International Relations

In the beginning of the 21st Century, foreign policy tensions even pervaded casual contacts between those from opposite sides of the pond. Secretary Rumsfeld was happy to hear about this encounter where "Old Europe" got put in its place again:

Back at the hostel the beer flowed like wine and we sat around talking to French and German travelers. I saw these three German dudes playing chess and introduced myself for a game. They had the intensely intellectual, caustic, and borderline-haughty air of Germans playing chess in a cafe. The guy I played, Benjamin, immediately made 2 huge mistakes. 1.) He couched the game in terms of an American/German international rivalry, and 2.) he underestimated me and tried to get me with “Scholar’s Mate,” the oldest trick in the book. Needless to say I dispensed him with ease with a drop kick to the face.