Friday News Roundup — March 15, 2024
This week something extraordinary happened in Washington, D.C. that bears highlighting. The Republican-led House of Representatives passed a bill with overwhelming bipartisan support that President Joe Biden says he will sign if it reaches his desk. Even more unusual, the Republican majority behind the measure defied the stated position of former President Donald Trump. In this hyper partisan presidential election season, that makes the bill — which would force the Chinese owner of the hugely popular video app TikTok to either sell it, or have it banned in the United States — a legislative unicorn.
The TikTok bill still faces an uncertain future in the Senate, and it raises a number of serious issues. The social media apps’ 170 million mostly young users inside the United States were unable to persuade lawmakers to drop the effort, but they are unhappy. The preferred outcome of the bill’s chief sponsors is that TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance will simply have to sell the social media app to non-Chinese owners within six months. That way it can remain on American smartphones. The overwhelming support for the bill, which passed 352 to 65 in the usually closely divided House, also presages an even more tense U.S.-Chinese relationship in this presidential election year.
But the arguments behind the TikTok bill are substantive. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continues to insist on requiring Chinese companies to assist in its intelligence gathering efforts when asked, and China is currently engaged in a well-documented campaign of election interference and cyber infiltration of critical infrastructure targeting the United States. (https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/chinese-hackers-cisa-cyber-5-years-us-infrastructure-attack-rcna137706). The CCP is also not shy about banning U.S.-owned social media companies from its own domestic market, lest they influence impressionable Chinese youth. As a chief sponsor of the bill, Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis. a recipient last year of CSPC’s Publius Award, noted on the House floor that the bill simply forces TikTok to “break up with the Chinese Communist Party. This is a common-sense measure to protect our national security.”
In other news, this past week provided yet more evidence — just in case anyone needed it — that this presidential election year will be unlike any other in modern history. President Biden and former President Donald Trump both clinched their respective nominations, setting up a rematch of the 2020 presidential election that a majority of Americans insist they do not want.
Biden campaigned this week in Wisconsin, while Trump focused mainly on major decisions in his various court cases. A federal judge in Florida this week rejected Trump’s bid to have his classified documents criminal case thrown out, for instance, while a federal judge overseeing the Georgia 2020 election interference case against Trump and others threw out some charges and ruled that the District Attorney in charge has to step aside or else remove the special prosecutor with whom she had a romantic relationship. Less than two weeks before Trump was set to become the first former president to go on trial on criminal charges in a New York “hush money” case, the Manhattan prosecutor in charge of the case this week proposed a delay of up to 30 days.
Staying on the theme of extraordinary events, this week U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY., long one of the strongest supporters of Israel and the highest-ranking U.S. Jewish elected official, gave a blistering speech on the Senate floor harshly criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his scorched-earth campaign against the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza. Painting him as an obstacle to peace, Schumer said Netanyahu’s recent rejection of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict was a “grave mistake,” and he urged Israeli officials to secure a ceasefire, free hostages and get more aid into Gaza. The speech reflected deep frustration both in the White House and in Democratic circles about Netanyahu’s conduct of the war and refusal to adequately consider the plight of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, many thousands of whom have been killed, and intense criticism within the Democratic party over what is viewed as the Biden administration’s unconditional support for that campaign. Left to fester, that anger could cost Biden dearly in key swing states such as Michigan in November’s presidential election.
Analysis: Sportswashing in Saudi Arabia
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons | Cristiano Ronaldo, playing for Al-Nassr of the Saudi Pro League
By Kurt Johnston
Sportswashing is the word du jour in the modern sports world. It describes a centuries-old but increasingly prevalent practice: a country, corporation or individual using sports, or a prominent sporting event, to “whitewash” their reputation. Sportswashing can involve an attempt to gain an influential seat at the table of international politics, or amount to a purely public relations exercise — a show of soft power to cover up unwanted scandals.
The stereotypical example of sportswashing was the 1936 Berlin Olympics, hosted by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany. The 1936 Games were intended to showcase the Aryan spirit and prove German superiority. It is no coincidence that Leni Riefenstahl’s documentary Olympia, which captures the events of the 1936 Olympics, is one of the most famous — and influential — propaganda films of all time. However, sportswashing is not exclusive to fascists. Each time “The Star-Spangled Banner” is sung at a sporting event, the President throws the ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game, or the Blue Angels fly over the Super Bowl, sportswashing happens. Such displays of nationalism are inherently displays of power, and the linkages between the U.S. power and sporting excellence are purposeful.
Yet sportswashing is an overwhelmingly negative label, and is not typically associated with symbols of American patriotism. Instead, in the public mind it conjures human rights abuses and military coups intentionally papered over by soccer matches. Recently the term became popular in light of the 2022 FIFA World Cup held in the monarchy of Qatar. Some observers claimed the reported 6,500 migrant workers who died building the event’s venues, and the host country’s anti-LGBTQ+ crackdown, were successfully sportswashed by the hosts, who presented the World Cup trophy to a joyous, bisht-wearing Lionel Messi. Others argued that the World Cup only brought global attention to Qatar’s problems, forcing modern policy changes. This ambiguity has been hotly debated, but ultimately the truth probably lies somewhere between the two extremes.
The same cannot be said for Saudi Arabia, which has mastered the art of sportswashing. Saudi Arabia’s unlikely rise as a sporting paradise has hardly been accidental. Buoyed by petrodollars and boundless ambition, the Saudis have become home to a Formula One Grand Prix, several boxing and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) title bouts, soccer’s FIFA Club World Cup, and an annual World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) event. In the next ten years, they are slated to host Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) events, the 2027 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup, and the 2034 FIFA Men’s World Cup.
The latter event — the biggest international tournament in the world’s biggest sport — coincides with the rise of the Saudi Pro League, the country’s professional soccer league. In the summer of 2023, Saudi clubs spent over $450 million in transfer fees, only outdone by the English Premier League. Led by Al-Nassr and Al-Hillal, Saudi teams have attracted the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Sadio Mané, and N’Golo Kanté. Other stars, such as Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe, reportedly received contract offers worth hundreds of millions of dollars per year. Some players — notably England’s Jordan Henderson — were heavily criticized by LGBTQ+ organizations upon their arrival in Saudi Arabia, and have since returned to Europe. However, the Gulf state’s financial allure is competitive with that of major European clubs, threatening to overturn world soccer’s established order.
Evidenced by the expenditures of the Saudi Pro League, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), is a constant contributor to the sports world. The PIF is directly controlled by Prince Mohammad bin Salman, the country’s de facto ruler. He is therefore the de facto owner of Newcastle United Football Club, an English soccer club founded in 1892 and bought by the PIF in 2021. MBS’s injection of funds into the team, which returned Newcastle to relevance after decades of decline, was met with exultation in Northeast England. While some fans have denied Saudi influence in the matter, the club has released consecutive uniforms that perfectly match the Saudi Arabian national team — a shade of dark green that has never been worn by the illustrious, centuries-old club.
The Saudi wealth fund also controls LIV Golf, an upstart competitor to golf’s traditional powerhouse, the PGA Tour. LIV Golf boasts shorter events, shorter time commitments, guaranteed payouts, and a low-pressure team format. It also drastically increased the amount of money in the sport, consistently offering payouts and signing bonuses higher than even the most lucrative PGA Tour events. The 2022 LIV Golf events paid out $25 million to the field and $4 million to the winner, for instance, while the 2022 Master’s Tournament, the most prestigious competition in golf, paid $15 million total and $2.7 million to the winner. The financial allure of LIV — compounded by multimillion-dollar signing bonuses — has attracted some of the biggest names in golf. The sport’s biggest star, Tiger Woods, allegedly declined an offer in the realm of $800 million to join LIV, but major championship winners Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, and Phil Mickelson have all joined LIV since its creation.
The Guardian newspaper has reported that in total Saudi Arabia has spent at least $6 billion in sports-related investments since 2021. This includes two billion to Saudi Pro League clubs, two billion to LIV Golf, and one billion to video game and e-sports company Embracer Group. Saudi or Saudi-related entities such as Aramco, the country’s state-owned oil company, also offer sports sponsorships that reach into the tens of millions of dollars, and are often unreported. The Gulf state’s tourism board also employs celebrities to endorse the country as a travel paradise; Lionel Messi is reportedly paid millions of dollars for Instagram posts, advertising campaigns, and lavish family vacations promoting #VisitSaudi.
However, Saudi Arabia’s sportswashing effort has as much to do with what it is “washing” as it does with sports. Saudi Arabia’s public relations juggernaut — epitomized by its much-heralded Vision 2030 — projects an image of a country ready to adopt liberal values. Within the decade, the country hopes to end its dependence on oil, diversify its economic portfolio (i.e. the PIF), and become the Islamic world’s beacon of innovation.
Yet its politics tell a different, much darker story.
Saudi Arabia’s rise as a “sports destination” cannot overshadow the lived reality in the Gulf state. According to Freedom House, Saudi Arabia scored an abysmal 8/100 (1/40 on political rights and 7/60 on civil liberties) in its 2024 Freedom in the World report. Its monarchy “is explicitly opposed to democracy,” prohibits any form of political opposition, and suppresses the rights of women, religious minorities, and the LGBTQ+ community. Government restrictions on individual rights, such as travel, marriage, and property ownership, are upheld by a discriminatory, monarch-controlled legal system. Saudis who fall outside the bounds of the privileged class (male heterosexual Sunni citizens with ties to the crown) are second-class citizens; those who fight back are routinely oppressed and sometimes tortured and/or executed. While Jamal Khashoggi’s state-approved assassination in a Saudi consulate is the best-known example of the regime’s brutality, harrowing stories of mass executions and killings of migrants underscore the despotism masked by Saudi sports investments.
Of course Saudi officials deny allegations of sportswashing. Yasir al-Rumayyan, the governor of the PIF, claimed investment in sports is simply meant to “improve quality of living” for the “75 percent of [the Saudi] population under 35,” and Mohammad bin Salman argued that his primary
goal is to grow the Saudi Arabian economy. Putting aside the protestations of benign intent, the Saudis’ dismal human rights record and dark money trail tell a very different and clear story. There are some realities that even professional sports cannot wash away.
Kurt Johnston is a CSPC intern.
NEWS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED
By Greyson Hunziker
Haiti Descends Into Chaos
It is an understatement to say that Haiti has been overwhelmed with political instability and gang violence. The 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse remains unsolved, and its repercussions continue to shake the nation’s foundations. The Haitian legislature has been vacant for more than a year. Prime Minister Ariel Henry, in charge since the president’s death, has announced his resignation under pressure from gangs at home and the international community at large.
Mr. Henry continually delayed elections and could not control the gangs, making him deeply unpopular. After he went to Kenya earlier this month to finalize a United Nations-approved deal to send 1,000 Kenyan police to Haiti — which Kenya decided to halt until a new government forms — Henry was unable to return due to the gangs taking over an estimated 80 percent of the capital of Port-au-Prince. The gangs continue to attack everything from hospitals to the international airport, and attacks on prisons led to a jailbreak of an estimated 4,600 prisoners. The chaos from the gang warfare has predictably resulted in a humanitarian crisis, with Haitian civilians suffering from a lack of security, water, food, and medical care.
The Biden administration has said it will not send troops to Haiti, but it has sent a crisis-response force of Marines to secure the embassy, while pledging $300 million in aid. The gangs are currently focused on ousting the government, but there is no indication that they will accept any transitional government, and they are demanding a seat at the table in any negotiations on a way forward.
Right Wing Victorious in Portugal
While the center-right coalition known as the Democratic Alliance (AD) narrowly won the recent election in Portugal, the far-right was the true victor. The AD, led by Luís Montenegro, secured 79 seats, and the Pedro Nuno Santos-led Socialist Party (PS) came in second with 77 seats. The far-right populist party called Chega, meaning “enough,” came in third with 48 seats. Five minor parties split the remainder of the 230-member assembly, except the four spots reserved for voters outside of Portugal. These results were historic in that Chega, led by Andrés Ventura, earned four times as many members of parliament as it did in the previous election. Chega did so at the expense of the center-left Socialists, who lost 43 seats.
The far-right has seen little success since the beginning of Portugal’s democracy in 1976, but Chega’s rise follows a global wave of right-wing populism. Moreover, the Socialist Party faces a corruption investigation, and its popularity has suffered because of high rental and housing prices, inadequate wages, and a scarcity of healthcare. Chega would like to form a government with the Democratic Alliance, but the AD insists it will form a minority government, forcing the AD to work with both sides to pass legislation.
Greyson Hunziker is a student intern at CSPC