January 26, 2005

Football Diplomacy

We now leave the realm of silly captions and blog statistics to deal with a much more serious matter, the fate of João José Vasconcellos Jr., the Brazilian who was captured this week in Iraq.

The most recent development is that Brazilian soccer stars--who are extremely popular in the Arab world--are being recruited to make appeals for João's safety. Below are portions of the article dealing with this subject, along with translations:

Jornal O Globo

Diplomacia do futebol pode salvar João José

Fernando Duarte
Correspondente

LONDRES. A diplomacia da bola surgiu como esperança para o engenheiro João José Vasconcellos Jr. Um editor do "Asharq al-Awsat, o maior jornal árabe"-- com três milhões de leitores em 16 países e escritório na capital britânica--disse ao GLOBO que uma mensagem de estrelas do futebol brasileiro, como Pelé, Ronaldo e Ronaldinho Gaúcho, seria mais eficaz que esforços do Itamaraty para sensibilizar os seqüestradores. Segundo o editor, que pediu anonimato, a maioria dos militantes é jovem e fã do futebol brasileiro.

Translation:

Jornal O Globo

Football Diplomacy could save João José

Fernando Duarte
Correspondant

LONDON. Football diplomacy has been suggested as a hope for the engineer João Jose Vasconcellos Jr. A publisher of the "Asharq al-Awsat", the biggest Arab periodical"--with three million readers in 16 countries and an office in the British capital--said to O GLOBO that a message from the stars of Brazilian soccer, such as Pelé, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho Gaucho, would be more effective than efforts of [the Brazilian government} to bring the kidnappers to their senses. According to publisher, who asked for anonymity, the majority of the militants are young and fans of Brazilian soccer.

This is definitely a strategy that needs to be agressively explored. The global goodwill enjoyed by Brazil is due in a large part to the successes of Brazilian soccer (something we non-soccer-playing Americans do not easily understand).

It is, however, important for us to understand the mentality of the kidnappers, as mentioned also in this article:

Para Al-Rashed, da rede Al-Arabyia, a nacionalidade do engenheiro não será uma vantagem numa negociação diplomática porque os insurgentes iraquianos há algum tempo não se preocupam em atacar somente países da coalizão comandada pelos EUA. Seu objetivo é provocar o máximo de problemas para muitas empresas contratadas para trabalhar no país, como a Odebrecht — a serviço do governo americano para reparos numa termelétrica na cidade de Baiji, norte do Iraque, onde Vasconcellos Jr. foi seqüestrado.

Translation:

For Al-Rashed, of the Al-Arabyia network, the nationality of the engineer will not be an advantage in a diplomatic negotiation because the Iraqi rebels for some time have not been exclusively attacking countries of the coalition commanded by the U.S.A. Its objective are to cause the most problems possible for many of the companies contracted to work in the country--such as Odebrecht, which is in service of the American government for repairs at a thermo-electric plant in the city of Beiji, north of Iraq, where Vasconcellos Jr. was kidnapped.

Most Brazilians, including those with whom I have talked personally, seem convinced that they are going to get a "by" on this one because of their non-support of the Iraq war. While I certainly hope this is the case, and that João José is released, I have no faith in the "goodness of the kidnappers".

Posted by Andrew on January 26, 2005 1:13 PM.

Comments

Posted by: Handsome Tom at January 26, 2005 10:40 PM