Karjakin Denounces Nepomniachtchi and Other Russian Players (Updated)
Sinking to a new low.
It’s not enough that Sergey Karjakin has full-throatedly endorsed Vladimir P*tin’s genocidal war on Ukraine; now he’s engaging in anti-Jewish dog whistles as well? (I’m not sure how that’s supposed to work, since the Russian President-for-life’s invasion is supposedly motivated in part by a desire to de-Nazify Ukraine, a country led by a Jewish President, but I expect Karjakin has convinced himself that he has squared that circle.) Have a look here, and let’s hope that those courageous Russian chess players who signed the letter against the Ukraine war suffer nothing worse than a whiny complaint from P*tin’s lap dog. (I can understand such worries making Karjakin afraid to condemn the war. But there is a third option: shutting up.)
Perhaps FIDE should give Karjakin a lifetime ban, to help encourage him on his career path as a professional propagandist for P*tin.
[If you’re wondering about the asterisks, it’s because I try to avoid foul language on the blog.]
Update: While I’m not persuaded that Karjakin isn’t engaged in “dog-whistling”, I agree with the commentator below that the evidence doesn’t support the positive conclusion that he is so engaged, either. Hopefully Karjakin will clarify his comments—or better yet, and more importantly, renounce his support of the war.
Thank you for taking your time to answer my comment. I understand your reply, and agree with it in general.
However, let me make some brief comments.
I agree that sometimes "Israel" is used with a negative connotation, yes. But, on the other hand, sometimes it is simply the only correct word you can use, as if for instance someone asks you where does Gelfand live. In the case of Karjakin's comment, I see no hint of a negative connotation. In fact, I think (of course, I cannot know with certainty ) that he simply mentions Israel (as he would have mentioned Argentina in my previous example) to stress that the RCF is not being run on Russia.
And finally, regarding "I'd need to know more before assuming benign intent on Karjakin's part.", I tend to think that it is better "I'd need to know more before assuming malign intent on Karjakin's part.". In fact, I think that this should apply not only to Karjakin but to (ok, almost) anyone.
Best,
Uriel
Hi Dennis, I appreciate and enjoy your work since the old times of chessmind.powerblogs.
Having said that, I must say that I think that your "anti-Jewish dog whistles" phrase is wrong and dangerously misleading.
I have read the complete translation of Karjakin's post in telegram, and it seems to me that the only two times he mentions the word "Israel" (he never mentions something like jews) is simply because Sutovsky is from there, and because apparently Glukhovsky is also there. Thus, I see no hint of an anti-jewish statement. I mean, If Sutovsky were argentinian like myself, and if Glukhovsky was also here in Argentina, Karjakin's post would probably been the same replacing the word "Israel" by "Argentina", and I would not see any "anti-argentinian dog whistles".
Best,
Uriel