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[007]

Well, first let me congratulate Qatar for the win for World Cup BId for 2022.

Second, this is an achievement for the 'tiny' country of Qatar which is, geographically, historically, and technically speaking, is very very small compared to Uncle Sam, Australia, or Japan!!!

"So let's talk about Qatar. First off, let's look at how to say it out loud: As Slate reported back in 2002, "the most accurate English estimate is something halfway between 'cutter' and 'gutter.'" It's not, as many believe, KUH-TAR, and also not "guitar"; the word is hard for English speakers to pronounce because Arabic includes sounds that they simply don't use.

Qatar beat out the United States in the final round of voting in what President Obama called "the wrong decision." With a population of less than 1.5 million people, according to the World Bank (The CIA World Factbook puts the population at less than 850,000), the country will be the smallest-ever host country for the World's largest sporting event. To give you a geographic sense of the Arab emerite's size, consider this: As the CIA notes, the country, which is largely desert, occupies less land than Connecticut. "
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31751_162-20024442-10391697.html

It seems Qatar will use solar power to cool its stadiums!

It seems WikiLeaks has left Uncle Sam naked in front of the rest of the world!

Over to you Simpson, have you got anything to add?

[johnslat]

SHOW THEM THE MONEY

"How, then, has Qatar become a strong contender to host? Some observers argue that the Middle East deserves a World Cup. But the real answer, as with many questions pertaining to FIFA, is money. Qatar hopes to get around the odds against it by promising to go on a spending spree. It says it will devote $50 billion to new infrastructure (including an entirely new metro system), plus twelve new stadiums around the capital of Doha. (World Cups typically take place in ten to twelve cities in the host country.) Acknowledging that the stadiums will be of little use after the tournament ends, Qatar has pledged to dismantle those structures and use the materials to build stadia in other developing countries. It has also promised all its stadia will, with air-conditioning, be 30-40 degrees cooler than it is outside. (Still, there�s the problem of outdoor screening areas and other fan accommodations; as FIFA executive committee member Chuck Blazer said, �[Y]ou can�t air condition an entire country.�)

Qatar has also signed up a host of managers and retired stars to lobby for its bid. French legend Zinedine Zidane, for example, is featured in a TV ad campaign running on Geneva television. (Zidane stands to earn almost $15 million from the Qatari bid committee if Qatar is awarded the cup, and $3 million even if they are not.) Other big names, such as former Argentina star Gabriel Batistuta and current Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola, who were lured to Qatari clubs with big contracts in the twilight of their playing careers, are now on the emirate�s bid payroll, too.

That Qatar is throwing around so much money (and promises of more of it) is worrisome, given how vulnerable FIFA is to the lure of cash. To host a World Cup, a country has to submit to a �comprehensive tax exemption� for FIFA�s staging of the event, and in some cases even agree to waive any prosecutions for money-laundering. Senior FIFA officials, including North American confederation president Jack Warner and Brazilian confederation president (and 2014 World Cup chair) Ricardo Teixeira, have skimmed money off of teams and leagues in their regions. Two years ago Swiss investigators put together a 200-plus page complaint detailing hundreds of cases in which FIFA officials took bribes. And even World Cup voting is vulnerable to corruption: Just recently, two members of the committee voting on the 2018 and 2022 bids were caught by London�s Sunday Times offering to sell their World Cup votes. FIFA has since suspended the pair, but other voting members were then implicated in past bribery scandals by the BBC�s Panorama program.

While no Qatari officials have been linked to any scandals yet, the chairman of the country�s bid has already had to deny reports that Qatar promised to trade votes with the Spain/Portugal 2018 bid. Anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International, noting the misconduct and rumors surrounding Thursday�s vote, asked FIFA to postpone it�but the group declined. So the soccer world will be watching Geneva to see who wins out: a country (be it the U.S. or another contender) actually able to host the 2022 tournament, or the one willing to flash the most money in the face of an organization perpetually dazzled by it."

http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/79552/the-little-emirate-and-the-world-cup

AND THE WINNER IS

THE MOST MONEY (surprise, surprise)

Regards,
John