Winter Is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped

Description

Garry Kasparov has been a vocal critic of Putin for over a decade, even leading the pro-democracy opposition in the 2008 Presidential election. Yet years of seeing his Cassandra- like prophecies about Putin's intentions fulfilled have left Kasparov with the realization of a darker truth: Putin's Russia, like ISIS or Al Qaeda, defines itself in opposition to the free countries of the world. Kasparov now urges a forceful stand - diplomatic and economic - against him. For as long as the world's powerful democracies continue to recognize and negotiate with Putin, he can maintain credibility in his home country. Argued with the force of Kasparov's world-class intelligence, conviction and hopes for his home country, Winter is Coming is an unmistakable call to action.

Garry Kasparov spent twenty years as the world's #1 ranked chess player. In 2005, he retired from professional chess to lead the pro-democracy opposition against Vladimir Putin, from street protests to coalition building. In 2012, he was named chairman of the Human Rights Foundation, succeeding V.clav Havel. He has been a contributing editor to the Wall Street Journal since 1991 and is a senior visiting fellow at the Oxford Martin School. His 2007 book, How Life Imitates Chess, has been published in twenty-six languages. He lives in self-imposed exile in New York with his wife Dasha and their children.

The main target of this brave, trenchant and convincing book is not the thuggish and dangerous regime that misrules Russia, but the cowardly wishful thinking in the West that refuses to stop it... The book ably summarises the many other alarm calls the West has missed... Let us hope that Kasparov's book becomes a bestseller -- Edward Lucas * The Times * In this punchy polemic, Kasparov reflects on how far the world has gone from the heady "end of history" days of the early 1990s to what some see as the advent of a new Cold War... Kasparov's moral clarity is admirable and informed by personal experience. -- Peter Conradi * Sunday Times * Ferocious and unforgiving... This is a book that should be read by every policymaker dealing with Russia (or any other autocracy) -- John Thornhill * Financial Times * A compelling story of courage... Winter Is Coming presents a picture of the internal forces propelling Russia's descent into aggressive authoritarianism. And if offers a scathing analysis of the contribution of the West to that outcome. * Wall Street Journal * It's always important to read Garry Kasparov, who warned of the dangers of Putinism long before so many others. He is that rare thing: A Russian democrat who is realistic about his country, but remains hopeful for the future. * Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Gulag and Iron Curtain * Garry Kasparov has the information-processing capacity of a supercomputer and the eloquence of an extraordinary orator. It takes a mind and a heart like his to analyze the last twenty-five years of the history of Russia in the world and emerge with not only an indictment of Western complicity but a clear call for Western action. * Masha Gessen, author of Man Without a Face and Words Will Break Cement * Garry Kasparov is a mastermind in chess and politics, and he understands the evil of the Putin regime better than anyone. This book is a clear and accurate observation of the mess we are in due to the West's inaction towards Putin, and a stark warning of what will happen if we fail to act in the future. It should be required reading for every head of state and their electorate. * Bill Browder, author of Red Notice * Garry Kasparov has written a passionate indictment both of Russia's kleptocracy and the complacency of Western democracies in the face of Putin. This threat has become our central foreign policy challenge, and Kasparov's arguments are essential in understanding how to face it. * Francis Fukuyama *