A World Cup Formula for Peace

We are made to observe an unspoken protocol that separates sport and war by the same political leaders who start wars in the first place. For Vladimir Putin, the glory and honor that arise from such events as the World Cup and the Winter Olympics were never truly about the peaceful aims of sport. They were all about money laundering and covering himself in the warm blanket of propaganda. So when Emmanuel Macron at the recent World Cup in Doha was seen enthusiastically cheering the French side in their losing match against Argentina, the state propaganda machine in Russia turned up its hate to increase all the schadenfreude it could muster over the French loss. The fact of the matter is that the unspoken protocol is enforced by habit, not practice, and when Volodymyr Zelenskyy was denied the opportunity to address the world ahead of the final match of the World Cup, it showed quite clearly just how global institutions that have been compromised by Putin's bribery and money machine over the past 20 years are not up to the task of creating a just and fair world. Which shouldn't be at all surprising given that the United Nations, a real global institution with real enforcement mechanisms, is itself unable to prevent Russia from throwing spanners into the gears of the UN Security Council. Which is why it is time to think up new institutions and move on from World War 2's post-conflict legacy of institutions.

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