The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer

  By James M. Dorsey To watch a video version of this story on YouTube please click  here. A podcast version is available on Soundcloud,   Itunes ,  Spotify ,  Spreaker , and   Podbean. As Indonesia passed the chairmanship of the Group of 20 (G-20) to India earlier this month, major Muslim and Hindu organisations, some backed by their governments, are battling to define the role of religion in global politics and whether the world's significant faiths need reform to harness the power of their convictions. The battle's outcome could determine what constitutes religious moderation, the state's role in defining what religion stands for, and whether notions of reform will involve significant jurisprudential and doctrinal reforms aimed at erasing concepts of supremacy and enhancing principles of pluralism and greater freedom. The stage for the battle was set at the Religion Forum-20 (R-20), a gathering of religious leaders in Bali, earlier this month in advance of a summ

By James M. Dorsey To watch a video version of this story on YouTube please click  here. A podcast version is available on Soundcloud,   Itunes ,  Spotify ,  Spreaker , and   Podbean. Recent Saudi efforts to appease the Biden administration in the wake of the kingdom’s backing of last month’s OPEC+ oil production cut take on added significance in the wake of this week’s US midterm elections that have strengthened Joe Biden and weakened former President Donald J. Trump. Saudi insistence on a two million barrel a day cut in the wake of Mr. Biden's failed effort to persuade Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to delay the cut, if not increase production, in advance of the elections, was widely seen in Washington as an effort to bolster Mr. Trump's Republican Party. If that was the Saudi strategy, it backfired. Mr. Biden's Democratic Party fared far better in the elections by holding onto control of the Senate and losing the House of Representatives to the Republ

  By James M. Dorsey To watch a video version of this story on YouTube please click  here. A podcast version is available on Soundcloud,   Itunes ,  Spotify ,  Spreaker , and   Podbean. The Qatar World Cup kicks off a week from now. It is the most controversial World Cup in the history of global soccer body FIFA and has been enveloped in controversy from the moment Qatar won its hosting rights in December 2010. The controversy is as much about rights – human rights, workers’ rights and LGBT rights – in Qatar as it is about the integrity of global sports governance. Qatar won its hosting rights at a moment in which FIFA was shaken to its core by the worst corruption scandal in its history. The controversy is also about the fact that the Qatar World Cup in many ways symbolizes the transition of soccer, the world’s most popular form of popular entertainment, from a people’s sport into big business. The hike in airfares because of the pandemic and the energy crisis sparked by