Qatar 2022

2022 is a long way away and the Middle East isn't a bastion of stability. Qatar could still be its old horrible self by then, or it could be a mini-Syria.

 

According to this, Germany was given the Games in 1931, two years before Hitler gained power, to welcome the country back from isolation after World War I.

The Nazi Olympics Berlin 1936

 

Correct. It is entirely possible that when the date comes, the World Cup is yanked and there are no games there.

Were the Olympics taken away from them? No? Ok.

 

There was no real reason, given the context of the times, to pull the Olympics from Berlin. Although there were plenty of fears and suspicions about what was going on/going to occur in Germany, the Nazis had done an effective job of papering over the reality of their regime. And, frankly, there was a lot of admiration in Western nations for what Hitler had done in Germany up to that point, especially among the crowd that would have been responsible for pulling the Games from Berlin. There were a few isolated calls from a few politicians and editorialists to move the Olympics in '36, but not nearly enough to move the IOC to such action.

BTW, one angle that has been overlooked in popular history is the process by which the 1940 Olympics were cancelled, as those Games were scheduled to be held in ... Tokyo.

 

Qatar is nothing like Syria, and it's not even close.

 

It is similar in the fact that both nations have five letters in their names.

 

Boy, sometimes you guys are dim. I used Syria as the most drastic example of Middle East instability. Any of you dismiss the likelihood Qatar could be the scene of endemic political violence before 2022? If so, the CIA would like a word.

 

You aren't the brightest bulb, either, Gee.

Here's something to chew on. If Qatar becomes a mini-Syria, that will be the least of our worries in the region.

 

So in other words, the Games were held in Berlin while Hitler was good, but before he went too far?

 

I shouldn't have said dim. I should have said, "amazingly overly literal."

 

Hitler was never good; he just did a good job for a good long while of disguising what was going on and what his intentions were. And there were a lot of folks in the West who didn't really want to know, including the muckety-mucks in the IOC.

 

In case you missed it, it was a Marge Schott reference.