Roman Abramovich hands over ‘stewardship and care’ of Chelsea football club

[catcherintherye]

That's because we support a club owned by an oligarch's accountant, and you support a franchise with a football club attached owned by some Americans who don't give a stuff about football. Not sure which is worse tbh.

It's also worth stating, American owners who's investment firm who have donated to the two parties of global war, the Democrats and Republicans.

Those 2 organisations make Putin look like Gandhi.

 

[dublinbluenose]

It's also worth stating, American owners who's investment firm who have donated to the two parties of global war, the Democrats and Republicans.

Those 2 organisations make Putin look like Gandhi.

Whose main sponsor has on more than one occasion has been found guilty of laundering money for drug cartels and despots.

 

[EverTheOptimist]

Just to play devils advocate a little here mate, but if the object of sports washing is to minimise peoples past, surely making yourself a central figure in one of the worlds leading sports leagues kind of has the opposite affect?

Doesnt it just attract attention to you, in a way that doesnt happen with almost any other investment?

I agree with a lot of what you say, particularly the bit about Palestine. I find it astonishing not a single person pearl clutching about him condemning a war for a country he is no longer a citizen of, seem to completely ignore a war of a country he is a citizen of. But as we know, lives are valued differently by the west.

Alas I digress, it's a random thought, but does sports washing as a paradigm really work? It's not laundering either, as nobody would ever launder cash in something as open as football. I'm not sure what the motivation is, but I cant square that angle.

One of the best Journalists in this country sums what sportswashing is all about, it's a video on the 10 year anniversary of Abramovich's ownership in 2013, please watch this video in it's entirety and when he finishes speaking, listen to what they say to him in the studio, that is sportswashing to a tee, they don't want to talk about his past, how he stole the wealth, how he assembled a a private army in the "aluminium wars" and they were over a 100 deaths in that war, the blood he has on his hands from the 90's, sportswashing deflects from the things they don't want people to know or forget, be it a individual, a state or whatever

Saudi Arabia since that Embassy killing, have bought a PL team, won pursesfor HW boxing title fights in Riyadh, UFC, WWE, built 2 F1 tracks and are about to take over Golf with a super league, the Embassy killing, war in Yemen seems to have been forgotten.

 

[BrendanGOT]

Got links to Soros family member.

That a bad or good thing?

 

[Ballly]

Sky reporting Roman Abramovich will sell Chelsea & donate proceeds to victims of war in Ukraine .

I mean , I'm not too clued up in all the facts in whats going on , but in my opinion this is an excellent act from the guy .

Great PR isn't it. Got people like you fooled!

 

[EverTheOptimist]

Great PR isn't it. Got people like you fooled!

It's hilarious how he thought that would dupe people, the guy is a glorified mafia boss of Siberia.

Said he was passing the club to a charity commission, the people he named in it refused to be a part of it when they found out nothing would change, they were going to be used in a sham.

Then he said he'd be at the peace talks in Minsk, again another fabrication, he was hiding in Moscow.

Says he has nothing to do with the war, but flew straight to Moscow the day of the invasion from Monaco on his $350 million Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Now he claims he's going to give away £1.5 billion to charities and rebuilding of a country invaded by his beloved country and best mate.

Oligarchs are just thieves and liars, what's great is this crisis has shown the world about what Oligarchs really are, EVERY SINGLE ONE of them are enablers for Putin, they are complicit in the dictatorship there, they all stripped the country it of its wealth to be shared amongst them and since perestroika these Oligarchs created a mafia state led by Putin who they have enabled along the way, now the world ALL knows why Russia with an abundance of natural resources and mineral wealth has such a small GDP, a country with those riches should be in the top three richest countries in the world after the USA and China, instead they are ranked 21st with a laughable $1.4 trillion when it should be around $7-8 trillion per year if Oligarchs and the corporations they created weren't syphoning the Russians people's wealth.

 

[mahermi1]

Once the Premier league get the Chelsea sale squared off they can move onto putting Everton into administration and install LFC into Bramley Moore

Quite correct, they are practically selling Chelsea for them....Meanwhile they are doing their very best to bankrupt Everton, where are the shouts for" It will just hurt the fans now". We know their is a human tragedy in Ukraine and we all hope Putin gets what's coming to him, but this is not Evertons fault by any means.

 

[Rich1878]

Great PR isn't it. Got people like you fooled!

Sorry , next time we shall ask you , as you know the ins and outs

 

[brigadier]

Good old British hypocrisy, pointing fingers and blaming individuals whilst offloading Russian oil ships .

 

[catcherintherye]

It's hilarious how he thought that would dupe people, the guy is a glorified mafia boss of Siberia.

Said he was passing the club to a charity commission, the people he named in it refused to be a part of it when they found out nothing would change, they were going to be used in a sham.

Then he said he'd be at the peace talks in Minsk, again another fabrication, he was hiding in Moscow.

Says he has nothing to do with the war, but flew straight to Moscow the day of the invasion from Monaco on his $350 million Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Now he claims he's going to give away £1.5 billion to charities and rebuilding of a country invaded by his beloved country and best mate.

Oligarchs are just thieves and liars, what's great is this crisis has shown the world about what Oligarchs really are, EVERY SINGLE ONE of them are enablers for Putin, they are complicit in the dictatorship there, they all stripped the country it of its wealth to be shared amongst them and since perestroika these Oligarchs created a mafia state led by Putin who they have enabled along the way, now the world ALL knows why Russia with an abundance of natural resources and mineral wealth has such a small GDP, a country with those riches should be in the top three richest countries in the world after the USA and China, instead they are ranked 21st with a laughable $1.4 trillion when it should be around $7-8 trillion per year if Oligarchs and the corporations they created weren't syphoning the Russians people's wealth.

Where was this country positioned in terms of GDP when Putin inherited the country?

I'm not sure your argument really stands up.

 

[catcherintherye]

One of the best Journalists in this country sums what sportswashing is all about, it's a video on the 10 year anniversary of Abramovich's ownership in 2013, please watch this video in it's entirety and when he finishes speaking, listen to what they say to him in the studio, that is sportswashing to a tee, they don't want to talk about his past, how he stole the wealth, how he assembled a a private army in the "aluminium wars" and they were over a 100 deaths in that war, the blood he has on his hands from the 90's, sportswashing deflects from the things they don't want people to know or forget, be it a individual, a state or whatever

Saudi Arabia since that Embassy killing, have bought a PL team, won pursesfor HW boxing title fights in Riyadh, UFC, WWE, built 2 F1 tracks and are about to take over Golf with a super league, the Embassy killing, war in Yemen seems to have been forgotten.

I'm not really sure you are understanding my point though mate.

I get tbe theory behind the argument, but I'm just not sure of the reality. Do people honestly think, that Putin would be worried about attacking Abramovich because he owned a football club? His actions appear to suggest otherwise. I cant agree with Syeds assertion there. It's not supported by evidence.

I'm also not sure of his discussion around the morality of it, or that exploiting a crisis is a uniquely Russian thing. It's not. Warren Buffet has built his career on exploiting crisis, and getting rich from buying assets under their value.

Syed talks about it like its theft, but it's the essence of capitalism. The wealthiest seek to exploit crisis to acquire assets at way under their value. That's what the best traders do. It gets spoken about differently in the west but its true. Buffets most successful early trade in Geico almost certainly came with insider knowledge from his father than congressman. I like Buffet, but can see there is a complexity that is missing from Syeds argument here.

Likewise you look at this country, and there is corruption from politicians everywhere. Hancock's mates being awarded contracts for donations. Its everywhere.

Likewise privatisations are about giving away public assets under the value. They call it "wealth creation" or whatever but its theft. Thatcher sold Girobank for pennies on the pound. It's not a Putin thing, or a Russian thing, but about capitalism and neo-liberalism.

Syed should acquaint himself with Naomi Kleins book the Shock Doctrine. What happened in Russia is American policy 101. Yet nobody talks about Americans who make money on the stock markets and the hedge funds, or banks or whoever are centrally involved in this process as in any way complicit. Russia is one country where it exists, but as Klein noted, it's just one of many countries where the same has occurred. The root cause is America, Americanism and the Hedge fund industry that drives it.

Your Syeds of this world exist to obfuscate from this reality. He writes in the Murdoch press and is essentially a right winger, dare I say it a far right figure, penning nonsense about the left.

Rather than look at American imperialism, war, capitalism, privatisation etc he distorts the picture, picking up on legitimate grievances to distort the narrative. Giving the impression Abramovichs rise was some sort of aberration when he reflects the natural follow on from America foreign policy (who's paw prints are all over the Yeltsin takeover).

For the thick, and those only marginally cleverer than the thick he will be some sort of genius. A one eyed man in a desert of blindness. For the truly enlightened, it's just ignorant.

 

[Moderatelywarmwater]

That a bad or good thing?

It dependa.

Soris being jewish is a big issue for many people who are quite racist.

 

[EverTheOptimist]

Where was this country positioned in terms of GDP when Putin inherited the country?

I'm not sure your argument really stands up.

There GDP is undervalued lol, a country of almost 200 million with a GDP capita of measly laughable 10k dollars per person, Norway's GDP per capita another natural resources country of 4 million is $ 67k per person

Russia with that wealth and that amount of people with the most gas reserves in the world and oil ranked 4th most In the world and metal resources should not be having a GDP 5 trillion behind a country of Germany with a third of the population.

Soviet Union was bankrupt, a toddler could have improved that GDP after Yeltsin haha, wasn't hard, all they did was get western help to restore their gas and oil refineries to produce more and the Iraq war started where oil jumped from $ 30 dollars a barrel to $ 150 a barrel from 2003 to 2008.

Again the systematic robbery of Abramovich, Khordovsky Usmanov etc who pillaged and robbed from the Russian people and created a mafia state where 400 Oligarch and their corporations own $900 billion dollars per year of the GDP.

As I said Russia should be having a 7-8 trillion GDP and around $50k GDP per capita.

 

[duncs pigeon]

There GDP is undervalued lol, a country of almost 200 million with a GDP capita of measly laughable 10k dollars per person, Norway's GDP per capita another natural resources country of 4 million is $ 67k per person

Russia with that wealth and that amount of people with the most gas reserves in the world and oil ranked 4th most In the world and metal resources should not be having a GDP 5 trillion behind a country of Germany with a third of the population.

Soviet Union was bankrupt, a toddler could have improved that GDP after Yeltsin haha, wasn't hard, all they did was get western help to restore their gas and oil refineries to produce more and the Iraq war started where oil jumped from $ 30 dollars a barrel to $ 150 a barrel from 2003 to 2008.

Again the systematic robbery of Abramovich, Khordovsky Usmanov etc who pillaged and robbed from the Russian people and created a mafia state where 400 Oligarch and their corporations own $900 billion dollars per year of the GDP.

As I said Russia should be having a 7-8 trillion GDP and around $50k GDP per capita.

Is there anything you are not an expert in?

 

[tommye]

Is there anything you are not an expert in?

Honesty?