The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer

Le Golfe contrôle Par  Thierry THIRAULT   —  26 novembre 2015 à 19:36 Jeudi 26 novembre 2015. Vue du circuit Yas Marina d'Abu Dhabi.   Luca Bruno. AP   Les pays du Golfe, dont Abou Dhabi où se tient le dernier Grand Prix de la saison ce week-end, ne veulent pas que le Qatar ait sa course ? L’émirat a une solution : racheter tout le barnum !    Le Golfe contrôle Au commencement tout n’était que poussière, désert, pétrole et gaz… Puis vint Bernie Ecclestone qui, des pistes du désert, fit naître le blé. Et l’harmonie régna… Enfin non, pas tout à fait, voire pas du tout. Car si Abou Dhabi, où se tient le dernier Grand Prix de Formule 1 de la saison ce week-end, sur l’île de Yas, a eu droit de cité depuis 2009, c’est que Bahreïn l’a bien voulu. En effet, Ecclestone, patron de Formula One Management, qui s’occupe des droits commerciaux de la poule aux œufs d’or, a consenti un droit particulier au royaume,...

By James M. Dorsey Turkish fans twice in two months disrupted moments of silence for victims of Islamic State attacks in Ankara and Paris in a demonstration of the kind of intolerance bred by religiously-cloaked authoritarianism in countries like Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The fans demonstrative empathy with the Islamic State by shouting Allahu Akbar, God is Great, during moments of silence at the beginning of two soccer matches represented more than simple identification with the jihadist group or evidence of a substantial support base in Turkey. It signalled a shift in attitudes among some segments of Turkish society as a result of 12 years of rule by one of modern Turkey’s most important leaders that increasingly has been infused with notions of ‘us’ and ‘them.’ In Turkey, them is often Kurds, who account for up to 20 percent of the population. Kurds were prominent among the victims in Ankara in October and an earlier IS attack in July in south-eastern Turkish town...

©Shutterstock Published on: November 21, 2015 THE BEAUTIFUL GAME Soccer is Politics JAMES M. DORSEY Why Egypt’s repressive regime considers soccer fans one of its biggest threats. A hmed (not his real name) is an Egyptian soccer fan —and a fugitive. He has been expelled from university, convicted twice in absentia, and sentenced to two long terms in prison. He moves around Cairo in a protective crouch, speaks in a low voice to avoid being overheard, and looks furtively over his shoulder as he organizes flash protests against the government of General-turned-President Abdel Fattah al Sisi. Ahmed is a leader of a militant soccer fan group called Ultras Nahdawy (“ultra” is a term for a hardcore soccer fan first used in Italy). Like other such groups, it is constantly in danger of being banned by the Sisi government under new, sweeping anti-terror legislation that targets dissent as much as political violence. Ahmed sees Nahdawy, fo...