are you one, MajorM? :)

I had this completely "off the wall" moment when I thought, " I wonder if this Putin
chappie is the "real deal", is it Vladimir Putin himself ?"
who would believe it if he was the real Vladimir Putin, it's doubtful, but possible.

That led to the "are there any other national leaders, or candidates for high office
who play web Diplomacy ?" question.

It might not be such a bad idea if particularly "hawkish" political candidates were
made to prove themselves in this "theoretical arena" before being allow'd to engage
in real warfare, and post their performance results for voters to assess.

For example, all those political "hawks" who are so hot to invade / attack Iran,
had to play 20 games of the 3 variant games and then reveal their performance
results, we could at least get some indicator as to their competence.

Say they were still rank'd as a political puppet after 60 games, well you could
dismiss the slick multi media ad campaigns, the political rhetoric, and reasonably
assess the chap as a dud.

I wonder who would be the best Diplomacy player out of the candidates for the
Republican party presidential candidacy ?

What player has gone missing since Gaddafi got shot ???

I am pretty sure Gaddafi would have stopped playing webdip before he got shot. When your dictatorship is collapsing around you, it is doubtful that the social pressure of not NMRing is sufficient to make sure you put in a move.

^I don't know I'm pretty serious about NMRing myself.

Kissinger and JFK were known to play this game in their time.

no no no , I am not a political leader.
I had enough drama when I replaced a long serving Captain of the
(field) hockey team last season. It was an "informal" replacement process,
He announced that he did not want to continue as Captain about an hour before
our first game for the season and nominated me as his successor, and the
"election" process was fairly casual.
He continued to play in the team & although I had his support and the support
of the core group of senior players, there were a couple of dissenters who start'd
being "not helpful" in the second half of the season & eventually the questions of
legitimacy etc got to the point I "abdicated" in favour of my Vice Captain ( a young
17 year old we had promoted to be the new goalkeeper & whom I had install'd as
Vice Captain because I could be sure of his loyalty )
The former Captain and myself ran the team with him for the last 3 or four games
as a sort of "gang of three".
I am getting too old for the hockey caper, I could go and play in the veterans
competition, but that is in a city about 60 miles away and I like the country competition
becuse we have a mix of players. The veterans is full of old fuddy duddy's like
myself.

It's cruel when the mind says, oh just employ that well used bit of stick work / ball
control and movement to get out of a given situation and the aging body is no longer
up to the task

I am a state senator.

How did JFK find the time to play diplomacy ?
I can still remember when he got assasinated, we got the day off from primary school,
and I remember the adults taking it all very seriously, lot's of hushed voices and
sadness & being told not to ask questions. Going to Church the next Sunday was
like going to a funeral for everyones favourite Uncle.

-> When you're tired of banging your favorite moviestar some nasty diploming can really ease the way back to day to day politics.

I like your quote from Napoleon ( on Diplomat33's player profile page )
"never interupt your enemy while he's making a mistake"

School kids get the day off whenever Presidents get assassinated? That's dangerous information to spread around.

If being a delegate to the UN counts then I am kinda (Model UN). ;p

Well, I'm a Model UN delegate for North Korea...

The best country in the world (to be for MUN...be as rude, forceful, and dickish as you want, it's all "in character"...I just got an award for it at a meet!)

;)

I once got best delegate and delegation at a conference. Good times.

It was serious stuff, when JFK was killed, and although we got the day off school,
I wasn't allow'd to go to the beach and play football or muck about with the other kids.
It really was ( at least in our house ) like someone in the family had died.
My parent's generation had been hugely influenced by the Great Depression
and then WW2, and I don't think many Americans realise how significant for
my parent's generation in Australia was our realisation that Britain would, or
could not help us against the Japanese. My uncle Ian flew in the RAAF, and was
station'd in Papua new Guinea and flew a Beaufighter.
Many American Marine's who fought at Guadalcanal came to Australia to recuperate,
and then went on to some even worse fighting in, I think Pelelui.
The American continent was ( I think) never subjected to direct attack by the Japanese
in WW2. We had Japanese bombing Darwin and a submarine attack in Sydney.
Neither of those were as singly devestating as Pearl Harbor.

So when JFK was killed, to my parents, it was a serious thing & kids intuitively
pick up on that, it was like I said coming home from school to a house & family
in shock & grief for some family member who had died suddenly & tragically.

On a lighter note, until I get an unequivocal denial from Putin
that he is the real Vladimir Putin, I will consider it to still be possible
that he just might be the real deal.

And pose the question, what political leader is Draugnar ???

I suppose I could answer the question:

I worked at the Permanent Mission of St. Kitts and Nevis to the United Nations. On occasion I sat in on behalf of the Ambassador and submitted St. Kitt's vote and briefed the Ambassador and Counselor on the various state's proposals for Security Council reform and on the pros and cons of the signing the Copenhagen Accords. I bet most of you have never even heard of St. Kitts and Nevis.

"The American continent was ( I think) never subjected to direct attack by the Japanese
in WW2."

The Japanese had submarines off the West Coast in December and January of 41/42 that sunk several merchant ships in the opening weeks of the war. A few months later, another submarine shelled Portland (Oregon). But the most serious Japanese attack on the American mainland occurred later in the war and involved sending balloon bombs all the way across the Pacific to set fire to the forests of the Pacific Northwest. They actually had some successes, burning tens of thousands of acres, killing several civilians and tying down thousands of Americans for weeks putting out the fires. This episode is mostly forgotten because at the time the military ordered a total media blackout - the thought was that if the Japanese knew they'd had success with this tactic, they'd do it again.

And then there were the German U-boats torpedoing shipping within sight of American beaches on the Atlantic side of the country in 1942, plus the saboteurs landed by submarine in New England, but that's another story...

Was von Clausewitz a political leader?

Mussolini would always open A Ven-Pie...

Of course I've heard of St. Kitts and Nevis. One of the smallest countries in the world, and most beautiful. That's pretty cool.

"i am sorry to anounce it but i will need to stop playing webdip starting from this moment,it was fun and an honor to share this great hobby with you guys,the thing is that i am too ocupied at work (things are getting out of hand)and i am not sure if i will ever play this game again."
"Asad"

@ MajorMitchell

I hate to disappoint you but I have it on good authority that Putin is in fact Angela Merkel

Is there anything that Putin does not do?

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/09/vladimir-putin-action-man/100147/

"I hate to disappoint you but I have it on good authority that Putin is in fact Angela Merkel"

ROFL, indeed. I tend to dither and have a crush on East Germany.

This also explains why my ghost rating is so low. The real Putin would not be such an inferior player.

Seriously though, all the national leaders play on vdip.

I note that the player using the Mr Putin name does not provide a definitive denial
(that he is definitely not Vladimir Putin, Russian leader )
he only makes a statement implying that he is not.
nor does he definitively deny ( or confirm ) that he is, in fact Angela Merkel.

St Kitts & Nevis are part of the West Indies, are they not, and as such,
are respectable cricket playing countries

thank you to Tolstoy for the information an Japanese attacks on "mainland" USA
in WW2.
I did indicate that I was not certain when I suggest'd that there had not been significant
Japanese attacks on mainland USA.

My essential point was that for my parents generation in Australia the realisation
that the British could not, or would not effectively help Australia defend against the
Japanese & that the alliance with the USA was far more important has had long term
influence in this country.
Compared to my grandparents it was a big change. My grandparents generation
believed in King & (British ) Empire. My grandparents were positively Victorian
( Queen Victoria ) and Edwardian (King Edward ) in their cultural & political beliefs.

Balloon bombing sounds like a strategy in this ancient greece browser game I've played, where the end tech unit was a big balloon that went over the enemy frontline and dropped fire bombs on their artillery...

I would like to note at this time that I am in fact legitimately President Eden, of the United States of America, 2077, playing on webDiplomacy via time travel technology invented in the year 2076.

@president eden
funny how taxes money will be spent on unecessary things also in the future,nothing will change.

I've been to St. Kitts as a cruise destination. Nevis is in the news right now because of the robbery of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer at machete-point.

Other than Zara (which is hella cool, and I didn't know about) :)
I know that one player a mayor. I don't want to out said player, especially since said player isn't active much right now, but said player was popular, known, and very good (really high GR).

Now, to business: Zara, if I can get to StKitts or Nevis, can you get me free room and board?? :)

Sacred: Correct! It is quite small and is desperately trying to make itself a more popular tourist destination. It has a lot of potential, save for some problems (see Hanged response below).

Major: Indeed, it is in the West Indies and has a consummate cricket team. They have awesome Caribbean accents and have a fine appreciation of spicy food too.

Hanged: Yea, I was surprised to see that in the news. My girlfriend came home and started with, "Did you see that Justice Breyer was robbed at machete-point in Nevis?" and I had to just sigh because that one event will probably cost the country millions of dollars in tourism. The tourism officials that worked in the Mission's office where always worrying about crime on the islands. It isn't much more prone to crime than most other places but the consequences of just one crime story from the island is devastating because their economy is so dependent on tourism. One of my projects was to review the UNFAO development proposal for the country which aimed to reduce environmental degradation and put former sugar cane plantations back into use by growing tropical fruits. The other thing that concerns me about that story is that the loss of revenue will likely push back their geothermal project on Nevis. The island has a good amount of geothermal energy potential and could likely provide power for most of the country. That would be a HUGE deal considering almost all their energy comes from imported oil now. Sorry for the rant...

Knox: Sorry man, I bugged the Counselor about that one day and he laughed. The government doesn't even pay for him to fly back home even though he is periodically required to make the trip. The best he said he could do is help me find a nice place to stay in Basseterre

Eh, it was worth a shot ;)

I don't think I could ever vote for someone who I've played Diplomacy with. Either I beat them and I know they aren't qualified for the job, or they beat me and I know they can't be trusted.

Geez, that's the exact opposite for me. If they beat me, then they are better than me, hence more qualified. If I beat them, then he/she would have had a valuable lesson and would hire me to be the confidante.