When Russia hosted the World Cup in 2018, it had to suspend normal visa rules for the tournament. Foreigners with tickets could enter visa-free, using a scheme called ‘Fan ID.’
Russia also had to do weird stuff to keep FIFA’s sponsors happy. For example, small shops near Fan Zones and stadiums could only sell Budweiser beer on match days.
So yes, FIFA absolutely does dictate conditions to host governments when it suits FIFA. Infantino pretending otherwise is nonsense.
This is utter bullshit. When Indonesia refused to grant the Israeli under 17 team visa’s for the 2023 U-20 World Cup, FIFA stripped Indonesia’s hosting rights and moved it to Argentina. So @FIFAcom can stop with the lies.
This arsenal squad is the most anxious, cant find their shoes squad I have ever seen in my life. How can a team be shaking every time they are tested. They get in ther head so much, I was so shocked just seeing how anxious their style of play is, some Napoleon complex type shit
Some thoughts on the current moment
Introduction
US-Zionist forces are conducting an existential war to restore the economic and military foundations of imperialism. That is they are seeking to restore the monopoly over military force and capital that is central to the maintenance of the value draining imperialist world-system. Not only have they failed to achieve these strategic aims on the battlefield, but they have suffered in fact a series of damaging strategic reversals which have only heightened their existential crisis. It is this which drives their diplomatic fraud and intensification of the slaughter of the unarmed, as we have seen today in Beirut. But even this will not secure their strategic objectives, and will only lead to more damaging reversal for imperialism and zionism.
Below, I work through: i) the strategic objectives of imperialism and zionism; ii) how they have not only failed, but suffered damaging reversals on the battlefield; iii) how this only intensifies the existential crisis of the US-Zionist led imperialist order. Here they return to their Dahiyeh Doctrine - the slaughter of the unarmed - in a desperate attempt to achieve what they could not one the battlefield. And iv) the irrefutable truth that Hormuz demonstrates regarding the underlying structural transformation that Iran and the axis have achieved and will maintain.
I. Strategic Objectives, or What Brought on the War: The Existential Panic of the imperialist-zionist bloc
The US-Zionist bloc has been desperately trying to disarm anti-imperialist forces across the region, but have failed in this objective everywhere - Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Iran. The Zionist project, and thus the broader US imperialist system, simply cannot sustain itself if it cannot achieve this objective.
The escalation of war against Iran was motivated by this clear objective to disarm Iran, and fracture its internal unity, as this was understood as key to then being able to finally move to isolate and disarm the resistance in Gaza and Lebanon.
II. Outcome of the battlefield: Strategic reversals
This can be stated plainly and briefly: the ability of Iran to continue striking US assets and the entity for 40 days demonstrates the objective to disarm Iran failed. This failure is seen most profoundly in the fact that Iran in fact escalated the game to demonstrate that it is the sovereign power over Hormuz, and the US-Israeli bloc does not have the capabilities to deny this reality. This then has introduced a powerful economic weapon with which the "economic" leg of imperialism - the sanctions regime - has been brought to crisis.
It is the imperialists, then, who have been suffering a form of disarmament - directly as they experience financial and military attrition, but also indirectly as their tactical blows do not translate to strategic gains. And this applies to the economic question as well, as they suffer, due to the Hormuz equation, a dimunition of the "force" of its economic weapon of sanctions.
With regard to fracturing Iran, we have again witnessed a strategic reversal. Not only did Iranian society not fracture in the face of the assassinations and strikes on civilian infrastructure and life, but it rather only demonstrated greater cohesion and alignment with the Republic. The popular basis of sovereignty was renewed not diminished.
And finally, on the question of the fronts, their inter-linkage only deepened. They were not isolated from one another. The entry of Hezbollah, while concerned primarily with changing the equation that has allowed Zionist forces to strike Lebanon over the past 15 months, also demonstrated a kinetic harmony with the Islamic Republic hitherto unseen.
III. The Panic Deepens: A return to deception and Dahiyeh
Historically, when the economic and military bases of Western imperialism have been challenged at this scale and cannot be contained via the battlefield, the imperialist power turns to diplomatic fraud (ie treaty making/breaking) and an intensification of a slaughter of the unarmed as a means to securing its objectives.
Yesterday, the acceptance of Iran's 10 point basis amounted to an effective US-Zionist surrender. While Iran was aware that the deceptive forces of imperialism could break the treaty making process, it was also aware that it possessed a powerful weapon (Hormuz and the capabilities that underly it) with which compliance could be enforced over the long term.
In an attemp to impose leverage over the "negotiations" that they could not do on the battlefield, the zionists returned to their Dahiyeh doctrine - a strategy to impose genocidal slaughter on the unarmed popular cradle of the resistance so that it might fracture internal unity and compel surrender by other means. The slaughter in Beirut has as its aim an intensification of the fracturing of Lebanese society, and a spreading of costs to all sectors, so that more forces would align with the comprador government and demand Hezbollah be disarmed and relations with Iran permanently severed.
But here, again, we see zionism suffering a setback, a reversal in fact of its strategic aim. Reports that instead there is rising anger at the Nawaf Shalom government, and that popular forces in Iran demand a consolidation, not separation of the fronts. And, again, it is Zionism's constituencies of power holders that are increasingly turning against it, as seen in Spain's call for suspension of any trade deal with the entity.
IV Hormuz is where the Truth is revealed
The horrors inflicted on Beirut today will not go unanswered, and will only expedited and deepen the crisis for imperialism and zionism. It does nothing to change the new underlying structural equation in the region and the world-system - Iran's sovereign right over Hormuz, which is a sovereign control over the entry and exit of oil and capital into and out of the region. Here, see the highest reaches of anti-imperialism. The military basis of this sovereignright cannot be overturned, and will now join with the popular sovereign expression on the streets of Tehran tonight in imposing even greater costs on the entity.
Rather than align with the dahiyeh doctrine strategic objectives of zionism in turning against the resistance, or suggesting an Iranian betrayal, the hour is at hand to intensify the cracks and divisions of the imperialist-zionist bloc. Honor the martyrs of Beirut by urgently renewing opposition to any sort of normalization with zionism wherever you are.
ONE YEAR AFTER THE REVOLUTION, TRAORÉ ANNOUNCES THE MANIFESTO
On the first anniversary of Burkina Faso's Popular Progressive Revolution, President Ibrahim Traoré delivered a fiery address that reaffirmed revolutionary commitment with practical steps.
Speaking on April 1, 2026, Traoré announced that a revolutionary manifesto will be released in the coming days, outlining the revolution's framework across multiple social sectors. The document aims to "structure the revolutionary ideology to better guide and durably transform Burkinabè society."
The Burkinabe president and the leader of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) revealed that several foreign armies had offered fighters to assist in counter-terrorism operations. "By our intrinsic values, we said no, we will fight as Burkinabè," Traoré declared, stating that Burkina Faso is now "winning the bet" and reconquering enemy-held territory.
On economic sovereignty, Traoré delivered a concrete vision of self-sufficiency: "If you wear imported shoes, as a revolutionary, you must find the cobbler so that we can create them here. If you carry a weapon, you must at all costs seek to manufacture the weapon here."
The speech positioned Burkina Faso as a continental vanguard against Western domination. "We must be the flame that enlightens the minds of other Africans to take the path of revolution," Traoré said, explicitly rejecting "the dark destiny of democracy imported from imperialists."
The announcements come amid broader national restructuring. Burkina Faso has adopted a 2026-2030 recovery plan with a 36,000 billion CFA franc budget focused on security and economic transformation, and consolidated sovereignty through the Alliance of Sahel States alongside Mali and Niger.
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