Yanks eye Russia World Cup place after Aussie Foreign Minister supports European boycott
The fall out from the Russian government’s attempted murder of a former spy, Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English town of Salisbury continues to spiral upwards.
The UK and its European allies upped the ante by expelling further Russian diplomats who are reacting with tit-for-tat expulsions. As Ms. Skripal’s condition improves, the Russian government took the incident to another bizarre twist by asking to visit her in hospital, a move designed to show an even larger lack of remorse that their previously taunting tweets.
Meanwhile, the question of how the West can retaliate in a meaningful way has indelibly come round to sport and the 2018 World Cup. UK Foreign Secretary may have stepped over the mark when he compared Putin’s World Cup to the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which Hitler used as a propaganda event, but calls for a boycott of the event have gathered steam.
The first indication that is was being considered for real came surprisingly from Australia where Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Tuesday declared a World Cup boycott is being considered in relation to the escalating tensions between Australia and Russia.
Obviously they would seek support and she clarified that it would not be acting alone:
“The impact of sanctions, of course, is strongest when it is done collectively, and so we will continue to liaise with the [UK] Foreign Office and other allies and partners on this issue as to whether further action will be taken in response to the deployment of a chemical nerve agent in Salisbury.”
Although she was the first to go public, she has a strong ally in a man few Americans will have heard of, British MP Damian Collins.
Collins has been the most outspoken critic of FIFA in the UK Parliament for several years and was a strong objector to the award of the tournament to Russian and Qatar.
Collins is now also the Chairman of the House of Commons Committee on Sport, Digital and Media Affairs and has been spearheading the investigation into Cambridge Analytica, Facebook and the ties to the Russian attempted subversion of both the Brexit referendum and the US Presidential election. He was never an admirer of Vladimir Putin and now has fire in his belly as he hunts to uncover the entire truth about the Russian government’s overseas espionage.
As well as examining date and information issues, the Committee also includes sport and any recommendation to boycott the World Cup will come from Collins and his Committee members. Given his evident anger and his previous stance against the award of the Cup to Russia, it now seems almost inevitable. He will get support from Labour MPs who were infuriated at their own leader’s weak response to Putin after news of the attack broke.
Prost has already spoken to one member of Collins’ committee who would back a British Boycott of the World Cup if other countries join. With the Australians making that possible, it now falls to either France or Spain to create an unstoppable effect that Angela Merkel’s Germany would be politically forced to join. A quicker reaction is even more likely from the former Soviet Bloc nation of Poland and to a lesser extent Croatia, both of whom fear Russian subversion of their internal democracy.
Spain is currently seeking allies in its attempt to suffocate the democratic but separatist rebellion in Catalonia and this issue seems like a perfect opportunity to have the British Government owe it a favour, and promote the idea of Western solidarity as it jails more Catalan politicians (in a move bizarrely not dissimilar to Putin’s techniques.
The Russians would obviously not take this lieing down and would be anxiously seeking friendly foreign governments to take the places of the departing nations.
Several African states like Angola and Mozambique, still grateful for the Soviet assistance in the 1970s and 80s during their wars of independence would oblige. Castro’s Cuba is another likely candidate. However there is also one government which has been dragging its feet in standing up to Putin for reasons that his opponents can only speculate over, President Trump’s USA.
Having not qualified for the first time since 1986, the knives have been out for the US Soccer Federation to the point that President Sunil Gulati decided not to seek re-election.
The ensuing election uncovered large swathes of discontent among the hardcore soccer fans about the team’s failure, and the opportunity to play in a weakened competition is said to appeal to new President Carlos Cordeiro, who would love to deflect attention from questions about SUM, promotion and relegation, the lawsuit with NASL and even the integrity of his own election. Using Trump’s order for any necessary political cover, he would be politically unwise to decline a late invite to replace Australia.
There is clear precedent for this. In 1992, Denmark replaced Yugoslavia in the EUROs after the Balkan State was ejected for its human rights abuses in the region. That the Danes went on to win the entire tournament will not be lost on Cordeiro.
Prost sent out some inquiries to senior figures in US Soccer but understandably, most were reluctant to go on record. Only one time candidate Eric Wynalada answered and told us:
“This is why I’m glad I didn’t win. Imagine coming between Putin, Trump and that nutball Ted that supported me. I wouldn’t even wish that on Martino.”
Journalists were more willing to comment with Ian Joy, Bobby McMahon, Keith Costigan and Derek Rae describing the idea of “Britain” pulling out the World Cup as “a matter of important principle that makes them proud to be British”. Vancouver coach Carl Robinson just smirked when our local reporter put it to him but his quote was in Welsh, and he seemed to be smiling as he said it.
Canada is thought though to be unlikely to to follow the USA into the World Cup given its closer ties to the UK and its desire to take a higher moral ground than the States. A CSA spokesman was as reticent to comment as the US Soccer Federation with both associations wanting to see how things play out.
The UK Government might not be delighted if the USA participates but they have no grounds to ask for loyalty. When the US Olympic Squad boycotted the Moscow Olympics in 1980, the British still send a squad and made high propaganda value of how it showed their political independence from the USA at the height of the Cold War.
That lack of loyalty has always rankled in the State Department and Russia 2018 is the perfect opportunity to pay that back. As Collin’s Committee continues to investigate Cambridge Analytica and its connection to Trump’s election win, the World Cup present him with a perfect chance to fight back, a tactic he has practiced against every slight he has faced.
