A Superpower Made Ordinary

Some ghastly things happened in 2006?the horrors of all-against-all war in Iraq, the rubble of Lebanon, the foiled plot to blow airliners out of the sky over the Atlantic, the slow throttling of civil liberties and freedom of expression in Russia, genocide in Darfur, continuing repression from Burma to Zimbabwe. All seemed grim, and grimly familiar. Was there nothing to lighten the gloom?

Well, of course there was, as there is every four years. There was a World Cup, stupid. There was a monthlong celebration of the global game, played to the highest levels, with the usual mixture...

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