Developments of Concern Related to U.S./NATO War Hysteria
Russian Athletes Banned and Expelled from Competitions
Russian athletes are being targeted by various sports federations, including the paralympics, soccer, tennis, car racing, figure skating, curling and other sports who are banning them from competitions. The bans were instigated in large part when the International Olympic Committee (IOC), dominated by the U.S. and NATO countries, took an unprecedented step and demanded that global federations and event organizers put in place a global ban on athletes from Russia and Belarus from all sporting events.
Organizers for the Paralympic Winter Games, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), initially decided the athletes could compete without flags and anthems of their countries but with the Paralympic flag. The very next day, under great pressure from the U.S., Britain, France and other NATO countries, they reversed themselves and said the athletes could not compete. Andrew Parsons, head of the IPC, admitted that there were no problems among the athletes, but that governments were pressuring their national committees to demand Russia and Belarus withdraw or they would boycott.
Soccer’s international governing body, FIFA, took the most damaging action to its own dignity and honour by banning all Russian clubs and national teams from international competition. The ruling means that Russia is out of World Cup qualifying. It had been two wins away from advancing to the 2022 Cup in Qatar.
FIFA also had initially opted for similar limits of bans on Russia’s name, flag and anthem. But again, strong objections from the U.S., France, Britain, and other NATO countries demanded and got a complete ban. UEFA, soccer’s European governing body, stripped St. Petersburg, the home of the Russian energy giant Gazprom, of this year’s Champions League final. The game will be played in France instead. UEFA also ended a sponsorship agreement with Russia’s Gazprom. The deal was worth a reported $50 million a year to European soccer, a deal no doubt another monopoly will now secure.
The International Skating Union (ISU), figure skating’s world governing body, has also now barred all Russian and Belarusian athletes from competition. Russia’s Olympic Gold medalist and 2021 world champion Anna Shcherbakova is among those who will not be allowed to compete in the World Championships March 21-27. The International Skating Union said the athletes are being banned in recognition of “its solidarity with all those affected by the conflict in Ukraine.” Evidently Russians are not among those affected. It underscores the irrationality which is prompted when chauvinism and arbitrariness become official policy.
The damage these bans do to athletes of the entire world, not just Russians and Belarusians, is extensive. It makes a mockery of international competition when the competition is not permitted to attend. All wins are thereby tainted. Importantly, relations of trust are required for international organizing committees to function. This is shattered. To be credible and deserve respect, such committees must follow rules based on principle and their mandates, not political expediency.
Athletes have often taken courageous stands against institutional racism, police violence and imperialist war. The very fact that they are involved in sports, the multicultural composition of many teams or intercultural relationships they enter into between peoples of various countries and nationalities makes them inclined to look for friendship between peoples and to reject the persecution of individuals and groups based on their race or nationality, or the ideological beliefs of governing institutions. So too sports-loving communities oppose such persecution.
(TML Daily, posted March 16, 2022)
