Created this specific thread in order to keep the current Qatar thread clear.
You seem intent on just defensively rambling on about evil western boogeymen. It looks like what some call "whataboutism". The central idea being "It's okay for my country to do bad things because some other country did some vaguely similar bad thing". You seem so inclined to blame westerners for hypocrisy while simultaneously refusing to acknowledge the validity of claims against Russia and Qatar. American drone strikes do not make Russian suppression of independent press or Qatari use of what is essentially slave labor any less despicable. While the US military may accidentally hit civilians during war, and while that is also bad, it would in no way affect their potential hosting of a world cup, nor does it make Russia or Qatar any more suitable by comparison.The truth is that nobody in the developed western world, including the US and UK, have as poor a human rights record within their own borders as either Qatar or Russia. I don't think the USA was planning on hosting it's World Cup bid in Afghanistan.
Many Russian do not see the European world as a civilized world. But you can go to the World Cup 2018 This is not so far. I think the most important thing. Not your attitude towards Russia.I don't think many Europeans see the Russian WC as a European WC.
Bad idea.Have all Football Federations allowed to vote.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...-drops-dead-says-Chelseas-Mark-Schwarzer.htmlFifa will not ban summer football in Qatar until someone drops dead, says Chelsea's Mark Schwarzer
Chelsea goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer on Thursday night angrily demanded that football be banned in Qatar in the summer but warned that people may have to “drop dead” before Fifa acted.
In a furious attack on the game’s governing body, Schwarzer accused it of disregarding player welfare by awarding the 2022 World Cup to the Gulf state.
And the 42-year-old former Australia star went further by calling for all football to be banned in the country during the summer months, when temperatures can reach 50C.
Revealing he was forced to play a World Cup qualifier in Doha in June 2009, Schwarzer said: “You have to stop playing games at that time of year.
“It’ll only happen once probably, not one person, but two or three people drop dead. It’s ridiculous. It really is ridiculous to play at that time of year.
“I don’t even know why there is a debate. They [Fifa] had a committee go out there and say it’s not safe to play that time of year but they still award it [the World Cup].”
Describing the conditions he faced there five years ago, Schwarzer, an ambassador for Australia’s doomed bid to stage the tournament, said: “It’s like being in an oven.
“It’s hard to concentrate. Physically, it has a huge, huge impact on you and it takes you days and days to recover from it. It’s a really big ordeal.
“Most of the people actually leave their country at that time of year or go on holiday at that time of year because it is so hot.
“But Fifa decides it’s OK to play football matches there, which is crazy.”
Fifa is deciding whether to reschedule the Qatar World Cup from the summer to the winter, something that calls into question the wisdom of the country being awarded the tournament in the first place.
Schwarzer said he had lost all faith in Fifa under the regime of Sepp Blatter.
“That’s the biggest disappointment as a player and as somebody who’s very passionate about football,” he added at the Leaders Sport Business Summit at Stamford Bridge.
“It’s such a shame to see it run like it’s being run, with no little trust.”
Meanwhile, Fifa’s medical chief has urged English football to adopt its new ‘three-minute’ procedure for assessing players suspected of concussion following Thibaut Courtois’s injury scare against Arsenal.
Dr Michel D’Hooghe, the chairman of Fifa’s medical committee, also called on football’s rulemakers, the International Football Association Board, to make the protocol part of the Laws of the Game.
Courtois was examined for around a minute before being allowed to continue on Sunday, only to be forced off and taken to hospital several minutes later.
The Premier League and FA do not specify how long such an exam should last, unlike Fifa and Uefa, who allow referees to stop a game for three minutes.
D’Hooghe said: “I would be very grateful if this would go down to the 209 national associations of Fifa, and I hope it will be.”
The remainder of the article is here.By GRAHAM DUNBAR (AP Sports Writer) 56 minutes ago AP - Sports
GENEVA (AP) -- The American lawyer who led the investigation into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid process resigned from the FIFA ethics committee on Wednesday in protest over the handling of his findings.
Michael Garcia cited a ''lack of leadership'' at the top of FIFA in a resignation statement. He also said he has lost confidence in the independence of his ethics committee colleague, German judge Joachim Eckert.
The former U.S. Attorney quit a day after the FIFA appeals panel rejected his challenge of Eckert's summary of the confidential 430-page investigation dossier. Last month, Eckert moved to close the case on the World Cup bidding contest because of lack of evidence.
Russia won the right to host the 2018 tournament and Qatar was awarded the 2022 edition.
Garcia claimed that Eckert misrepresented his work and launched his failed appeal.
''(The) Eckert Decision made me lose confidence in the independence of the Adjudicatory Chamber, (but) it is the lack of leadership on these issues within FIFA that leads me to conclude that my role in this process is at an end,'' Garcia wrote.
In his resignation statement, Garcia also questioned how FIFA can truly change after years of scandals and criticism.
''No independent governance committee, investigator, or arbitration panel can change the culture of an organization,'' Garcia wrote.
Garcia also revealed that the FIFA executive committee, led by President Sepp Blatter, tried to have disciplinary proceedings opened against him in September for ''allegedly violating the Code of Ethics through my public comments.'' The attempt was rejected by the chairman of FIFA's disciplinary panel.
Garcia was appointed in July 2012 with the priority of probing the controversial 2018-2022 World Cup bidding contests. The investigation was designed to help reveal the willingness of Blatter's organization to confront some of its deep-rooted problems.
''For the first two years ... I felt that the ethics committee was making real progress in advancing ethics enforcement at FIFA,'' Garcia wrote. ''In recent months, that changed.''
Since Garcia and his investigation team submitted their work in early September, clear splits emerged between the prosecutor and the judge. Eckert has seemed closer to FIFA in his approach and belief in how the ethics panel could use its powers, much to Garcia's increasingly obvious frustration.
Their working relationship was damaged by Eckert's 42-page report published by FIFA last month which suggested that the World Cup bidding probe should be closed for lack of strong evidence of wrongdoing.
''(W)hen viewed in the context of the report it purported to summarize, no principled approach could justify the Eckert Decision's edits, omissions, and additions,'' Garcia wrote.
You want FIFA to change? It's real simple: Don't watch the World Cup, don't go to the World Cup, don't buy FIFA related merchandise and let sponsors know FIFA is an albatross around their necks. Stop the money flow and FIFA will respond.From AP via Yahoo:
The remainder of the article is here.
So the forces of corruption and evil appear to have won. It's time to use the ICJ and the UN to shut down FIFA.