by James M Dorsey An Egyptian businessman with close ties to general-turned-president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has submitted a bid for the broadcasting rights of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in a move that is widely seen as an effort to polish the image of Egypt, tarnished by massive abuse of human rights, failing economic … [Read more…]
Remarks at 2016 Exeter Gulf Conference Global soccer and global sports governance have for the past nine years and certainly since a fateful meeting in late 2010 of the executive committee of FIFA, the world soccer body, witnessed crisis after crisis. Invariably the scandals involved corruption: financial corruption, political corruption or corruption of sporting performance. … [Read more…]
This book project on Saudi public diplomacy using primarily the kingdom’s financial muscle has had a long gestation. It focuses on the impact of various policies of the kingdom on Muslim communities and nations across the globe. In doing so, I will concentrate on Saudi government policy and actions as well as those of senior … [Read more…]
By James M. Dorsey Abu Otaiba, the nom du guerre of a self-taught imam and Islamic State (IS) recruiter in Jordan, uses soccer to attract recruits. “We take them to farms, or private homes. There we discuss and we organize soccer games to bring them closer to us,” Abu Otaiba told The Wall Street Journal … [Read more…]
By James M. Dorsey Reputational risk associated with autocratic investment in high profile soccer clubs threatened to catch up with the UAE as a powerful coalition of political and civic leaders in Manchester demanded that the Gulf country release political prisoners, investigate allegations of torture and respect human rights. The leaders, who include members of … [Read more…]
By James M. Dorsey Kamal Salibi, one of the Arab world’s foremost contemporary historians, kicked up a storm when he concluded in a 1985 linguistic exegesis that Judaism’s Zion was not located in Israel but in Saudi Arabia. Israelis, Jews, Saudis, Arabs, Muslims and Palestinians found common ground at the time to denounce Mr. Salibi … [Read more…]
By James M. Dorsey Saudi Arabia is projecting miniscule steps to reverse decades of denial of women’s sporting rights as evidence of significant changes in the kingdom that aim to diversify its energy-dependent economy and upgrade its autocracy. The steps include the appointment of a member of the ruling family to oversee women’s sports and … [Read more…]
By James M. Dorsey Politics’ incestuous relationship with soccer came full circle this week with the mass resignation of executives of the Turkish football federation and the firing of scores of officials, including referees, as part of the government’s witch-hunt against followers of controversial Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen and other government critics. Intended to facilitate … [Read more…]
By James M. Dorsey Introduction Continued doubts about the longevity of the Saudi ruling family are fuelled by its Faustian bargain with Wahhabism -a conser vative, intolerant, discriminatory and anti-pluralistic interpretation of Islam.[i] It is a bargain that has produced one of the largest dedicated public diplomacy campaigns in history. Estimates of Saudi Arabia’s spending … [Read more…]
https://mideastsoccer.blogspot.com/2016/07/turkeys-anti-gulen-campaign.htmlBy James M. Dorsey A Turkish demand that Pakistan close 28 primary and secondary schools associated with controversial, self-exiled Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen has put the government in Islamabad in a quandary as it attempts to get a grip on an education sector in which militant Islamists and jihadists figure prominently. Turkish Ambassador to Pakistan … [Read more…]