Washington Post has an interesting article on Armenian Jewish activist Gary Kasparov who has turned out to be the main opponent to Russian President Putin’s authoritarian rule.

The last part of the article reminded me of “Mrs. President,” a documentary about 47 female presidential candidates in Iran’s 2001 elections.  One important point that one of the Iranian women makes in the documentary is that all [male] heroes have either had strong mothers or strong wives.

This is, indeed, the case for Kasparov’s Armenian mother who not only feeds his son with dolma, according to Washington Post, but with political strategy as well:

His mother had a late lunch waiting, a traditional Armenian meal of dolma, soup and vegetables. Mr. Kasparov ate little as he took more calls from reporters. His mother interrupted him for an urgent interview on a local radio station. “Garry, come over here,” she said, holding up the phone in a corner of the living room. “You’re on in 40 seconds.”

Mr. Kasparov walked over and took the phone. “Now don’t speak too fast, and speak simply,” his mother said. The interview started, and she said, “Slow down, Garry, don’t get excited.”

The post also has an article on Turkish elections which largely talks about the Armenian community.