Kasparov on Obama

This one from Garry Kasparov comes from The Other Russia:

The window of opportunity for Obama to take advantage of the world’s curiosity and goodwill will be small. The crises we face are too big; the next US president will not enjoy much of a grace period. Obama would be halfway there simply by virtue of not being George W. Bush who, rightly in some cases and wrongly in others, has come to symbolise every problem anyone has ever had with the US, Americans and US power abroad. (…) He could get off to a good start by making it clear he does not consider the people of Russia to be the enemy of the US. As in most authoritarian states, the Putin regime does not represent most of its citizens. Kremlin propaganda works hard to present the US as Russia’s adversary. Obama could strike a blow against that image by speaking out against dictatorial leaders in Russia and across the world. Then those words must be quickly followed up with deeds.