Quote from: Sithara007 on June 14, 2023, 07:07:59 AM

If you are trying to imply that it is the sole responsibility of the athletes to protest against the human rights abuses happening in Saudi Arabia and other countries? Messi's own country (Argentina) maintain business and political ties with Saudi Arabia, so do countries such as the United States and France. As far as I know, there are no sanctions or embargoes from the United Nations that are directed towards KSA.

And if your argument is that rich people have the luxury of the laws bending down to them in Saudi Arabia, then I need to remind you that it happens everywhere including the United States (where Inter Miami is based). Look at Sam Bankman Fraud. Despite stealing $8 billion, he is chilling out at his home without facing any time in prison. If some ordinary guy had stolen $8 from a local Walmart in the US, he would have been behind the bars by now.

Going the tit for tat route when comparing the US and Saudi Arabia is certainly possible, but I am not sure whether it makes too much sense. There are lots of indices and it is good to see that even the US gets criticized or scored lower than lots of countries when they actually deserve a lower score, but there are not even close to the disastrous overall freedom indices scores where Saudi Arabia is to be found. the comparison lacks substance in all respects and this is not because I want to say that the US is a holy country with no issues and errors. Indeed there is lots of stupid stuff going on, but again, it is not Saudi Arabia like.

I have also never said that I know why Messi chose not to go there. I said that it could possibly be a statement and apart from all that I am quite sure that he feels a little bit more free in Miami than in the cities of Saudi Arabia.That counts for his family as a whole. For the whole ecosystem I think it is good that not everyone ends up playing in the desert state.