Russian Chess Champion Jailed

George Bush may have looked into Putin's eyes and found a democracy lover, but all those who head the democracy movement in Russia see is an ex-KGB officer who wants to hang on to power.

The Russian constitution prohibits Putin from running for another term as president, but that doesn't mean he's willing to give up power. He's just going to move his base of power from the president's office to the Duma (the Russian version of a parliament).

It looks like Putin will hand-pick the next president, and install himself as leader of the Duma. To the world, it will look like Russia has new leadership, but it will still be Putin who is calling the shots. Fact is, this fledgling "democracy" looks more and more like an old-style Russian dictatorship every day.

One of the leaders of the pro-democracy movement in Russia is former world chess champion Garry Kasparov. Kasparov and other protesters were arrested after they tried to deliver a resolution to the Russian Central Electorate demanding a fair election. He was sentenced to 5 days in jail for the democracy protest. As bad as that was, he's probably lucky that he's still famous and popular or it could have been worse.

One of Kasparov's cohorts is Boris Nemtsov, who says, "We are absolutely against Putin's plan and his political course, because it leads us to the Third World. It leads to abuse of power, lawlessness and bureaucracy, uncontrolled corruption."

Unless a miracle is in the offing, it looks like Russia's flirtation with democracy may be ending.