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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: i-node who wrote (197810)	8/16/2004 11:39:03 AM
From: Jim McMannis	Respond to of 1572992

Why are they wasting taxpayer money on this? --------- Fischer Plans to Marry Japanese Woman 31 minutes ago By JOSEPH COLEMAN, Associated Press Writer TOKYO - Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer appealed to Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) on Monday to help him renounce U.S. citizenship as he announced plans to marry a leading Japanese chess official, his lawyer said. Fischer, wanted in the United States for violating international sanctions by playing a match in the former Yugoslavia in 1992, was detained in Japan last month when trying to travel on a revoked American passport. He has been fighting an attempt to deport him to the United States. Fischer's attorney, Masako Suzuki, said she faxed a letter to Powell and the U.S. Embassy in Japan demanding that an American consular officer be sent to the chess great's detention center to accept his renunciation of U.S. citizenship. In the letter, Suzuki accused the embassy of refusing to send an official to Fischer, requiring him to come to the embassy in person. Japanese officials, however, will not allow him to make the trip, she said. "Although renouncing U.S. citizenship is a legal right ... the U.S. Embassy in Japan has made it impossible for Mr. Fischer to exercise his right," said the letter, which was also faxed to news organizations in Japan. Fischer's animosity toward the United States is well-known. He once praised the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, saying in a radio interview that America should be "wiped out." A separate statement from Suzuki also said Fischer and Japan Chess Association President Miyoko Watai had signed marriage papers that would be submitted later on Monday. It was unclear whether Japanese officials would accept the marriage application. A Tokyo ward official, Yoshihisa Yabe, said a person in Fischer's situation would have to either provide a valid U.S. passport or a U.S. government document confirming that his citizenship is valid in order to get married in Japan. It was also not immediately clear how marriage to a Japanese citizen would affect Tokyo's attempt to deport him to the United States. Suzuki said Fischer and Watai had been living together since 2000. While U.S. Embassy officials routinely meet requests for consular visits from hospitalized or detained citizens, there is no time limit for making such visits, said U.S. Embassy spokesman Michael Boyle. "There is no urgency in this particular case," Boyle said. "There is no law or rule that says we must visit a person within a week or whatever." In addition, oaths of renunciation of citizenship made outside of an embassy or consular offices have been challenged legally in the past, and requests for such oaths require approval by the State Department before they can go ahead, Boyle said. Even after such an oath has been administered, State Department approval is still needed before the renunciation of citizenship is valid, he said. Fischer became an American icon when he defeated Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union in a series of games in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1972. Increasingly erratic and reclusive, he lost his title as world champion in 1978 and then largely vanished from the public eye until he reappeared to play a rematch in the former Yugoslavia against Spassky in 1992. Though Fischer won, and took home more than $3 million in prize money, he played in violation of U.N. sanctions and has been wanted in the United States ever since. Fischer has applied for asylum in Japan, arguing that the political nature of his "U.S. persecution" makes him eligible for refugee status in Japan. A decision on that could take months because the government would probably have to hold a hearing.

To: i-node who wrote (197810)	8/16/2004 11:57:05 AM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1572992

re: You guys are so desperate blah, blah, blah Sounds like the Reps are the desperate ones, trying to intimidate a few black voters away from the polls. But not surprising. John

To: i-node who wrote (197810)	8/16/2004 2:02:14 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1572992

Mideast Peace Promoters Sharply Criticize Bush Administration CAUX, Switzerland - The authors of the unofficial Geneva Initiative for peace between Israel and the Palestinians criticized the United States, with one of the top Israeli initiators admitting he wanted the Democrats to win November's US presidential race. "I hope personally that there will be a new president in the United States of America because that's the best interest of the state of Israel," former Israeli Labour Party politician and parliament speaker Avraham Burg said. "I would like the Democrats to take over and a Democrat administration to pick up at the point where (ex-president Bill) Clinton left the region," he told journalists during a conference in the Swiss village of Caux. Burg and his Palestinian counterpart on the Geneva Initiative, former information minister Yasser Abed Rabbo, called for a revival of US political involvement in the Middle East conflict. The Geneva founders also rounded on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's announced unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, warning it would be counterproductive without an idea of what follows afterwards. "The position of the United States was not positive and is not helpful in moving from Gaza to Geneva," Rabbo said, adding that the international community had a key role to play in the conflict at this moment. "Without a 3rd party guarantee, we will not have an agreement," he added, warning that the Gaza Strip would become an Palestinian isolated pocket. The Geneva initiative plan unveiled by the group of Israeli and Palestinian politicians and activists in the western Swiss city in December 2003 sets out a detailed model for a two-state solution to the conflict. It envisages a Palestinian state encompassing virtually all of the West Bank, shared sovereignty over Jerusalem and the de facto renunciation by the Palestinians of the right of return for nearly 3.8 million refugees. Burg said that "a good president for Israel in the White House is not one who is doing what Israel wants but what Israel needs". "Part of the problem that we have with the current presidency is that it speaks the same language as some of our political leadership, and therefore eventually Israel is becoming more and more seen... as a mini-America in Middle East," he added. A European diplomat pointed out that US Secretary of State Colin Powell had given written support to the steps taken by the Geneva authors, and the US was unlikely to take a further stand in the run up to presidential elections. Twenty-three countries backing the Geneva Initiative -- including Switzerland, France and other European Union countries, but not the US -- are due to meet in Brussels on September 8. The supporting network is expected to expand to 27 states next month, and eight Arab countries are now backing the venture, a diplomat told AFP. Rabbo said the main thrust now was to gain backing from Israeli and Palestinian public opinion for the Initiative, which is meant to complement the official road map for peace sponsored by the EU, US, United Nations and Russia. Although they are preparing to add some detail to the document, the Geneva authors revealed that they were also ready to draw up a political statement on the Gaza withdrawal. The new document would outline how an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza could be turned into a first step in a wider settlement surrounding the West Bank. Burg and Rabbo emphasized that it would demonstrate a joint approach contrasting with Sharon's "no-partnership philosophy". "We cannot have peace when we speak about withdrawal from Gaza while building a wall inside the West Bank and more settlements," Rabbo said. police officers. His members have challenged the policy through labor grievance procedures and expect an arbitrator will decide the matter. commondreams.org