The World Cup does not exist in a vacuum and it is but a piece on Putin’s board.
Putin plays chess. His years in the KGB taught him patience and planning. He plays the long game, he positions his pieces and waits for the perfect moment to strike. The World Cup has proven to be an outstanding publicity coup for Putin. It was foreshadowed with fear for attendee’s safety. British media and UK officials […]
Like the Sochi Winter Games, the immediate aftermath of the 2018 World Cup is likely to be favorable toward Russia. But, like the doping controversy that resulted in the barring of Russian athletes from several major sports competitions after Sochi, time will tell whether Russia’s hosting of soccer’s global extravaganza will be deemed a success. […]
Media pundits and geopolitical scholars have compared Putin’s World Cup to Hitler’s 1936 Berlin Olympics, asserting that the global spectacle of the World Cup is primarily a propaganda effort by Putin’s Russia. Indeed, the Sochi Olympic Games were just held in 2014, and Putin sought to grandstand his nation through a deceitful athlete doping and […]