The Russian online newspaper GNI.ru comments on a TV appearance by Garry Kasparov in Russia (you can click through the link to watch a 30-minute video, in Russian of course). From their tone, it's clear they are Kremlin-friendly and think they've found something that will harm Kasparov. This is classic Russian stupidity. First, by attacking him, they're confirming Putin is vulnerable to him (or he could just be ignored). Second, they seem to have forgotten Putin's long legacy of obscene remarks, including rough slang and jokes about rape. And third, if this is the best they can do to attack Garry, he's got to be more rock solid than even LR imagined. Our staff translation:

Kasparov Lets the Expletives Fly

Garry Kasparov effectively refuted adage about talented people being able to do anything well. Having won the world chess championship, Kasparov hasn't fared as well in the world of high politics. In a live broadcast on St. Petersburg local television channel, the ex-chess player hysterically responded in x-rated manner in response to journalists' questions. The program, Two on One, has a reputation for generating sensational broadcasts, and draws a large audience.

Kasparov arrived for his interview and began to expound upon his thesis that Vladimir Putin and his team are establishing a dictatorship and unaccountable to the people. One of his interlocutors asked how Kasparov could complain that Mikhail Khodorkovsky was a victim of shadowy government forces when he himself was engaged in shadowy business machinations. At that point, the image of a suave, cultured intellectual which Kasparov has long cultivated seemed to vanish, being replaced by a shrieking, hysterical street punk. The outpour begins at the sixth minute of the interview, bleeped out for the sake of decorum.

Kasparov's only mistake was in realizing that not even in Russian, with its vast array of filthy terms, can one discover the appropriate language to describe what is going on behind the walls of the Putin Kremlin. We need to see much more of this side of Garry's character, the combative spunk that indicates he can stand toe to toe with Vladimir "ha-ha rape is so funny" Putin and give as good as he gets. That's something Grigory "milquetoast" Yavlinsky could never manage, and it's a key reason that he disappeared from the radar. And Russia needs to invent some new "mat" that will do justice to the likes of that malignant little troll scurrying about in the Kremlin.