President Donald Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin “wants to be helpful” regarding the Iran war, despite reports that Russia was providing intelligence to Iran to target U.S. military targets. Trump told reporters that he had a “very good” call with Putin with “lots of people” on the line, from “our side” and “their side.”
Former World Chess Champion and Russian dissident Garry Kasparov, founder of the nonprofit Renew Democracy Initiative (RDI), responded to the call: “I’d say unbelievable, but I haven’t been in a coma for the past 10 years. Whenever there’s a crisis, Trump calls Putin and comes out reciting the Kremlin line and singing Putin’s praises. Trump is Putin’s creature and the GOP is complicit.”
I’d say unbelievable, but I haven’t been in a coma for the past 10 years. Whenever there’s a crisis, Trump calls Putin and comes out reciting the Kremlin line and singing Putin's praises. Trump is Putin's creature and the GOP is complicit. https://t.co/enIcoJ4gAh
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) March 10, 2026
Kasparov also noted that Iran has sent drones to Russia and wrote: “The deadly Russia-Iran trade is a two-way street.” He added, “The US cannot fight the Islamic Republic without supporting Ukraine.” (Ukraine has provided support to the U.S. military in the Middle East since the Iran war began, sharing its expertise in battling against Iranian Shahed one-way suicide drones and Russian versions of the Shahed, both of which Russia has used to attack Ukraine.)
Kasparov added: “All eyes are on Iran, but my Soviet upbringing has my heart first and foremost in Ukraine. While the casual observer might see the wars in Ukraine and Iran as being totally separate, they are actually more deeply connected than one might think.”
[NOTE: The entire global economy is, of course, deeply connected — but Kasparov specifically refers to the strategic military partnership through which Iran supplies Russia with Shahed drones and support tech for the Ukraine war, while the US attacks on Iran refocus American military support, supplies, funds and attention away from Kyiv.]
Kasparov’s RDI interviewed conservative former U.S. federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy this week about the rule of law pertaining to President Trump’s order of military strikes on Iran and the need for congressional support.
“If Congress cares more about pleasing the president than checking executive excess, then we’re going to have problems.”
— Renew Democracy Initiative (@Renew_Democracy) March 9, 2026
In this week’s episode of Older/Wiser, former federal prosecutor @AndrewCMcCarthy joins RDI’s Linda Chavez to discuss the constitutional order and the rule of…
McCarthy told RDI: “If Congress cares more about pleasing the president than checking executive excess, then we’re going to have problems.”
In his National Review column, McCarthy wrote: “On Monday, President Trump sent to Congress a notice that he’d ordered an aerial invasion of Iran. He said the notice was ‘consistent with’ the War Powers Act (WPA).
“Why the sneer quotes? To underscore that ‘consistent with’ is not the same as ‘in compliance with.’ The former implies a discretionary accommodation, a courtesy. An expression of compliance, by contrast, would concede a legal duty. This president never concedes that his powers have strings attached.”
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