Geo-Politics and business is Zugzwang

Zugzwang…describes a situation where one player is put at a disadvantage because he has to make a move – the player would prefer to pass and make no move. The fact that the player must make a move means that his position will be significantly weaker than the hypothetical one in which it is his opponent's turn to move.

A player whose turn it is to move who has no move that does not worsen their position is said to be in zugzwang.

In a chess endgame, being in zugzwang usually means going from a drawn position to a loss or a won position to a draw, but it can be from a win to a loss, or a substantial loss of material which probably affects the outcome of the game.

Zugzwang
Wikipedia

I have studied the enemy all my life
 
I have read the memoirs of his generals and his leaders

I have even read his philosophers…

I have studied in detail the account of every damned one of his battles

I know exactly how he will react under any given set of circumstances
and he hasn’t the slightest idea of what I’m going to do

So when the time comes, I’m going to whip the hell out of him

George S Patton

What does a carnivore look for in the face of its prey and why?

If mold continues to multiply after eating half a piece of cheese
what happens when demand exceeds supply?

Are there times when compromise isn’t appropriate?

Should you do what you need to whether you like it or not
sooner than later?

Is the definition of civilized changing again?

I don't care if I follow your rules, if you can cheat, so can I

I won't let you beat me unfairly, I'll beat you unfairly first

Ender Wiggin
Fictional Military Strategist

Why do survivors survive?

Is stability a legitimate reason to stifle justified dissent?

Think does not = Chess

If you can’t necessarily control your pieces,
can you be obliged to move and/or sacrifice when you don’t want to?

If players don’t necessarily follow the same rules,
which can change without everyone knowing,
should you break rules if your opponent does?

Everybody sooner or later
sits down to a banquet of consequences.

Robert Louis Stevenson

Can winning be not playing?

Think = Chess

A metaphor.

 

If there are 9,183,421,888 ways to play the first nine moves,

9,417,681 the first six, 72,078 the first four, 5,362 the first three

and 20 to play the first,

are early moves more important than later?

 

Life is a kind of chess in which we have often points to gain,

competitors or adversaries to contend with,

and in which there is a vast variety of good and ill events…

 

By playing at chess…we may learn foresight, circumspection and caution.

 

Benjamin Franklin

On China vs. USA and Chess: If nothing doesn’t change, is not making a move moving?

All warfare is based on deception,
…when able to attack we must seem unable,
when using our forces we must seem inactive,
when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far…,
when far away, we must make him believe we are near.

Sun Tzu

China’s hawks demand cold war on the US

…almost 55% of those questioned for Global Times, a state-run [Chinese] newspaper, agree that “a cold war will break out between the US and China”.

An independent survey of Chinese-language media … has found army and navy officers predicting a military showdown and political leaders calling for China to sell more arms to America’s foes. The trigger for their fury was Obama’s decision to sell $6.4 billion (£4 billion) worth of weapons to Taiwan, the thriving democratic island that has ruled itself since 1949.

“We should retaliate with an eye for an eye and sell arms to Iran, North Korea, Syria, Cuba and Venezuela,” declared Liu Menxiong, a member of the Chinese people’s political consultative conference.

He added: “We have nothing to be afraid of. The North Koreans have stood up to America and has anything happened to them? No. Iran stands up to America and does disaster befall it? No.”

…“This time China must punish the US,” said Major-General Yang Yi, a naval officer. “We must make them hurt.” A major-general in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Luo Yuan, told a television audience that more missiles would be deployed against Taiwan. And a PLA strategist, Colonel Meng Xianging, said China would “qualitatively upgrade” its military over the next 10 years to force a showdown “when we’re strong enough for a hand-to-hand fight with the US”.

Chinese indignation was compounded when the White House said Obama would meet the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, in the next few weeks.

“When someone spits on you, you have to get back,” said Huang Xiangyang, a commentator in the China Daily newspaper, usually seen as a showcase for moderate opinion.

An internal publication at the elite Qinghua University last week predicted the strains would get worse because “core interests” were at risk. It said battles over exports, technology transfer, copyright piracy and the value of China’s currency, the yuan, would be fierce.

…American officials seem baffled by what has gone wrong and how fast it has happened.

…Diplomats say they have been told that there was “frigid” personal chemistry between Obama and the Chinese president, with none of the superficial friendship struck up by previous leaders of the two nations.

…Americans were also livid at what they saw as deliberate Chinese attempts to humiliate the president by sending lower-level officials to deal with him.

…In Beijing, some diplomats even claim to detect a condescending attitude towards Obama, noting that Yang Jiechi, the foreign minister, prides himself on knowing the Bush dynasty and others among America’s traditional white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant elite.

Michael Sheridan
Times Online

Is this George W. Bush’s Legacy?

Justices, 5-4, Reject Corporate Spending Limit

 

…President Obama called it “a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans.”

 

…Joined by the other three members of the court’s liberal wing, Justice Stevens said the majority had committed a grave error in treating corporate speech the same as that of human beings.

 

Adam Liptak

New York Times, January 22, 2010

Is it a coincidence that corporate America received permission from SCOTUS to go after Obama the same day Obama went after corporate America?

Justices, 5-4, Reject Corporate Spending Limit

 

Overruling two important precedents about the First Amendment rights of corporations, a bitterly divided Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections.

 

…The dissenters said that allowing corporate money to flood the political marketplace would corrupt democracy.

 

Adam Liptak

New York Times, January 22, 2010

Why would who have wanted Greensboro’s City Council to vote on the Swim Center before new members were sworn in?

Yvonne Johnson  for Mayor

 

Kelly Harrell                                    $100

Real Estate Developer, Koury

 

Stephen D. Showfety                       $100

Real Estate Developer, Koury

 

Stephanie Craft                                $100

Real Estate Developer, Koury

 

Lisa Johnson                                    $100

Attorney, County

 

Edmund Koury                                $100

Developer, Koury

 

 

Sandra Anderson Groat for Greensboro City Council at Large

 

Stephanie Craft                                $100

Textile Designer, Kravet

 

Stephen D. Showfety                       $100

President/CFO, Koury Corporation

 

Edmund Koury                                $100

Business Executive, Koury Corporation

 

Kelly Harrell                                    $100

Homemaker

 

Ashley Vanore                                 $100

Homemaker

 

Lisa Johnson                                    $100

Homemaker

 

 

Robbie Perkins for City Council

 

Kelly Harrell                                    $100

Koury Irrevocable Trust

 

Lisa Johnson                                    $100

Koury Irrevocable Trust

 

Ashley Vanore                                 $100

Koury Irrevocable Trust

 

Stephanie Craft                                $100

Koury Irrevocable Trust

 

Ronald Mack                                   $100

Koury Corporation

 

Edmund Koury                                $100

Koury Corporation

 

Stephen D. Showfety                       $100

Koury Corporation

 

 

Committee to Elect Zack Matheny

 

Lisa Johnson                                    $100

Homemaker

 

Andrew Vanore                               $100

Koury Corporation

 

Ashley Vanore                                 $100

Homemaker

 

Stephanie Craft                                $100

Textile Designer, Kravet

 

Ronald Mack                                   $100

Koury Corporation

 

Edmund Koury                                $100

Koury Corporation

 

Stephen D. Showfety                       $100

Koury Corporation

 

Eugene Tillman                               $100

Koury Corporation

 

 

Committee to Elect Trudy Wade

 

Stephanie Craft                                $100

Fabric Design

 

Lisa Johnson                                    $100

Homemaker

 

Edmund Koury                                $100

Developer, Real Estate

 

Stephen D. Showfety                       $100

Developer, Koury Corp

 

Eugene Tillman                               $100

Attorney

 

Ashley Vanore                                 $100

Homemaker

 

 

Mary Rakestraw for City Council

 

Lisa Johnson                                    $100

Homemaker

 

Kelly Harrell                                    $100

Homemaker

 

Stephanie Craft                                $100

Textile Designer, Kravet

 

Ashley Vanore                                 $100

Homemaker

 

Stephen D. Showfety                       $100

Pres, Koury Corp

 

Edmund Koury                                $100

V.P., Koury Corp

 

Geo-Politics and business is Zugzwang

Zugzwang…describes a situation where one player is put at a disadvantage because he has to make a move – the player would prefer to pass and make no move. The fact that the player must make a move means that his position will be significantly weaker than the hypothetical one in which it is his opponent's turn to move.

 

A player whose turn it is to move who has no move that does not worsen their position is said to be in zugzwang.

 

In a chess endgame, being in zugzwang usually means going from a drawn position to a loss or a won position to a draw, but it can be from a win to a loss, or a substantial loss of material which probably affects the outcome of the game.

 

Zugzwang

Wikipedia

I have studied the enemy all my life

 

I have read the memoirs of his generals and his leaders

 

I have even read his philosophers…

 

I have studied in detail the account of every damned one of his battles

 

I know exactly how he will react under any given set of circumstances

and he hasn’t the slightest idea of what I’m going to do

 

So when the time comes

I’m going to whip the hell out of him

 

George S Patton

Politics = Chess II

Is chess non-violent war?

 

All warfare is based on deception

…when able to attack we must seem unable

when using our forces we must seem inactive

when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far…

when far away, we must make him believe we are near

 

Sun Tzu

 

If an opponent’s position can be used against them

and the pinnacle of vulnerability is the moment of assault

should attack commence from defended positions?

Politics = Chess III

In chess, a fork is a tactic

that uses one piece to attack two or more of the opponent's pieces

at the same time,

hoping to achieve material gain

 (by capturing one of the opponent's pieces)

 because the opponent can only counter one of the two (or more) threats.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork_(chess)

 

If big print can give what fine print takes

can winning the wrong game lose the right one?

If I get to Wednesday, I challenge Zack Matheny to a televised debate

Without censorship

 things can get terribly confused in the public mind

 

William Westmoreland

American military commander, Vietnam, 1964 - 1968

US Army Chief of Staff, 1968 - 1972

 

Does thinking you understand what another says

mean you hear what they mean?

 

Who controls the past controls the future

 

Who controls the present controls the past

 

George Orwell

 

Should information be evaluated by origin and relative legitimacy?

 

George Hartzman

Questions for America

Greensboro Edition, 2009, Page 18

http://www.amazon.com/Questions-America-George-Hartzman/dp/0615243975/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234374485&sr=8

Politics = Chess VI

Does increasing risk when odds are good lower subsequent risk?

 

Rejoice not at your enemy’s fall,

 but don’t pick him up either.

 

Yiddish proverb

 

What do you do in a battle in which you die if you don’t fight or lose?

 

Whoever has his foe at his mercy and does not kill him,

is his own enemy.

 

Shaikh Sa’di Shirazi

Politics = Chess VI

Does increasing risk when odds are good lower subsequent risk?

 

Rejoice not at your enemy’s fall,

 but don’t pick him up either.

 

Yiddish proverb

 

What do you do in a battle in which you die if you don’t fight or lose?

 

Whoever has his foe at his mercy and does not kill him,

is his own enemy.

 

Shaikh Sa’di Shirazi

Politics = Chess V

Whatever failures I have known, whatever errors I have committed

whatever follies I have witnessed…

have been the consequence of action without thought

 

Bernard Baruch

American financier, and presidential advisor

 

Are chances better

for players who more accurately calculate probabilities

the farthest into the future?

 

If an offensive move doesn’t look advantageous

should defenses be reinforced instead?

 

If your attack is going too well

 you have walked into an ambush

 

Infantry Journal

City Council Incumbent Zack Mathenyhas responded to a debate requeston August 6, 2009, almost 2 weeks after challenged on July 24.

Coward

 

Etymology - From Old French coart, cuard, from coe (“‘tail’”)

The reference seems to be to an animal "turning tail",

or having its tail between its legs.

]

Coward (plural cowards) - A person who lacks courage.

 

Synonyms – chicken, gutless wonder, scaredy cat, yellow belly

 

Derived terms – cowardly, cowardice

 

Coward

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coward

 

Matheny won't join District 3 debate

 

Sitting Councilman Zack Matheny will not take challenger George Hartzman up on his request to have a District 3 debate.

 

Jay Ovittore, the third candidate for the district, agreed to the debate.

 

Amanda Lehmert

Greensboro News and Record, August 6, 2009

 

Coward

 

Noun - a person who is easily frightened

and avoids dangerous or difficult situations

 

[Latin cauda tail]

 

cowardly adj

 

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Coward

Politics = Chess VI

Does increasing risk when odds are good

lower subsequent risk?

 

Rejoice not at your enemy's fall

 but don't pick him up either

 

Yiddish proverb

 

What do you do in a battle

in which you die if you don’t fight or lose?

 

Whoever has his foe at his mercy and does not kill him

is his own enemy

 

Shaikh Sa’di Shirazi

Politics = Chess IV

The more captured opposing pieces the less risk

and vice versa

 

After the game

the king and pawn go into the same box

 

Italian proverb

 

Does the player who doesn’t make the last mistake

usually win?

Politics = Chess III

Do some football running backs fake left and go right

to mislead the defense to commit in the wrong direction?

 

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake

 

Napoleon Bonaparte

 

Should strategy be merciless

if a pawn can become a queen

weakness can become and overcome strength

and defense is offense?

Politics = Chess

A metaphor

 

Life is a kind of chess in which we have often points to gain

competitors or adversaries to contend with

and in which there is a vast variety of good and ill events…

 

By playing at chess…we may learn foresight, circumspection and caution

 

Benjamin Franklin

 

If there are 9,183,421,888 ways to play the first nine moves

9,417,681 the first six, 72,078 the first four, 5,362 the first three

and 20 to play the first

are early moves more important than later?