Kasparov arrested!

Ahhhh I'm being crushed under mountains of straw!

Criticising a regime is not the same as criticising its people, doofus.

And for the record I don't even have U.S. citizenship, just residency rights.

Ah, thanks for that. I haven't been able to keep on top of the news for the past week, and hadn't seen that in the British press. Perhaps it simply hasn't been reported explicitly on BBC news (wouldn't be massively surprising).

In any case, sounds like an empty hint of a threat. That just won't happen, even if the incumbent government aren't noted for their respect for the rule of law, both national and international.

The only doofus thing is assuming I'm saying that you're insulting every American citizen.

I am saying you are insulting the COUNTRY and saying it is the worst one as a country is defined by its government, not by its people. Yet you choose to live there. If a country is truly that awful and you hate the government with such a passion, then leave.

That sends far more of a message then living in a country and talking crap about it while enjoy everything it has to offer. That just makes you sound like you want to look cool by jumping on the I hate America bandwagon but actually have no true principles of your own.

Make sure to use "straw" in your next counter argument, I will be disappointed if you do not.

I don't see why someone who disagrees with the way any given government goes about its business should leave the country, or what good that would do. 

Are you saying everyone living in America who doesn't like aspects of its government should leave?

Sponge, your arguments are too ludicruous, I don't even know where to begin.  So I'm not going to, because I've spent enough time watching people of your kind flinging invective to know nothing will make you alter your cherished fallacies.

I'll try to be relevant and nice, and not "bequeath" the truth to "less gifted" ones. Just a modest effort toward keeping the "philosophical sovereignty" of doubt. Dear Nimzo-Roy: I'm brazilian, affectionate friend of my american friends and, since boyhood, interested on american history, on american politics, literature and so on. I read NYT, Noam Chomsky, Paul Craig Roberts, Ron Paul. I know who is Mark Twain and have read many of his books, for instance (with enormous delight). I can, even badly, as you may see, write in english. After this brief presentation, I'm kindly asking you: renouncing to every help from google or wikipedia, would you be able to respond whether, in Brasil, national language is Spanish or Papiamento, whether her capital is Rio de Janeiro or Buenos Aires? According to your answers, I'll bestow more, or less, doubt to your statements regarding national circumstances in Brasil. Nothing special or personal towards you, Nimzo-Roy. Doubt is an invaluable cartesian inheritance, a most seasoned philosophical sauce. I always try to keep it, whether the statements come from NYT, His Sanctity the Pope, Al Capone, Ben Bernanke, modestly myself (to include someone from the grey realm of non-criminals) or... from you too, Nimzo-Roy.

Nice twist on words. Having some complaints on certain aspects is different then going around saying that a country is the worst in the world.

Anyone who thinks the country they live in is the worst country on the planet should leave that country, yes. Otherwise your words have absolutely zero merit as you clearly enjoy the country enough to live there so it can't be the worst one that exists.

"This simply will not do.  It's just not cricket!" 

The very fact of the threat-making shows how beholden the government is to the imperial whims of the United States, which is funny seeing as the latter did everything to destroy the British position of power following both World Wars...

So you're saying you have no counter-argument and like to make posts about how much you hate the country you live in because you think it makes you look cool, understood.

Theoreticalboy has simply pointed out that few political-systems are without flaw or defect.

If we are to criscise Russia over this incident with Kasparov we should bear that in mind & choose words carefully.

"The worst," ChessSponge?  Where did I say this?  Did you not even consider the surrounding context?

I could have written out this response myself.  You're so obvious it hurts.

Your counter-argument is now arguing a stated vs inferred word. You're so obvious it hurts.

To some guys what Assange is accused of having done is acceptable, to others it isn't. Pussy Riot were accused of performing in a church and got two years for it, Assange is accused of sexual assault and avoids trial at all costs. I have no idea if Assange is guilty, but I don't think a trial in Sweden would be more unfair than the trial Pussy Riot got in Russia.

I think both trials would be equally unfair, considering both are essentially show trials to crack down on dissenters.

Though then again, Pussy Riot actually did something illegal (though not nearly as harmful as made out to be), whereas Assange just acted like a bit of a cad.  The facts of the "case" don't bear the slightest scrutiny.

Dear Chesssponge:

Your words are universally true and I agree:

"Anyone who thinks the country they live in is the worst country on the planet should leave that country, yes. Otherwise your words have absolutely zero merit as you clearly enjoy the country enough to live there so it can't be the worst one that exists."

There's no such thing as a bad country, therefore no such thing as "the worst" country. More simply put: countries are anacronic concepts striving to perpetuate the barbarian feelings of tribe. The main reality is mankind. Chess.com global community supports the truth I claim, for instance. The very same problems arise here, there and everywhere. In the very same intensities, differing, only, regarding scarce special "eco-peculiarities".

Joeydvivre:

Do you use to forget taking your meds? Does this change your mind? This time, have you taken them or forgotten doing that? You're being nice, I agree, but do you think, really, that meds are relevant to the validity of an argument? Is there a pharmalogic?

In 1998 Peter Tatchell interrupted the Archbishop of Canterbury's Easter sermon by holding a speech on gay rights. He was fined 18 pounds. Maybe not as spectacular as what Pussy Riot did but on the other hand he did interrupt the Archbishop himself.