Qatar intelligence operation against FIFA officials | Hacker News Reader

Qatar intelligence operation against FIFA officials

swissinfo.ch

160 pointsludos28 comments

This news is out in Switzerland since 5 days and nobody else is reporting on it. It was conducted by the Swiss National Television .

>>> The scale of espionage is considerable. For one sub-operation alone, at least 66 agents were earmarked for nine years. The budget for it was $387 million. The spies were active on five continents. >>> The primary goal: to prevent Qatar from losing the World Cup again because of the massive criticism.

German report: https://www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/projekt-gnadenlos-wie-katar-...

This needs to be bigger news. I never see this stuff covered and its absolutely insane what is going on.

It should be. I heard Qatar is actively trying to sweep it under the carpet.

As long as it is not a US interest, I don't think media is going to give enough coverage to such news.

I was under the impression that everyone was aware of how deeply corrupt FIFA is. Didn't they green-light a World Cup in Russia while it was invading Ukraine?

> Didn't they green-light a World Cup in Russia while it was invading Ukraine?

No, Russia hosted the last World Cup. Although the circumstances for FIFA awarding them that World Cup were very suspicious.

More reason to boycott the next World Cup. FIFA has been a corrupt organization for a long time with numerous scandals but this one is over the top. Qatar blatantly bought their way into the 2022 hosting spot and is using slave labor to build gigantic stadiums and towns that will definitely be abandoned right after the events just like the ones from the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. All because the same rich Qatari monarchs that own Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and spend enormous amounts of money (iirc about a billion Euros) in hopes of winning a UEFA Champions League want to see their favorite players go at it in their backyards.

And now tell me again we should not get rid of the fossil fuel industry - or at least weaken them significantly by not buying their black dirt and having alternatives.

If they do things like this for soccer fun because they are bored in their desert... Imagine what they do and try on politicans, scientists and other individuals for their other interests. Imagine what they are willing to do regarding the spread of well designed FUD and FLICC disinformation about climate science. Imagine how much money that you pay for fuel or energy is pumped into influencing the masses. Imagine the effect on the life of your children and grand children.

I'll tell you again that we should not get rid of fracking.

It's sort of crazy to me that this is how far Qatar went to win a loss-making, probably embarrassing, international equivalent of a school sports day. But it's not that different to how 50 other countries have intelligence services serve private economic interests.

As corrupt and greedy as FIFA is, it's no wonder the Qataris have been monitoring their investments in secret.

Would you have trusted them with your bribes without hedging your bets?

Oh, i see, it was posted already. But nobody was interested. Sorry for the dupe.

I look forward to NOT watching the quatar world cup

This is probably my favorite sporting event, but I will also be boycotting. For others I have talked to that are doing the same, it was principally the corruption. For me it was the labor practices and the 6500+ people that died working on the stadiums that will likely be torn down or fall into disuse once the event is over.

People probably aren't surprised as it's seen as par for the course now for big governments to do nefarious things for their interests. We're used to western governments doing it, what's the difference if Qatar does as well? In fact that way these foreign governments are reported on it's downright expected to see corruption(see the media coverage on Ukraine before the current crisis-- all US media liked to talk about was corruption)

I really don't understand what the big deal is about guys running around kicking a ball. I understand it's fun to play and watch, but not hundreds of millions of dollars worth of fun

About 3.5 billion people watch the world cup.

Thats worth a lot in advertising dollars.

Manchester United alone is a multi-billion $/£ company.

Most popular sport in most countries in the world. FIFA World Cup is the biggest sporting event in the world. The amount of viewers blows the Olympics, the next most watched after, out of the water.

That's a statement of fact, but the GP was asking why it is actually so.

Well, just sports in general... I like to go and watch a local game occasionally and follow international tournaments, but it's weird the level of passion around it. What I really don't get, and never had, hardly anyone supports local teams, they're obsessed with basically, international companies named after towns.

Unlike the Olympics where the sports are often obscure, boring or both, the world cup is comprised solely of an exciting game, much which of the world is familiar with from childhood experience. It's a sport that doesn't favor physical giants over skill and depends upon team cohesion over individual talent. As a result, we often see smaller countries with something to prove knock out bigger, established countries. Unless it's your team that loses, EVERYBODY loves an underdog.

Qatar intelligence? i doubt it, it's most likely plain and simple the CIA, the structure is similar to Wagner

This explains the Super League propaganda and anti Champions League campaign in Europe the past few years

"FIFA is too big, must be dismantled" ;)

>>Qatar orchestrated a large-scale and long-standing intelligence operation against FIFA officials with the help of former CIA operatives.

>>To do this, Qatar hired American private firm: Global Risk Advisors (GRA).

Have you even read the article?

You have read the article, congrats

But do you know about Wagner?

Let me help you: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagner_Group

Understand the similarities now?

Now next question, do you know why and how Qatar managed the get the rights to host the next world cup?

Now next question, do you know what the Super League is?

Now next question, do you know why it was canceled?

Try to answer these questions and you'll understand my comment

Russia's intelligence doesn't hire a US based company composed of former CIA agents, it wouldn't be called intelligence, it would be called revealing secret defense to foreign, and potentially hostile, countries

The fact that Qatar did mean there is more to the story, and this article fails to explore this dark area

https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/mercenaries-cia-expanded-role...

Why do you compare a Russian proxy army (Wagner) with a private intelligence agency payed by a state to prevent loosing a World-cup?

The rest of your questions are so ridiculous one could argue that you are on drugs...just stupid argumentation, i stop here, have a nice one.

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