Main Edition
US
FR
→ Garry Kasparov compares Aspen Institute to Soviet Union
Chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov launched a stinging critique of the Aspen Institute, a highly influential left-of-centre think tank, in newly unearthed emails from 2020.
FOIA Files: Garry Kasparov Resigned from Aspen Institute Commission, Compared it to Soviet Committee
“If I’m being honest…This type of approach was common practice in the USSR.”https://t.co/AC4iaed2Lo— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) May 23, 2024
The grandmaster compared the organisation for which he was briefly a commissioner with the Soviet Union, according to new reporting from Matt Taibbi. Referring to the think tank’s pressuring of media companies to diversify their staff in recent years, Kasparov remarked: “It seems like pretty significant mission creep for us to comment on the hiring practices of private companies when our mission is to combat disinformation.”
He added: “If I’m being honest, having a Commission on disinformation determine acceptable levels of diversity reminds me of home. This type of approach was common practice in the USSR.” Kasparov, apparently, is no one’s pawn.
→ Rishi Sunak loses £1000 bet with Piers Morgan
He might be a multi-millionaire, but after 4 July Rishi Sunak is going to be a few quid lighter. After making a rather ballsy bet with Piers Morgan in February that there would be Rwanda flights before the election, the PM was forced to break the news that this would no longer happen.
So, I win our £1000 charity bet… https://t.co/CevzzrRi3d
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) May 23, 2024
After making the admission today, Sunak promised that there would be flights “if I’m re-elected” in July. Morgan was quick to leap on the news, tweeting that he had won “our £1000 charity bet”. Couldn’t have gone to a more deserving victor…
→ Do young Americans have ‘Trumpnesia’?
The Donald has been around so long that he seems to be outliving some of his most divisive comments — at least among young voters. According to a new polling memo by Democratic firm Blueprint, only 42% of 18-30 year old voters recall Trump’s demand for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims” entering the US, for example. And a mere 35% remember him saying that he did not want to visit a cemetery of Americans who died fighting in the First World War because they were “losers” and “suckers”.
However, 72% had heard of his claim that the 2020 election was “rigged” and “stolen”, in part because that’s all he ever banged on about for two years. Perhaps if the media didn’t breathlessly report on his every sneeze and media post, Americans might stand a better chance of remembering…
Join the discussion
Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber
To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.
Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.
SubscribeKasparov’s revelation will surprise almost nobody on Unherd. I wonder what the liberal press will do with this. It would be hard to label him a Russian stooge given his intense and oft-expressed dislike for Vladimir Putin. They’ll probably dig around and find some dinner he attended fifteen years ago where one of the guests was a member of a white supremacist group.
The liberal press tends to just ignore stories that don’t fit the narrative
Six degrees of Vladimir…
You made my day 🙂
PS. A quota for Jews was natural in the USSR
I wonder how much public money the Aspen Institute receives under multiple guises? None of these leftwing organizations can withstand market forces.