Chess legend Bobby Fischer began his new life as a resident of
Iceland with anti-Jewish slurs and by lambasting his country of
origin, the United States, and its allies, including Australia.
"The Jew-controlled United States is evil," he said. "They talk
about the axis of evil. What about the allies of evil? What
about the US, England, Japan, Australia and so on? These are the
evildoers." The chess champion, who arrived in Iceland two days
ago, also told reporters that chess was "dead".
Fischer, 62, who has spent the past nine months in Japanese
custody under threat of being extradited to the US to serve a
long prison term, was granted Icelandic citizenship earlier this
week.
He has been a household name in Iceland since a 1972 Cold War
chess showdown with Soviet world champion Boris Spassky in
Reykjavik.
The US has never forgiven him for defying sanctions on
Yugoslavia by playing a rematch with Spassky there in 1992, and
if he ever returned to his country of origin he would face 10
years behind bars.
Welcoming Fischer was a delicate matter for the Icelandic
government, currently negotiating with Washington about the
future of the American Keflavik military base on the island.
Although Fischer appeared set on starting a new life for himself
in Iceland, the US, which hailed him as a hero in the 1970s for
breaking Soviet dominance of chess, has vowed to keep pushing
for his extradition. |
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