Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Sepp Blatter to quit as president amid corruption scandal

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 57 posts

Re: Sepp Blatter to quit as president amid corruption scandal

#41

Post by dragonwriter »

1337biz wrote: post #9

Just wondering - has anyone heared any other side of the story? Whenever a story appears to be such clear cut black and white with one evil villain, my septics radar goes up.

> Whenever a story appears to be such clear cut black and white with one evil villain

Whoever said there was one evil villain? Note that while Blatter may be implicated in the corruption investigation, one of the specific schemes already charged was an attempt to use bribes to motivate people to vote for Blatter's opponent in a previous FIFA election.

This doesn't look as much like a hierarchical conspiracy with one bad actor at the top, as a whole nest of -- sometimes cooperating, sometimes competing -- bad actors.

Re: Sepp Blatter to quit as president amid corruption scandal

#43

Post by mason240 »

tertius wrote: post #37
joshstrange wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His show is awesome and really hit the ground running! Really makes the Colbert Report replacement (The Nightly Show) look terrible by comparison (started around the same time but to be fair LWT is once a week while TNS is 4 days/week). Looking forward to other things that John will bring into the light, I've learned quite a bit from his show (or rather his show has wetted my appetite to do more research on topics he…

Remember, it's still a comedy show and he himself does not claim otherwise. Chunks of salt.

Did he say that he is using the same "just a comedian" excuse Colbert and Stewart used hide from criticism?

Re: Sepp Blatter to quit as president amid corruption scandal

#44

Post by makeitsuckless »

EnderMB wrote: post #31

It's convenient that he steps down now, mere days after the election that swore him into power once again. If he stepped down during the election Prince Ali would have won. This way, Blatter can call his own election and personally vouch for a new candidate to take over. To me, Blatter was just the face of corruption. I simply cannot see someone from inside FIFA being able to resolve the corruption problems, mostly b…

The "FIFA is corrupt to the core" argument misunderstands the nature of FIFA's corruption.

It's only the few decision makers that are relevant, it isn't like a government where there is something to be gained by bribery on each level, even the lowest civil servant. Unlike corruption in a nation, we are not talking about a culture of corruption that involves millions. There's no point in bribing just a lowly FIFA official or bureaucrat, most you can buy that way is easier access to the big boys.

That small group of corrupt decision makers is now rapidly diminishing, and there is not a long line of eager replacements, especially now that the feds are looking over their shoulders.

Re: Sepp Blatter to quit as president amid corruption scandal

#45

Post by yk »

1337biz wrote: post #9

Just wondering - has anyone heared any other side of the story? Whenever a story appears to be such clear cut black and white with one evil villain, my septics radar goes up.

Blatter's strategy was usually too go against the UEFA, the European soccer confederation and the most powerful continental confederation. For example, he championed the South African World Cup bid for 2010. ( After the UEFA managed to get the 2006 cup for Germany.) And he presides over a remarkable increase in the importance of soccer.

So he gets reelected, because he is actually quite successful and has a clearly defined voter base. This base may or may not like the corruption, but that is simply not their main concern.

Re: Sepp Blatter to quit as president amid corruption scandal

#46

Post by dragonwriter »

makeitsuckless wrote: post #44
EnderMB wrote: post #31

It's convenient that he steps down now, mere days after the election that swore him into power once again. If he stepped down during the election Prince Ali would have won. This way, Blatter can call his own election and personally vouch for a new candidate to take over. To me, Blatter was just the face of corruption. I simply cannot see someone from inside FIFA being able to resolve the corruption problems, mostly b…

The "FIFA is corrupt to the core" argument misunderstands the nature of FIFA's corruption. It's only the few decision makers that are relevant, it isn't like a government where there is something to be gained by bribery on each level, even the lowest civil servant. Unlike corruption in a nation, we are not talking about a culture of corruption that involves millions. There's no point in bribing just a lowly FIFA offi…

> That small group of corrupt decision makers is now rapidly diminishing, and there is not a long line of eager replacements, especially now that the feds are looking over their shoulders.

And not just the (US) Feds -- the Swiss are conducting a separate corruption investigation relating to the 2018 and 2022 world cups, and other governments are interested as well. Essentially, the fact that the World Cup is a big national prestige event and that past corruption has been brought into the light means there is likely going to be intense scrutiny from all sides going forward -- sure, for every beneficiary of corruption there are lots of losers, and when those losers are major nation states, they have a pretty impressive ability, if they turn their will to it, to address any problems, especially if given the convenient excuse provided by actual corruption to prosecute.

Re: Sepp Blatter to quit as president amid corruption scandal

#48

Post by pdabbadabba »

spdy wrote: post #30

Looks like they planned this before the election. There was no suitable candidate who would be able to do the job that has to be done now. Now its time to find one. And i would be surprised if they can connect him with bribery etc. He strikes me as that kind of person who likes power over a bag of money.

The problem with corruption is that, in the absence of careful enforcement, you don't have to choose. Blatter has had both power and, I'd wager, a great deal of money for quite some time now.

Re: Sepp Blatter to quit as president amid corruption scandal

#50

Post by dragonwriter »

spdy wrote: post #30

Looks like they planned this before the election. There was no suitable candidate who would be able to do the job that has to be done now. Now its time to find one. And i would be surprised if they can connect him with bribery etc. He strikes me as that kind of person who likes power over a bag of money.

> And i would be surprised if they can connect him with bribery etc. He strikes me as that kind of person who likes power over a bag of money.

Money and power are generally fungible, and you don't have to handle a bag of money at either end to be part of a conspiracy that involves financial crimes.

The leaders of criminal conspiracies probably generally prefer power to money, with money being interesting, to the extent it is, as a means to power.

Post reply on HN