Blatter said he had spoken with Putin during a visit to Russia on Friday and was assured “there is no intention to ask FIFA to change anything in the pattern and the program of the World Cup and we trust Russia will find a solution.”
Oh, I wouldn’t worry either. The oligarchs are getting restless, and Putin needs the World Cup to give them a chance to compensate themselves for the pain and suffering of the sanctions. The Olympics were a phenomenal opportunity for the lucky few to siphon off an enormous portion of the state money set aside for the Olympics. Now the same thing will happen during the preparations for the World Cup.
Of course, this will impoverish the people of Russia even further but that’s OK. They are ready to go hungry in return for everybody noticing their existence. If you want to understand what a narcissistic trauma on a collective level looks like, observe the Russians.
Clarissa's Blog 
It should be obvious by now that hosting world cups or Olympics serves only the corrupt bureaucrats at the IOC and FIFA.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/10/02/ioc_demands_oslo_drops_bid_after_over_the_top_list_of_requirements.html
They have no shame:
“Separate lanes should be created on all roads where IOC members will travel, which are not to be used by regular people or public transportation.”
Oslo did the right thing and told them to fuck off. I hope other cities do the same. Hosting such events is a surefire way to financial ruin.
Qatar got the 2022 world cup after bribing FIFA. The world cup is going to be played in the middle of summer, in 120 degree heat. The laborers imported from south east asia are dying by the thousands building stadiums, but FIFA doesn’t care.
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Let’s just rename it World Corruption Cup and be done with the pretense, I say.
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The thing is the olympics are spiritually dead and now seem to exist mostly just to give olympic officials bribes and some locals with good connections temporary employment.
It’s just a festival of dumb nationalism (mostly not even offensive just… dumb) with no larger purpose, doping and glib pro athletes and obvious corrupt bureaucrats. Oh and it’s a horrible boondoggle for the poor country putting it on (it definitely made Greece’s crash and burn much more painful than it would have been without it).
For about forty years the cold war made them interesting as there was the whole ‘clash of civilizations’ vibe and the amateur credo in the west gave the participants a kind of mystique.
And the whole spectacle aspect was interesting especially when most of the world had just a few tv channels.
The clash of civilizations thing is dead now because …. that’s just dumb (overusing the word, I know). Who wants to watch the 100 meter suicide bomb?
And with hundreds of tv channels the last thing people need is spectacle and the competitors themselves seem like shifty hustlers looking for a big score.
I didn’t watch any of the last three or four summer games.
I watched a fair amount of the Sochi opening ceremony (which tried hard, among other things, to make the USSR look like the funnest! place! ever!). And pretty much none of the games (unless it was by accident). I didn’t even search out the curling (which I love).
The World Cup isn’t much better (at a very deep level I don’t get soccer either so that doesn’t help).
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