Friday, September 16, 2011

All The World Is A Chessboard

I am always intrigued when I spot a reference to chess in an article about something other than chess. For example, take the opening paragraph from, Doubts On “Official Story” of Bin Laden Killing by Russ Baker, on the WhoWhatWhy: Forensic Journalism: Thinking Hard, Digging Deep, website: (http://whowhatwhy.com/2011/08/17/raidbinladen/)
"The establishment media just keep getting worse. They’re further and further from good, tough investigative journalism, and more prone to be pawns in complicated games that affect the public interest in untold ways. A significant recent example is The New Yorker’s vaunted August 8 exclusive on the vanquishing of Osama bin Laden."
I was reminded of a Bob Dylan song, Only A Pawn In Their Game.
Later on chess gets another mention: "The line about Brennan himself having been a former CIA station chief in Saudi Arabia is just sort of dropped in there. No recognition of what it means that a person of that background was put into that position after 9/11, no recognition that a person of that background and those fraught personal connections is controlling this narrative. He’s not just a “counterterrorism expert”—he is a longtime member of an agency whose mandate includes the frequent use of disinformation. And one who has his own historic direct links to the Saudi regime, a key and problematical player in the larger chess game playing out."

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