If god's on our side

2026-03-27 - 01:33

“I’m weary as hell; the confusion I’m feelin’ ain’t no tongue can tell; the words fill my head and they fall to the floor; that if God’s on our side, he’ll stop the next war.” (“With God on our side”, Bob Dylan, American song writer) FIFA World Cup 2026 is mere weeks away and the dark clouds of war hang heavy over the tournament. Co-host USA is at war with one of the tournament’s participants, Iran. Its President has launched verbal barbs and issued threats of military action and annexation against its two co-hosts, Canada and Mexico. It is engaged in geopolitical suicide, alienating powerful traditional allies, such as NATO, while blowing its own trumpet for creating “alliances” with geopolitical minnows, like Argentina, El Salvador and Trinidad and Tobago. Ominously, with fifteen participating countries on its restricted visa list, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has now been unleashed at airports with its presence around World Cup stadia already announced – not the most welcoming news for traveling supporters. But football has always been played against the backdrop of military violence and war. In 2026 World Cup qualifying, Israel and Palestine both participated even as the genocide unfolded in Gaza, the meat grinder ground on in Ukraine while the country sought its place, civil war never stopped as Sudan chased a spot, and the countries of the Sahel battled Al Qaeda and ISIS while also battling for a ticket. Football always survives politics. Let us look at just a few examples of this incredible phenomenon. A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE In June 1938 France hosted the tournament after it won the bid from Nazi Germany, which received one vote. The tournament was sandwiched by Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria in March and parts of Czechoslovakia in October of the same year. Prior to that, in 1935 Mussolini’s Italy had invaded Ethiopia leading to the Second Italo-Ethiopian War (1935-1941). Emperor Haile Selassie led the resistance that resulted in Italy’s eventual expulsion and the salvation of African pride. Fascist Germany reached the 1938 semi-final and fascist Italy won the title. And one year later the world descended into the anti-fascist conflagration known as World War II (1939-1945). The 1958 World Cup was played in Sweden while the Algerian war of independence raged bitterly (1954-1962). Between 350’000 and 1’000’000 Algerians are estimated to have died in the war, and more than 2’000’000 were made refugees or forcibly relocated into government concentration camps. In April 1958 thirty-one Algerian footballers departed France in protest over its war against Algerian independence. These men played for top clubs in France, including champions AS Saint-Etienne. Some of them were vital to the French national team that would play in the World Cup two months later. The Algerian National Liberation Front formed a national team with them. They toured North Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and East Asia between 1958 and 1962, playing ninety-two matches and winning sixty-five victories. Brasil won the 1958 title. In 1962 Algeria won its independence and Brasil won its second title. The 1978 tournament was hosted by Argentina under a military dictatorship that lasted from 1976 to 1983. Indeed, much of South America was under military dictatorship in that era, including Paraguay (1954-1989), Brasil (1964-1985), Uruguay (1973-1985) and Chile (1973-1990). These regimes were marked by authoritarian rule and human rights abuses. Between 10’000 and 30’000 people are estimated to have been killed or forcibly disappeared by the Argentinian military government during the “Dirty War” from 1976 to 1983. Many of these victims were political dissidents or suspected left wing activists. The Argentina World Cup was an early example of “sportswashing” – the use of sports events or teams to burnish the reputation of governments, corporations or individuals by distracting from human rights abuses or scandals. Still, the ball rolled and Argentina won the first of its three world titles. Fast forward to the present. By the end of World Cup 2026 USA will have participated in six of the seven twenty-first century tournaments. In that time it has been perpetually at war. 2026: DAY OF THE WOLF The dead await us at World Cup 2026 – the slaughtered innocents of Gaza, Ukraine, Lebanon, the Gulf and elsewhere, men, women and children, victims all of those who believe military might trumps humanity. Having paid obeisance to Donald Trump by awarding him its Peace Prize, FIFA is staging its largest ever world tournament in a country roiling with political strife caused by its President’s divisive domestic policies and the orgy of violence unleashed by his unprovoked and illegal war abroad. Today, there is no more pretense at a so called “international rules based order”. Now, nations, like species, compete for resources and power in a Darwinian struggle for the survival of the fittest – natural selection imposed by the threat or actual use of force of arms. Today is the day of the wolf. One month in, the latest Middle East conflict marks a fundamental tactical shift in how war is fought. The drone, a cheap armament guided remotely or by artificial intelligence is the future of warfare. And the mass murder it delivers is alienated, now more than ever before, from moral choice and human guilt. The smell of blood and death is now even more remote from the calculation to kill. Butressing this is the shift away from the Geneva Conventions and rules of war. “Our rules of engagement are bold, precise, and designed to unleash American power, not shackle it,” says the so called US “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth, an avowed Christian nationalist who says USA has “the providence of our almighty God”. The push of a button thousands of miles away rains “death and destruction from the sky all day long” in his remorseless words. In its expanding war against Iran, USA is spending USD 1 billion per day on operations, weapons, air defense, and military aid. I do not know what it costs its ally, Israel. This short term cost is negligible when compared with the long term cost of the war – thousands of lost lives; a humanitarian crisis; immense damage to economic and civilian infrastructure across the Middle East, which will take years to replace; explosion of the price of oil and gas resulting from the Hormuz blockade; and expanding regional conflict (Israeli invasion of Lebanon, expansion of warfare into Iraq) – not to mention the incubation of another generation of hatred. The Pentagon, confronted by Trump’s immense miscalculation of Iran’s political resilience and resolve, and its unexpectedly stiff military resistance, now wants USD 200 billion more for his “excursion”. As Tupac said, “They got money for wars but can’t feed the poor.” AND WHAT NEXT? Football is irresistible. So the Iran Football Federation is attempting to stay in the World Cup. President Mehdi Taj stated days ago, “We will boycott America, but we will not boycott the World Cup. The national team is holding a training camp in Turkey, and we will also play two friendly matches (against Nigeria and Costa Rica) there.” Iran’s request to FIFA to move its matches from the United States to Mexico after Donald Trump stated he could not ensure the security of its team was supported by Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum but FIFA declined. So what next? Pope Leo XIV (the “anti-Hegseth”), speaking for all of us, has called for dialogue, saying “On behalf of the Christians of the Middle East and all women and men of good will, I appeal to those responsible for this conflict. Cease fire so that avenues for dialogue may be reopened. Violence can never lead to the justice, stability, and peace that the people are waiting for.” He will be ignored. Trump will continue to flail desperately in search of a win and FIFA will not flinch. The Islamic Republic will continue to fight for its existence and will be replaced in the tournament. War will rage for the immediate future and people will suffer and die. Meantime, as nations battle to be the apex predator and as others resist being prey; while the United Nations impotently discusses the multiplying crises from the sideline, I cling naively to the visionary words of an anonymous London street poet: “Meet me by the ruins of the war machine; kiss me at the dawn of its demise; revel with me on the graves of fighter jets; for the souls who didn’t make it out alive”. Maybe some day. If God is on our side.