goalmole said:
Just to continue the theme of human rights, but from slightly different and perhaps a more optimistic angle. I think ownership of a high profile football business that is Manchester City has the capacity to encourage the rulers of Abu Dhabi to change the way they govern their country and how they view the rights of the people that they govern. It is common knowledge that City have been bought primarily as a vehicle for the publicity and promotion of the perception of Abu Dhabi as a country and a culture. This in itself points to the fact that the rulers of Abu Dhabi want be seen as full card carrying members of the comity of nations rather than backward looking barbarians who just happen to have struck it rich with the oil that they have been blessed with. It matters to them that they are seen as moderate and progressive. It matters to them that they are respected. Rather than the idea of City being used to mask the excesses of an authoritarian regime, i think the exposure that City gives to the regime in Abu Dhabi increases the possibility of the rest of the world being able to nudge an otherwise authoritarian regime towards moderation and democracy and of the Abu Dhabi government being more receptive to that pressure in order to gain the acceptance and respect that they crave so much. The reaction of the Qatari government to the criticism of it's policy towards foreign workers would amply illustrate my point.
I read an article a couple of years ago, I think it was by a Canadian journalist but I'm not sure, that spoke about how some of the nations in the Middle East were being more proactive in dealing and promoting themselves in the West as a way of opening up the eyes of their citizens to the ways other people live their lives. The article was saying that to Western eyes a lot of the laws over there are incredibly backward and that the rulers want to change that, however a lot of the power in the countries is in the hands of the more extreme religious leaders, so if they want to relax laws on something that goes against the hardline beliefs of their more vocal clerics then there will be an almighty fuss (along the lines of gay marriage in the States but much worse) which makes it difficult to change these laws and customs, much like the Queen here can't just do whatever she wants. As they have been quite isolated until relatively recently a lot of people don't even consider that there's a different way of living and of interacting with each other and the wider world but the rulers feel that if there is a more open cultural exchange with the West then this may change. This makes sense to me as they would know that eventually the oil will run out and they will have to rely on other sources of income for their countries but if they are still stuck in the past then this will be incredibly difficult, and one thing we know is that Sheik Mansour, Khaldoon and others are well trained in the arts of capitalism having studied at places like Oxford and Harvard. The article was nothing to do with football at all except that there was a mention of Sheik Mansour buying City as an example of this way of opening peoples minds and helping to change opinions at home. Maybe the PR exercise is as much for the people in Abu Dhabi as it is for us outside it. Please bear in mind that I read this article quite a few years ago and have no particular interest in politics or many places outside Manchester so this could all be complete rubbish and Sheik Mansour may flog slaves to death while eating babies and I would have no knowledge of that.
And for the record FFP is the most imbecilic, ill thought out crock of shit I've ever heard of since the last time Rodgers opened his mouth.
