The Times' story on McCain's report focuses on his suggestion that American troops be told more about U.S. foreign policy, and upon McCain's insistance on the importance of forgiveness: an issue McCain addresses briefly toward the end of the report.

There are many fascinating passages in the 44 pages.  The Times does not quote, for example, this passage, which ought to be required reading for everyone who is engaging in the torture debate in the United States, today.  I will simply offer it without further editorial comment.

In this diary we look back at the NATO takeover of leadership of (International Security Assistance Force) ISAF-Afghanistan in 2003, to see what US officials were saying at the time.  What we're going to find is a continuing insistance from the US that the very viability of NATO depends on commitments to security in that non-NATO country.  Again and again, we see evidence that the real point of this near-hysterical rhetoric is to solidify a US-urged change in NATO's mandate, from Eurpoean defense to world-wide interventionism.

Starting with Gates' remarks today in Munich, we see a strange-seeming doomsdayism about the importance of NATO participation in Afghanistan.

Diary rescue by Migeru

This diary is about an attacking player who won the World Title, briefly.  His moves, unlike Polgar's, were not based on positional strength and power.  Tal just came at you.  But he did it like no one else.  He beat the best defensive player of all time, winning the World Title in 1960, just by attacking.

Quoting from Yasser Seiarawn

When Alexander Alekhine died in 1946, there were no tactical wizards waiting in the wings to take his place.  The science of pure chess center stage, and the chief scientist, Mikhail Botvinnik, reigned from 1948 to 1960 . . .

This impressive performance seemed to indicate that all future World Champions would be positional players.  Little did the chess world suspect that another firebrand would appear and take the game by storm.

That is Mikhail Tal.  He was one of the most amazing fighting players who ever lived.  He made moves that were simply unbelievable.  The story goes that he was walking around the tables at a chess tournament once.  He passed by a table where both players had agreed upon a draw, because the position was impossibly complicated.  Tal, without breaking stride, pointed out the winning move for one side, smiled, and moved on.

If you don't know a lot about chess, one thing you should understand is that . . . at the very highest level of chess . . . the difference between a win and a draw is very big.  To force a win in a game that should be a draw is almost impossible.  And Botvinnik was one of the two or three best defensive players of all time.

You can imagine how boring that was.  He just fought off attacks and defended until the opponent screwed up.  Then he drew, or won.

But Tal laughed at him.  Tal's attacks were so amazing, so unpredictable, that Botvinnik was stunned.  He lost the World Title to Tal.

Like many top players, Tal could play "silmultaneous matches" in which he played 20 ameratures at a time, at seperate tables.  He found moves that were simply breathtaking and left smiles on the faces of the those he defeated.

Mikhail Tal passed away at age 55, about 10 years ago.  Here are some of his games:

link

 -- Q is a question from the Irish Times. --

 -- A is Chomsky's answer. --

I've been thinking about the The Doomsday Clock the past few days.  The
LA Times is not giving me a reason to stop worrying about it.

What I want to do is to separate rhetoric from reality, and try to see what is really going on.  Flip: