helping is not taking the burden off you. you are figuring out what needs to be done and you are asking him to help. he's the assistant. if we're going to get to where we need to go, men do have to be lead parents or fully equal co-parents. >> for our complete schedule go to c-span.org. a discussion now on u.s.-russia relations from "washington journal," featuring former world which is champion garry kasparov. it's about 55 minutes. now on your screen is garry kasparov, former world chess champion and the author of "winter is coming: why vladimir putin and the enemies of the free world must be stopped." mr. caspkasparov, what's your history with vladimir putin? >> i never met vladimir putin. this man has been steadily

destroying my country. he's a dictator who is quite desperate for staying in power. now he's been searching for enemies outside of russia since he ran out of enemies inside the country. that's what's happened to dictators before. probably it's inevitable. history is a vicious circle. he have been saying that vladimir putin, who was for a long time our problem, russian problem, would eventually be everyone's problem. and we can see now that he has expansionist plans, spreading way beyond former soviet union borders. >> you call him a dictator, but he's been elected in democratic elections and has a high approval rating as well, right? >> okay, let's not mix two things. let's go back to the year 2000.

you could probably argue that the elections from 2000 to 2004, they had some elements of free elections, although it was not fair at all. now, what happened in 2012 when he returned, quote unquote, returned to power, because i believe he never left power, having his puppet seated there for four years, it was just a charade. and i always said that in russia we're not trying to win elections, we're trying to have elections. in putin's russia, you couldn't participate in the normal political process. you couldn't register a political party without the government's approval. you couldn't have fundraising. you couldn't have normal debates. and of course the elections were rigged. vladimir putin, to inform your audience, throughout his political career never participated in a single debate, just to explain the nature of his rule. and everybody understands now, in russia and outside of russia, he is there for life.

elections in russia are not going to change anything. it's some kind of window that putin's propaganda uses to pretend there's some kind of democratic institutions still in place. >> in your book, "winter is coming," you write that putin's russia is clearly the biggest and most dangerous threat facing the world today. >> absolutely. >> so mitt romney got it right in 2012? >> he got it right. but i don't think he was ready to go beyond the sound bite. because it's something that you have to understand and to believe. it's still just a statement. you should look, you know, at the true nature of putin's regime. and i don't think romney understood you know, how right he was. that's why president obama attacked this concept and romney couldn't defend it. it's not just about nukes that putin controls, which is of course a very important factor. but it's also about, you know,

the traditional political and military power that russia can throw to the global stage, and also political will. putin is a dictator who is at i believe the sort of final stage of his rule, which means that he needs conflicts. he doesn't need friends anymore. he needs enemies. and he's quite good at creating them. staying in power for that long requires a new mythology. economy doesn't offer an excuse. nobody expects the russian economy to get better or worse. that's why putin has to present the russian public with a new concept, why he is there. and this concept is putin the great, invincible, the collector of russian lands, the protector of great russia, and the man who can defy the free world and especially the united states. >> we're going to put the numbers up on the screen.

garry kasparov is our guest, his book is called "winter is coming." it's about vladimir putin and the soviet union. we'll begin taking those calls in just a few minutes. >> you just said soviet union. >> i'm sorry? >> you just said soviet union and putin. yes, there is something about the soviet union, but it's mostly about russia. >> i apologize. you know what, i apologize. >> it's quite freudian. we do understand that putin has been trying to sort of resurrect, you know, the soviet empire. it's not accidental that many times he said the collapse of the soviet union was the greatest political disaster of the 21st century. >> let's go back to your book. the soviet union existed in

1991. what was that year like for you and what was vladimir putin doing in 1991, when the call came down and the soviet union started dissolving? >> i don't think anybody knew the name vladimir putin until he appeared in moscow as the head of the kgb in 1998. before, he was the right-hand man of the st. petersburg man. i was in st. petersburg in 1996. i couldn't recall, you know, meeting putin there. he was a good kgb man. he probably had been waiting for his moment. more likely he was quite surprised when yeltsin's family actually brought him in and gave him this enormous power. so what he did in his first tour was more consolidated power.

and at one point he realized he could do everything not only inside russia but using russia's resources, remember oil prices jumped, and putin had a lot of money on his hands. so he also realized that he could have a free ride abroad. >> the soviet system, did it benefit you growing up and becoming the world chess champion? >> oh, absolutely. so as someone who grew up in the soviet union, and, you know, was a chess prodigy, i definitely enjoyed the privilege of receiving state support, and also an opportunity to work with other great -- my great predecessors. the soviet chess school was a system where if you demonstrated talent, you could be part of the teaching process. in the soviet union, chess was a

very important, very powerful ideological tool to demonstrate intellectual superiority of the soviet regime over the decadent west. >> what was your life growing up? did you have a privileged life? >> yes, because i could travel abroad. my first trip abroad was in 1976, at the age of 17. actually it had quite a big impact on me because i could start seeing the difference. but my privilege was connected to my successes. that's why as long as i could demonstrate that i was good or better than my other chess players of my generation and eventually i became, you know, the challenger for the title, it all was fine. but when i bumped into the world champion at that time and a darling of the system, that was quite different, because as much

as the soviet system liked new talents to be promoted and to protect the chess glory of the soviet union, soviet officials didn't like the fact that, you know, someone from -- half armenian, half jewish, from azerbaijan, this outpost of the russian empire, was at this stage challenging an owe totan anotoli karpov. i defied the rules, giving an interview with "der speigel," a german magazine, but most important, in 1999 i was the the first soviet athlete who refused

to plant the soviet flag. i demanded a russian flag next to me at the table. >> you ran for president. >> look, again, you are misleading your audience. running for president means you know you can start your campaign, register your party or super-pac, get money, go around your country, campaign. all we did in russia, me and my friends and colleagues, is what you do to demonstrate that the system built by vladimir putin did not allow in anybody outside the system to participate in the democratic process. >> garry kasparov, i want to get your reaction to this piece of video that we're going to show from 2001. you'll recognize what it is. >> i'll answer the question. i looked the man in the eye. i found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. we had a very good dialogue. i was able to get a sense of his

soul, a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country. i appreciated the frank dialogue. there was no kind of diplomatic chitchat, trying to throw each other off-balance. there was a straightforward dialogue. and that's the beginning of a very constructive relationship. i wouldn't have invited him to my ranch if i didn't trust him. >> garry kasparov? >> huge triumph for kgb. my immediate reaction was for george w. not to look into his eyes but to look at his files. put insaid several times, once kgb, always kgb. just these remarks from the u.s. president demonstrated that

putin has completely outplayed bush 43 and created the foundation for this political if not friendship, but very close relation. and putin's propaganda has been using methodically, and i have to give him credit, they did it extremely well, presenting this confession, but also other events with democratic leaders, and the peak was in 2006 in st. petersburg, where putin was a chair of the g-8 meeting, with bush, blair, all the leaders of the free world, and putin could easily dismiss claims of people like me pointing out the d dictatorial nature of his rule. for ordinary russians there was no choice, believe kasparov and a few other guys shouting in the desert, or all these leaders who

accepted putin as a member of this most prestigious democratic club. they say that's what helped him to solidify his power, and to basically, you know, deflect our criticism and our attempts to bring russia back to the democratic rails. >> has it become a consult of personality? i ask that question, we're going to show some pictures. you'll be able to see them right there. has it become a consult of personality in russia? >> absolutely. because that's what dictators need at one point. it's not about elections, it's not about campaigns, it's not about debates. it's about image. it's about the strength that he radiates to the public. and again, putin knows this. and the propaganda machine also knows this. and they have been building this image of a strong man. and since, you know, putin is not engaged in debates, his

every appearance is well-prepared, every word is measured. so russian public has a great difficulty understanding who putin is and how strong he is or how weak he is. and every time that, you know, he appears with foreign leaders, it's presented as vladimir putin the great, you know, defying other powers. i can remind viewers about his recent trip to new york, the general assembly of the united nations, meeting with barack obama, and this reluctant handshake. i bet you he has been practicing for hours in front of the mirror, because it was a very important image for russian television. he is there, vladimir putin, in new york, in the belly of the beast, meeting the u.s. president, reluctantly shaking his hand. the next day there were battles in syria. how can you challenge a dictator who is not just lucky but also

so influential and powerful that even the u.s. president has been trying you know to shake his hand and to look for his cooperation. but basically putin knew to tone it down. >> this article was from this morning's "financial times." "public support for putin drowns out critics." this was with regard to the metrojet that crashed in egypt. and it says that "others began to mock mr. putin's handling of past crises and insinuate that his government could never be trusted to tell the truth. another internet user predicted that the government would have to turn to snake charming to explain that this had nothing to do with the syria campaign. yet the critics appear to be far outnumbered by those who back the government's version of events." >> again, we don't know what russian people really think, because we're dealing with the

situation where putin's propaganda controls airwaves, controls media, and very few russians are listening to alternative sources of information. also, i believe if we are talking about this tragic accident in the skies, in the egyptian skies, it's also a syndrome, called stockholm syndrome, it's the hostage syndrome. for many russians, and i can share these emotions, to connect this tragedy, if it was a bomb, because there's still -- you know, it's a long investigation ahead of us, and i'm not sure, because i know the conditions of russian planes, and i could believe that it was a technical problem, though it looks more likely it was a bomb. but to connect this tragedy with putin's invasion of syria, it's

basically to recognize that everybody is now, who is traveling abroad, or even in russia, is defenseless against this threat, which is not, you know, an invasion, it's not an army, but it's just a bunch of terrorists that could go anywhere. i think the public is quite scared, but also over many years they believed, and they were told by propaganda machine, that putin could solve all the problems. maybe now we're facing some problems, maybe we're in trouble, but eventually, putin was so lucky and so skillful that he'll find a solution. >> steven, wyndham, connecticut, you are on with garry kasparov. "winter is coming" is the name of the book. >> thank you for taking my call. and i want to express my condolences to the people of st. petersburg who apparently they were all flying back from the

sinai to sait. petersburg in th terrible, terrible accident. garry, i was surprised that vladimir putin didn't react sooner. and just his lack of real human sympathy for the people of st. petersburg, which was just shocking. what is your take on the metrojet, once again, what do you really think, how this will play politically for him? >> vladimir putin proved many times before that the second czech war, the mysterious apartment bombings, the 130 hostages killed in do you

dubrovka in 2002, the people killed after russian troops stormed the building. and what we know, that after every crisis, every tragedy, putin always, you know, took his time to prepare this sort of measured response. right now i think he was -- i wouldn't say shocked, but i think it was unexpected. so i think putin wants to address the nation and the world with a statement that will reflect his policies. right now i don't think that russian government is convinced that it's a bomb. but reading russian press a few days after this disaster, you could see that they tried to avoid any connections to the terrorist attack, because definitely it could create problems for putin. it seems russian authorities have an interest in deflecting the possibility. it's not clear to me, it's not

clear to anyone, but the terrorist attack would be a dramatic blow to vladimir putin and his ability to defend russian interests anywhere, and also to egyptian authorities, because egypt lives through tourism, and it could be a real big blow to the tourist industry. >> what about the plane crash over the ukraine, the malaysian jet liner that was shot down? >> that's very clear, it was a russian missile. the only question is whether it was in the hands of russian-backed separatists or i would call them terrorists. most likely it was actually done by a russian crew. it's a very complicated system. it's not just a stinger that you can use from a shoulder. that's a system that requires, you know, professional treatment to handle it with experience. and it seems, again, from the information that's been gathered piece by piece, that it was a russian crew. and why they made these mistakes

remains to be seen. undoubtedly this crime was committed by russian forces. >> bill is calling in from boyertown, pennsylvania, on the republican line. go ahead, bill. >> good morning, gentlemen. >> good morning. >> caller: you know, look, i watch rt a lot, a cable station that you can get here, i encourage c-span viewers to watch it, you learn a lot about russia, a lot more than you're learning listening to this guy garry. garry, i think vladimir putin is a strong leader. much of the world thinks that he's a strong leader. he appears to have solved our problem in syria by coming in and negotiating a peace truce through diplomacy at the last hour when our cia was reporting that they had chemical weapons

and that they were going to -- had used them on their own people. that actually turned out to be false, another false flag. so i really don't see why you -- you know, why you keep calling him a dictator. it's very, very troubling to me. >> all right. let's get a response, bill. garry kasparov. >> we can start discussing the definition of dictatorship. i think somebody who stays in power for life and shows no intentions of sharing power, ruling absolutely with cruelty, is a dictator. but we are hearing a case of poisoning, rt is part of putin's propagan propaganda. >> russia today. >> russia today. russia is experiencing cash for the first time in putin's years

of rule. he keeps spending more money on military, on security apparatus, and on propaganda. and russia today, alongside with domestic propaganda machine, they are just the great beneficiaries. following this will not give you a good picture of the world because you become a hostage of putin's views of what's happening inside of russia and outside of russia. i'm a bit troubled by your claims that assad has not used chemicals against his people. i'm sure he did. and i am more troubled by your claim that putin solved the syrian problem. two years ago syria was in trouble. but today it's a total disaster. and it's because putin's engagement, putin's attempts to prop up assad. now russian planes have been

steadily bombing not the islamic state by assad-backed rebels and killing civilians. now we have refugees leaving t europe, thus helping putin to destabilize the situation and to create new opportunities for him to insert his powers. >> well, i want to play another piece of video and get your reaction. this is president obama talking about vladimir putin and geopolitics. >> you think rubbing your economy into the ground and having to send troops in in order to prop up your only ally is leadership then we've got a different definition of leadership. my definition of leadership would be leading on climate change with an accord we'll get in paris. my definition of leadership is mobilizing the entire world community to make sure iran doesn't get a nuclear weapon and

with respect to the middle east we have a 60-country coalition that isn't suddenly lining up around russian strategy. to the contrary, they are arguing that in fact that strategy won't work. >> my point is was not that he was leading, many i point is that he was challenging your leadership and he is very much involved himself in the situation. can you imagine anything happening in syria of any significance at owl withoall wi russians being involved it and having a part of it? >> that was true before. keep in mind for the last five years the russians have provided by arms, provided by financing as have the iranians, as has hezbollah. >> but they haven't had bombing and they haven't had troops on the ground. >> and the fact that they had to do this is not an indication of strength, it's an indication their strategy did not work. >> will, from what i can see, putin is sending his jets and now personnel to syria.

iran has been sending room tos and ammunition and obama keeps sending john kerry. so who's calling the shots? and this whole region now is ablaze and that's what putin needs because he at one point has to try to do everything he can to push up oil prices. even at $50, oil staying at $50 will not save russian budget from a collapse. maximum two years is a rate of spending. that's why putin will look for every opportunity to involve other countries in the region. and it's clear he's not attacking islamic state now because he holds the islamic state will start a confrontation with saudis. and that will help them block oil and push oil prices up.

if there's another state nearby, there's the state of israel and i don't know for how long israel could be neutral in his battle because you have hamas and hezbollah and these terrorist groups and they need the confrontation to justify their exist kpens. even if putin doesn't do something directly against israel and i'm sure he doesn't want to be seen as a perpetuator of attacks against jewish state but he has the most -- his staunchest ally in the region, iran, that will do the job. >> next call from garry kasparov comes from georgia, democrats line. >> caller: thank you for c-span. great tool for democracy. the more ship calls in cuba, we are seeing they reear

reactivating, lessening posts. we see them extending cooperation in bolivia and others. what is putin up to in this part of the world? >> i think it's too early to say he has specific plans because he doesn't have the resourcefulness of the soviet union. so to attack simultaneously in many directions but naturally putin will be looking for every opportunity to extend his power and he now enjoys working relations, nice working relations with cuba because he has written the soviet -- old soviet debt. and as a strong russian ally. you correctly mentioned venezuela and other countries in the continent that putin could believe -- you know, eventually would be his allies and to defy

the united states. to challenge american interests. but it's very important to remember that unlike for the soviet leaders, for putin this expansion is important for domestic purposes because he has to demonstrate that at every part of the -- of the globe he was in the position, he was powerful enough to challenge the united states, the challenge the free world and to keep up his image of a strong man in russsi who cannot be challenged. >> wild and wonderful tweets in to you "have the russian people learned a free society is not easy to sustain? are they willing to abandon it for a return to old ways?" >> i think it takes time to learn about the values of free society. in the '90s when there was a powerful move from communism

from dictatorship into democracy, russians couldn't see the benefits of free and fair elections. so the dramatic rise in living standards, that was kind of a shock. so that's why when putin took over and oil prices went up and suddenly things looked much better, it was some kind of, you know, of restoring the balance. the elections were not free and fair but we could go just to the polling stations, but we had -- we had much better life. so it seems that it will take a major geopolitical defeat over vladimir putin, russian public to understand that he's no longer invincible.

and the result of putin's running the country over 50 years was disastrous because we missed so many opportunities to rebuild our infrastructure with trillions of dollars, trillions of dollars being wasted or to be more precise invested elsewhere not in our country. >> from winter is coming, garry kasparov writes "in my first years as an activist i often said putin was a russian problem for russians to solve but that he would soon be a regional problem and then a global problem if his ambitions were ignored. this regrettable transformation has come to pass and lives are being lost because of it. it is cold comfort to be told you were right. it is even less comforting when so little is being done to halt putin's aggression now. what is the point of saying you should have listened and acted when you still aren't listening or acting? >> we're still dealing with 25

years of belief in this town the collapse of the soviet union was no longer an existential threat and somehow you could build relations and turn russia into an ally without pushing real transformation. also to solve some of the future problems on the international stage. if you remember the first time when american president raised the issue of iranian nuclear program with russians was in 1995. bill clinton spoke to boris yeltsin because the united states congress want ed to impoe sanctions or to be more precise cut financial aid to russia but

unfortunately clinton didn't press and it slipped away. and we saw in the bush 43 reaction to putin. so. so what bothers me and what i'm asking to restart in my book is a debate, a bipartisan debate about foreign policy. it's not only about russia but it's about the world. well after the collapse of the soviet union, the end of the cold war because if -- from ward -- world war ii to the beginning of the 90s all american administrations, democrats and remembers, they could have differences but it was in the range. then after '91 we could see the pendulum swinging from one side to another. bill clinton who did very little, bush 43 who did too much and then obama who has been doing nothing and i think that's a problem i hope that this presidential election, the

debate debates will help america to go back to the mode of unity on -- for -- on its foreign policy agenda. >> in a review of the "new york times," the former "new york times" moscow bureau chief, one thing he said about "winter is coming" is that the real problem with "winter is coming" is with its presumption is responsible for what russia has become or should become." >> look, without say iing that r many years he was an apologist and people can google to see what he's been saying about putin's regime for years but you could hear this criticism and

the view, from the political left and right in this country. why should we governmenter right now? the most globalized economy in the world cannot ignore global security. and the united states whether people like it or not is still viewed as the leader of the free world and the most powerful country that could be in the leadings position or can stay away and walk away. but walking away in today's globalized world is not going to work. because, you know, it's -- we have everything that is global. trade, business, finances, social, cultural. unfortunately, terrorism. because all this new tools all the beautiful tools we've been using, so pretending that, you know, in this world we can -- in this case the united states could stay away relying on the

two giant oceans protecting america against enemies, it just simply ignoring the realities of the world. and the united states for them to insert even a small portion of its power to tweak the events and to prevent further deterioration. for instance, after putin's invasion of the republic of georgia, and say putin though technically -- medvedev was in power but we understand it was putin's plan, the united states granted russia a new sunshine policy, it was a reset button. for putin it was a clear signal that it could go whatever it wanted in the post-soviet political space and i believe, you know it doomed ukraine putin's next step was based on

his calculation that nobody would argue that he was a master of the post-soviet universe. >> next call comes from jay in ashville, north carolina, independent line. >> yes, good morning. thank you for taking my call. russian investigators have estimated putin's personal wealth at $40 billion. one investigator when asked if he thought putin was a criminal answered [ speaking russian ] . i would like to ask mr. kasparov how he thinks mr. putin acquired this huge wealth. thank you, i'll take my answer i believe it is now way above $40 billion. today, we are regulating anyone in then human race and it is all

connected to him staying in power. at$1 trillion if you look the russian budget and the only got fortunes. most of them are connected to him and oh him everything they have made. to evade taxes in russia. so part of this money is absolutely keeping even part of this money is absolutely impossible. this is a classical case of a dictator in the golden cage where he is all powerful, megarich as long as he is staying in power and walking is away means losing everything. and in the case of putin it's yky entities and you are -- and they are essentially

apologists for the putin regime. guest: the fact is that corporations are above human domestic repressions in dictatorships? it is not news. these days, i'm reading a book called collaborations. so for years, there were nazi germany. so for years they've been selling movies, titles and accepted even the censorship by -- in los angeles, cutting lines and throwing some movies if nazi propaganda disapproved of them. so unfortunately it's a reality and what is required is it's a o very clear red drawn by the government so what can be done,

what should not be done and all these various economic tools, if you call them weapons, are yet to be used. sanctions against putin's russia in my view are very mild.ed stae they are not hurting oligarchs the way they could and the united states could impose real sanctions even without the european allies. and by doing so it could send a message and not for putin. putin already has burned all the bridges and we should stop trying to engage him but message to other people in russia. russian elite. russian oligarchs. moscow middle-class. to rise that following putin's suicidal policies could jeopardize their own interests. so far there's no strategy. and, again, i would like to see the strategy.pr i would like people toob understand that confronting putin today is very dangerous,

very cost ly. he always takes delays, ural concessions as invitation for jn future aggression. i remember in his inaugural in t 1961 john kennedy said we do not -- we dare not tempt our force with weakness.ng, and unfortunately, you know, da. this warning stays very -- actual these days. >> john is calling in from callr southampton, pennsylvania, on our republican line. hi, john. >> caller: good morning.istenc it's a pleasure speak to you, rt mr. kasparov. i've been aware of your existence, you've been on the world stage for a long time and obviously initially it was chess and then it was politics and i think you have a misperceptions but, though, about the united stat

states. there's an enormous amount of hostility that our elites have r for putin and russia, treating s him contemptuously and minimizing his strength and now doing the opposite, fearful he's going to invade nato, the baltii states or whatever. but if i could, i have a couple comments and a question but if i could you have to go back in -- and -- i go back during the yeltsin era, i mean, yeltsin was an alcoholic, he was a disaster, that's when the oligarchs grabbed the assets of the country and the russian -- ethnic russian grandmothers were begging in the streets and the oligarchs had their billions.ntt they appointed putin, he came i. and he changed the situation.ol,

obviously it took time but in the united states our foreign policy, we went into the middle east and because of the t neoconservatives which, quite frankly, mr. kasparov, that's the only associations i've seen of you is being affiliated with the neoconservatives in the united states. but the neoconservatives promoted, encouraged, got us involved in the wars in the -- middle east. we have lost trillions of dollars, every one of these -- >> john, a lot there on the table. anything you want to respond tou mr. kasparov. d >> let's start with russia.onaie you can look to see how many billionaires, many dozens of . billionaires are on this list and almost all of them are r yor directly connected to putin. so russia is in the second place in the united states. for your information, you can check in the year 2000 when

yeltsin left office there was no single russian on the list. i'm not here to discuss the details of the economy in yeltsin's russia. i can recommend you can read myg book because i'm not telling you about the strong flourishing democracy or economy under yeltsin. i'm highly critical of yeltsin'e rule but under yeltsin we built a feeble foundation for future change. now vladimir putin changed the situation but for much worse. corruption under the putin is the system.tes. so for instance listen to the nixon kennedy debates, the first televised debates where jfk was far more hawkish than the -- republican candidate and the doctrine of defending democracy and opposing communism.

and the democrat did a tremendous job by saving hundreds of millions of people from soviet expansionism. we could hear voices from far left to far right. and your complaint about americans losing trillions of dollars, it's a long story, it would require a lengthy debate but remember that american corporations are the most successful multinational corporations that have been doing business elsewhere and to pretend that america could walk away, ignoring the most important conflict zones in the planet and at the same time u.sa corporations will be making thic tremendous profit sabroad, it'so simply not to understand the laws of physics that apply to ie geopolitics as well.

power abhors a vacuum, you create vacuum, somebody else fills it. in the middle east this vacuum has been filled by the islamic state and iranians. >> garry kasparov spent 20 years as the world's number-one ranked chess player, he retired in 2005 to lead the pro-democracy dent o opposition to vladimir putin. ran for president for of russia in twelve.e of he succeeded vaclav havel of tho czech reap in a foundation and has written a couple of books. his 2007 book "how life imitates chess" has been published in 26r languages and his newest book is winter is comincoming, why vlad putin and the enemies of the free world must be stopped. from egg greg is calling in from chattanooga, tennessee. hi, greg. >> caller: i was just wondering if putin hasn't turned russia back into some type of christian

nation, hasn't he? >> i doubt very much. you should not mix presence wit: substance. russian orthodox church unfortunately for years has been simply a branch of the kgb and n don't know if you can read russian or not but if you had the questionable pleasure of hia reading what russian orthodox church leadership has been saying over years, i think you would recognize that it's not -- it's simple obscurity and basically soaring the state, hot soaring putin's influence rather than promoting true christian l. values. >> last call for garry kasparov comes from joanna in maryland. >> caller: good morning, mr. tl kasparov. a couple years ago on "frontline" on pbs they put on a biography, a documentary on putin which basically portrayedr him as someone who bribed, blackmailed, and brutalized his way to power. and also they talked about his k

accumulation of great wealth. a and i'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about that an: also what you see as the future for russia at this point. his just a few minutes ago i talked about putin's wealth and i could repeat that. oth he controls an enormous amount of money.. more than any other individual g in the history of the human race but it's all connected to him an staying in power. he can move hundreds of dlbillis of dollars because he controls russian currency, russian budget, and directly or indirectly the fortunes of many oligarchs who owe him everythind that they made over these years. so we don't expect him to walk away from the cremin peacefully so that's why i -- unfortunately i don't have a good weather forecast for you. that's why my book is called "winter is coming" and i ask

people not to be highly critical of thel weatherman.ence. it's an accurate weather the forecast. russia will experience great turbulence. i will not evenul exclude the possibility that eventually the country could, you know, be capsized because there are many regions that are under heavy pressu pressure. we have a growing threat of radical islam and the der a demographic situation in russia. is not looking good. so he's the spine in the system and the moment he goes -- and it will happen eventually. it did happen before and it's some kind of law of history. not but the sooner it happens the better the chances that russia will not collapse and i say the dictator who stayed in power foa so long succeeded because he has created a political desert.ind f and the longer he stays in

power, the dryer the desert is. and what kind of creature cans survive in this very dry desert? snakes, rats, scorpions and vladimir putin unfortunately just has been destroying my country for so many years and mg only hope is that his collapse will happen soon enough for us. >> and or the tweet what is if putin extends outsfwhard. >> it'ss inevitable. putin has been throwing -- and it's not just putin. if you look at demographics, finances, military and everything else.fford th so russia cannot afford the same expansionist policies and soviet union. by the way, also failed of spreading around but for russia spreading sphere a big threat. but putin doesn't care because he stays in power.ip.

so he believes he is russia and that is by the way not a definition of dictatorship. >> one chess question and this e comes from virginia texan via tweet. q "mr. kasparov, have you challenged ibm watson to a match? if not, do you plan to?" >> ibm watson doesn't play chess. and it's actually -- it's a great accomplishment and unlike deep blue it's a software project. deep blue was a hardware proj t project. so each was a tiny chess computer making about 1.5 million positions per second. and ibm succeeded in maximizing the output of this project't

watson as far as i know doesn't play chess and i also don't plao chess. i retired ten years ago and i'm offering my advice to young players. i've been working to promote chess for education through kasparov chess foundation in this country and in other continents but my active role as a chess player has ended ten years ago.i >> when's the last time you were in russia? >> i left russia in february, 20 2013. and it's a very painful personan experience because that was not my first choice and i did it after receiving an invitation, an invitation from russian investigative committee to show up and tell them about some of our political activities about our rallies and i knew already that they were about to launch this massive investigation that ended with the -- with political trial and my friend and

colleague, the late boris nemsov, he advised me not to come back because he said "you could enter the building as a witness and if you leave the building most likely as a try a suspect." and it's painful not just because i had to leave the country and my mother still live there is butúsuccessor. and to proud to leave and to follow his own advice. he was gunned down in front of of themlin last february issue. it was tragic. russia, you are former deputy prime minister, , you will payger the ultimate price. host:

% ly because you will pay the ultimate price which boris did. >> here's the front of the book blurbed by senator john mccain. "winter is coming, why vladimir putin and the enemies of the free world must be stopped." >> there are four other books and one of them is francis fukuyama who accepted my suggestion and it was great because, you know, the winter is coming somehow is this delayed debate about his -- his great bookend of history, 1992 where he said that, you know, he surrendered was a triumph as democracy as we all believed at that time. >> thank you for being on the program. tonight on c-span 3, american history tv looks back at world war ii. at 8 o'clock eastern, tom brokaw author of the book "the greatest generation" then a look at v-e day and then a flyover ceremony celebrating the anniversary.

this holiday weekend, american history tv on c-span three has three days of featured programming beginning friday evening at 6:30 eastern to mark the 125th anniversary of the birth of president dwight david eisenhower, his granddaughters susan, anne and mary eisenhower gather for a rare family discussion at gettysburg college to talk about his military and political career as well as his legacy and relevance for 21st century americans. then on saturday afternoon at 1:00, 60 years ago rosa parks defied a city ordnance for blacks to leave their seats on a city bus to make room for white passengers. her stand helped instigate the montgomery bus boycott. we'll reflect on the boycott and see what role lawyers played in that protest and the civil rights movement as we hear from

fred gray, attorney for rosa parks, and montgomery bus boycott demonstrators. then at 6:00, civil war author and historian william davis on the little-known aspects of the lives and leadership of union general ulysses. is s. grant and confederate general robert e. lee. then a 1965 report on nasa's projects, including the manned space program and the mayer in 4 fly by of mars. and documentary filmmaker on rick burns on how the public learns about history through film and television. american history tv. all weekend and on holidays, too. mariner. only on c-span 3. on friday, back-to-back airings of afterwards, at 7:00 p.m. eastern, aei president arthur brooks discussed his

latest book "the conservative heart, how to build a fairer, happier america." >> the biggest mistake that i think we make on the conservative side, the one that trips people up the most, believe it or not, the is one that should be the easiest which is to get happy. at 8:00 p.m., cornel west examines the life of dr. martin luther king martin luther king in his book "the radical king." >> martin understood not just for christian bus any human beings who wants to reach a level of integrity, honesty and decency as a long distance runner you have to kill something in yourself you have to kill your obsession with position and status and wealth. >> followed by former senator john danforth, author of "the relevance of religion, how faithful people can change politics." >> religion does put us beyond ourselves.

and what's in it for me, the me, is not central. >> then at 10:00 p.m., claire mccaskell talks about her book "plenty lady like" a memoir about her life experiences in local state and federal governmen government. >> saturday evening at 7:00, a panel discussion on national review founder william f. buckley, jr.'s run for mayor in 1965. at 11:00 p.m., winston groom discovers his latest book "the generals, patton, mcarthur, the general and the winning of world war ii." >> one of the first questions i'm usually asked when i do a tv or radio show is why did you choose these three men from the second world war. and your answer is that they embodied, i believe super

characteristics of courage, character and patriotism. >> on sunday nieght we look bac at a turning point in world history in 1932, the rise of hitler and fdr. and at 11:15 p.m. eastern melissa katz discusses her book the influence machine, the u.s. chamber of commerce and the corporate capture of american life. >> there's a reason i chose the chamber of commerce as a subject for my book. and it's because the single organization really sums up the story of how we got here to this plac place. >> the obama administration has accused the russian government of violating the 1987 ie