders with no backbone or vision to see what's really going on.

Kasparov mentions that Russian government trolls follow his blogs (and any others that are not pro-putin) and try to refute his posts. I suspect some of the Kasparov bashing reviews here are from the same group.

A very interesting book on the Rise (an, alas, it didn't fall yet) of the Putin's reich by former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov and how the western weakness and apathy allowed Putin's Russia to become the #1 international threat in the modern world.

In 1989-1991 Communism in Europe and then USSR collapsed and the Cold War ended, or so people believed at the time. After only 8 years of relative freedom, a KGB officer named Putin takes power in Russia, quickly demolishes feeble democracy and creates a fascist mafia state. Enjoying high oil prices, he grew bolder each year, creating new imperialist "great Russia" ideology and trying to bully or bribe all neighboring countries into becoming his vassals and creating some sort of neo-USSR of mega-corrupt and brutal regimes, supposedly opposing the "decadent" West. Failure of some of the neighbors to comply led to the Russian aggression against Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014. First time since Saddam's adventure in Kuwait a country officially annexed territory of a neighbor. Putin is spending billions each year on bringing down the west: propaganda machine, network of agents (including most populist, far-right and far-left groups in the EU), hackers etc.

And what is reaction of the West? Very little. Kasparov argues that Putin became the large-scale danger to large extend due to the Western reluctance to oppose him, reminiscent of the events of 1938. He shows popular ideas such as "pacifism", "non-involvement", "moral relativism" for what they really are: cowardice and appeasement, reluctance to protect the innocent from the world's thugs, with classical examples of "noninvolvement" in Rwanda, Bosnia, Chechnya, and now also Georgia and Ukraine. Thugs do not stop by themselves, they can only be stopped by force.

As somebody born in the USSR and quite aware of the situation I can confirm that the book is very truthful, solid and of high quality. I mostly agree with the author and find his language and style very enjoyable. It is a powerful antidote to the lies of Russian propaganda, and dispels many myths and naivete many westers have about Putin and Russia.

I strongly recommend this book to everyone.

Since his retirement as the top ranked world chess master in 2005, Garry Kasparov has established himself as one of the leading voices for freedom and democracy in Russia. Along with a few other eloquent voices, such as Boris Nemtsov and Alexei Navalny, Kasparov has spoken out against the path that Russian governance has taken under Vladimir Putin. As Kasparov makes clear, Putin’s ascent to near-absolute power since 1999 has snuffed out the brief flicker of hope for freedom and democracy in Russia that arose under Boris Yeltsin’s presidency, 1991-1999. The unsolved, but suspicious, murder of Nemtsov in February 2015 eliminated one leading voice for freedom. Navalny remains active, and at constant risk, in Russia. Kasparov has prudently migrated to New York from whence he has written his recent indictment of the Putin regime: Winter is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must be Stopped.

Rather than summarize Kasparov’s words, I’ll just comment that they are very much on the mark. Putin has indeed reshaped Yeltsin’s flawed but developing democracy back into an absolutist, centrally controlled state, one not dissimilar from the Tsarist Regime under which the Autocrat not only ruled Russia but literally owned the country, its resources and its people as his personal possessions. If that sounds implausible, please consult Harvard Professor Richard Pipes’ books Russian Conservatism and A Concise History of the Russian Revolution, or my reviews of them.

As a brief addition to Kasparov’s words, I’ll provide a short review some of the international agreements and treaties that Putin has violated in his treatment of Ukraine, 2014-15:

(1) The Helsinki Final Accord (1975) in which the USSR (under Brezhnev) agreed that European borders would only be changed by the mutual agreement of the concerned nations.

(2) The August 1991 agreement among the presidents of Russia (Yeltsin), Ukraine (Kravchuk), and Belarus (Shushkevich) to abolish the Soviet Union and recognize its 15 constituent republics, including Ukraine, as independent, sovereign states.

(3) The Budapest Agreement (1994) under which Ukraine agreed to transfer all its Soviet-heritage nuclear weapons to Russia and received, in return, guarantees of its independence and territorial integrity from Russia (Yeltsin), the US, and the UK.

(4) The Minsk Agreements of August 2014 and February 2015, under which Putin’s own government agreed to work to reduce the conflict in Ukraine, respect Ukraine’s borders, and refrain from sending arms and forces into Ukraine.

In addition to violating all of the above agreements and treaties, Putin’s invasions of Ukraine (2014) and Georgia (2008) are the only instances of military invasion and occupation of one European state by another since Hitler absorbed Austria in 1936, occupied the Sudetenland (western Czechoslovakia) in 1938, agreed in the Munich peace conference to abstain from further expansion but within a year seized the rest of Czechoslovakia, and in partnership with Joseph Stalin, invaded and occupied the western portion of Poland in 1939, condemning the eastern portion of Poland along with the three Baltic states to Soviet invasion and occupation.

Despite the gloomy, but accurate, parallels between Putin and Hitler, Kasparov is optimistic. Putin has overextended his reach. He has alienated virtually all the western world which has acted with surprising unanimity in applying economic sanctions. These sanctions should be maintained until Russia has withdrawn from all occupied territories in Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova.

Kasparov hopes that, eventually, the Russian people will have had enough of Putin and that his downfall at their hands will be as spectacular as his rise. I hope Kasparov is right.

I have studied the political history of Russia for many years, and I have visited Russia multiple times. Kasparov's book is absolutely 'on-the-mark' in its' description of the political environment between 1991 and 2015. Moreover, his remarks about the hypocrisy of western governments are devastating. Kasparov gives an accurate and portrayal, without adornment or exaggeration, of political developments in Russia. I've always found it remarkable how few western leaders appear to understand the implications of what's going on there.

This book reveals the implicit danger with Putin extending his tendrils and the tightening of his grip; a true masterpiece by the chess master of the world. Mr. Kasparov laments the history, the failures, the successes, and lays down the blueprints to succeeding in our acts to preserve liberty and democracy throughout a crumbling free-world in crisis; for we must, once again, position our knights on the board to ready for the threat imposed by tyrants around the world. If only for a moment, Mr. Kasparov had the ability to enter public service in the United States, bringing the adoption of successful policies that we are reminded of by his writings; the realization that this battle is representative of the most strategically worthy chess moves across the board in the geopolitical sphere.

The only thing more irrelevant than Garry Kasparov is his outdated view of Modern Russia. Kasparov has admittedly never met Putin, hasn't stepped foot Russia in over 15 years, and yet throughout the book writes as if he is an expert and a spokesperson for the people of Modern Russia. He markets himself as a relevant voice outside of Russia, but inside Russia he couldn't be more irrelevant. The book is wildly hyperbolic and reads like historical fiction.

Excellent book. Just learning about post communist Russia and Putin and Kasparov's book is very enlightening! A must read for those who want to learn about Vladimir Putin and modern Russia and the threat they pose to the West.

Mr. Kasparov's book is not surprisingly fantastic. I should have expected that a master of seeing strategy and big picture would be able to so precisely describe the rise of the head oligarch of Russia, Vladimir Putin. Beyond that, Mr Kasparov shows how the west enabled even applauded Putin's rise and forecasts that they will have a difficult time dealing with him now. It is a good read and I highly recommend it for collection.

Must read for all people concerned about US and Russian relations. Very clearly shows how Putin's rise to power was planned long ago. Written by someone who was born and lived in Russia during its turbulent times.

Garry Kasparov’s new book about Russian politics, Winter Is Coming, should be called something else, maybe, “The Worst Long, Dark, Miserable Winter of Your Life is Coming and It Will Destroy Every Last Shred of Your Pitiful Humanity.” In short, says Kasparov, the prognosis for Russia is beyond bleak as long as Vladimir Putin remains in power. In the course of just over 250 pages, Kasparov manages to compare Putin to Adolf Hitler, Slobodan Milosevic and Saddam Hussein. He links Russia to North Korea, Iran, and all the miserable rogue regimes of the world — a group that Kasparov refers to as “the enemies of the free world.” For good measure, he even includes a reference to Tywin Lannister of “Game of Thrones” in the title. It’s hard to think of a book that suffers from a greater case of Russophobia. As a result, it's easy to see how the power brokers in Washington will use this book as more proof for a tougher Russia policy, especially given Kasparov's global stature.

Treated with an open mind, Kasparov can really influence one's opinions on Russia, especially in regards to the United States' "commitment" to be the world's moral police, which Kasparov argues has faded in the last 25 years. Compelling read.

Exceptional analysis from an exceptional mind. there should be an icon to allow the store readers to donate for copies to be sent to the White House and State Department, Attn: President Obama and SecState Kerry.

Breezed through this book and was impressed by the easy flow of ideas and opinions expressed by the Author. I was hesitating if the book would make a good impression after reading Ms. Gessen's "The man without a face". However, Winter is Coming greatly exceeded my expectations. Definitely recommended; 5 stars.

In Winter is Coming former chess champion and now political activist Garry Kasparov describes himself as a “human rights activities and former world chess champion.” He is now living in New York City and has limited opportunity to return to Russia. In the book he states why Russian president Vladimir Putin is harming Russia and the world. Kasparov was born in Azerbaijan and thus has a natural bias toward Russia. He says that the West, and especially EU leaders and American Democratic presidents Clinton and Obama, in trying to engage with Russia, have actually engaged in appeasement. By contrast he supports the “strong moral leadership” he says was shown by Ronald Reagan and Republican presidential candidate John McCain. Obama’s “timidity” he says encouraged Putin to attack Ukraine. Putin, he says, “has no use for the people of Russia,” relying instead on turning the country into a “petro state.” Kasparov goes through the by now familiar of actions taken by Putin and other events that he says reflect negatively on Russia. Putin took office, Kasparov says, by promising not to prosecute Boris Yeltsin and his family. The book covers the sieges of the Nord-Ost Theatre and Beslan School, the assassination of Alexander Litvinenk, journalist Anna Politkovskaya and democratic activist Boris Nemtsov, as well as the arrest and imprisonment of other oligarchs who opposed Putin. He also comments on the arrest and imprisonment of members of the Pussy Riot band as another example of Putin’s suppression of free speech.

Kasparov claims we must stand up to Putin and makes such proposals as calling for a new global “Magna Carta” that would uphold the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, punish Russia by sanctions and by limiting the success of oligarchs who support Putin. We should “listen to the dissidents” and promote education that would help young people understand dictatorships. He says he advocates, “principles, not policies.”

I rate this book at two stars because it is more of a personal and thus biased view of how to deal with a difficult situation. Moreover it is hard to see how his suggestions will make a real difference in relations with Putin and Russia. At the same time it is worth reading because it gives some insights into the democratic movement in Russia and the views of a major figure in the opposition to the current government.

Kasparov is arrogant and quite self aggrandizing! This book is simply a hodgepodge of "I said this" and "I said that". If an author was so into himself short of being a rap artist or the white version of Kanye West, this would be Kasparov. He blames all the worlds problems on Putin, even problems that have no direct or indirect correlation to Russia or the USSR! While his chess achievements are celebrated, he sounds like another Kremlin foe that never got a chance to sit at the big boy table. After all he DID campaign for Yeltsin and was a booster for the Yeltsin movement.
Two stars at best!