The Mainichi Daily News again has the best recap of the latest Bobby Fischer news. Fischer's supporters are trying the tactic of accusing the Japanese government of kowtowing to the US. I'm not sure if insulting the people holding the keys to your cell is the best idea. The Japanese courts still say they aren't prepared to send Fischer to Iceland since the default is to deport to country of origin. (Methinks Fischer should have changed his nationality asap after celebrating 9/11 on a radio interview.) I'm just amazed that this tortuous limbo has continued for so long. (You can find the other Fischer updates by searching for his name on the left.)
Geeze, just send him back and let him face the music. He may be facing 10 years, but any American knows a first-time offender will not get that long a sentence...Just look at Martha Stewart. Her offense was at least as serious according to federal sentencing guidelines, and she only got 5 months. Fischer might have been out by now.
Of course, as long as the Japanese keep Fischer in jail, justice is being served, although personally I would prefer a fair trial in a US court of justice.
Fischer wouldn't be let out in a matter of months. Martha Stewart wasn't a vociferous critic of the USA. Nor will Fischer get a "fair trial." He'd be tried ostensibly for disregarding sanctions, but his real "crimes" are 1) spitting on the state department letter, and 2) the post 9/11 comments of his, plus his outspoken anti-semitism
Steven Craig Miller wrote, "long as the Japanese keep Fischer in jail, justice is being served." That might be philosophically true, but in the event Fischer ever returns to the U.S., he won't get credit for time served in Japan.
Of course, if this drags on long enough, and Fischer eventually loses his bid to avoid deportation to the U.S., it might turn out that he would have been better off returning voluntarily to face the music. However, that calculation requires rational thought, and there's no evidence Fischer is capable of that.
One thing's for sure: any lawyer appointed to serve as Fischer's defense counsel will have his hands full.
If we are speaking philosophically there are many worthy inmates that I would like to see pay for their crimes, people that have blood on their hands. Fischer's crime was and will continue to be shooting off his mouth! The whole sanctions thing is such a load of crap that to even pretend to take it seriously confirms you have no integrity. If you are hell-bent to punish Fischer then you must secretly enjoy his raving because unless he is allowed to saunter off into oblivion you're going to hear a lot more from him when a trial rolls around. If we are more sane than Fischer then let's demonstrate it by showing a sense of perspective and mercy both for him and our own eardrums. To detain him any longer is to wallow in the same infantile, self-important, and compassionless behavior that we all so deplore when he does it!
What I'm wondering is just what do the Japanese have to gain by holding him?
The Japanese gain nothing, they just want to cover all the bases and make sure they follow process to the letter. They risk charges of being too obedient to the US on one side and of bending the law to make an exception (in either direction). So everything will be ground out very, very slowly. It's Fischer's side that is delaying things because the default action was to deport him to the US long ago. He and his lawyers have tried everything in and out of the book to stop that from happening. Since there is no other clear path to take, they are just waiting it out until Fischer's lawyers are out of gambits.