Silent Lonesome Man

Among supporters of Russian invasion of Ukraine since February 2022, one of the most surprising supporters of Russia, to be frank, are the Africans. Though most supports are founded entirely in West, East and South, rather than in North Africa, but this is a huge disparity considering that North Africa only contributed over 15% of the population of the continent. This shocking high amount of pro-Russian sympathy toward Africa is not entirely unfounded, and so is the pro-Chinese sentiment among Africans. Yet a major distinction is that, African love for Russia and China do not necessary mean they will see them parts of Europe and Asia. In the mind of Africans, mostly the less educated Sub-Saharan ones, Russia and China are like in a different planet than the remaining countries, even if this is compared to Latin America. What has fuelled Africans to become indulged in their own hypocrisies about Russia and China have to be understood from the past of the Africans. From colonial backgrou...

When the advisor to the Ukrainian government, Mikhaylo Podolyak, made his statement worrying about Russia's intention to scale back from original invasion, he had also mentioned that the Russian MP from Moscow requested Russia to "denazify" other countries like Poland, Moldova and the Baltics on his tweet. While how far real it is is much for debate, Podolyak's tweet actually struck to our mind: Putin is planning for a greater war, and for more destruction, probably all of Europe. But while the rest of Europe is worrying about being embroiled to war, another sign that China is planning for a future war has been ongoing. Like Russia, China is led by a powerful dictator, Xi Jinping, who has accumulated power similar to that of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, and maybe even more powerful than those two because he inherited a country, whose economy is standing 2nd in the world and deeply integrated globally, with a military far more powerful than that of Russia. Ever since...

On January 6th, 2021, a shocking unrest broke out near the Capitol Hill. Encouraged by then-upcoming ousted President Donald Trump, who kept repeating the false claim about stolen elections, the crowd invaded the Capitol Hill, killing at least five people (including one policeman) with hope to u-turn the election. The insurrection failed, but this was a turning point - for many American lawmakers, it was a clear assault on the country's democratic system and thus, various groups like Proud Boys, QAnon and Oath Keepers have been listed as "domestic terrorists" - a really scornful term to describe people trying to remove democracy in the States. The reactions was immediate - a complete shame for so many Vietnamese people abroad. A lot of Vietnamese scholars openly condemned the assault and accused the people of insulting Vietnamese freedom heritage flag and its culture. For some people, this assault was even more effective than any communist propaganda perpetuated - it rui...

I have written a previous article about Turkey and its switching affiliation between the AFC and the UEFA , given its geographical proximity. Yes, there are a lot of questions, but I guess when you wonder, the current campaign for Qatar 2022 may have provided insight. In particular, Vietnam suffered the most in this stage. You know, Turkey and Vietnam are not similar to each other. One is already recognised as a middle-sized power in European football, while one is just beginning to breathe the sky of the last round. The qualification for the 2022 FIFA World Cup between them is also different: Turkey belongs to the European front, while my country is Asian. Yet after seeing how the run in Asia worked after just two matchdays, one may conclude why the Turks have little optimism to join the AFC. Best seen with the situation of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying in Asia were Vietnam's games against Saudi Arabia and Australia at home already. The first match against Saudi Arabia saw th...

Third-place. Third in a FIFA World Cup. You can imagine this in Turkey after the 2002 FIFA World Cup held in South Korea and Japan. And more of irony: this is Turkey's just only second appearance. Most of the Muslim-dominated countries do have national teams that qualified for more than a World Cup, but only two appearances is a surprise. Yet Turkey achieved the unthinkable that still, no Muslim majority countries could: finishing in the last four. Ever since the Turks opted to join the European football family, the question has always lingered among the Turkish population that, should they have switched to the Asian football home instead, or stay in Europe for better football development. Many people question the same, why Turkey has little success in qualifying for more than two World Cups in spite of mad supporters? Turkey is a country with a rich history. It was conquered by the Byzantine and the Persians for various eras, then the Arab expansion before the Turks settled in Ana...

If you're surely used to hear about Brexit from the European Union, then yes, there are several varieties, notably Hunexit (Hungary's exit from the EU) and Polexit (Poland's exit from the EU). Yet there is a looming threat, hidden one but is growing more relevant from time, that the UEFA may have not seen within: the exit of a potential member. This member doesn't gain so much attraction, but it is speculated that at least for the next 10 years, will be crucial to see if this country can make it greater, or just staying the same, or could be worse. This member is Kazakhstan, which joined UEFA in 2002. Kazakhstan has a long history of an ambitious project to join the UEFA. It sought to participate in the UEFA in 1996, citing that the Soviet-era helped bring Kazakh players to experience European football. Well, it was partially true, but the development of football in the USSR wasn't equal at all. The two biggest football factories the Soviets built were Ukraine and R...

The tournament had ended. Yes, the tournament's name didn't coincide with the year but created so many dramas. I still have a lot of strange feelings about it. Here is my personal thought, and only from my viewpoint. The ghost of 2007 AFC Asian Cup The European tournament held in 2021, a year late due to the COVID-19 pandemic, had offered some looks for us, but in the end, it was perceived poorly by the President of UEFA, Aleksander Čeferin. Little to know, the Europeans borrowed this from Asia - back in 2003, the President of the AFC, Mohammed Bin Hammam, proposed an idea of more than two nations to join hosts of the UEFA European Championship's equivalent - the 2007 AFC Asian Cup. It was endorsed and finally, in 2004, four Southeast Asian nations were approved as hosts (Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia). In the aftermath of the 2007 Asian Cup, Bin Hammam strangely changed his note, citing his disappointment and promised to never do it again. Bin Hammam would have...