Bobby Fisher, Iceland's Newest Citizen

[almostdiva]

What do you guys make of THIS????

Bobby was sprung from Japanese immigration detention earlier today (after a lenghty stay), looking like some crazy hermit, btw, and promptly hopped a plane to Iceland, which has granted him citizenship.

The US, which sought to have him extradited, for playing a chess match in Yugoslavia in '93 (I think...), when it was under economic sanctions, has given both the Japanese government and the Icelandic folks a very hard time.

Yes, I think his political beliefs are horrid. Yes, I think he's a nut/loon/shows extreme bad taste for his remarks in the Philippeans following 9/11, but SURELY the US government has more important criminals and fugitives to deal with than a 66-year old Chess Grand Master???

[Ninong]

He's a nutjob if ever there was one but I love his early chess games. Positively brilliant!

Bobby Fischer sucks as a human being, but that's another issue. He's obviously deranged but that's due to his one-track mind. His views on some issues are very similar to David Duke's and Adolph Hitler's. Which is weird if you consider his ethnicity.

I don't really mind that he "escaped" but the government (our government) does have a valid point. He did violate the law by going to Yugoslavia to play Boris Spassky and he is probably guilty of income tax evasion on his winnings from that tournament. So yes, he should be prosecuted. I just think that there are other people more dangerous right now that we should be going after. Like Tom DeLay.

P.S. -- What does this say about our chances of ever catching Mullah Omar or Osama bin Laden? It took us ten years to almost catch a chess terrorist! :eek3:

[almostdiva]

I don't really mind that he "escaped" but the government (our government) does have a valid point. He did violate the law by going to Yugoslavia to play Boris Spassky and he is probably guilty of income tax evasion on his winnings from that tournament. So yes, he should be prosecuted. I just think that there are other people more dangerous right now that we should be going after. Like Tom DeLay.

P.S. -- What does this say about our chances of ever catching Mullah Omar or Osama bin Laden? It took us ten years to almost catch a chess terrorist! :eek3:

PRECISELY!!! (the bin Laden thing...)

I have been trying (in vain..) to find the article I read earlier in the week about him. I thought it was on the BBC's site, but I can't get it. His lawyer or girlfriend (forget which) was quoted as saying that Bobby has been in to the Swiss Embassy several times (pre 9/11) to get his passport renewed and to have pages added. Nobody bothered him or arrested him, apparently.

It wasn't until AFTER he spouted off from the Philippeans that we decided he shouldn't be running around lose in the world, able to shoot of his crazy viewpoints willy-nilly. Either he's a menace, or he's not. Seems that the gov't was content not to chase him too hard until he started chirping.

And OK on the tax evasion -- he didn't pay, he'll have to "pay". But I also think their are bigger fish to fry in that pond, too . I'm thinking the Enron Boys, Bernie Ebbers, the Adelphia Cable boys....

[Ninong]

Rebecca,

I don't think we were really looking for Bobby Fischer very hard. On the other hand...

We seem to be having difficulty locating a one-eyed mullah and a 6'4" Arab wearing flowing white robes and attached to a kidney dialysis machine.

[NoSump]

I spent a year in Keflavik, Iceland (in the US Navy) back in the early seventies.

Personally, I think that I would rather spend a few years in a federal prison for tax evasion, than the rest of my life in Iceland!