The FBI had somebody wearing a wire at the London Olympics to capture the FIFA corruption taking place in the margins. What were the British authorities doing? Nothing.
Britain prides itself as having in London the world’s leading financial centre. Substantial assets, both financial and real estate, from FIFA corruption are located in London. But Britain has taken over the crown from Switzerland as the major financial destination which will always protect ill-gotten wealth.
Alisher Usmanov played a major role as bagman for the corrupt Russian World Cup bid, particularly with delegates from FIFA’s Asian Confederation. His place as Britain’s third richest resident is very obviously based on extreme Russian corruption and he rose to power and wealth solely with the use of gangster muscle and contacts he gained and expanded while serving a prison sentence for blackmail. But he is a billionaire and beloved by the City of London so there is no danger of him ever being investigated in the UK.
That a key figure in FIFA corruption over Russia’s World Cup bid, is undisturbed in his large shareholding in Arsenal FC, says everything about the complicity of the British establishment.
Usmanov’s friend Gulnara Karimova is a startling example. She is now under formal investigation in Switzerland, France, Sweden and the Netherlands over the glaringly corrupt origins of her billions. Only a fake house arrest by her father has prevented her real arrest. Yet in the UK, where she has three homes including one in the No.1 Hyde Park criminals’ hangout, where she shops regularly and her son is at university, there is no move against her whatsoever.
I am delighted to see the moves against FIFA. But to me they illustrate very plainly what a corrupt stinking hole London has become.
Well, we’ve no way of knowing now how the vote might have gone.
Everyone will be crapping themselves that they’ll be next to end up in a US FED Max should they vote incorrectly.
The whole thing is corrupt of course, as is US justice too, but remember that modern football stemming from the early 1990s is a media bread and circuses exercise during a period when wages across the Western world remained fairly stagnant.
We know the results of that today.
Nobody cared that it was corrupt so long as it did the business it was intended to do. Just like the banks.
You’ve no basis for your other allegations.
BUT, what we know for definite is that the vote has been interfered with and prejudiced by the actions of US authorities.
Craig
You have given Herbie’s silly posts quite enough attention and I suggest you stop responding to them.
Is it not clear to you?
Herbie belongs to the Jew/Israel/Zionist-haters on here.
As such, he has sympathy for the view that the Zurich arrests are an attempt to divert from the question of Israel’s membership of FIFA.
You, quite correctly, have rubbished that view.
And in consequence Herbie – who, by the way, always wants to have the last word – he’s in the teaching profession!) – is seriously pissed off with you and is venting his peeve by nitpicking and asking you silly non-questions.
Simples!
…World War 3, which effectively rendered mankind extinct, other than in Wikipedia Regional HQ, Orkney, began at 1500 hrs UTC on xx/yy/20zz and ended an hour later. The cause is in doubt, but appeared to be a dispute about football. Or a football? This article is a stub…
(Wikipedia, sometime in the not too distant future)
Herbie, I think Craig’s already answered your question.
Brian
I asked two questions.
Can you point me to where they’re answered.
Thanks.
Cash used to be King, now it is God.
Hence it applies to the whole World; don’t know about the Universe. As someone said, maybe Earth is some other planets’ hell!
Politics has become another form of tribalism. One has to be mad to look for it to provide all the answers. In that we give up all our personal power. It is what it is — that’s not a passive statement. If we actually looked at the ‘what is’ — constantly and consistently — we would first look for answers in ourselves, within; rather than without.
Understanding politics without understanding Life and ourselves is lame, understanding Life and ourselves without the tribalism of politics is blind.
(Literary/logic inspiration: “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” — Einstein)
Evguenie, Putin stopped the assassination of Olof Palme from triggering armageddon, thanks to Litvinenko’s discovery of that Toshiba cargo container filled with sensors to see if Moscow was preparing an ICMB launch in reponse to the expected surprise, and Sasha was killed when he started shooting off his mouth about it al at the West’s expense.
And Putin stopped the smuggling out of Soviet top military and intelligence equipment when he sank the Estonia, it seems, when Stockholm failed to do anything about the illicit trade.
Does anyone else find Trowbridge’s ramblings (those long posts establishing “connections” between this, that and the next thing and littered with droppings – names dropped ad nauseam – tedious beyond belief?
I see Putin has come out and criticised the USA,inferring that they’re trying to take away Russia’s chance of hosting a world cup.
As you rightly point out,why hadn’t the UK managed to uncover such corruption,I tip my hat to the FBI,using their powers in a positive way,so often it’s not so positive.
I’d imagine it would be late in the day to annul Qatar’s world cup,as hosts,if corruption is involved.
It’s such a pity that a sport loved by most,and its zenith body which organises the highest football tournament,the world cup,is allegedly rife with corruption.
Now even the shipwreck of the Estonia is part of some dark, post-Cold War conspiracy. It really beggars belief.
Corruption welcome in Europe more likely. The FIFA election and conference should be postponed.
The popularity of football world wide has attracted the usual greed merchants, the clubs, agents and officials. Football is not immune for having games rigged and there is no debt ceiling clubs have to adhere to.
If UEFA would introduce the rule that clubs can’t have more than x or y debt, than the transfer sums/salaries, currently unchecked, would somehow limit their spend thrift.
Sepp Blatter must resign. His tenacious regime for over 4 decades has seen many scandals, with Quatars slave labour world cup being the latest. He can’t honestly think that we believe his ‘i know nothin’ comments. What sort of chair has he been?
I’m sure that he knew exactly what was going on and that he had his cuts on some of these deals, he was a hands on chair and lived a high life on the back of the beautiful game.
@ Mary, thanks for the good will messages after Norwich excellent win against Middlesborough.
I can reveal that they will keep their Scottish coach, Becchio will leave the club and they are looking to strengthen the club with two more players.
Norwich is debt free and has some of the best fans ever. I’m sure Craig would agree.
@THF
Having personally talked to one of the few survivors of the Estonia ferry; where the wreck is now a forbidden area of international waters;and divers are arrested; that is all conjecture 😉
@Habbabkuk, lots of things are covered in smoke/mirrors/magic/deception, (some people would consider that the fundamental reason for your commenting here) but personally I welcome your amplification of which points to focus on
“I tip my hat to the FBI,using their powers in a positive way…”
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Well, I admit I wasn’t expecting anyone on here – at least, no one of the neo-Excellences – endorsing Craig’s view, tucked away at the end of his post, that “I am delighted to see the moves against FIFA”!
That endorsement shows that (partial)redemption is always possible. It’s just a pity that RoS is the only one to find it within himself to give such an endorsement.
Habby, totally agree. Unless Trowbridge H. s going to bare for us the whole theory behind the assassination of Olof Palme in a coherent way.
YouKnowMyName
“@Habbabkuk, lots of things are covered in smoke/mirrors/magic/deception, (some people would consider that the fundamental reason for your commenting here)”
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They would be mistaken if they thought that. My reasons for posting on here are clear to all who want to see.
I suspect the arrests have more to do with America also having bid to host the 2022 World Cup and I would suspect American officials also bribed FIFA officials to ensure they won.
Looks to me like it’s sour grapes for being outbribed by Qatar.
“Does anyone else find Trowbridge’s ramblings (those long posts establishing “connections” between this, that and the next thing and littered with droppings – names dropped ad nauseam – tedious beyond belief?”
Does anyone find the tedious, ad nauseum put downs by Habbakuk as nauseous and cringe worthy and debilitating to new posters, as I do?
As much as I find Trowbridge a yawn, he can post what he likes here and however much our schoolmaster does not agree with it, whilst using the same ample opportunities here to bore the pants of us, he has nothing to say here at all.
Villager
I quite agree. It is the lack of coherence which is the disturbing/irritating thing. Trowbridge’s narrative flows on unendingly, like a babbling brook, and as someone has already pointed out (Dreoilin, perhaps?), when one attempts to query anything he immediately responds with a trickle of new names and events in an unending chain. To continue the aqueous image, he immediately and repeatedly muddies the waters.
FIFA haven’t (yet) made this list! -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sporting_scandals
The Sporting list is interesting as the latest Greek Football scandal sees heavy and active participation from Greek GCHQ. . .amazing!
Back to FIFA, I lived in Switzerland for many years, it was very clear that the Swiss police always knew exactly what was going on (OK except when the Police Chief in Geneva accidentally arrested his own daughter) (actually, he then completely changed his way of policing)
The fact that the Schweizer Polizei haven’t arrested the FIFA barons until now shows that some serious stuff is going down. I’m all in favor of tiding up corrupt soccer, just add it to the list of everything else that is corrupt – and use a little or preferably a lot of perspective.
The british media has started appending the word ‘alleged’ to the FIFA criminality today, having spent all day yesterday hammering home the arrests for corruption, without the legal qualifier.
irrelevantly I last visited FIFA in Zuerich when I was trying to find a car-park for the next-door Zoo, it certainly reeks of cash, lots of profit from TV Rights for the world-cup. That was until people started bypassing Sport PayTV with the ‘Periscope’ App
Nebelmind
“Does anyone find the tedious, ad nauseum put downs by Habbakuk as nauseous and cringe worthy and debilitating to new posters, as I do?”
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Do, for once in your life, Ingo, try to be a little original! And even accurate.
I have not noticed that new posters (at least I assume they are new – perhaps the jury is still out of that one?) like RoS, RobG and company have been “debilitated” by my presence on this blog.
Debilitated perhaps in terms of the quality of their posts but certainly not in terms of volume and frequency. 🙂
“Now even the shipwreck of the Estonia is part of some dark, post-Cold War conspiracy. It really beggars belief.”
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As I said previously nothing but destructive comment’s nothing constructive at all.
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On the City of London I would agree with Craig that’s corruption and cronyism are rife.
No doubt the City of London Rembrancer could tell a few tales,what with the role to channel communications between the Lord Mayor’s Office,and the City of London.
Why would anyone give an endorsement to corrupt US attorneys who selectively pursue only those whom it’s politic to do so.
This isn’t justice. It’s politics.
Had the US a justice system worth the name they’d have pursued the corrupt bankers who’ve plunged the planet into bankruptcy.
These suits have three purposes:
1. To remove Blatter and replace him with their Jordanian puppet.
2. To influence the vote to ouster Israel from the community of decent nations.
3. To rescind or otherwise mess with Russia 2018. Blatter wouldn’t budge on that.
You don’t give them credit for pursuing their own political agenda through their justice system, especially when they’re so filthy and corrupt themselves.
Simples!
YouKnowMyName
I would agree with you on the efficiency of the Swiss police. But, just out of interest, were you referring to the Bundespolizei or the Zuercher Kantonalpolizei?
“That endorsement shows that (partial)redemption is always possible. It’s just a pity that RoS is the only one to find it within himself to give such an endorsement.”
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It may come as a surprise to you, but I not adverse to giving credit where credit is due.
I would like to bet the FIFA corruption is peanuts compared with BEA Systems.
If the FBI had any balls they would investigate them.
People should also remember that Switzerland itself is in the firing line.
The West has come to the conclusion that perhaps Luxembourg might be a more amenable place for controlling and observing their own and the rest of the planet’s financial transactions..
The Swiss had played hard ball over privacy, and have been paying the price ever since.
Republicofscotland
““Now even the shipwreck of the Estonia is part of some dark, post-Cold War conspiracy. It really beggars belief.”
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As I said previously nothing but destructive comment’s nothing constructive at all.”
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What is constructive about Trowbridge asserting that the foundering of the Estonia was Putin’s doing because the Estonia was carrying a secret cargo of “Soviet top military and intelligence equipment” ?
Nothing at all, I suggest.
Now, of course Trowbridge can write whatever he pleases and he is not obliged to back up his assertions with anything concrete; contrary to what sime on here think, this is a free country. But it is also legitimate to assert – equally, without concrete backup – that Trowbridge is talking garbage.
RoS
“It may come as a surprise to you, but I not adverse to giving credit where credit is due.”
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It certainly does! But a pleasant one, nevertheless.
However, you still have a long way to go before you might redeem yourself in the eyes of the saner element on this blog. Keep at it! 🙂
UEFA’s Michael Platini, another self serving thorn in Blatter’s side for some years, was said to be in tears after Blatter refused to accept his call for him to resign.
So now UEFA is contemplating leaving FIFA.
But, crucially, they are not going to boycott the conference starting tomorrow which makes their threat a tad whinny.
Does anyone find the tedious, ad nauseum put downs by Habbakuk as nauseous and cringe worthy and debilitating to new posters, as I do?
Not me, squire. For that is their purpose. I use ‘Habbabreak’ every day, and presto! no more buggerlugs nausea!