Sacrificial pawn
Comments: 4
Bobby Fischer was taken into custody at Narita airport last week. This Radio Netherlands article suggests he may be about to become a piece in game being played between Japan and the US:
Fischer a sacrificial pawn?
by Ann-Marie Michel and Tim FisherChess Grandmaster and one-time world champion Bobby Fischer has now spent more than a week in detention at Tokyo’s Narita airport after immigration officials prevented him from leaving Japan last week. He’s now the subject of a somewhat bizarre legal battle as Japan has begun the process which could see him deported to the US where he is a wanted for breaking the embargo against the former Yugoslavia. Faced with the prospect of extradition, Mr Fischer is reportedly seeking political asylum in a third country and meanwhile appealing against his possible deportation.
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Posted to General Rants • 2004.07.24 (Sat) • 10:02
Comments
Posted by Kristen 2004.07.24, 11:03
Absolutely a pawn. I’ll lay even money on Fischer being deported to the US in exchange for the US military backing off on Jenkins (the Army deserter/husband of the former North Korean abductee) coming to live in Japan.
Poor Bobby Fischer. All over a game of chess in a politically uncorrect country.
Posted by dr Dave 2004.07.24, 13:14
Mnnn… “Poor Bobby”, indeed… but I don’t know if it’s for being a pawn in a Japan-US game or for being completely and utterly crazy. The man has been quite an obvious case of psychopathic paranoia for a long time now (he goes way beyond the usual kind of hate-spewing jew-conspiracy theorist)… Chances of him ever landing in a US jail are infinitely slim: a hefty fine and/or mental institution are more likely. And as for the latter, I am not sure it would be such a bad thing… I have personally a very limited level of trust in the current US administration, but I think we can safely rule out the possibility of him being “murdered accidentally on purpose” if deported to the US. Anyway, it looks like he might be able to get a German passport after all…
Posted by david genry 2004.07.26, 20:21
Now, regarding Bobby Fischer’s detention room at Narita Airport, here’s the inside skinny so to speak. Bobby-san is in the B-4 underground level of the Airport complex, and he is in a room with 8-9 other detainess, some of whom will leave for the home countries soon, others who must wait for a papers to be completed before then can be deported. Bobby is in a room that has a tatami floor, and there is a clean toilet in the room for all cellmates to use. He is fed good Japanese food three times a day, large helpings of rice, porridge, fish, meats, vegetables and soups. Fruit too. At lights out at 9 pm, he must sleep on a futon on the floor with the other cellmates, and an electric light is on all night, according to inside sources who know the set up there. The guards are friendly but firm. They feel sorry for Bobby but they are following orders and if he gives them any trouble, they will handle him that way. If he gets too rambuctious, he will be put in a straitjacket room and kept solitary and incommunicato until he decides to be more friendly. However, for now he is in the main detainee room, green walls, tatami floor, toilet and a slot for food to be passed in to the men there.
There is no exercise there, just the detention cell. If he stays for more than 20 days, he will be taken to Kosuge Jail in downtown Tokyo, an hour from the airport by prison bus, where he will be roped to other prisoners, er, detainees. His hands will also be cuffed to the bars behind each bus seat. At the Tokyo Detention House, or Kosuge, he will be kept in a solitary cell, toilet inside the room, big enough for a futon on the floor and that’s it. A window, barred of course, will give him a view of the inside courtyard with trees and grass. He can hear the birds singing in the morning.
At deportation time, Bobby-san will be taken back to Narita Airport B4 level, and processed out. He will be escorted by two immigration policemen, with his hands in handcuffs, yes, but there is a polite blue cloth covering the handcuffs so that passersby and passengers in the public terminal on the ground floor of the aiport will not SEE the handcuffs. But they will see Bobby in his humiliatin, escorted by the two beefy immig cops, all the way to the airplane that will fly him back to the USA. He must return to USA, period. He cannot be deported to a third country. He is heading to the USA, period.
At the boarding gate for the internatioinal flight home, Bobby’s handcuffs will be taken off and he will invited to enter the airplane’s cabin. If he doesn’t enter, there could be trouble.
NOTES FROM SOMEONE WHO’s BEEN THERE DONE THAT AT NARITA KUKO
Posted by Bill Humphries 2004.07.27, 02:43
Looking at the Wikipedia article on Fischer, he was making anti-semetic remarks as early as the 1960’s.
He’s a Cold War artifact. Like other people, we ignored the odious parts of their character because they had a useful talent that would let us best or embarass the Soviets.
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