Guess who is meeting with President Bush Tuesday in New York? I'm flying back from Seattle and so can't be there myself, alas. As Garry puts it, an honor to be in the company of such dissidents, but a tragedy that Russia has earned a place on such a list in such a short time. Just a year ago the White House was still hoping for business as usual with Putin and would barely even acknowledge The Other Russia for fear of offending the Kremlin. But the mess after the Georgia-Russia conflict changed that in a hurry. Garry has spent considerable op-ed column space over the years needling the Bush administration for not standing up to Putin's crackdowns on democracy (and for wasting time and resources in Iraq), so it's a little surprising he got the invite. (Which the Kremlin tried to scuttle by devious means.) I guess the Bush administration is happy to do anything to piss of the Kremlin these days, which this will no doubt achieve. The financial meltdown has pushed everything else off the front pages this week though, so I don't know what sort of boost we'll get in the traffic/donations/media request department.
In other non-chess news: I'm now completely deaf in my left ear if you don't count the obnoxiously loud tinnitus. Joy. -- My daughter will be 11 weeks old on Thursday and is still getting more adorable by the hour. Here she is showing off for Grandma, aka Mom.
Mig:
So sorry about the tinnitus. That is awful.
Adorable photo!
Apropos of your smart comments regarding girls' chess--as soon as she hits bat-mitzvah age, no all-girl tournaments for this one. :-)
Mig,
Beautiful, happy kid! Great job!
Had you ever noticed that on every Daily Dirt photo of you and Kasparov, he was standing on your left side?
Bush hosting a dinner "to advance the freedom agenda and the protection of the rights and dignities of all people"???
That will undoubtedly take the honour of funniest joke of the day.
On the other hand, with such cute young people there's hope for humanity yet :-)
mig, what on earth were you doing HERE? not that i dont love seattle, cause i do, but heavy why?
now, FYI, i have had tinetus for 33 years. you know it is a symptom, and not causal? you dont need much advise, and i can but hope that things get better. in the end, it is our bodies way of signaling something is out of balance. it can be a gift, and tell you when you are going or have gone too far.
lastly, you know that caffene is verbotin, and alchohol does not help. keep your liver clear is great advise, for this ailment. i type this from no less than 5' from where GM Seirawan visited me here, at home. good karmas!
take care, dk
Get over it, Mig. Gore lost. It is called "The US Government," not the "Bush Administration."
Any government is run by people and people have names. Accountability is one of the cornerstones of democracy. For what happens to a democracy without enough of it, see "Bush administration."
I don't understand how Bush coming closer to "Other Russia" and other such groups will help the cause of democracy. It will make it easier for the Russian government to paint such parties as western stooges. Also your admission that this new found closeness is a direct result of a geo-political clash and not any new found love of "democracy" makes the whole enterprise suspect. So if tomorrow Bush and Putin decide to cut a pipeline deal, what happens to Garry?
But Mig, were you invited to be there? You are not also a famous dissident are you?
Jai, it's not like things could get much worse in that respect for most dissident groups. It's not like any of them are getting love from their ruling regimes because they aren't having lunch with Bush. The potential upside is that if foreign leaders are meeting with someone you might think twice before arresting/shooting them and their groups. Outside attention does matter, or at least it can if applied consistently.
I'm sure I wouldn't have been seated at the luncheon, but I usually go along to most of Garry's political engagements here. Everyone had aides and/or interpreters, etc. I'm off to DC on the 6am Acela in fact. Lots more people listening each time Garry's there because he keeps being right. The Russia-Georgia conflict has put Russia back on the radar in a big way, of course. And the economic crisis in Russia also has Washington wondering how things are positioned in the Kremlin if Putin and his buddies decide to take the money and run. Or worse, that they have to take the gloves off completely to stay in control.
".. and the economic crisis in Russia..." er I think the crisis is in the US isnt it?
The economic crisis is hitting all over the world. Here in Iceland the economy is in free fall...
Any news on when we're going to get the long-promised board update that would add an Ignore feature that really works?
Any news on when we're going to get the long-promised board update that would add an Ignore feature that really works?
Posted by: Charles at September 25, 2008 10:08
That would be useful for when someone posts the same thing on more than one thread! :)
> (Which the Kremlin tried to scuttle by devious means.)
Mig, would you please kindly provide your source for that info?
Bush and Garry working together for democracy.
ROTFLMAO!
What a sick joke...
Anyone who meets with Bush to discuss "how to advance the freedom agenda and the protection of the rights and dignities of all people" has lost every little bit of respect in regards to their political activities they might still have had left. It's really that simple.
Good to see that Bush has such confidence in the strong fundamentals of the US economy that he doesn't need to be spending his time on that instead.
I assume the lady holding the Miglet is her mother? She reminds me of paintings by Botticelli!
And - good luck with the tinnitus. Very bad thing, needs treatment as quickly as you can get it.
Truly sorry to read about your hearing problem. I hope there will be some improvement in the future.
All the best.
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