Episode 1118: Poisonings, PR And Paranoia, Russophobia, Martin O’Neill’s New Dawn
“Putin is going to use it in the way Hitler used the 1936 Olympics,” the Labour MP Ian Austin said yesterday, as he advocated for England boycotting the World Cup. The UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson agreed: “I think the comparison with 1936 is certainly right.” Naturally these comments were met in Russia with furious derision, a reaction that often greets Johnson’s remarks on the state of the world.
Boris Johnson comparing Russia World Cup to Hitler and the 1936 Olympics is ‘offensive and unacceptable’, says Putin spokesman https://t.co/QTnHNlNyxq
— Amanda Lloyd (@Alpeekaboo) March 22, 2018
Unfortunately for Ken, he made the same comparison himself on a podcast a couple of months ago and has been left shell shocked by the news that Johnson is now peddling the same line. Can he explain himself?
Eliot Rothwell is an English journalist who has been living in Russia since last year. We talk to Eliot about the World Cup and what Russia hopes to get out of it, the paranoia that now characterises relations between his home country and his adopted one, and the difficulty of knowing what to believe when “nothing is true and everything is possible”.
It’s really, really not too risky. But this is the discourse we have now in Britain. Any media outlet is now willing to print almost anything negative about Russia because, unlike for other countries, it will be accepted with little scrutiny. https://t.co/YzAseNNpbJ
— Eliot Rothwell (@EliotRothwell) March 16, 2018
Then we hear from Emmet Malone who is with the Irish team in Antalya. What are we expecting to see from Martin O’Neill’s side tomorrow evening? Fresh tactics, young guns, a new dawn?
Martin O’Neill gives his reaction to the Republic of Ireland’s Nations League draw and addresses recent speculation about his future #RTEsoccer pic.twitter.com/cLC1SiDARB
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) January 24, 2018
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