Brazil appeases another rogue state

It was one thing for Brazil to appease one nuclear rogue state.  But two in one month?  That qualifies as a national policy. The last time anyone appeased that many nuclear scofflaws in such a rapid time frame was … well, the reality is we do it all the time. North Korea. Pakistan.  India.  Iran. ...

FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images
FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images
FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images

It was one thing for Brazil to appease one nuclear rogue state.  But two in one month?  That qualifies as a national policy. The last time anyone appeased that many nuclear scofflaws in such a rapid time frame was ... well, the reality is we do it all the time. North Korea. Pakistan.  India.  Iran. It's now standard operating procedure to let countries build their own A-bombs.    

It was one thing for Brazil to appease one nuclear rogue state.  But two in one month?  That qualifies as a national policy. The last time anyone appeased that many nuclear scofflaws in such a rapid time frame was … well, the reality is we do it all the time. North Korea. Pakistan.  India.  Iran. It’s now standard operating procedure to let countries build their own A-bombs.    

That’s why, as shocking as Brasilia’s moves with Turkey to reach out to Iran may have been, Brazil beating North Korea by only one goal is perhaps even more stunning — a veritable victory for Pyongyang. In a soccer universe in which Brazil is the superpower, North Korea is a pipsqueak, much less of a factor even than it is geopolitically. (Which is saying something given the country’s class-by-itself isolation and the economic incompetence of the lunatic regime that runs the country.) 

Brazil is ranked number 1 in the world. North Korea is ranked number 105. The reality is that at many times during today’s match, North Korea looked more disciplined than the Brazilians … and on several stunning occasions, they looked both better and more creative.

While the game is unlikely to be seen as a strong argument that robot automatons make the best soccer players or that a diet of grass and warm water are the cornerstones of the care and feeding of future World Cup stars, it will almost certainly raise a question about the Brazil team.

That question is why? And my only conclusion can be that since the outcome can’t be explained on the basis of relative talent, skill or soccer history, something else must be in play. And given the importance of soccer in Brazil, then I say it has to be an initiative taken at the highest levels.

I’m just saying…  Look for this to be an issue in the upcoming Brazilian presidential elections.  And look for the North Korean team to be rewarded with extra-loose shackles and a double order of gruel on their arrival home.

David Rothkopf is visiting professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His latest book is The Great Questions of Tomorrow. He has been a longtime contributor to Foreign Policy and was CEO and editor of the FP Group from 2012 to May 2017. Twitter: @djrothkopf

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