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You rightfully dedicate a lot of attention to politics on your web page, and I whole-heartedly agree with your principled attitude toward cases of violation of legality and democratic electoral procedures in some European countries. At the same time I was taken aback by your irritation at my words: “I had never counted you among the Nazi hawks, Mark, but even you can’t stand any healthy criticism of your lobby.” I have always believed the open and honest debate to be the most precious democratic treasure, prerequisite for such legality. To dissipate any possible misunderstanding between us, to ensure the climate of mutual respect and reciprocal cooperation, I would like to offer you a few questions of great importance for both the chess players and the public at large. First, please, read the text below:

Some two hundred Kuwaitis reportedly perished in the course of the Iraqi invasion. Approximately twenty thousand Palestinians and Lebanese perished in the course of the Israeli invasion [of Lebanon]. There was fully a hundredfold difference between the two invasions. And as the media waxed indignant over Iraq's use of horrific chemical weapons against Iran and the Kurds, they should have remembered as well Israel's use, probably illegal, of cluster bombs and phosphorus shells during the Lebanon War. In his epic memoir, Pity the Nation, veteran British correspondent Robert Fisk described two Lebanese infant victims of the phosphorus shells:
	Dr. Shamaa's story was a dreadful one and her voice broke as she told it. "I had to take the babies and put them in buckets of water to put out the flames," she said. "When I took them out half an hour later, they were still burning. Even in the mortuary, they smouldered for hours." Next morning, Amal Shamaa took the tiny corpses out of the mortuary for burial. To her horror, they again burst into flames. (Norman G. Finkelstein, The Rise and Fall of Palestine: A Personal Account of the Intifada Years, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis and London, 1996, pp. 45-46)

About the author: Norman Finkelstein teaches international relations and political theory at City University of New York and New York University. One more quotation from the same source:

“Just as Germany's name was now inextricably linked, not just with Beethoven and Brecht, but with Hitler and Himmler, so the Jewish people's name would now be inextricably linked, not just with Marx and Menuhin, but with Sharon and Shamir”.

Dear Mark, would you be so kind to publicly answer the following questions in the light of recent sweeping electoral success of Mr. Ariel Sharon, world famous as “the Butcher of Beirut”, in Israel?

1) Are you scandalized by the election of a person directly responsible for mass murder of about 20.000 civilians in the Lebanese refugee camps for the post of utmost political responsibility in a European country?

2) Do you think that Israel deserves to have a baby killer as its Prime Minister?

3) Do you believe that a sadistic mass murder of women and children may be compatible with a political career of high international profile?

4) Do you now expect the United States of America to bomb Tel Aviv with depleted uranium covered missiles, to enhance and prop democracy in Israel?

5) Would you agree with the thesis: “Israel needs democracy, not chess”, similar to one about Kalmykia, promoted by so many a journalist?

6) Should FIDE, as a democratic organization, temporarily suspend the membership of the Israeli Chess Federation in this international body?

7) Would you deem necessary for the Israeli citizens who play a major role in the present FIDE (like Israel Gelfer and Willy Iclicky) to publicly distance themselves from the aggressive majority of Israeli electorate, to taint not a democratic image of FIDE?

8) Do you think that a mere existence of Kasparov Chess Academy in Tel Aviv, where Mr. Gelfer is actively involved, is tantamount to official political endorsement by FIDE of the bloody Israeli regime?

9) Do you participate in Mr. Finkelstein’s professional assessment of Ariel Sharon’s personality; do you find his geographical and historical parallel expedient?

10) Would you have energetically protested had Mr. Sharon been elected for the office of FIDE President?

In a hope that you will find time to address the above queries and share with us your feelings and thoughts on this issue,