The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer

Platini in Bedrängnis Unsere Freunde aus Katar 30.01.2013 18:26 Uhr Von  Martin Einsiedler Die Drei von der Bankstelle. Der neue Präsident von Paris St. Germain Nasser al-Khelaifi (l.) und Sportdirektor Leonardo (r.) stellten am Neujahrstag vor der Skyline von Doha einen...  - FOTO: AFP Das Emirat investiert aus politischen Interessen riesige Summen in den Sport, vor allem in Frankreich. Die Verbindungen reichen hinauf bis in den Präsidentenpalast und bis zum Uefa-Chef Michel Platini. Information zum Datenschutz Soziale Netzwerke dauerhaft einschalten Auf dem Fußballplatz erreichte der Sportler Michel Platini seine Ziele meist mit beeindruckender Eleganz. Der Mittelfeldspieler war derart veranlagt, dass er – wenn es denn sein musste – den Gegner mitunter ganz alleine, etwa mit einem seiner gefürchteten Freistöße, bezwang. Das Feld der Sportpolitik dagegen ist ungleich komplizierter, vielschichtiger – und auch begrenzter. So soll Platini nach einem...

Adding to the powder keg: The Black Bloc (Source: Dalia Rabie/Egypt Independent) By James M. Dorsey Egypt’s military has authorized the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) to resume league matches this weekend a year after they were suspended in the wake of a politically loaded brawl that left 74 soccer fans dead. The move a day after Defense Minister and armed forces commander Gen. Abdel Fattah El Sissi warned of a potential “collapse of the state” signals the military’s expanding involvement in Egypt’s worsening crisis and threatens to pit it against militant soccer fans or ultras who hold it co-responsible for the worst incident in Egyptian sports history. The emergence of the Black Bloc, a group of battle-hardened militant soccer fans or ultras dressed in black with their faces hidden behind black mask that has intervened in recent days to protect protesters against the security forces and what they describe as Muslim Brotherhood thugs, adds to the powder keg...

There will be more deaths to come, as Morsi seems determined to crush and not heed the opposition. The great tragedy is that clearly, as long as there is no justice there won’t be peace, stresses  Dave Zirin .   If you want to understand why Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has declared a "state of emergency" or if you want to understand why the country’s defense minister warned Tuesday of "the collapse of the state,” you first need to understand the soccer fan clubs in Egypt -- otherwise known as the "ultras" -- and the role they played in the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Under Mubarak’s three decade kleptocratic rule, the hyper-intense ultras -- made up almost entirely of young Egyptian men -- were given near-free reign to march in the streets, battle the police and, of course, fight each other. This has been a common practice in autocracies across the world: don’t allow political dissent but for the young, male masses allow ...

RSIS presents the following commentary Qatar’s Challenge to Saudi Arabia: An  alternative  view of Wahhabism by James M. Dorsey. It is also available online at this link .  (To print it,  click on this link .). Kindly forward any comments or feedback to the Editor  RSIS  Commentaries, at   RSISPublication@ntu.edu.sg No. 017/2013 dated 30 January 2013 Qatar’s Challenge to Saudi Arabia: An alternative view of Wahhabism   By James M. Dorsey        Synopsis Qatar, whose native population adheres to the Wahhabi creed, poses a major  challenge  to the puritanical interpretation of Islam of Saudi Arabia, which seeks  to make itself  impervious to the push for greater freedom, transparency and  accountability sweeping  the Middle East and North Africa. Commentary THE GULF STATE of Qatar, despite its...

Beyond The Pitch Football news, interviews and debate. Home Drop a Line Twitter Facebook RSS Now We're Talking Football James Dorsey - Jan 2013 Sunday, January 27, 2013 James Dorsey of Senior Fellow at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies in  Singapore makes his second appearance on the show to help us break down  the  situation after renewed violence erupted in the wake of a number of death  sentences  handed down from the Egyptian judiciary in response to the incident at  Port Said. The  accused Al-Masry fans were charged in the deaths of 74 fans from  Al-Ahly soccer club  during a match in Port Said last February, a day after the two  year anniversary of the  revolution that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak.  James provides the kind of  deep dive analysis and insight into this tragedy, the  challenges and objectives of a post-revolutionary gover...

Beitar Jerusalem protest hiring of Muslim players (Source: Reuters) By James M. Dorsey Racism raised its ugly head twice in the Middle East in recent weeks: Anti-Muslim, anti-Arab supporters of right wing Israeli soccer club Beitar Jerusalem rejected the hiring of two Chechen Muslim players while Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi struggled to play down anti-Semitic remarks he made two years ago. The two incidents reflect the region’s battle to come to grips with the fact that it is populated by a myriad of ethnic, national, religious and sectarian groups. Widespread racism coupled with assertions of at times exclusionary rights and an unwillingness to recognize and honor others’ national and minority rights has become all the more glaring amid a regional push for greater freedom in a swath of land stretching from the Atlantic coast of Africa to the Gulf. While Christians view with suspicion and fear the rise of Islamist forces in post-revolt Arab nations and nervou...

(Source: Vice.com) By James M. Dorsey President Mohammed Morsi’s imposition of a curfew in three Egyptian Suez Canal and Red Sea cities may temporarily reduce violent street opposition to his policies but like this weekend’s initial verdict in the case against those responsible for last year’s death of 74 soccer fans in Port Said will do little to return political stability to the country. While the move caters to a craving among many protest-weary Egyptians for a return to normalcy that would help put the country on a path of economic growth, it reinforces perceptions of Mr. Morsi as an autocratic leader with an Islamist agenda rather than a man willing and capable of reforming state institutions molded under his toppled predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, in a country that has just emerged from three decades of repressive emergency rule. At the root of growing discontent in the country is the government’s failure to hold accountable those responsible for the death of mor...