The FIFA Bust

[Bacillus anthracis]

So apparently 7 FIFA officials (7 for now) have been arrested for a grossly corrupt series of crimes including bribery and etc. And anyone who knows about FIFA (which I really don't) has said this was a long time coming. It also explains how Qatar, a place with daytime temps that exceed 120 F, got the World Cup.

Now, I'm not a big soccer fan. I watch it like I do the Olympics. Once every four years, and as soon as the U.S. is inevitably eliminated, I'm done watching. But before that for-sure event occurs, I also like watching all the other matches that may, in my temporary sports-fan fantasy world, affect the U.S. team's chances of progression.

However, I'm actually worried about the players having to play in that oven. You can't pump fluids back into the body fast enough under those kinds of conditions and it's conceivable that players could die or suffer serious injury. It's one thing to see a big hit, or the teams pushed to their physical limits during the course of a game. But this could be deadly.

So I guess my question is this: Due to the arrests, can Qatar be shitcanned from holding the World Cup? For example, can some body of some sort recall the decision in order to review just how Qatar actually got the thing and then choose another nation?

 

[Tom Sawyer]

They've specifically said that the Russia and Qatar World Cups are going on as is, despite the methods used to get them. I really hope they play night games in Qatar, though. It's dumb to have matches in those kind of conditions.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

The World Cup in 2022 will be in December, so temperatures will be milder and survivable. Of course, when they were awarded, FIFA said the summer wouldn't be a problem.

I doubt Qatar can lose the games. They have money, undoubtably, being pumped into stadiums right now. Taking it away could cause significant legal problems at this point.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

One thing that I don't really get is how this is an American problem.

The FBI is arresting people in Europe for bribing officials in Russia and Qatar. While it's correct to arrest them, I just don't understand the jurisdictional issues here.

 

[dystopian]

One thing that I don't really get is how this is an American problem.

The FBI is arresting people in Europe for bribing officials in Russia and Qatar. While it's correct to arrest them, I just don't understand the jurisdictional issues here.

The FBI isn't arresting anyone in Europe; they obviously don't have jurisdiction. It's the Swiss who arrested them at a US request. The US is involved not because it particularly cares about bribery in Russia or Qatar, but because those acts of bribery touch upon US jurisdiction through acts of wire-fraud (supposedly, the Swiss prosecutors also agreed because the US tax/fraud laws have a much broader reach and therefore stand a higher chance of success) . They're basically saying 'if you're going down the corruption route, don't use American banking services to do it.'

The US (like many countries) routinely asks foreign countries to arrest individuals that are under criminal suspicion in the US; and countries are free to accept or reject such requests. The Swiss are particularly cooperative in some areas when it concerns extradition and judicial cooperation (not just with the US). The Swiss are also preparing their own case though; and it's not exactly a foregone conclusion that the suspects will ever be extradited.

Most of it's pretty standard fare really. Although, one of the reasons the US supposedly claims jurisdiction is... well, a little bizarre. "In addition, U.S. authorities claim jurisdiction because the American television market, and billions paid by U.S. networks, is the largest for the World Cup."

I suspect that's just a journalist doing some creative interpretation though; because such a claim has absolutely no leg to stand on internationally speaking which surely any prosecutor would realize. Besides, calling the American television market the largest for the world cup isn't that impressive when you realize that means they represent only 11% of the total. Hardly "this is our jurisdiction" material.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

OK.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

One thing that I don't really get is how this is an American problem.

The FBI is arresting people in Europe for bribing officials in Russia and Qatar. While it's correct to arrest them, I just don't understand the jurisdictional issues here.

Actually, they are arresting CONCACAF officials for bribes and what not. I believe the Swiss are investigating FIFA over in Europe.

 

[credoconsolans]

The World Cup in 2022 will be in December, so temperatures will be milder and survivable. Of course, when they were awarded, FIFA said the summer wouldn't be a problem.

I doubt Qatar can lose the games. They have money, undoubtably, being pumped into stadiums right now. Taking it away could cause significant legal problems at this point.

Apparently the government of Nepal is pissed at Qatar. I think I read about 4000 Nepalese workers are in Qatar helping build the stadiums and other structures and when they wanted to go home to help their families after the quakes, Qatar refused. They needed them to keep working to stay on schedule.

 

[Thomas II]

 

[bilby]

FIFA is so endemically corrupt that they make the IOC look like paragons of probity and virtue.

The whole organization is rotten to the core, and it should be wound up, it's entire caste of top officials jailed, and a new body formed in its place, with a solidly anti-corruption constitution and by-laws.

Of course, that won't happen.

Qatar is too close to the equator for the time of year to be particularly significant; even in December, it is very hot and very dry. The Qatari bid included a commitment to build enclosed, airconditioned stadia for the tournament; While this makes the infrastructure hugely expensive to both build and to run, it is par for the course in Arabian major projects, which are more about pissing contests between Sheiks who compete to see who can waste his vast wealth in the most flamboyant possible way, than they are about actually achieving anything worthwhile.

FIFA officials are attracted to wealthy Sheiks with big bank accounts and flamboyant lifestyles in the same way that wasps are attracted to jam. Given this, it is surprising that the World Cup has not been in Arabia before; certainly once the oil price rose towards $100/bbl, it was not going to be long before the wasps noticed just how much jam was lying around in the Arabian peninsula, and set up a sting operation.

 

[bilby]

The World Cup in 2022 will be in December, so temperatures will be milder and survivable. Of course, when they were awarded, FIFA said the summer wouldn't be a problem.

I doubt Qatar can lose the games. They have money, undoubtably, being pumped into stadiums right now. Taking it away could cause significant legal problems at this point.

Apparently the government of Nepal is pissed at Qatar. I think I read about 4000 Nepalese workers are in Qatar helping build the stadiums and other structures and when they wanted to go home to help their families after the quakes, Qatar refused. They needed them to keep working to stay on schedule.

Slavery is frowned upon in the modern world, so Qatar (and other Middle Eastern nations) have eliminated it, and replaced it with a system whereby slaves workers are not permitted to leave their jobs, or the country, without the permission of their owners employers, and are required to do whatever is demanded of them, in return for wages that are arbitrarily lowered or withheld without recourse or explanation.

The system is totally not slavery, so please stop trying to find out if it is slavery, because it isn't, OK? Totally different it is. Why are you being racist and suggesting that we are enslaving people, when all we are doing is giving them the opportunity to be incarcerated in work camps they are not allowed to leave?

 

[RavenSky]

The World Cup in 2022 will be in December, so temperatures will be milder and survivable. Of course, when they were awarded, FIFA said the summer wouldn't be a problem.

I doubt Qatar can lose the games. They have money, undoubtably, being pumped into stadiums right now. Taking it away could cause significant legal problems at this point.

Apparently the government of Nepal is pissed at Qatar. I think I read about 4000 Nepalese workers are in Qatar helping build the stadiums and other structures and when they wanted to go home to help their families after the quakes, Qatar refused. They needed them to keep working to stay on schedule.

From what I've been reading, this is one of the biggest objections to Quatar (besides the heat). They basically turn the migrant workers into slave labor by taking away their passports, refusing to sign exit visas, refusing to pay the workers as promised then *lending* them money to survive thereby putting the workers in debt. Apparently, working conditions are so bad, a sizable percentage of these workers die. One article said that based on current conditions, they expect hundreds of laborers will die to get the Olympic facilities built.

 

[bilby]

Apparently the government of Nepal is pissed at Qatar. I think I read about 4000 Nepalese workers are in Qatar helping build the stadiums and other structures and when they wanted to go home to help their families after the quakes, Qatar refused. They needed them to keep working to stay on schedule.

From what I've been reading, this is one of the biggest objections to Quatar (besides the heat). They basically turn the migrant workers into slave labor by taking away their passports, refusing to sign exit visas, refusing to pay the workers as promised then *lending* them money to survive thereby putting the workers in debt. Apparently, working conditions are so bad, a sizable percentage of these workers die. One article said that based on current conditions, they expect hundreds of laborers will die to get the Olympic facilities built.

The death toll is already well over 1,000, and there is a death approximately every two days. By 2022, the death toll could easily be pushing 2,500. So not hundreds, but thousands.

 

[RavenSky]

From what I've been reading, this is one of the biggest objections to Quatar (besides the heat). They basically turn the migrant workers into slave labor by taking away their passports, refusing to sign exit visas, refusing to pay the workers as promised then *lending* them money to survive thereby putting the workers in debt. Apparently, working conditions are so bad, a sizable percentage of these workers die. One article said that based on current conditions, they expect hundreds of laborers will die to get the Olympic facilities built.

The death toll is already well over 1,000, and there is a death approximately every two days. By 2022, the death toll could easily be pushing 2,500. So not hundreds, but thousands.

You are correct. I was trying to go by memory and did not want to mistakenly exaggerate the horror, and so I grossly under stated it

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

From what I've been reading, this is one of the biggest objections to Quatar (besides the heat). They basically turn the migrant workers into slave labor by taking away their passports, refusing to sign exit visas, refusing to pay the workers as promised then *lending* them money to survive thereby putting the workers in debt. Apparently, working conditions are so bad, a sizable percentage of these workers die. One article said that based on current conditions, they expect hundreds of laborers will die to get the Olympic facilities built.

The death toll is already well over 1,000, and there is a death approximately every two days. By 2022, the death toll could easily be pushing 2,500. So not hundreds, but thousands.

Lets keep this in perspective. There are already over 100 slaves dying a year in Qatar without the World Cup. Wait... what?

 

[C_Mucius_Scaevola]

It's very telling that, when typing "qatar world cup" into google, the second suggestion that shows up is "qatar world cup deaths". Meamwhile here's a graphic to throw some perspective on it:

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Is that accurate? Is that including all slave deaths in Qatar?

What a fucked up question.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

So umm... Sepp Blatter just quit. Right after the election, which would seemingly not be a coincidence. The US DOJ took down Sepp Blatter. Incredible.

The Obama Admin has fought against corruption like he promised. Just no one thought it would almost solely be with regards to the International Football governing body.

 

[Bacillus anthracis]

So umm... Sepp Blatter just quit. Right after the election, which would seemingly not be a coincidence. The US DOJ took down Sepp Blatter. Incredible.

The Obama Admin has fought against corruption like he promised. Just no one thought it would almost solely be with regards to the International Football governing body.

And now there is talk of pulling the event from Qatar.

If it can be proven that Qatar was awarded the 'Cup due to bribery, then in very simplistic contract terms, it can be voided. Of course it's way more complicated than that, but a collection taken up by the contributing nations to FIFA could compensate Qatar for what they've put into infrastructure so far and then tell them to fuck off.

The event can easily be held in the UK, Germany, France, Spain, or the U.S without an excessive amount of trouble. South Korea, China, Japan, Australia; they could do it too.

Or maybe, as a humanitarian gesture, give the damn thing to Brazil again in order to mitigate their own self-inflicted tragedy.

With all the corruption that's gone on, it seems only sensible that prior decisions should be reviewed and corrected if need be. And that should include shitcanning the disastrous decision of allowing Qatar to host the World Cup.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

But then all the thousands of slaves would have died for nothing as opposed to dying to increase the prestige of the people who enslaved them.