Ronaldo and the Sports Laundering of Saudi Arabia’s Reputation – Financial Times

The article indicates that few would have expected 10 years ago that the Kingdom would witness such an event, as men and women swayed together to the sound of hip-hop music at King Fahd Stadium in Riyadh. It is known that women in Saudi Arabia were not allowed to enter football stadiums before 2017.

The Al-Nasr team was able to obtain Ronaldo’s services for $ 200 million annually, which made a nation of football fans happiest, whose clubs had not previously been able to attract the likes of this Portuguese player. The Saudis are also courting Messi (in the hope of including him in the Saudi League).

After the match, Ronaldo returned to his luxurious suite at the Four Seasons Hotel, where he is reported to be living with his girlfriend, Georgina. The article notes that at a time when sex between unmarried couples is prohibited in Saudi Arabia, the authorities are adopting a practical “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach with foreigners.

The writer explained that if the idea behind buying Ronaldo was to enhance the Kingdom’s image abroad, the authorities pay great attention to this idea. Foreign journalists were taken to the stadium in luxury buses and polite young men invited them to walk around the stands.

He said that the Kingdom is witnessing deep social and economic reforms during the reign of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose popularity is directed towards the younger group of the population, under the age of thirty. He neutralized the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice and allowed women to drive.

But Mohammed bin Salman, as he is known, has also faced intense criticism abroad for human rights abuses, including the recent wave of executions and harsh sentences. A 34-year-old doctoral student was sentenced to decades in prison over a series of tweets in which she criticized the authorities. Saudi officials defended these measures and noted that conservative members of the judiciary were critical of the crown prince’s more liberal reforms.

The kingdom is rushing to invest in Riyadh, led by the sovereign Public Investment Fund, which bought Newcastle United in 2021. Critics dismiss this as a distraction from continuing human rights abuses. “Al-Nassr’s signing of Cristiano Ronaldo fits into a broader pattern of sports washing in Saudi Arabia,” Amnesty International said in a statement before the match.

The Telegraph newspaper published a report on the poor conditions of women in Afghanistan in light of the bad weather and the snow wave that hit the country, and the Taliban issued a decree preventing Afghan women from obtaining vital aid during the harsh winter.

The newspaper indicated, in a report by its correspondent Harit Barber, that two-thirds of the population of Afghanistan will need urgent humanitarian assistance in order to survive this year, and new figures showed that women can no longer access a fifth of vital assistance services in Afghanistan, after the Taliban banned workers in humanitarian field.

It comes amid deadly sub-zero temperatures that have so far caused more than 100 deaths across the country, while millions of people face acute hunger and power outages.

In December, the Afghan Ministry of Economy decided to ban women from working in non-governmental organizations, which led to the suspension and curtailment of life-saving operations for women.

Ray Hassan, President of Christian Aid International, commenting on the data, said: “Women in need of support are reached through NGO workers, and without their presence, it is difficult to ensure that women in need have access to food, money and health support.”

A survey, shared exclusively with The Telegraph, also found that only 17 percent of aid organizations are fully operational, 67 percent have reduced their work and 15 percent have stopped operating altogether.

Hassan explained that Afghan culture makes it difficult for male aid workers to care for and support women in need.

“People are freezing and time is running out,” said Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN’s chief humanitarian coordinator.

“We need to build shelters now, but in this conservative society, if we don’t have female aid workers to talk to the women in the families, we can’t do this work.”

Between 80,000 and 90,000 women work in the aid sector in Afghanistan, while more than 11 million Afghan women depend on support from NGOs.

Back to the Financial Times to read an article by the newspaper’s editorial board about sending Western tanks to Ukraine, to stop the Russian advance.

The newspaper said that the shift in Berlin’s position on sending German Leopard 2 tanks is a major achievement for Kiev. Next spring will mark a potential turning point in the conflict in Ukraine.

She added that Kyiv needs advanced Western-made battle tanks, which could be vital in repelling a new attack that Moscow is preparing, and although the Leopard 2 tanks are best suited for the task, German Chancellor Olaf Schultz was reluctant to provide them unless the United States sent tanks to Kyiv. Moreover. But his recent decision to send in his tanks, apparently in coordination with the United States, represents an important boost to Kyiv’s war effort.

The newspaper stresses that Ukraine’s partners in the West have always and cautiously reviewed Russia’s “red lines” since day one, when Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened “unprecedented consequences in history” against any country that impeded his invasion.

Germany is one of the three largest arms exporters to Ukraine in the war, and tanks represent another step forward, because they represent a great progress in the destructive power and offensive capabilities of Ukraine, and unlike missiles, their operational range is theoretically unlimited.

All these reasons make, according to the newspaper, the German chancellor’s warning understandable, and he prefers the presence of American Abrams tanks in Ukraine as well. With the recent threats from Moscow, Schultz is looking for a protective cover from a nuclear power. German public opinion is also divided, despite growing calls for tanks to be supplied to Ukraine.

And the newspaper explains that the continued procrastination of Germany would have risked depriving Ukraine of a decisive military tool in the spring. Tanks are necessary for mobile operations that include infantry and artillery, known as the combined arms maneuver.

Also, the Soviet T-72 tanks that Ukraine obtained from its allies in Central Europe suffer from problems with ammunition and spare parts, and Kyiv will have to switch to NATO weapons, so German tanks are the most suitable and are used by 13 European countries, and the tanks themselves and spare parts are widely available .

US officials have also warned that US Abrams tanks are very heavy and difficult to operate, maintain and maintain. However, the Biden administration, after bipartisan pressure from Congress, has announced that it is willing to send Abrams vehicles if that is what is needed to get the green light from Berlin.