The point that 'Fischer's incarceration weakens Japan's case for
permanent membership of the UN Security Council' is not as silly as some
people might think. Basically the point is: 'why should the Japanese
government get a permanent seat - and veto - if it can't stand its
ground on the "human rights issue" of the US government's persecution of
a single individual?'

Note the important point that the Minister of Justice can free Fischer
immediately if she chooses to do so.

Japan has an obligation *not* to send people back to the territory of
regimes that are persecuting them, regardless of whether those regimes
claim that those people are 'their' citizens and therefore 'belong' to
them.

Let the Japanese authorities call allowing Fischer to go to Iceland
something other than 'deportation' if they want - so long as they free
him and allow him to go to Iceland unconditionally and immediately.

The following article is from the 'Mainichi Daily News':

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20050318p2a00m0dm011000c.html:

***BEGIN ARTICLE***

Bobby Fischer gets more Diet support

Justice Minister Chieko Noono has come under fire over the continued
incarceration in an Immigration Bureau detention center of chess Grand
Master Bobby Fischer, the Mainichi has learned.

Democratic Party of Japan stalwart Satsuki Eda told a House of
Councilors Committee on Judicial Affairs meeting that the Ministry of
Justice was jeopardizing Japan's bid for a permanent place on the United
Nations Security Council by continuing to hold Fischer.

Eda said that Japan's insistence on only deporting the chess whizz to
his U.S. homeland instead of Iceland, where he wants to go, constitutes
a violation of human rights unlikely to stand Japan in good stead.

He asked Noono whether she felt this was acceptable, but the Justice
Minister -- who could free Fischer immediately if she chose to do so --
remained non-committal.

"I've got lots to worry about at the moment, but I want to come up with
a solution as soon as possible," the Minister said during the Thursday
meeting.

Immediately after Iceland offered Fischer a residency permit in December
last year, Noono said in response to a question that she would think
about allowing him to go, but never offered a formal decision.

Her ministry issued a deportation order against Fischer in August last
year. The ministry is fighting Fischer in court to ensure it can deport
him even though he has expressed a willingness to leave the country, as
long as is permitted to go to Iceland.

Fischer remains incarcerated at the East Japan Immigration Bureau in
Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture, as he fights deportation to the United
States, where he is wanted for playing chess in Yugoslavia in 1992,
which was then under sanctions.

Iceland has given Fischer a passport and residency permit and he has
expressed a willingness to go there, but Japan will only allow him to go
to the U.S., saying that the law requires people to be deported to the
land of their citizenship.

Eda accused Japan of pandering to the United States by insisting
America's only World Chess Champion be returned to his homeland against
his will.

Masaharu Miura, head of the Immigration Bureau, ignored Eda's remarks
and replied by saying that Article 53 of the Immigration Law requires
those being deported be sent back to the land of their citizenship. (By
Ryann Connell, Mainichi Daily News, March 18, 2005)

***END ARTICLE***

--
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)

Does Fischer get the support from KOSTENIUK?? Are they sharing a cell?

Dear Sir,
it's obvious that Fischer's detention is going to his end. There are no
formal facts which can allowed Japan's to hold him in prison. I expect that
he would be free till the end of this month or some days after.
Now, he is stateless and Japan couldn't sent anywhere, except on Island.
It seems that they use Fischer for their political overreaching in
Parliament.
I'll send translation of that text our media in Yugoslavia. That will be
publish tomorrow.

Regards,
Goran Tomic


"banana"

The point that 'Fischer's incarceration weakens Japan's case for
permanent membership of the UN Security Council' is not as silly as some
people might think. Basically the point is: 'why should the Japanese
government get a permanent seat - and veto - if it can't stand its
ground on the "human rights issue" of the US government's persecution of
a single individual?'

Note the important point that the Minister of Justice can free Fischer
immediately if she chooses to do so.

Japan has an obligation *not* to send people back to the territory of
regimes that are persecuting them, regardless of whether those regimes
claim that those people are 'their' citizens and therefore 'belong' to
them.

Let the Japanese authorities call allowing Fischer to go to Iceland
something other than 'deportation' if they want - so long as they free
him and allow him to go to Iceland unconditionally and immediately.

The following article is from the 'Mainichi Daily News':

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20050318p2a00m0dm011000c.html:

Follow the money Banana.

Who is Japan more beholden to? Iceland or the US, their major trading
partner.

BTW, if Fischer is tried for money laundering he's got big problems.
Under the first Bush administration various bills were passed making
money laundering a very serious offense (originally designed for
dealing with drug dealers, but like RICO, it has taken on a life of its
own). And the worse part is, the judge has NO discretion to reduce the
sentence. None whatsoever, even if the accused is a 98 year old
grandmother who simply forgot to file the necessary documents with her
bank. The sentence is based on a table, so for X dollars you get Y
years of prison with absolutely no ability for the judge to reduce your
sentence. Last I checked I think $250k unreported was 4 years.
Remember that there's no need to prove the money was obtained
illegally--it could be your own hard earned money--it's the failure to
file the right forms that's the crime. If the prosecutor wants to get
you, he will try and prove money laundering. Even if you are a
legitimate business man, if you don't file the necessary paperwork when
transferring money you can be put away for a very long time. Pretty
scary eh? Probably there's 1000000 people right now in America that
could be put away for years for this hyper-technical crime--especially
expats living in America who support people overseas--the threshold for
filing is transferring over $10k US dollars a year overseas, which is
ridiculously low IMO. But again, it depends on prosecurial
discretion--if the prosecutor wants to get you or not. Most likely if
you are a 'normal person' with no anti-US opinions with a decent job
(i.e., who is not a drug dealer) the prosecutor will not bother to
convict you. But what if you are not normal? What if you're like
Fischer?

It does not pay to disrespect the US government Banana, as Fischer
might find out the hard way.

RL

Could someone tell me:

1. What is money laundering?

Personally I dont launder my money, I just spend it, without any laundering.
And I never had any complaints about my bills not being laundered.

2. How is Fischer supposed to have laundered his money? Which law paragraphs
on cleaning did he violate?

HansJ

Hahaha! Funny one Hans! You must be living in a cave somewhere up
north, with the polar bears and reindeer!

Just kidding of course.

"Hans Jørgen Lassen" writes:
1. What is money laundering?

Money laundering normally meant conducting sham financial transactions
in order to disguise the source of some money you have. Now under
Bush/Ashcroft/Gonzales, it can mean practically anything, sort of like
"heresy" under the Inqusition or "communism" under McCarthy.

In the normal sense, though, while Fischer has done all kinds of
questionable stuff, I don't see how any of it could be described as
money laundering.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_laundering

Hans J=F8rgen Lassen wrote:
Could someone tell me:
1. What is money laundering?

I am *not* licensed to practise law in any state of the
United States. What I write here should *not* be construed
as a legal opinion.

'Money laundering' may be defined as the process of converting
'dirty money' into 'clean money'. 'Dirty money' may be defined
as money that has been obtained by criminal activities or been
tainted by criminal associations, and 'clean money' may be
defined as money that's not 'dirty money'.

Personally I dont launder my money, I just spend it, without
any laundering. And I never had any complaints about my bills
not being laundered.

Marcellus: 'Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.'
--William Shakespeare (Hamlet, Act I, Scene iv)

--Nick

On Sat, 19 Mar 2005 21:17:26 +0100, "Hans Jørgen Lassen"
wrote:

Could someone tell me:

1. What is money laundering?

Here's a link: http://www.laundryman.u-net.com/page2_wisml.html

A friend of mine who was a real estate agent told me that drug dealers
often laundered money by buying beat-up houses cheap, then fixing them
up, always paying cash off the books (the craftsmen like the deal
because they don't pay taxes on the income). After a few years, they
sell the house and it looks like it appreciated a great deal, and
instead of having a bundle of money for which the source can't be
accounted, they have a formal record of a successful real estate
investment.

Personally I dont launder my money, I just spend it, without any laundering.
And I never had any complaints about my bills not being laundered.

2. How is Fischer supposed to have laundered his money? Which law paragraphs
on cleaning did he violate?

Good question.

HansJ

In article .com,
raylopez99 writes

snip

It does not pay to disrespect the US government Banana, as Fischer
might find out the hard way.

What money might he have laundered?

Is a SWAT team going to snatch him from Reykjavik and bundle him to
Keflavik, or what? They haven't bundled anyone from Havana to Guantanamo
yet, AFAIAA, but there's always a first time...

I agree with 'follow the money'. Unless I'm mistaken, the US authorities
pay the Icelandic authorities to have the military base there. They
certainly pay to have bases in the UK...one of the UK's largest
invisible exports in fact.

--
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)