Goanet Digest, Vol 21, Issue 305

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Today's Topics:

   1. The Autumn of the Hegemon (O Heraldo, 21/6/2026) (V M)
   2. Mumbai Mondial (Mumbai MIrror, 21/6/26) (V M)


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Message: 1
Date: Sun, 21 Jun 2026 15:33:46 +0530
From: V M <[email protected]>
To: V M <[email protected]>
Subject: [Goanet] The Autumn of the Hegemon (O Heraldo, 21/6/2026)
Message-ID:
	<CAN1wPW5A9FwRKc++JnvUrwZ06BzYobOhyJZtTmQDMBWOv6Ui1A-JsoAwUIsXosN+BqQ9rBEUg@public.gmane.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

https://www.heraldgoa.in/goa/the-autumn-of-the-hegemon/479150/

It was already abundantly clear the USA and Israel were strategically
outmaneuvered by Iran in their disastrous war of choice that is still
not quite over, but the MOU signed by President Trump this week in
Versailles reflects astonishing ?sea change? far beyond what anyone
previously thought possible, even including the Iranian regime itself.
Here is how their chief negotiator Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf ? he is
also Parliamentary Speaker ? put it in Tehran some days ago:
?everything we sought to achieve through military action, we obtained
several times over through negotiation; it was not even comparable.?

All this past week, the formerly unthinkable has become explicit, as
Trump and his ambitious vice-president Vance aggressively defended
their new stance, which conspicuously isolates Israel. The draft terms
of their agreement signal an unprecedented US retreat from the Persian
Gulf and West Asia, which means, in theory at least, all the countries
in the region will now have to negotiate their security arrangements
amongst themselves. Uncle Sam is turning away, and the uncomfortable
new reality for many is that Iran has won increased leverage on the
battlefield, to be reckoned with in any future power alignment.
Ghalibaf said it directly: ?These blocs are certain to emerge, and in
many ways, they are already taking shape. Whatever form they
ultimately take, two countries will undoubtedly be at their core:
China and Iran.?

Make no mistake, we are witnessing an epochal turn of events, on par
with the stunning 1905 military victories by Japan against Russia on
both land (at the Battle of Mukden) and sea (when the famous Admiral
T?g? supervised the complete destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet
at Tsushima), forever shattering any lingering myths about European
military dominance, and setting off independence movements all over
the world.

We are at that kind of historical juncture once again more than 100
years later, as the editors of the promising new online magazine
Equator explained on April 24th: ?the underdog?s triumph [against
Russia] triggered an interior revolution ? the psychological
emancipation of those long relegated to the status of ?backward?
peoples ? and galvanised leaders from Ataturk to Nehru, for whom the
secrets of Western power were not objects of envy and adoration, but
tools for collective strengthening. The news of this triumph
reverberated across the world. Passing through the Suez Canal shortly
after Russia?s collapse, Sun Yat-sen was congratulated by Arab workers
who, exuberant at the news from the Pacific, mistook the Chinese
revolutionary for a Japanese citizen. In that moment of solidarity lay
the significance of Tsushima: the outcome transcended mere
geopolitical reordering, and instead marked the onset of a world
revolution in moral and political consciousness. The secrets of
Western military and economic power could be learned, and then
deployed against the West itself.?

Now, say Equator?s editors, ?the catastrophic failure of the
American-Israeli war on Iran seems certain to inaugurate another
revolution in global consciousness. The most powerful nation in world
history has suffered a strategic defeat ? a modern Tsushima in the
Strait of Hormuz. Unlike at Suez, where the feebleness of old Europe
was brusquely corrected by the rising American hegemon, Hormuz erupts
in a landscape where the West?s moral and material ?soft power? has
been incinerated in the ruins of Israel?s genocide in Gaza, and
undermined by the spectacle of blatant white supremacism and risible
incompetence in Washington. The emotional and psychological
consequences of this collapse of post-historical illusion are
profound. The war on Iran, designed to satisfy the maximalist
fantasies of an Israeli partner and collapse the Islamic Republic, has
achieved neither. Instead, the survival of the Iranian state against
the full spectrum of US coercion has clarified the outlines of a
post-American world.?

What are the possibilities for India in this fast-changing scenario,
where it was Pakistan that made best use of subcontinental
civilizational connections to play an all-important role mediating
between Iran and the US, while the Modi administration bungled badly
in giving the impression of backing the losing side? Do not be fooled
by this first impression, because everything that is happening also
has healthy dimensions for every country in the region far beyond any
myopic zero-sum calculations. All of this is to Indian advantage

I liked how Nitin Pai of Takshashila Institution framed this as early
as March 22 in Mint newspaper, writing about this ?watershed moment
for how the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries see their
security. They can now calculate the actual benefits and costs of the
US security umbrella that covers them. Despite asymmetry in military
technology, Iran has been able to impose severe strategic costs on the
UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia by exploiting economic
asymmetry. Even if most Iranian missiles are intercepted above Arab
skies, the psychology underpinning the Gulf?s prosperity has been
damaged. And even if, as has been reported, the US did not prioritize
Israel?s defence over that of the GCC states, the realization that it
might do so is not lost on the region?s elite.We should therefore
expect some strategic reorientation, perhaps through a Gulf-led
military alliance that might include Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan. The
Pakistani military establishment will surely be rubbing its hands in
anticipation of the rewards it can secure by offering both military
manpower and nuclear weapons.?

Pai accurately predicted that ?Trump?s taunts and insults will become
harder for European leaders to swallow [as] their economies face
crises of Washington?s making. The upshot is that many of these new
alignments are opportunities for India if New Delhi plays it right. It
is important to remember that Iran is a potential ally in the
Kautilyan calculus [and] at this time India?s interests are best
served by non-involvement. Let?s Stay Away and Keep Away (SAKA) from
foreign wars. Once the warring world solves its simultaneous
equations, it will compute that India is a necessary factor in every
solution.?


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Message: 2
Date: Sun, 21 Jun 2026 15:21:47 +0530
From: V M <[email protected]>
To: V M <[email protected]>
Subject: [Goanet] Mumbai Mondial (Mumbai MIrror, 21/6/26)
Message-ID:
	<CAN1wPW4k92J0pqGTOcapqczz0iLTAsKeN80nbhRTJCHbXTvPxA-JsoAwUIsXosN+BqQ9rBEUg@public.gmane.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/others/sunday-read/mumbai-mondial/articleshow/131880611.html

If only FIFA would allow Mumbai to represent itself in its newly expanded
qualifying processes, our World Cup agonies would surely come to an end.

Consider these 2026 contenders: Cura?ao, Cabo Verde, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Qatar, Uruguay, Croatia, Panama, New Zealand, Scotland,
Norway, Paraguay, Switzerland, Austria, Portugal, Sweden, Czechia, Jordan
and Belgium.

Greater Mumbai has more people than any of them, and we could add in
several more countries by taking in the entire metropolitan region, home to
over 26 million. But even beyond those compelling demographics, there is
also tremendous history here to build upon, like the 124-year-old city
fixture Harwood League, the second-oldest football league in Asia. Over the
years, Bombay players have shown they could hold their own against the best
in the world, notably including the ebullient goal-scorer in the photograph
on this page. Neville D?Souza learned ?the beautiful game? on the
playgrounds of Xavier?s School and St. Xavier?s College, and then gave
Indian football its most unforgettable highlight at the 1956 Olympic Games
in Melbourne, when he became the first Asian to hat-trick at the Olympics,
as our guys eliminated the hosts 4-1.

D?Souza scored again in the semi-final against Yugoslavia, but India went
down in the end. Nonetheless, their legend continued to grow after
accepting an unorthodox and impudent Australian challenge to play again
after the tournament was over, to try and prove their initial win had not
been a fluke.

This time the Indians delivered an outright thrashing 7-1, with the Bombay
striker hammering in another two goals, perhaps the great highlight of his
generation?s dominant run of international play. Their first major
championship came at the 1951 Asian Games in New Delhi after beating Iran,
and they took gold again at the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta, defeating both
Japan and South Korea. All three teams have become World Cup regulars ? and
are currently competing in this year?s North American edition ? while India
has plummeted in the opposite direction, an abysmal 26th in Asia in the
latest FIFA rankings, and an even more disgraceful 138th in the world.

There are many reasons why Indian football has fallen so far, squandering
every advantage earned on the field in D?Souza?s day. Today we have many
more players and much better facilities than before, but epic mismanagement
has warped the system so thoroughly that regional excellence consistently
fails to cohere when players are mixed together on the national platform.
Thus, youth football in hotbeds like Manipur, Meghalaya, Kerala and Goa
spills over with talent, but those same players underachieve when lined up
next to each other as adults on Team India. Everyone drubs them, all the
time, and last year in the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, even tiny Hong Kong
beat them 1-0. That is when it occurred to me Mumbai would probably be able
to do it too.

It is not as though talent has ever been lacking, and again D?Souza is an
excellent example. Some time after he died in 1980, his Olympics team-mate
SS ?Babu? Narayan recalled his level of mastery with the kind of reverence
Messi receives today, ?once the ball was in possession, Neville was the
absolute master. His ability to dribble - cutting is the right word - was
exceptional to the point the ball was always between his feet. Whenever I
think of Indian football, his name comes to mind.?

How about now, 70 years after that Melbourne heyday? Is there any chance
India can make it into the World Cup in the next few editions, now that
FIFA has opened up more berths than ever before?

Do not bet on it. The chances are sadly still not good.

?Your football is imprisoned,? warned Igor Stimac at his irate press
conference after being fired as India coach in 2024, despite back-to-back
SAFF Championship titles, and wins over higher-ranking teams like Kuwait
and Lebanon that briefly vaulted The Blue Tigers into the top 100 in the
world. He said ?the people who are running football and decision-making
don?t understand that no club success in India will help. No. Only success
of the Indian national team can make football explode [in the way we all
want]. Only that. So, everyone should be working in that direction.?


End of Goanet Digest, Vol 21, Issue 305
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