Sunday, October 21, 2007

Garry Kasparov on How Oil Keeps Putin in Power



This is a must-see video, it illustrates exactly what I've been talking about. Garry Kasparov is the ex-world champion chess master from Russia. He is running against Putin for president, and would like some real democratic free market reforms. He explains that the high oil price keeps Putin in power. Putin backs Iran and Hezbollah because it makes the region volatile and this keeps the oil price up.

He also explains how the loss of U.S. credibility on freedom and human rights (torture, secret prisons, eliminating habeus corpus, domestic spying, etc...) makes his attempts very, very difficult. Without the U.S. role model, Putin's grasp is that much harder to break.

This war does NOT spread democracy, it inhibits it. The oil of the world is in Russia, Venezuela, and the Middle East...areas not known for their freedom. By staying dependent on oil, and building a foreign policy around it, we make those countries rich and keep their dictators in power. By letting the politicians take away our liberties, we are no longer an example to the world.
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