It's All Oil-Related?

David Wearing (University of Sussex) offers some interesting insights pertinent to the seemingly strange decision to choose Qatar as a location for Soccer's World Cup. He points out that the resultant 'sportswashing' benefits both Qatar and the 'West' (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/16/sportswashing-qatar-west-world-cup-regime). Wearing opines that the public here are repeatedly fed the line that, there is a basic tension between Qatar's enlightened rulers and the 'conservative culture' of their population. We are told that this accounts for their attitudes to women's rights, homosexuality and the lethal exploitation of foreign workers. Wearing points out, however, that Qatari authoritarianism sits within a much wider system of power, violence and exploitation. In recent history, the British colluded with local elites in an attempt to ensure the West had continued access to the region's oil reserves. That system persists to this day. A World Cup, of course, is (and has already been, via the construction) also a very major booster of 'greenhouse gas' emissions. Oil built the 'country' and powers the World Cup. Quite puts me off watching Wales (but I might manage a glance at the TV).