In article E3bLc.46429$2i3.9524@clgrps12, Duncan
writes

A distraction from the war and economy? Shoot; nobody talks about it, few
people know about it, no one cares, except gossiping chess players. It's not
much of a distraction.

Two other things to factor in:

- the history of 'swaps'.

It is very common when country A seizes person X from country B, for
country B to seize person Y (typically, 'businessman' Y) from country A
- see Charles Jenkins, whose experiences are being very widely reported
in Japan and elsewhere in the Far East (and quite widely in the US too);
Fischer could then be seen as a 'pawn' whose deportation to the US
weighs in the public-relations balance against the non-deportation of
Charles Jenkins, but whose being given a lengthy prison sentence (which,
as he says, might well lead to his early death, as happened to Wilhelm
Reich) might well not be given wide coverage, or be of 'great
importance' to the movers and shakers

- the fact that he was on his way to give a radio interview.

I don't believe that wasn't important. It's hardly being reported in the
west - I've only seen it being reported in the Philippines... Remember
that the US authorities renewed his passport in 1997, no problem. He
hadn't started going on the radio then. Perhaps someone could give me an
alternative explanation of the huge difference in US government attitude
between 1997 and 2004?

"banana" wrote in message
...
From the San Jose 'Mercury News':

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/9194702.htm

***BEGIN ARTICLE***

Posted on Mon, Jul. 19, 2004

Ex-Stanford physicist slams arrest of chess figure in Japan

BROTHER-IN-LAW ACCUSES U.S. OF USING BOBBY FISCHER AS PAWN

By Nicole C. Wong

Mercury News

The brother-in-law of American chess legend Bobby Fischer blasted the
Bush administration Monday for Fischer's recent arrest in Japan, saying
Fischer is a pawn in a game of election-year politics.

--
banana "The thing I hate about you, Rowntree, is the way you
give Coca-Cola to your scum, and your best teddy-bear to
Oxfam, and expect us to lick your frigid fingers for the
rest of your frigid life." (Mick Travis, 'If...', 1968)