Group items tagged

"The regional impact of the blockade on Qatar will be a lasting one and will not go away with the signing of a declaration". On June 15th, 2017 Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt severed political and economic ties with Qatar. However, recently The "solidarity and stability" agreement has made progress in overcoming this conflict.

Just as Qatar basically bought this world cup, so too are they buying their fans. Qatar soccer culture is not enough to fill the stands and ensure that they have loud and enthusiastic fans (in the first match, almost half of the stadium was empty by the end). Not to say that these fans don't want to be there. Although they are supporting another country, to go to the world cup for free and support another arab country has a big attraction to many people.

This was a weird one. Thanks, Alec.

Qatar, which is non-democratic and run by monarchs, has been widely criticized for its many human rights violations and its exploitation of workers. However, this is being ignored by other governments in the world who seek to become allied with Qatar. Geopolitical goals are prioritized over human rights.

It's not really surprise considering Qatar's history surrounding human rights issues. I know that right now I believe the kafala system is still in place, which in principle deceives workers and gives a great amount of control to people over these workers. Basically increases cheap labor for migrants. Furthermore, though I the ILO keeping stressing that the workers welfare is being taken care of, it is clear that this is untrue seeing that there are plenty of injuries. Frankly, I don't think the ILO ever thought they could stop anything.

I'd love to know more about the "kafala system." What's "the ILO," Nicole? International Labor Organization? What is that? A UN body?

I have not seen much news coverage about this. TOP TV is Saudi Arabia's most used distributor of the world cup and it has been suspended by the Media Ministry of Saudi Arabia. There seems to be a pattern of censorship in a lot of the larger non democratic regimes.

This is really interesting, and I know a lot of Saudi Arabians are upset that they cannot watch the World Cup. Saudi Arabia and Qatar are in conflict since Saudi Arabia boycotted Qatar due to their support for political Islamists, ties with Iran, and funding of Al Jazeera. Saudi Arabia is going to have to figure it out though or citizens will get increasingly upset.

Interesting find, Subby. Do you know if the clamp down by the Saudi government is persisting? And to Anika's clarifying of why there is so much tension between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. . . wow.

Foreign investment in Greece

US and Iran will play each other tomorrow. There is a lot of tension due to conflict between the two governments, and there have been protests in Iran for the last 10 weeks. Many fans have brought politics into the soccer games, such as booing at the national anthem and waving protest flags. Iran's leaders have arrested a bunch of people, and there are a lot of eyes on the team as they continue to advance.

There are so many political issues surrounding the World Cup that sometimes more important ones are ignored. Most of the attention has been directed toward Qatar and less toward what is happening with Iran. The media reporting more about how players are banned from wearing one-love arm bands and other less important issues distracts people from other more important things going on.

After today's game where Iranian players sang the national anthem after some of their families had allegedly been threatened, it is incredibly obvious that the Iranian government intends to use the world cup as a key political tool in dismissing unrest at home.

NYT Daily Podcast