Why Karjakin Needs a Ban?
The World Chess Champion title is not only a well-advertised trademark that you sell to sponsors. This is a crown that you carry straight and high. This is a burden. This is a responsibility.
Yesterday the World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen expressed his views on Sergey Karjakin.
Obviously I don't agree with Karjakin in anything, but is it correct to ban people for opinions we don't tolerate? I am not sure.
His whole statement is bigger and more nuanced than this sentence, which is now repeated in various tones by the Russian media. Gazeta.ru, championat.com, sport-express.ru and other portals tell their readers that Carlsen supports the former candidate and thinks that FIDE's decision to ban Karjakin for 6 months makes him a "martyr".
Is it good that we give him what he wants? He wants to become a martyr for the “tyranny of sanctions” by the West.
Well, the word "martyr" here is really misplaced. If anyone has forgotten what being a martyr is, he can watch this video. Please, don't if you are under 18:
100 years ago Vladimir Lenin called confused and misguided leftist Western politicians who were denying crimes perpertated by bolsheviks "useful idiots".
Here the word "idiot" is not an arbitrary obscenity. Lenin had a classical education and he knew what he was saying. This term in ancient Greek meant a person who deliberately refused to know the truth, i.e. to take a political stance. "Idiots" are the ideal subjects for tyrants and monarchs. Being a citizen requires effors, while being an "idiot" is simple and easy.
Has Carlsen ever tried to explore Karjakin's views?! This is a less pleasant task than exploring Karjakin's opening novelties, but something he should have done before questioning FIDE's decision.
In this video published on April 1 Karjakin's views embarrass even a cynical Putin's propagandist Anton Krasovsky. One episode:
Krasovsky: People [abroad] do not say: "We are against Russians". They say: "We are against war". Are you for the war?
Karjakin: This is not a correct question. Nobody is for the war. A reasonable person can't be for the war. But if there is a neighbor state, which develops biological weapons, dreams to create a nuclear bomb, spends 8 years bombing its people [in Donbass], you cannot stay uninvolved. The purpose of our special operation is to stop the war. The civil war in Ukraine.
Krasovsky (can't help smiling): I've got the feeling... Please, do not show my face (laughs). I've got the feeling of participating in a talk-show on "Channel one Russia". [Characteristic for the most straightforward propaganda]. Do you consider yourself an intellectual?
Karjakin: No. An intellectual is a smooth-talking guy who wraps with his words something [wrong] he wishes to hide.
Krasovsky: So, you are a simple Russian guy. A blue collar.
Karjakin: Yes, exactly. A blue collar working hard. I've been studying chess for 7-8 hours every day since the age of 6.
(...)
Krasovsky: What is wrong with those Ukrainian sympathizers, those deceptive intellectuals who call themselves the "Сonscience of a nation" and proclaim anti-war slogans?
Karjakin: Since Russia has started its special operation, it cannot step back. This is the worst thing Russia can do: to ask for pardon and to withdraw. [Russia] will be shot in the back and sanctioned permanently. They will demand the government to resign, which means civil war. Anyway, this is a lasting horror, horror for many years. That's what they [the intellectuals] want.
If [our government] starts a special operation, the people should support it, stay united and act as one. No split is possible because the situation is so grave. Anyone should stay in his place and support Russia.
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This does not need any commentary. Karjakin is not a patriot. People have heard similar opinions before - from Nazi leaders.
Another episode. Krasovsky criticizes Vladimir Medinsky, the head of the Russian delegation in negotiations with Ukraine, for his statements that "are equal to a Russian capitulation".
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Krasovsky: What should be our goal? Do we need to take Kyiv? Or Kharkiv?
Karjakin: It is simpler to start with eliminating problems in the rear. First we need to annex DNR and LNR... OK, "annex" is not the right word (smiles).
Krasovsky: (cackles) That's a Freudian slip.
Karjakin: OK, we need restore the territorial unity of DNR and LNR and then can negotiate or can take Kyiv. If we make peace, Ukraine will be rearmed and take a revenge. We need to finish the job now.
Krasovsky: So, I ask you as a person from Donbass. Where should the Russian army stop?
Karjakin: Ideally, in Lviv. (cackles) I'm a maximalist.
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Let's have a look at a Ukrainian cities that Russia attempted to take. Guess what Karjakin would tell you? That Ukrainians explode all buildings by themselves. That's what he repeats to the Russian viewers when he appears on TV - and he does so on a daily basis.
Is the World Champion going to shake his hand?