UAE backheel penalty: tut tut 26, July 2011
Posted by thegulfblog.com in The Emirates.Tags: UAE backheel penalty, UAE penalty
5 comments
The clip below shows an Emirati player backheeling a penalty against Lebanon.
To those that perhaps don’t understand football culture, this is a shoddy thing to do. And it’s far worse and far more humiliating a thing to do if you’re already 6-2 up. Clearly, you’ve already wiped the floor with the opposition, to do something like this is wholly beyond the spirit of the game. Tut tut.
In any case, as any footballer will know (even a rubbish one like me), he makes a complete ass of himself doing so: it’s practically a mis-kick. If you want to see how to do this watch Totti below who did this in practice. Classy.
European cliches 26, July 2011
Posted by thegulfblog.com in Random.Tags: European cliches, European cliches picture
4 comments
I owe someone a hat tip for this, but confess that I’ve no idea who. Sorry.
The worsening Kuwait Iraq relationship 26, July 2011
Posted by thegulfblog.com in Iraq, Kuwait.Tags: Iraq, Iraq Kuwait, Kuwait, Oil Iraq Kuwait, Slant drilling Iraq Kuwait, Stealing oil Iraq Kuwait
add a comment
I recently wrote an article for Foreign Affairs discussing the ever-worsening Kuwaiti-Iraqi relationship. You should give it a read.
I note today with neither joy nor vindication a further worsening of their relationship. Specifically, an Iraqi MP has accused Kuwait of stealing Iraq’s oil with ‘slant drilling’. This comment, as infuriating as it is by itself, is all the worse given the historical resonance with which it is loaded loaded: Saddam Hussein said the same thing as one of his pretexts for invading Kuwait.
At the moment the relationship is entering a spiral. Comments from deliberately provocative MPs on both sides purely designed to please a domestic audience are making things worse. This patch of deliberate provocation will pass.
Then, cool-headed MPs must prevail upon their counterparts to reset this relationship for everyone’s sake, using the real benefits which are possible should the two neighboring countries come together as a carrot. Needless to say, these MPs will have a hard time, for it is infinitely easier to prey on the public’s prickly fears and prejudices than it is to ask for a mature and long-term thinking approach.
The Gulf blog 