Here we are, once again writing for Takimag’s Christmas issue. Like every birthday of our Lord Jesus, this is a special one, so I want to make it count. In my sporting days, trying too hard was as counterproductive as not trying hard enough, so let’s see if this principle also applies to the written word.
Eighty-five thousand Yemeni children may have died of hunger, while 10,000 men, women, and children have been killed by indiscriminate and disproportionate air strikes targeting civilians, and that murderous megalomaniac Mohammad bin Salman and his Gulf allies are responsible. Just think of the enormity of the crime: 85,000 young lives starved to death in the cruelest way possible by those overfed criminals in Riyadh. Then picture George W. Bush, Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, and Prince Charles smiling, laughing, and breaking bread with such men.
Amazon.com Gift Card i...
Buy New $25.00
(as of 06:10 UTC - Details)
And then switch over to soccer and Manchester City. Owned by Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, with a bottomless well of wealth at his disposal as absolute ruler of the Gulf state Abu Dhabi, the club is easily lording it over the opposition by having collected every star available. Although fair play and fairness on the pitch are not the owner’s strong points, behind the scenes it’s even worse: For ever since the Gulf camel-drivers took over, the club has worked tirelessly to deceive the game’s authorities and get around UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations. (Inflated sponsorship deals masking covert cash injections from down south, you name it, they’ve pulled it, including threats to the accounting firm sent by UEFA to examine the cheating.)
I could have told this to anyone who would listen that the moment Gulf or Saudi money is involved, rules no longer apply. These people do not play and never intend to play by the rules, because for them oil money is God, and they know that our best and brightest will genuflect and spread their cheeks for them and then say thank you. So how about FIFA and its craven and crawling president Infantino fining Manchester City 5 billion pounds for cheating, and sending that money to Yemen in food parcels?
