Former chess champ Garry Kasparov on Sochi: send athletes, keep politicos away, pressure sponsors; '...let’s demand Coke to put rainbow flag on every can they sell there. Or McDonalds... Or NBC'

Kasparov told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell that Russia’s new anti-gay laws were not particularly surprising, given Putin’s recent political maneuvering.

“Putin’s regime…every month, every week, every day, you know, just comes up with new restrictions on freedom of Russia,” Kasparov said. ”That’s why I wouldn’t take anti-gay law as something, you know, absolutely outrageous; it was very natural.”
     Kasparov argued that Putin is playing to his “power base” of followers, consisiting mostly of older generations. [after massive anti-corruption protests in 2011 and 2012 ]... “He knows Moscow hates him,” he said. ”He knows young people are not voting for him.”
     ...Kasparov sees the games as a way for Putin and his friends to make money... “I think it’s wrong to use athletes as a shield... But there are politicians who could simply boycott Putin [by] not showing up there. There are sponsors who could demonstrate their disagreement—I mean, let’s demand Coke to put rainbow flag on every can they sell there.”