At this point, the Internet looks pretty much like a chessboard, where Google is the king, and everyone else hunts him for checkmate. The only problem is that Google knows its strategy, and it’s been going pretty well so far, as it maintains its lead position in the Internet business.

We’re all familiar with the Microsoft – Yahoo “soap opera,” as they’re negotiating, not negotiating, negotiating again… As they apparently changed strategy, and are heading for a partial deal (Microsoft is now primarily interested in its search business), Google might face an even bigger alliance, rumors have it.

That alliance would include, besides Microsoft and Yahoo, which many believe would be insufficient to bring Google down, the popular Facebook. However, that’s something Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t approve, as he stressed while in Japan, at the launch of the Japanese language version of Facebook.

Zuckerberg said in an interview with Reuters that he wanted the company to remain independent, although he refused to comment on the possibility of a sale. Microsoft has already invested $240 million in a small percentage of Facebook in October last year, but the prospects of a sale haven’t been confirmed so far.

What we can understand from all this is that Microsoft wants to dethrone Google by all means, and in its vision, Yahoo and Facebook could do the trick. They seem to want it pretty badly, since they decided to propose an alternative plan to Yahoo, after repeatedly failing to reach an agreement.

Facebook is currently reaching out to the Japanese market, trying to break the dominance of Mixi Inc. So far, Zuckerberg opposed the idea of selling the company, but you never know what the future brings.