tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/abu-dhabi-39490/articlesAbu Dhabi – The Conversation2021-05-27T15:37:35Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1609392021-05-27T15:37:35Z2021-05-27T15:37:35ZChampions League final 2021 – a game of two sides powered by gas and oil<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402635/original/file-20210525-19-4c4z6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=78%2C0%2C5719%2C3389&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-england-may-8-2021-manchester-1970696186">Shutterstock/kovop58</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On the night of the 2021 UEFA Champions League Final, Chelsea and Manchester City will battle it out for European glory. Only one of the two English teams will walk away with the trophy – but despite the rivalry on the field, both sides have plenty in common off the pitch. </p>
<p>They were, for instance, part of a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56824628">doomed attempt</a> to usurp the very tournament they are trying to win, with the establishment of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/european-super-league-owners-have-witnessed-the-power-of-fans-and-should-listen-to-them-to-avoid-future-failure-159469">European Super League</a>. That plan, involving 12 of the biggest clubs in the world, collapsed in the face of unfiltered outrage from <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2021/04/20/football-vs-greed-what-is-behind-the-outrage-over-the-european-super-league">fans, pundits and politicians</a> – and crucially, a change of heart at Chelsea and Manchester City. </p>
<p>The Super League house of cards seems to have truly started falling when Chelsea announced its intention to <a href="https://www.espn.co.uk/football/chelsea/story/4365461/chelseas-landmark-super-league-withdrawal-a-victory-that-overshadows-draw-vs-brighton">withdraw from the competition</a>. Their move was followed a few hours later by a similar <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/man-city-withdraw-european-super-league-b1834691.html">statement from City</a>. </p>
<p>There have been <a href="https://tribuna.com/en/news/chelsea-2021-04-23-putin-reportedly-behind-chelsea-withdrawal-from-super-league-for-3-key-reasons/">reports</a> that Chelsea’s U-turn was prompted by a telephone call from Russian president Vladimir Putin to his compatriot Roman Abramovich, the billionaire who owns the London club. Some media outlets have even suggested that Putin declared a super league would be <a href="https://www.rt.com/sport/522011-kremlin-abramovich-chelsea-super-league/">“against the spirit of the fatherland”</a>.</p>
<p>But however those decisions came to be made, the reality of the geopolitical and economic basis of European football is clear. And this is where the Champions League action becomes particularly interesting, especially in its associations with oil and gas. </p>
<p>Russia’s Gazprom – a corporation with origins as a state energy producer dating back to the old Soviet Union – has been a major sponsor of the competition since 2012, and has just announced a <a href="https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/about-uefa/news/0269-124ffe0cee51-2308c1da4764-1000--gazprom-partners-with-uefa-national-team-football-and-renews-ue/">big new deal with UEFA</a>.</p>
<p>Gazprom was privatised during the early 1990s reform period in Russia, but Putin’s ascent subsequently led to a majority of the company’s shares being taken back into <a href="https://www.piie.com/commentary/op-eds/folly-renationalization">state ownership</a>. Gazprom later acquired a rival energy company, the oil firm Sibneft, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2005/sep/29/oilandpetrol.russia">owned at the time by Abramovich</a>. </p>
<p>Gazprom, which is based in Putin’s home town of St Petersburg, also owns the local club, <a href="https://grantland.com/the-triangle/gazprom-zenit-st-petersburg-and-the-intersection-of-global-politics-and-world-football/">Zenit Saint Petersburg</a>. The former president of Zenit is Alexander Dyukov, a man who is also <a href="https://www.sportspromedia.com/movers-and-shakers/russian-football-president-dyukov-mutko-gazprom">president of the Russian Football Union</a>. In addition, Dyukov is chief executive of Gazprom and, in the middle of the Super League debacle, he was elected to the <a href="https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/news/0268-12163b1d0543-7ab0ff2e27b1-1000--alexander-dyukov/">executive committee of UEFA</a>.</p>
<p>If Putin really did call Abramovich about the Super League, it could be seen as yet another episode in Russia’s engagement with football as a geopolitical and diplomatic tool. </p>
<p>For many years, <a href="https://www.iris-france.org/154279-gazprom-and-its-sponsorship-of-football-from-sex-without-a-condom-to-major-strategic-threat/">some observers have wondered</a> why an organisation that sells gas to governments sits alongside the likes of McDonald’s and Coca Cola as a Champions League sponsor. But the answer to this can be found in the way that Gazprom enables Russia to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15377857.2020.1723781?journalCode=wplm20">project soft power and build legitimacy</a> through its associations with the world’s favourite game. </p>
<p>During his time as US president, <a href="https://fortune.com/2020/09/08/trump-pipeline-russia-germany-natural-gas-merkel-navalny-poisoned-nord-stream-2/">Donald Trump was bullish</a> towards Russian energy suppliers, and even imposed sanctions upon Gazprom. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-defense-congress-nord-stream-idUSKBN28E31I">Trump claimed</a> that Europe’s growing dependency on Russian energy supplies, especially in Germany (where <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-russia-has-devoted-its-energy-to-the-beautiful-game-46174">Gazprom sponsors FC Schalke 04</a>), constitutes a strategic threat to the continent’s security. The Joe Biden administration <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/05/biden-ted-cruz-russia-pipeline-473910">holds similar concerns</a>. </p>
<p>But perhaps being a sponsor of the tournament and having a strong relationship with both UEFA and Chelsea isn’t enough. For Gazprom also continues to strengthen its relations with Abu Dhabi, the small Gulf state which, via a member of its royal family, owns a majority stake in Manchester City. </p>
<h2>Gas goals</h2>
<p>Like Russia, Abu Dhabi owns some of the world’s largest carbon fuel reserves. In this sense, the Champions League final will therefore be a game powered by gas and oil.</p>
<p>Over the last decade, relations between Russia and Abu Dhabi have strengthened, leading to a series of strategic agreements, the most significant of which was <a href="https://gulfnews.com/uae/government/uae-russia-forge-strategic-partnership-1.2230246">signed in 2018</a>. <a href="https://lobelog.com/understanding-russia-and-the-uaes-special-partnership/">Described</a> as a watershed in bilateral relations, it covered all manner of issues in investment, trade, culture, space, tourism and security. </p>
<p>One outcome of this was the acquisition by Abu Dhabi’s state-owned Mubadala Investment Company of a $US271 million (£191 million), 44% stake in one of Gazprom’s subsidiaries. In 2019, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company then signed a <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/energy/adnoc-signs-strategic-framework-with-russia-s-gazprom-neft-1.924222">strategic framework agreement</a> with Gazprom to explore for and extract new oil reserves. </p>
<p>This led to a <a href="https://ntc.gazprom-neft.com/press-center/news/gazprom-neft-i-mubadala-petroleum-razvivayut-tekhnologicheskoe-sotrudnichestvo/">2020 announcement</a> that Gazprom and Mubadala will engage in technological cooperation in Siberia, where coincidentally Abramovich began building his gas powered fortune.</p>
<p>Come match day, most fans of City and Chelsea will not be overly concerned by the origins of the cash that has fuelled their clubs’ success. And with talk of a super league fading and many football fans hailing its defeat, some will see the Champions League Final as a victory parade for normality.</p>
<p>But this would be naive and misguided. For football has not merely been commercialised and industrialised over the last 30 years. It has also become intensely geopolitical, and sits at the heart of a complex global network of interests and investments. Indeed, for some powerful players, the sport has become a tactically astute means to extremely lucrative other ends – as epitomised by this year’s Champions League final.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160939/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Chelsea and Manchester City have similar goals on and off the pitch.Simon Chadwick, Global Professor of Eurasian Sport | Director of Eurasian Sport, EM Lyon Business SchoolPaul Widdop, Senior Lecturer in Sport Business, Leeds Beckett UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1349252020-03-27T15:52:15Z2020-03-27T15:52:15ZWhile coronavirus rages, bitcoin has made a leap towards the mainstream<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323615/original/file-20200327-146705-1tjpb0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Get used to it. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/bitcoin-financial-system-grows-crypto-currency-517507306">Anastasiia Bakai</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Anyone holding bitcoin would have watched the market with alarm in recent weeks. The virtual currency, whose price other cryptocurrencies like ethereum and litecoin largely follow, <a href="https://ycharts.com/indicators/bitcoin_price">plummeted from</a> more than US$10,000 (£8,206) in mid-February to briefly below US$4,000 on March 13. Despite recovering to the mid-US$6,000s at the time of writing, some doomsayers <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/billybambrough/2020/03/13/devastating-bitcoin-wipeout-could-see-the-price-go-sub-1000/">have even wondered</a> whether bitcoin will soon spiral back into three figures. </p>
<p>To add to the gloom, these shifts have broadly mimicked those of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business/market-data">stock markets</a> as investors first panicked about coronavirus only to be somewhat reassured by the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/25/senate-passes-coronavirus-stimulus-package">US government’s</a> US$2 trillion fiscal stimulus package to reactivate the economy. This similar pattern has cast doubt on a <a href="https://blog.novemgold.com/the-most-safe-haven-asset-is-btc-as-safe-as-gold/">common belief</a> in the cryptocurrency industry <a href="https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/bitcoin-just-failed-the-coronavirus-test-2020-03-13">that these assets</a> would act as a “safe haven” during a downturn by moving in the opposite direction to the market as a whole. For many crypto-enthusiasts, this was one of the main attractions to buying these currencies. </p>
<p><strong>Bitcoin vs S&P 500</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323607/original/file-20200327-146705-1s21349.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323607/original/file-20200327-146705-1s21349.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323607/original/file-20200327-146705-1s21349.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323607/original/file-20200327-146705-1s21349.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323607/original/file-20200327-146705-1s21349.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323607/original/file-20200327-146705-1s21349.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323607/original/file-20200327-146705-1s21349.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323607/original/file-20200327-146705-1s21349.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">bitcoin = blue; S&P 500 = red.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://uk.tradingview.com/chart/3z2UvmAM/">Trading View</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet while this has been unfolding, a more encouraging trend has attracted much less attention. Having banned cryptocurrencies in the past, or refused to acknowledge them as money, various countries have suddenly started recognising them in their financial laws and courts. This could well mark an important shift for these digital assets towards the mainstream. </p>
<h2>Starting guns</h2>
<p>The motivation for these shifts has been <a href="https://www.fatf-gafi.org/publications/fatfrecommendations/documents/guidance-rba-virtual-assets.html">new global standards</a> for anti-money laundering and counter terrorism set by global watchdog the Financial Actions Task Force (FATF). The rules provide a useful know-your-customer/anti-money laundering framework for cryptocurrency transactions which did not exist previously and were the reason why many countries did not allow them. </p>
<p>On February 26, a French court <a href="https://www.businesstelegraph.co.uk/regulatory-roundup-french-court-considers-bitcoin-money-cryptocurrencies-legitimized-in-south-korea-australia-india/">ruled that</a> a loan involving bitcoin was a consumer loan. This meant placing bitcoin in the same bracket as money and other financial assets in France for the first time, reassuring users that they will enjoy the same protections under the law. </p>
<p>Two days later, the financial services regulator in Abu Dhabi <a href="https://www.btcnn.com/abu-dhabi-adjusts-its-crypto-regulations-to-support-fatf-standards-offering-more-clarity-to-crypto-firms/">amended its</a> virtual asset legislation to align with the FATF standards. Germany’s financial regulator, BaFin, <a href="https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-is-financial-instrument-in-germany/">followed suit</a> on March 2, shortly followed by <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2018/01/23/bitcoin-drops-south-korea-bans-anonymous-crypocurrency-trading/">South Korea’s lawmakers</a>. Having banned anonymous cryptocurrency transactions several years earlier, this is a complete change of direction from Seoul. Among other things, <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/south-korean-lawmakers-greenlight-strict-crypto-aml-bill">exchanges will have to</a> open a real-name bank account with an authorised Korean bank, which should reassure many investors that they can be used safely. </p>
<p>India made a comparable U-turn on March 10 when its supreme court <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/c2f37f02-5df1-11ea-b0ab-339c2307bcd4">overturned</a> the central bank’s 2018 ban on banks transacting with cryptocurrency firms. This move had led to a drastic fall in the use of cryptocurrencies in the country. </p>
<p>Finally, on March 16 <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/zimbabwe-returns-to-crypto-as-reserve-bank-proposes-regulatory-sandbox">Zimbabwe announced</a> it is developing a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies that will establish a clear procedure for firms to become compliant with the country’s financial regulations and therefore to be allowed to do business with banks. This, too, reversed a 2018 ban. </p>
<h2>What now</h2>
<p>Most of these moves have been made ahead of a June deadline to get in line with the FATF standards. A total of 37 countries are FATF members, including the UK and US, and more are expected to sign up to the same rules in the coming months. </p>
<p>So while many investors in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will have incurred huge losses in the past month, the status of this asset class within mainstream finance looks increasingly assured. The new rules clarify the status of cryptocurrency exchanges and other firms providing services in this space, making it much easier for them to transact with banks – and by extension, everyone else. </p>
<p>It almost certainly means that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will probably not be killed off by the COVID-19 crisis or indeed any other market event. With the growing market in crypto lending, these services look pivotally positioned to replace traditional banking services in the coming years. If more countries make similar moves to the ones I’ve highlighted above, crypto-assets could even become entrenched in the financial mainstream very soon. </p>
<p>The only caveat is that this is far from what the creators of the crypto movement foresaw when bitcoin was originally launched in 2009. Bitcoin was supposed to liberate the world from the financial system and the elites that control it. Now it is well on the way to being embraced by them instead.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134925/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Iwa Salami does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Rumours of the collapse of the cryptoworld have been much exaggerated.Iwa Salami, Senior Lecturer in Financial Law and Regulation, University of East LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1302482020-03-11T11:47:16Z2020-03-11T11:47:16ZWhy is the UAE, where solar energy is abundant, about to open four nuclear reactors?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319135/original/file-20200306-118960-2eir4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=88%2C79%2C1955%2C1280&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Construction underway at Barakah nuclear power plant in the UAE. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/iaea_imagebank/26967070154/in/photolist-dQG6ZU-dQAaMg-dQAaNx-H5Zhrq-dSd5pJ">IAEA Imagebank/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is building the world’s <a href="https://bigthink.com/technology-innovation/dubai-solar-power">largest concentrated solar power plant</a>, capable of generating 700 megawatts. During daylight, solar power will provide cheap electricity, and <a href="https://www.irena.org/remap">at night the UAE</a> will use stored solar heat to generate electricity. </p>
<p>But at the same time, the first of four new nuclear reactors <a href="https://gulfbusiness.com/uae-officially-starts-operations-at-barakah-nuclear-power-plant/">was completed</a> in early March in the UAE, built by the South Korean Electric Power Corporation, KEPCO. The nuclear power plant is named Barakah. </p>
<p>The UAE’s investment in these four <a href="https://www.nuclearconsult.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Gulf-Nuclear-Ambition-NCG-Dec-2019.pdf">nuclear reactors risks</a> further destabilising the volatile Gulf region, damaging the environment and raising the possibility of nuclear proliferation.</p>
<h2>Safety flaws</h2>
<p>The UAE nuclear contract remains South Korea’s one and only export order, despite attempts by KEPCO to win contracts in Lithuania, Turkey, Vietnam and <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-nuclear/south-koreas-kepco-loses-preferred-bidder-status-for-uk-nuclear-project-idUKKBN1KL1YK">the UK</a>. Barakah, construction of which <a href="https://www.enec.gov.ae/news/latest-news/enec-begins-construction-of-uaes-first-nuclear-energy-plant/">began in 2012</a>, is in the Al Dhafra region of Abu Dhabi, on the coast.</p>
<p>Although nuclear reactor design has evolved over time, key safety features <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613325/how-greed-and-corruption-blew-up-south-koreas-nuclear-industry/">haven’t been included at Barakah</a>. This is important, since these reactors might not be able to defend against an accidental or deliberate airplane crash, or military attack. In response, the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC), which owns Barakah, told The Conversation that the plant “meets all national and international regulatory requirements and standards for nuclear safety.”</p>
<p>Particularly worrying is the lack of a “<a href="https://www.crcpress.com/Nuclear-Engineering-Handbook/Kok/p/book/9781482215922">core-catcher</a>” which, if the emergency reactor core cooling system fails, works to keep in the hot nuclear fuel if it breaches the reactor pressure vessel. ENEC stressed the plant’s design contained safety features equivalent to the core-catcher design, and was certified by the UAE’s Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation, which gave Unit 1 at the plant an <a href="https://fanr.gov.ae/en/media-centre/news?g=01d112c7-91b4-42be-a2e3-e254e8b5a65b">operating licence</a> in February 2020.</p>
<p>All this is further complicated by <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-korea-nuclear/south-korea-charges-100-with-corruption-over-nuclear-%20scandal-idUSBRE99905O20131010">large-scale falsification</a> of KEPCO quality control documents in South Korea in a case unrelated to Barakah, which ended up in a far-reaching criminal investigation and <a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/s-korea-jails-nuclear-workers-over-bribe-scandal">convictions</a> in 2013 in South Korea.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319369/original/file-20200309-118881-oby2f1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319369/original/file-20200309-118881-oby2f1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319369/original/file-20200309-118881-oby2f1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319369/original/file-20200309-118881-oby2f1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319369/original/file-20200309-118881-oby2f1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319369/original/file-20200309-118881-oby2f1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319369/original/file-20200309-118881-oby2f1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A field of solar panels in Dubai.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/dubai-united-arab-emirates-january-17-795953449">By Dominic Dudley/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Proliferation risks</h2>
<p>The tense Gulf strategic geopolitical situation makes new civil nuclear construction in the region even more controversial than elsewhere, as it can mean moves towards nuclear weapon capability, as <a href="https://theconversation.com/nuclear-powers-once-shared-their-technology-openly-how-irans-programme-fell-on-the-wrong-side-of-history-124299">experience with Iran has shown</a>. </p>
<p>Following <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/14/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-refineries-drone-attack.html">military strikes</a> against Saudi oil refineries in late 2019, nuclear energy safety in the region increasingly revolves around the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/2665799e-dad2-11e9-8f9b-77216ebe1f17">broader issue of security</a>. This is especially the case since some armed groups may view the UAE’s <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/48f44b08-caa5-11e9-a1f4-3669401ba76f">military operations</a> in Yemen as a reason to target nuclear installations, or intercept enriched uranium fuel or waste transfers. </p>
<p>Such spillover from foreign policy – and politics more generally – will increasingly <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/the-ultimate-middle-east-missile-target-nuclear-reactors">dovetail</a> with nuclear safety considerations in the region.</p>
<p>Perhaps disconcertingly, Yemeni rebels <a href="https://www.janes.com/article/89233/yemeni-rebels-claim-second-cruise-missile-attack">already claim</a> to have fired a missile at the Barakah nuclear power plant site in 2017. Although UAE denied the claim, saying it had an air defence system capable of dealing with any threat, protection of Barakah won’t be an easy task. </p>
<p>Time to scramble fighter aircraft or fire surface-to-air missiles may be limited, as the attacks in Saudi Arabia indicated. Not only that, but the increase in transport of radioactive materials into and through the Gulf once the reactors at Barakah start up will, unfortunately, present a major maritime risk. </p>
<h2>Environmental concerns</h2>
<p>The Gulf is one of the most water-scarce regions in the world, and Gulf states <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/sep/29/peak-salt-is-the-desalination-dream-over-for-the-gulf-states">rely on desalination</a>. Radioactive release to the marine environment following an accident or deliberate incident at Barakah would have significant pollution consequences for desalination and drinking water in the region. </p>
<p>And the UAE coast is a vulnerable environment, critically important for a very large range of marine life. Extensive mangrove habitats grow on and in coastal fine sediments and mudflats, notable for their ability to sequester radioactivity. Acting as a “sink” and concentrating radioactivity over time, normal operational nuclear discharge from Barakah will <a href="https://www.nuclearconsult.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/UAE-marine-and-nuclear-TD-J-A4.pdf">inevitably lead to</a> human inhalation and ingestion.</p>
<p>ENEC, which runs Barakah, told The Conversation it had taken comprehensive measures to ensure the safe and secure transportation of nuclear components and fuel, and that it adheres to the highest international safety standards, including regarding accidental radioactive releases.</p>
<p>The debate over nuclear power and climate is hotting up, with <a href="https://institutions.newscientist.com/article/2185486-environmentalists-must-embrace-nuclear-power-to-stem-climate-change/">some scientists suggesting</a> new nuclear can help. Yet, the International Panel on Climate Change <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/srocc/">recently reported</a> that extreme sea-level events will significantly increase, whether emissions are curbed or not. All coastal nuclear plants, including Barakah, will be <a href="https://ensia.com/features/coastal-nuclear/">increasingly vulnerable</a> to sea-level rise, storm surges, flooding of reactors and spent fuel stores. The UAE’s governmental environmental assessment of global heating’s impact on Barakah is conspicuous by its absence.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-cut-carbon-emissions-and-keep-the-lights-on-it-has-got-to-be-nuclear-power-35062">To cut carbon emissions and keep the lights on, it has got to be nuclear power</a>
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<p>Since not all energy policy choices are equal, the case for nuclear power in the Middle East has never been strong. While lower CO₂ emissions and improvement in renewable technology is one explanation for the dynamic global ramp in new renewable generation and the fall in new nuclear, the main driver seems to be the <a href="https://blogs.imf.org/2019/04/26/falling-costs-make-wind-solar-more-affordable/">plummeting costs</a> of the former and the <a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-658-25987-7_5.pdf">increasing costs</a> of the latter.</p>
<p>So it’s strange that the UAE has cast significant resources at nuclear power, when other viable options already exist. The <a href="https://www.enec.gov.ae/doc/uae-peaceful-nuclear-energy-policy-5722278a2952f.pdf">UAE’s Nuclear Energy policy</a> says that its pursuit of nuclear energy is based on a plan to increase its electricity supply and diversify its electricity mix. Yet, since new nuclear seems to make little economic sense in the Gulf, which has some of the best solar energy resources in the world, the nature of Emirati interest in nuclear may lie hidden in plain sight – nuclear weapon proliferation. </p>
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<p><em>This article was updated on March 25 to include responses from the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation. The date at which Barakah began construction has also been corrected – it was 2012 not 2011 – and an incorrect reference to the name meaning divine blessing in Arabic has been removed.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130248/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Dorfman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new nuclear plant called Barakah is nearing completion in the UAE. But it risks further stabilising the volatile Gulf region.Paul Dorfman, Honorary Senior Research Associate, Energy Institute, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1281552019-12-05T10:48:14Z2019-12-05T10:48:14ZManchester City v Manchester United: a battle for ideological dominance<p>The Manchester derby is <a href="https://theconversation.com/manchester-a-city-united-by-sport-76186">always a key clash in the Premier League calendar</a> and all eyes will be on the Etihad Stadium when City take on United, as the two footballing giants face-off for the first time this season. Yet the confrontation will be significant for reasons that go way beyond goals and titles. </p>
<p>So far this season, City have fallen some way short of the exacting standards they have set themselves over recent years under Pep Guardiola’s tutelage. Meanwhile, United is still immersed in post-Ferguson angst as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer grapples with his team’s continuing underachievement.</p>
<p>Adding some spice, each of the clubs’ off-field struggles are no less troubling. City has seen a Court for Arbitration in Sport ruling go against it as the club deals with charges that it <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50435304">breached UEFA’s Financial Fair Play</a> (FFP) regulations. Over at United, fans remain concerned about the club’s owners and their <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2019/oct/08/manchester-united-problems-ole-gunnar-solskjaer">failure to deliver the levels of success</a> they have previously enjoyed.</p>
<p>Yet despite the tensions associated with the head-to-head and the perpetual financial waltz of trying to work within the constraints of FFP, a bigger battle is being fought out in Manchester – one that is largely anonymous though profoundly more important than anything that a single Premier League game can manifest.</p>
<p>In 2005, Manchester United was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2005/may/16/newsstory.manchesterunited">acquired by the Glazers</a>, a family of American sports entrepreneurs and owners of National Football League franchise the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Glazers are steeped in the traditions of a US domestic sports economy that remains the largest in the world, possibly accounting for 40% of the total <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=2ahUKEwjt0-eu8ZbmAhUhQEEAHZ9IBEMQFjAAegQIBBAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pwc.com%2Fgx%2Fen%2Fhospitality-leisure%2Fpdf%2Fchanging-the-game-outlook-for-the-global-sports-market-to-2015.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1JZkn_P_4hYpirGY-cbS6B">global sports industry</a>.</p>
<p>The growth and dominance of the US sports industry remains striking, as it has been governed largely by the free market. Unlike most countries in the world, America effectively has no government sports ministry. Instead, sport in the US is driven by commercial principles, where profit rules and financial returns are generated by and for private investors.</p>
<p>In many ways, Manchester United has become the embodiment of this western, capitalist model of sport. While costs are carefully controlled, revenue growth is pursued with gusto. This has constantly reaffirmed United’s position as being one of the most <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49808790">commercially valuable football clubs in the world</a>, even though the club has been struggling on the pitch. </p>
<p>It also sees the organisation locked into a perpetual cycle of rights sales. The club now makes money on deals with anything from <a href="http://www.sportspromedia.com/news/manchester_united_agree_deal_with_japans_kansai">Japanese paint brands</a> to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/georgekoutsakis/2018/10/01/first-50-year-old-chivas-whisky-celebrates-manchester-uniteds-1968-cup-victory/#19f7c5bdb411">Scottish whisky distillers</a>.</p>
<p>United needs a win this weekend, not just for the club but also for the capitalist ideology that it represents. The club <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/773f17be-1320-11e9-a581-4ff78404524e">goes to great lengths</a> in its pursuit of revenues, though its <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/07/football/manchester-united-ole-gunnar-solskjaer-spt-intl/index.html">recent travails</a> have taken some of the lustre off the brand. Victory at the Etihad will say just as much about the best way to run a football club as it does the team’s capabilities. </p>
<h2>The ‘rentier state’ owners</h2>
<p>A cursory glance at the list of Manchester City’s commercial partners might lead one to conclude that the club is of the same ilk as United. However, City is a very different proposition. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2008/sep/01/manchestercity.premierleague">In 2008</a>, the east Manchester outfit was acquired by the <a href="https://www.cityfootballgroup.com/our-business/ownership/">Abu Dhabi United Group</a> for Development and Investment, a state investment vehicle.</p>
<p>Hence, City is owned and run by a petrodollar-fuelled Gulf state, which exhibits the characteristics of a <a href="http://www.ejinsight.com/20191125-the-rentier-states-ruling-football/">“rentier state”</a>. As was discussed in a <a href="https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/sport-politics-and-society-in-the-middle-east/">recently published book chapter</a> that I wrote, among their characteristics rentier states are typically dependent upon natural resource deposits for revenues which are, in turn, used to invest in overseas rent-generating assets. </p>
<p>These rents are then utilised domestically as a substitute for taxation and spending, which mitigates the need for democratic structures and processes. Manchester City-generated revenues therefore play their part in keeping Abu Dhabi’s population happy.</p>
<p>The importance of Asian state ownership at City is further illustrated by the way in which its owners use the club as an <a href="http://www.ejinsight.com/20190225-manchester-city-chengdu-deal-a-matter-of-business-or-politics/">instrument of state policy</a>, notably in international relations and diplomacy. For instance, the City Football Group (CFG, of which Manchester City is a constituent element) is part-owned by Chinese investors, a stake that was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/dec/01/manchester-city-265m-deal-chinese-investment-group">publicly announced</a> to coincide with Chinese president Xi’s Jinping’s visit to Britain in 2015. </p>
<p>Utilising City as a policy instrument has enabled all manner of deals between Abu Dhabi and Beijing to be agreed. Earlier this year, as the football world responded to CFG’s announcement that it will set up a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/feb/20/manchester-city-football-group-buy-chinese-club">franchise club in Chengdu</a> (China), few people noticed the simultaneous announcement that Abu Dhabi’s state airline Etihad (the main shirt sponsor of Manchester City) <a href="https://www.khaleejtimes.com/etihad-airways-to-deploy-new-787-dreamliners-to-china">will establish new links with …. Chengdu</a>.</p>
<p>The rentier state game plan in football is already <a href="http://www.ejinsight.com/20191125-the-rentier-states-ruling-football/">well established</a>, has been playing out <a href="https://theconversation.com/english-football-a-proxy-battleground-for-feuding-gulf-states-117812">for most of this year</a> and, indeed, looks <a href="https://www.policyforum.net/a-different-kind-of-sporting-contest/">set to intensify</a> as we head into 2020. A City victory in this weekend’s Manchester derby will add impetus to an increasingly powerful influence on the sport.</p>
<h2>Not just a football match</h2>
<p>City versus United is therefore no longer just a football match, it is a front line in what has fast become an <a href="http://www.ejinsight.com/20171122-europe-s-flat-footed-response-to-the-rise-of-asian-sports/">ideological war between the West and the East</a>. Sure, the war doesn’t solely involve a battle for the heart and soul of football. Similar skirmishes are also being played out in various sports and across other industrial sectors such as real estate, financial technologies and leisure. </p>
<p>Two decades ago, <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/international-sports_b_1246775">western capitalism ruled</a> and United dominated. But the world order is now changing with Asian states in the ascendancy. Perhaps no surprise, then, that City is now dominant. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, as with many conflicts, there is collateral damage which, in this case, seems to be the football fans of Manchester. City supporters from Openshaw and West Gorton no doubt remain nostalgic for the good old days of Francis Lee and Colin Bell. Over in Stretford and Gorse Hill, United fans will often hark back to the days of the <a href="https://www.manutd.com/en/history/munich-remembered/the-busby-babes">Busby Babes</a> and <a href="https://www.manutd.com/en/players-and-staff/detail/EricCantona">King Eric</a>.</p>
<p>But these once locally embedded social institutions, which were a tangible manifestation of peoples’ geographic identity and community, have now simply become instruments in a global ideological war. </p>
<p>However fans might reminisce, the reality is that the clubs are no longer “theirs”. Instead, the avaricious corporate appetites of western capitalism and the rent hungry sheikhs of the Gulf are now engaged in playing the biggest derby game of them all – the battle for ideological dominance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/128155/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Chadwick does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The clubs no longer ‘belong’ to the fans - they have become instruments in an ideological war between Western capitalism and the rent hungry sheikhs of the Gulf states.Simon Chadwick, Professor of Sports Enterprise, University of SalfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1178122019-05-29T07:00:17Z2019-05-29T07:00:17ZEnglish football: a proxy battleground for feuding Gulf states?<p>There’s nothing like a Saturday night scoop to get social media buzzing. <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/6e42c740-7f1e-11e9-b592-5fe435b57a3b">Revelations</a> that a Qatari investor wants to acquire a stake in Leeds United certainly did. If the story is correct, then it seems Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), which already owns French club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), is interested in buying shares in the Yorkshire based English Championship football club.</p>
<p>In some ways, we shouldn’t be surprised by the report, as Leeds United’s current majority shareholder, Italian Andrea Radrizzani, is <a href="https://www.calciomercato.com/en/news/report-leeds-owner-interested-in-buying-genoa-84227">thought to be seeking a buyer</a> for his holding in the club. Indeed, some reports suggest that he may be <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/qatar-talks-buy-leeds-united-report">negotiating with as many as six parties</a> with a view to them buying a stake.</p>
<p>That a Qatari group is showing interest should be no surprise either; after all, the Yorkshire outfit already has a partnership with the small <a href="http://www.sportspromedia.com/news/leeds-united-team-up-with-aspire-academy">Gulf nation’s Aspire Academy</a>. Over the last two years, rumours have been recurrent that big money from Doha will, sooner or later, be invested.</p>
<p>Hence, it was the timing of the latest rumour’s emergence that was actually more revealing than the rumour itself. It came after a tumultuous week in football (and sport more generally) which was stitched together by a narrative stretching from Manchester, through Paris, to Doha and Abu Dhabi.</p>
<h2>A big week for Qatar</h2>
<p>The previous weekend, Abu Dhabi-owned Manchester City <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/may/18/manchester-city-win-treble-watford-fa-cup-final-match-report">won the English FA Cup</a>, which ensured the club secured an unprecedented domestic treble of trophies (alongside the club’s Premier League title and Carabao Cup win). City’s success, however, was very quickly tempered by stories that <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/14/football/manchester-city-uefa-investigation-champions-league-nyt-spt-intl/index.html">UEFA may ban the club</a> from the Champions League for what are alleged to be serious breaches of the European football governing body’s Financial Fair Play regulations.</p>
<p>Later in the week, news came through that two PSG board members – <a href="https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1079583/bein-sports-president-charged-with-corruption-over-bidding-process-for-2019-iaaf-world-championships-in-qatar">Nasser Al-Khelaifi</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/may/22/qatar-tv-channel-chief-world-athletics-championships-corruption-investigation">Yousef Al-Obaidly</a> – are being investigated on suspicion of corruption in connection with Qatar’s bid to host the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championship in Doha. Significantly, Al-Khelaifi is president of PSG but also chairman of QSI (the Qatari investment group behind the alleged Leeds bid) and a member of UEFA’s executive committee. Al-Obaidly is chief executive of the Qatari media group beIN.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/football-may-be-caught-in-the-crossfire-between-qatar-and-the-saudis-100103">Football may be caught in the crossfire between Qatar and the Saudis</a>
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<p>It was quite a week for the Qataris, as news also broke that FIFA will concede during its forthcoming council meeting that <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/fifa-only-32-teams-in-qatar-world-cup-2022/a-48839778">the 2022 World Cup will be contested by 32 teams</a>. FIFA had been pressing for an increase in tournament size <a href="https://theconversation.com/world-cup-2022-plan-to-expand-to-48-countries-exposes-footballs-regional-fault-lines-113231">to 48 teams</a>, though this would have necessitated Qatar sharing the tournament with at least one other country. Qatar, though, is currently engaged in an <a href="https://www.policyforum.net/saudi-arabia-versus-qatar-more-than-a-clash-of-football-cultures/">acrimonious feud with its near neighbours</a>, notably the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, so FIFA’s capitulation was effectively a victory for Qatar over its rivals.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276649/original/file-20190527-193540-1cp9w13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276649/original/file-20190527-193540-1cp9w13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276649/original/file-20190527-193540-1cp9w13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276649/original/file-20190527-193540-1cp9w13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276649/original/file-20190527-193540-1cp9w13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276649/original/file-20190527-193540-1cp9w13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276649/original/file-20190527-193540-1cp9w13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Qatar is a major investor in football.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTU1OTAxNTQzOSwiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfMTA5ODE1MzM0NyIsImsiOiJwaG90by8xMDk4MTUzMzQ3L21lZGl1bS5qcGciLCJtIjoxLCJkIjoic2h1dHRlcnN0b2NrLW1lZGlhIn0sIkVUU3F1RjJ5OGVzR3o4R3had01lRENUOFpkWSJd%2Fshutterstock_1098153347.jpg&pi=33421636&m=1098153347&src=Pgs48BO65JAQj_H9OU-ZKw-1-99">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The <a href="https://www.policyforum.net/saudi-arabia-versus-qatar-more-than-a-clash-of-football-cultures/">Gulf feud</a> is ongoing, having broken out two years ago following a visit to Riyadh by a <a href="https://theconversation.com/saudi-arabias-standoff-with-qatar-continues-and-donald-trump-has-made-it-worse-96953">bellicose Donald Trump</a>. Since then, all manner of tactics have been used by the countries involved, ranging from heavy political lobbying in Washington DC through to an online war in which misinformation has been spread.</p>
<p>The spat has spread into sport, too. Frequent <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190204-exposed-aggressive-uae-led-campaign-to-strip-qatar-of-fifa-world-cup/">reports allegedly spread by pro-Saudi consultants</a> have sought to discredit Qatar’s World Cup hosting by making dubious claims about its ability to stage the tournament. Meanwhile, BeIN has fallen victim to a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-01/qatar-s-bein-sports-seeks-1-billion-damages-from-saudi-arabia">massive and concerted bootlegging operation instigated by BeoutQ</a>, which appears to be a Saudi Arabian-backed pirate channel that has stolen the Qatari broadcaster’s content.</p>
<h2>The feud spreads</h2>
<p>Qatar hasn’t stood idly by in the face of such provocation, often spending lavishly both to demonstrate its oil and gas fuelled economic strength and to project its soft power. The <a href="http://theconversation.com/qatar-psg-and-the-real-reason-neymar-could-sell-for-a-record-198m-81859">world record breaking transfer</a> of Brazilian international Neymar, from FC Barcelona to PSG, is the most potent symbol of this, as the government in Doha set out to shift attention away from its rivals while simultaneously making a statement about the aspirations of Qatar.</p>
<p>As such, the news that QSI may be circling Leeds United doesn’t seem to be about a Qatari penchant for Yorkshire puddings, nor is it merely a nice opportunity to generate some Saturday night clickbait. Rather, it suggests the opening of another front in a feud which, instead of resolving itself, appears to be intensifying. Rather than being the dawn of a new era for Leeds United, the club may consequently be on the cusp of being drawn into a bitter battle of competing geopolitical interests.</p>
<p>The dense network of connections and conflicts between the likes of Qatar Sports Investments, Saudi Arabia, UEFA and Abu Dhabi may therefore be about to span the English Pennines, sparking a new War of the Roses between Yorkshire and Lancashire. Given the on-off speculation about <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/manchester-united-sale-saudi-arabia-interest-reports-latest-buy-club-mohammad-bin-salman-a8586866.html">Saudi Arabia’s purchase of Manchester United</a>, and Abu Dhabi’s continued lavishing of its wealth upon Manchester City (as well as its <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/may/27/mike-ashley-uae-sheikh-khaled-newcastle-sale-rafael-benitez">rumoured acquisition of Newcaste United</a>), these Gulf states are strengthening their hold over Lancashire, the western side of the Pennines, and possibly further north too.</p>
<p>In buying Leeds United, their rival, Qatar, would be shoring up its own defences in neighbouring Yorkshire, meaning that the Gulf region’s proxy war could spill over into English football. Thus, as fans on both sides of a historic English divide anticipate the prospect of their clubs’ battle for supremacy, they should remain mindful that Elland Road and the Etihad Stadium could become modern day proxy battlefields in a new stand-off between the houses of York and Lancaster.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117812/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Chadwick does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The ongoing conflict between Qatar and its Gulf neighbours could be about to spill onto the football fields of northern England.Simon Chadwick, Professor of Sports Enterprise, University of SalfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/981292018-06-24T09:40:02Z2018-06-24T09:40:02ZSaudi Arabia and the Israel-Palestine conflict: between a rock and a hard place<p>In an interview to <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/04/mohammed-bin-salman-iran-israel/557036/"><em>The Atlantic</em> magazine</a> in April 2018, Saudi Arabia’s Prince Mohammed Ben Salman (MBS) declared that Israel has the “right” to its own land alongside the Palestinians and that “there are a lot of interests we share with Israel and if there is peace, there would be a lot of interest between Israel and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries”. This declaration has been considered as a major shift in Saudi Arabia’s diplomacy and the evidence of an assumed rapprochement with Israel. </p>
<p>However, at the same time, the King pledged $200 000 000 aid to the Palestinians and the supervisor general of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center stated that <a href="http://saudigazette.com.sa/article/535741/World/Mena/Saudi-Arabia-provided-$6bn-in-aid-to-Palestinians-since-2000">the Kingdom has provided the Palestinians with aid worth $6 billion since 2000</a>.</p>
<p>Under fire for its military operations in Yemen and its lack of support to the Palestinian cause, Saudi Arabia has tried to portray itself as one of the world’s leading supporters of global humanitarian aid and development, especially to the Palestinians. But despite this generous assistance, the Saudi leadership is conducting an ambivalent strategy towards the Israel-Palestine conflict, reflecting the dichotomy at the head of the Saudi State. While the King is seeking to preserve the traditional pro-Palestinian stance of the Kingdom, the Crown Prince is promoting a more pragmatic and reformist vision. Between the legitimist stance of the father and the hazardous ambitions of the son, Saudi Arabia is playing a risky and ambiguous game with the Palestinians.</p>
<h2>MBS’s signs of entente with Israel in the face of a mutual enemy</h2>
<p>Unlike Abu Dhabi and Dubai, which host Israeli entrepreneurs, and Manama, which has relations with Tel Aviv through its Jewish community and its associations promoting interreligious dialogue, Saudi Arabia has for a long time remained reluctant to show any sign of detente with Israel. It seems that the situation is gradually changing under the <a href="https://www.ifri.org/fr/publications/etudes-de-lifri/israel-pays-golfe-enjeux-dun-rapprochement-strategique">impetus of MBS</a>, who wishes to project the image of economic, political and cultural openness of his country and consolidate his relationship with Washington.</p>
<p>Since his elevation to the position of Crown Prince in June 2017 MBS has cultivated a reformist image, including in its foreign policy by accepting the mediatization of a strategic entente between Tel Aviv, Riyadh and Washington against Tehran. Tel Aviv and Riyadh regard Tehran as a direct threat, given its nuclear program, its ballistic capabilities, and its regional policy of supporting Hezbollah, the Assad regime, Shiite militias in Iraq, and the Houthis in Yemen. This fear of Iranian regional hegemony was reinforced in 2013 with the provisional agreement of Geneva, then in 2015 with the agreement of Vienna on the Iranian nuclear program. They were fully satisfied on May 8 when US President Donald Trump officially announced the withdrawal of his country from the JCPOA and the vote of new sanctions against Iran.</p>
<p>Israel-Saudi Arabia convergence of interests has been staged during public conferences organized by American think tanks with former Israeli and Saudi officials. In June 2015, for instance, at <a href="https://www.cfr.org/event/regional-challenges-and-opportunities-view-saudi-arabia-and-israel-0">a conference organized by the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington</a>, Dore Gold (former director general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry) and Anwar Eshki (former Saudi general, director of the Middle East Center for Strategic and Legal Studies in Jeddah) have publicly acknowledged that they have been engaged in dialogue for over a year. </p>
<p>The following year, <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-saudi-ex-general-visits-israel-meets-with-foreign-ministry-chief-1.5414512">Anwar Eshki went to Israel and met, under the eyes of the cameras, Dore Gold in her offices in Jerusalem</a>. More recently, at the end of October 2017, at the invitation of Israel’s Jewish Policy Forum, Turki ben Faysal (former director of Saudi intelligence services and former Ambassador to the United States) and Efraim Halevy (former director of Mossad) discussed Iran nuclear deal. These public meetings confirm, on the one hand, the banalization of meetings between former Israeli and Saudi leaders and, on the other hand, the willingness of both parties to bring their views to the heart of the parallel diplomacy channels in Washington.</p>
<p>Furthermore, between ISIS and Iran, Saudi Arabia seeks to be respectable and to attract new investors by breaking with its reputation of obscurantist state funding international terrorism. This rebranding strategy, conducted by MBS, involves signs of moderation, including towards Israel. <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Air-India-to-inaugurate-flights-to-Israel-via-Saudi-Arabia-546770">In April 2018, Riyadh authorized for the first time a foreign airline, Air India, to fly over its territory to make a journey to Israel</a>. </p>
<p>It is no coincidence that this new orientation also includes an ideological reframing, like signs of religious openness, particularly to Judaism. Indeed, the Secretary-General of the World Islamic League was received at the Victory Synagogue in Paris in November 2017. This diplomacy of openness seems to work well with the US and Israeli partners. For Benyamin Netanyahu, the continuum of <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/netanyahu-israel-working-to-reach-peace-with-moderate-arab-nations-1.5463754">“moderate Arab States”</a> would go from Cairo to Riyadh via Amman and Abu Dhabi. A club that includes the only two Arab states to have signed a peace treaty with Israel, and the only two Arab states with which Israel today wishes to normalize its relations.</p>
<h2>The official stance on the Palestinian issue has not changed since 2002</h2>
<p>Few days after his son recognized the right of Israel to a homeland, King Salman called Donald Trump to reaffirm his “<a href="https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewstory.php?lang=en&newsid=1747472">positions on the Palestinian cause and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state with Jerusalem (Al-Quds) as its capital</a>”. He hosted and named the 29th session of the Arab League meeting the “Summit of Al Quds” and announced <a href="https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewstory.php?lang=en&newsid=1752457">a donation of $200 000 000 to the Palestinians</a>. $50 million of this amount will be dedicated to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which has severely suffered from the US freeze of its funding, and $150 million to support the Palestinian Islamic Waqf Program in Jerusalem.</p>
<p>If there is a change in several Arab states’ attitudes toward Israel, the fundamental position of the Kingdom and the Arab league on the Palestinian issue has remained firm for the past 16 years. As the Arab League summit does every year, the 29th summit stressed the importance of a comprehensive, sustainable peace in the Middle East as encapsulated in the Saudi-led <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/mar/28/israel7">Arab Peace Initiative</a> adopted at the Beirut summit in 2002 and which enjoys the support of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. According to the Arab league’s <a href="http://bna.bh/portal/en/news/836572">final communique</a> : “We reaffirm that the Palestine Cause is the entire Arab nation’s main priority, stressing the Arab identity of occupied East al-Quds as the capital of the State of Palestine”. The leaders of the 17 Arab states also underscored that the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital was illegal. They all opposed the American President’s decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem and called on the international community to take steps against “Israeli violations and the arbitrary measures that affect Al-Aqsa Mosque and its worshipers”.</p>
<p>Even in his bold interview to the Atlantic on 2 April, MBS was cautious to express support for the “two-state solution” still defended by the Arab and international consensus: “I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land. But we have to have a peace agreement to assure the stability for everyone and to have normal relations”. This sentence was very clear, meaning that even if he would like to develop relations with Israel, nothing substantial might happen before a significant progress on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Therefore, <a href="https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/04/israel-saudi-arabia-king-salman-benjamin-netanyahu.html">Benyamin Netanyahu is deluding himself if he thinks that he can normalize his relations with Arab countries</a>, including Saudi Arabia, while refusing to negotiate and enforcing a violent policy against the Palestinians. As the custodian of the two holy mosques and leader of the Sunni world, Saudi leadership cannot take the risk of breaking with its traditional stance on the Palestinian issue, if nothing is given in exchange by Tel Aviv.</p>
<h2>If no longer central, Palestine remains a strategic issue in the Middle East</h2>
<p>Following the move of the US embassy and the violence in Gaza, none of the Arab leaders have taken concrete actions against Israel and the American administration, for instance by recalling their ambassadors or stating the end of US mediation in the Israel-Palestine conflict. Most of them refrained from criticizing too directly and vehemently Israel and preferred to support collectively <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/arab-league-wants-icc-to-probe-idf-shootings-of-gaza-protesters/">the Arab League’s call on the United Nations and the International Criminal Court to launch investigations into Israeli attack on Gaza protestors</a>.</p>
<p>Following the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the death of nearly 100 Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza shocked Arab public opinions and <a href="https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/04/saudi-arabia-ignore-gaza-protests-hamas-zarif-trump.html">shed light on Arab leaders’ silence</a>. They are all the more silent as Turkey and Iran are vocal in assuming the role of defenders of the Palestinians. Amid the Israeli military response to the “Great March of Return”, Turkey recalled its official envoy in Israel. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described Israel as a “terror state” and talked of “massacre”, “genocide” before comparing Israel’ actions against Palestinians with <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/erdogan-israel-using-same-methods-as-nazis-on-palestinians-in-gaza-1.6097911">“the methods employed by the Nazis in Europe”</a> during the summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). </p>
<p>Locked in a Twitter war with Benyamin Netanyahu, the Turkish President eventually declared: “The fact that Turkey is the country targeted most by Israel, I am the leader targeted most, shows how true and effective this stance is”. During the OIC meeting, Iran’s President Hasan Rohani called on Islamic nations to revise their ties with the US and to cut all ties to Israel as defined as a <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/iranian-leader-urges-muslims-to-revise-economic-ties-with-us-over-embassy-move/">“racist” and “apartheid state”</a>. The OIC meeting was the second time in six months that Erdogan has tried to rally Muslim leaders for the Palestinian cause. Despite any concrete action, it gave at least the opportunity to non-Arab leaders to set the stage and mock their neighbors for their weak reaction.</p>
<p>Pro-Iran or Iran’s state owned media stand unanimously with the Palestinians as they are taking their anti-Israel rhetoric to the extreme. Not only are they circulating Iranian leaders’ denunciations of Israel’s action<a href="http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/03/31/556977/Iran-Israel-Palestine-Gaza">, like recently in Gaza</a>, but they are also disseminating <a href="http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13961009000263">disputable news and theories about Israel-Saudi Arabia rapprochement</a>, as exemplified by the alleged letter of Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs Adel Jubeir to MBS in favor of a <a href="http://www.al-akhbar.com/node/286434">rapprochement with Israel</a>. Amid the increasing tensions on the nuclear issue, this narrative allows Tehran to portray itself as the leader of the “resistance axis”. That encounters a certain success in Arab opposition movements and public opinions who chide their leaders for their authoritarian policies and subordination to the United States. Hezbollah is also trying to capitalize on the Palestinian issue. In December 2017, Hassan Nasrallah called on the Palestinians to announce the emergence of an intifada and to <a href="https://english.almanar.com.lb/404908">“kick out any delegation that comes with an intention of normalizing relations with Israel”</a>. In the meantime, the Lebanese Shi’a leader has nurtured the idea that Saudi Arabia and Israel have colluded to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXWwxUIbYj0">attack his movement</a> in Lebanon.</p>
<p>The Palestinian issue remains a strategic and unifying theme in the Middle East, including for Islamists, jihadists, opposition movements, or any marginalized community and minority who feel wronged by the western powers and Israel. Though the Israel-Palestine conflict is not the driver of all conflict in the region, its invocation as a continuing grievance might nurture increasing anger with Arab leadership, including with Saudi Arabia, which is tremendously losing its credibility on that issue. From that perspective, the outrageous pro-Israel diplomacy of Washington and the competition for the leadership of the pro-Palestinian cause in the Middle East are likely to constrain Saudi Arabia’s capacity to get closer to Israel.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98129/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elisabeth Marteu ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Saudi Arabia portrays itself as a leading supporter of humanitarian aid, especially to the Palestinians, but the country’s leadership has an ambivalent strategy towards the Israel-Palestine conflict.Elisabeth Marteu, Chercheuse sur le Moyen-Orient, International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) et Enseignante Sciences Po Paris, Sciences Po Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/872782017-11-11T18:31:12Z2017-11-11T18:31:12ZThe Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum: a disruptive innovation with no future?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194155/original/file-20171110-29341-lbt7n2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">file yp ab</span> </figcaption></figure><p>In the new global cultural economy of creative regions, the United Arab Emirates have aimed high with the <a href="http://www.louvre.fr/louvre-abu-dhabi">Louvre Abu Dhabi</a>. This major and unprecedented project, risky political both for France and the UAE, required considerable creativity, significant investment, and a daring reconciliation between distant worlds that no one could have imagined just a few years earlier.</p>
<p>The innovation is a radical one : the UAE initiative was approved at the highest levels in both countries, making this partnership between the UAE and France unique in the world. The negotiation process was driven by a dynamism not usually seen in French government and by a small number of political, cultural and technocratic personalities who transcended their institutional restrictions, devised unexpected solutions and obtained an exceptional valuation for museum expertise in France, and all in the name of the most prestigious museum in the world, the Louvre.</p>
<p>To date, however, the venture’s momentum has not continued, neither for French cultural policy nor for the development and influence of museums and other major French cultural institutions. This conclusion is the result of a joint analysis by a researcher in management and the general administrator of the Louvre Museum at the time the project was launched.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193984/original/file-20171109-27130-lwoqac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193984/original/file-20171109-27130-lwoqac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193984/original/file-20171109-27130-lwoqac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193984/original/file-20171109-27130-lwoqac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193984/original/file-20171109-27130-lwoqac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193984/original/file-20171109-27130-lwoqac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193984/original/file-20171109-27130-lwoqac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193984/original/file-20171109-27130-lwoqac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Saadiyat Island project presented in Septembre 2008.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lucadex/2856745964/in/gallery-43355952@N06-72157622931978665/">Luca De Santis/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Genesis of an exceptional project</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/13/arts/design/13louv.html">2007 agreement between France and the UAE</a> was exceptional from an international standpoint and even more in France. It was the first time that two countries had made this kind of commitment to a sustainable partnership to create a universal museum of worldwide scope. The then director of the Louvre, Henri Loyrette, defined the Louvre Abu Dhabi as :</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“an extraordinary scientific project. It is a matter of assisting our Emirate partners to create a museum where the scientific, cultural, and pedagogical bias will be fixed firmly in new perspectives that we will have to invent, while helping them to build up their collections”. (Foreword, Louvre Annual Report 2007, p. 5-6.).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This was the first time that a museum of the Louvre’s stature had agreed to have its name, with a thousand years of history behind it, associated with a museum outside France – and moreover, one in a part of the world with which it had few dealings. In other words, the Louvre museum, and French heritage in general, opening up a new market.</p>
<p>In 2001 the Louvre filed an application to protect its brand name. It was able to set the brand’s value at a level never before seen – 400 million euros over 30 years for the institutional communication of the future museum plus a share commercial profits – that also put monetary value on French heritage expertise at the highest international standards, 165 million euros. While payments for exhibitions were already largely applied by major French museums, the sums achieved – 190 million euros for the loan of works of art and 195 million euros for exhibitions from 2017 to 2032 – would make opponents of the projects dizzy.</p>
<p>This was also the first time that major French museums found themselves working together, as shareholders, in the joint venture <a href="http://www.agencefrancemuseums.fr/">Agence France-Museums</a> (AFM) which would bring the project to fruition, and export and promote French museum know-how.</p>
<p>In the wake of the agreement, the Louvre will benefit from the introduction of endowment funds in France, like those received by the major American museums. These are to be brought in as part of the <a href="http://www.iflr.com/Article/2324310/France-Modernising-the-economy.html">French Law of Modernization of the Economy</a>, passed in August 2009. The first such fund, created for the Louvre in 2009, will ensure that most of the monies received when the agreement was signed by the Museum (175 million euros) can be preserved so that funding for the museum can be guaranteed over time and will not be affected by any uncertainties in the state budget.</p>
<p>The negotiations by the Louvre received support at the highest level in France, with unfailing support from then President Jacques Chirac, and in turn from the Minister of Culture, <a href="http://bit.ly/2hWr1Et">Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres</a>, who ensured that many internal administrative obstacles were able to be overcome.</p>
<p>From the start, the agreement benefitted from the involvement of some remarkable figures : Laurence Des Cars, honorary curator of the d’Orsay Museum, was scientific director and Bruno Maquart, director general of the Centre Pompidou, was director general, serving the cultural and scientific aims of the project and overseeing meticulously all the commitments that were made.</p>
<p>In 2006, the choice of Jean Nouvel, one of the world’s “starchitects”, sent a clear message that French creativity was clearly associated with the project.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193983/original/file-20171109-27169-dvne42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193983/original/file-20171109-27169-dvne42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193983/original/file-20171109-27169-dvne42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193983/original/file-20171109-27169-dvne42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193983/original/file-20171109-27169-dvne42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193983/original/file-20171109-27169-dvne42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193983/original/file-20171109-27169-dvne42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193983/original/file-20171109-27169-dvne42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The project in 2009.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/hoss69/3309845584/in/gallery-43355952@N06-72157622931978665/">hoss69/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In sum, the project was a disruptive innovation, yet it experienced a range of controversies, in particular geopolitical, with the UAE suspected of exploiting the heritage project and France of mercilessly commodifying its own heritage… Without entering into the question of their legitimacy, these controversies can be interpreted as an expression of the unease over the choices made by the Louvre. The project was seen as forcing a paradigm shift, with a radical entry into the arts business, aesthetic capitalism, branding, creative tourism, and more broadly into the global creative economy. However, this movement was long under way with the opening of the <a href="http://www.louvrelens.fr/">Louvre-Lens museum</a> in northern France or the <a href="http://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2006/01/30/louvre-atlanta-l-operation-discrete1/27359881/23246.html">Louvre-Atlanta collaboration</a> being the French contribution to this revolution which was already well established in the 1990s with the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/oct/01/bilbao-effect-frank-gehry-guggenheim-global-craze">Guggenheim Bilbao</a> in Spain, and the <a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/">Tate Modern</a> in London.</p>
<h2>2017 : what has been learned collectively ?</h2>
<p>As the Louvre Abu Dhabi opens in November 2017, on the one hand there are many articles <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2015/mar/09/louvre-abu-dhabi-worth-celebrating-jean-nouvel-human-rights">celebrating the project</a>, and on the other, the persistence of museum-related and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/may/26/france-military-base-uae">geopolitical controversies</a>. Is it not possible to have an open debate on this sensitive subject that would be a useful learning process ? Astonishingly, both partisans and opponents of the project seem to have been silenced, authorizing a single political analysis of the project, at the expense of any cultural and managerial discussion.</p>
<p>First, what is striking is not that the project has finally come to fruition after 10 years, but rather that it is still the only one of its kind. Nothing similar has been launched, and the French Ministry of Culture – which was already marginalized in 2007 – seems to have learned nothing from the prospects offered not only in Abu Dhabi but internationally, not only for the Louvre but also for our major cultural institutions, nor has the question been raised of exploiting a brand, nor that of French museum and cultural expertise.</p>
<p>Now that the inauguration is over, the Agence France-Museums is being dismantled, yet no one has asked whether it should be transformed into a global agency for promoting French heritage and culture. This despite that fact that its activities could clearly have been extended to many artistic fields, first in Abu Dhabi, where they hoped to create a cultural hub that would include several more museums and cultural institutions, but also elsewhere in the world.</p>
<p>France is certainly more than able to project its soft power internationally in the cultural field, but only via traditional channels (literature, exhibitions, tours of live shows and concerts, tourism, network of French Institutes, etc.).</p>
<p>Louvre Abu Dhabi has in no way changed social representations and practices, let alone the ministerial organization, and it has barely affected how other museums operate. That said, they do tend to be more innovative, such as the <a href="https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en">Centre Pompidou</a> having opened branches in Malaga and Shanghai. Aspirations to become a designer, operator or partner in major cultural projects abroad in markets where the demand for culture is rising sharply. Such initiatives have not flourished, however : passivity is the order of the day, prospection is non-existent, transversality is impossible, and institutions are shackled.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193985/original/file-20171109-27148-u1brqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193985/original/file-20171109-27148-u1brqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193985/original/file-20171109-27148-u1brqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193985/original/file-20171109-27148-u1brqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193985/original/file-20171109-27148-u1brqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193985/original/file-20171109-27148-u1brqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193985/original/file-20171109-27148-u1brqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193985/original/file-20171109-27148-u1brqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Louvre Abu Dhabi exterior.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mohamed Somji/Louvre Abu Dhabi</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are still many more questions to be asked about Louvre Abu Dhabi, in particular about supporting this museum until 2037, when the agreement expires. Let us hope that a constructive dialogue can open up between all of the project’s French stakeholders, in an open and contemporary spirit, to enable France’s cultural leadership throughout the world to grow.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Gombault A. and Selles D. (2018), “The Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum : a disruptive innovation with no future ?”, <a href="https://www.gestiondesarts.com/en/ijam2/#.WgdBnhPWzq0">International Journal of Arts Management</a>, to be published</strong></em>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87278/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>For 20 years Anne Gombault has been researching on and writing about the Louvre Museum and its Grand Louvre strategy.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>From 2000 to 2009, Didier Selles was general administrator of the Louvre. From 2005-2007 he was the negotiator for the Louvre for the Abu Dhabi Accord.</span></em></p>A management researcher and an administrator of the Louvre at the time the Abu Dhabi project was launched analyse the new museum.Anne Gombault, Professeur de management, directrice du centre de recherche Industries créatives Culture, Kedge Business SchoolDidier Selles, Expert invité / Invited expert, Kedge Business SchoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/790872017-06-11T08:39:15Z2017-06-11T08:39:15ZFanon on soccer: radically anti-capitalist, anti-commercial and anti-bourgeois<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172917/original/file-20170608-32325-jzuw33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Alexis Sanchez celebrates Arsenal beating Chelsea in the 2017 FA Cup final.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Sibley/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Like a lot of kids the great Martinican/Algerian revolutionary <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/jan/13/biography.peterlennon">Frantz Fanon</a> loved playing soccer as a youngster. Returning to Martinique in 1945 after fighting in Europe and North Africa in World War II, Fanon continued to play soccer on a local team.</p>
<p>Soccer was always part of Fanon’s life. Nearly a decade after the war, he attempted to create a therapeutic community at Blida-Joinville Psychiatric Hospital in Algeria. He organised a soccer team in the institution and arranged for matches with other teams in the community. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wretched-Earth-Frantz-Fanon/dp/0802141323">“The Wretched of the Earth”</a>, perhaps Fanon’s most famous book which was written in 1961, he reflects on the anti-colonial struggles in Africa and warns of upcoming challenges. The book was prescient and still remains relevant. But Fanon’s remarks on sport, which come in the central chapter “Pitfalls of National Consciousness”, have been little discussed.</p>
<p>Fanon writes,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The youth of Africa should not be oriented toward the stadiums but toward the fields, the fields and the schools. The stadium is not an urban showpiece but a rural space that is cleared, worked, and offered to the nation. The capitalist notion of sports is fundamentally different from that which should exist in an underdeveloped country.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The context and framing of Fanon’s remarks is important. Remember, this was a period of epochal transformation. The end of formal colonial rule marked by independence. </p>
<p>Imagine the possibility of building solidarity and sociality in the midst of such turmoil? The idea that all are equal and the future is possible only together was one of Fanon’s guiding principles.</p>
<h2>Four billion followers</h2>
<p>One can only imagine what Fanon would have made of soccer today, especially that it has become so incredibly popular and so driven by money.</p>
<p>Soccer has <a href="http://www.totalsportek.com/most-popular-sports/">four billion followers</a> worldwide. According to the sport’s controlling body, FIFA, 270 million people (4% of the world’s population) are <a href="http://www.fifa.com/media/news/y=2007/m=5/news=fifa-big-count-2006-270-million-people-active-football-529882.html">actively involved</a> in the game. </p>
<p>Where it comes to professional soccer, obscene amounts of money are made. English Premier League team, Manchester United, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2017/06/06/the-worlds-most-valuable-soccer-teams-2017/#5cbceee177ea">rated</a> as the most valuable team in the world, is worth $3.69 billion. </p>
<p>In the pyramid of global soccer, with its players owned and managed by agents, third parties, management companies and so on, local football leagues are often very small cogs in hierarchical system. In Europe the <a href="https://www.premierleague.com/">English Premier League</a>, Spain’s <a href="http://kwese.espn.com/football/league/_/name/esp.1">La Liga</a>, the <a href="http://kwese.espn.com/search/results?q=Bundesliga#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=Bundesliga&gsc.page=1">Bundesliga</a> in Germany, followed by <a href="http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/italian-serie-a">Serie A</a> and <a href="http://www.ligue1.com/">Ligue 1</a>, in Italy and France respectively, vie for the best players. </p>
<p>The European war of the clubs is played out in the highly mediated Champions League. Fans support clubs which use all sorts of illegal and semi-legal means to extract players from the global South often through systems that mirrors the move from periphery to semi-periphery to centre (from Brazil to Portugal to Spain, or from West Africa to France and England and so on). </p>
<p>Everyone is aware of the transfer sagas. They include the valuations of humans, with <a href="http://www.foxsports.com/soccer/gallery/most-expensive-soccer-transfers-all-time-cristiano-ronaldo-gareth-bale-neymar-luis-suarez-072516">transfer fees </a>having already exceeded $110 million for some top players (and likely to go even higher now with transfer season open again), the scouting for young talent, the clubs’ rhetoric of “war chests”, the endless TV sport shows speculation about signings, and the school yard banter “we’ve got …” and “you’ve got f… all”.</p>
<h2>Laying of wreaths</h2>
<p>The culture industry was wonderfully reproduced at Wembley Stadium in May when Arsenal <a href="http://www.wembleystadium.com/Events/2017/FA-Cup-Final/Emirates-FA-Cup-Final">won</a> the FA Cup, beating Chelsea 2-1. The event was introduced not only by the national anthem, standard fare at these things, but also a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/may/26/manchester-attack-fa-cup-premiership-finals-minute-silence">minute’s silence</a> for the victims of the bombing in Manchester, the laying of wreaths, black armbands, and “I love MCR” signs which were shown multiple times on TV. </p>
<p>The mythology of nation is recreated in this “traditional” sporting event as an act of nostalgia and modernity. Here, globally networked, televised for a fee based international viewership, is “England”.</p>
<p>After they won Arsenal played The Clash’s 1979 punk-rock anthem, <a href="http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=2527">“London Calling”</a>, to celebrate the “Emirates Cup” win at Wembley. The iconic English cup, branded as the oldest association football competition in the world, is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/apr/28/fa-cup-sponsorship-emirates">now named after an airline</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EfK-WX2pa8c?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Clash’s ‘London Calling’.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One element of Premiership football is its international cast of star players. Only a minority of English players play in the “Premier League” – the most branded, most watched league in the world. <a href="http://www.arsenal.com/emirates-stadium/get-to...-emirates-stadium">The Emirates</a> (Arsenal’s branded stadium), whose name also evokes the shining lights of Abu Dhabi neoliberal turbo-capitalism and the super-rich, was opened by the royal right-winger Prince Phillip. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/sepp-blatter">Sepp Blatter</a>, formerly the head-crook at the sports controlling body FIFA, ranked the Queen of England as having more football knowledge than former Italian Prime Minister, AC Milan owner and fraudster, <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-11981754">Silvio Berlusconi</a>. </p>
<p>All in all, these are the types of nasty people who own the clubs and run a game. Everyone is aware of this hyper-capitalist story but the outrage is usually directed elsewhere. Fans want rich owners and often turn a blind eye to how they’ve got these riches.</p>
<p>It is all about money, of course. </p>
<p>Sport is also bigger than politics; people talk and argue about sports minutiae all the time. It is a space where ordinary people are allowed to be passionate and knowledgeable. Politics is elitist, technocratic and its discourse is typically opaque. Soccer — very often couched in masculine terms — is populist. </p>
<h2>Challenging the alienation</h2>
<p>Soccer is a social game, a team game. And we can imagine how Fanon considered it therapeutic with everything centred on his “patients” taking charge from creating the pitch and fielding a team, to finding “opponents” and developing schedules. All this was part of the social therapy that Fanon envisaged would help break down institutional hierarchies in the psychiatric hospital and foster social relations and challenging the alienation that was part of the institution.</p>
<p>When Fanon writes of sport “expanding minds” and the task of “humanising” he is concerned with a mental and psychological liberation, namely freeing the mind from the nervous conditions induced by colonialism and war and the unthinkingly reproduction that Europe be looked to for models. </p>
<p>Fanon here sounds a bit schoolmasterly telling the youth what they should do. But the larger question in these days of corporate global football dominated by European leagues and its teams, with each a “brand” most likely owned by multinational capital, is how can this model possibly be followed in the global south?</p>
<p>Fanon answer is unequivocal:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Comrade, the European game is finally over.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Instead,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The African politician should not be concerned with producing professional sportspeople, but conscious individuals who also practice sports. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>But today, one would be hard pressed to find an African politician who would advocate this perspective. Politics is a dirty and corrupt game for personal game. The pragmatic African politician dismisses Fanon’s notions as Utopian. They are not concerned with social transformation but adaption to becoming cogs in the machine of global capital by any means. </p>
<p>What can we make of Fanon’s notion of what sport could be? </p>
<p>He offers a wholly different conception and imagination of sport, decolonisation, and the nation. </p>
<p>Can we imagine a different notion of sport? Not necessarily non-competitive but competitive in a different way: A decolonised notion that is radically anti-capitalist, radically anti-commercial and anti-bourgeois. This is what Fanon is asking us to think about.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79087/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nigel Gibson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>World soccer is the story of hyper-capitalism. What would fan and revolutionary thinker Frantz Fanon have thought about the state of the sport?Nigel Gibson, Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, Emerson CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.