Thursday 23rd July, 2026

US President Donald Trump seems to think the world must do as he says and he is free to do anything. He now wants FIFA President Gianni Infantino, 56, to be the next UN Secretary General, according to internal media reports. Trump could not have found a better candidate for the job to further his own interests. None of the UN Secretaries-General have had the courage to stand up to the US, or to any other world power for that matter, but Infantino would be the most pro-American UN chief, if ever elected to the top post. Trump and Infantino have not commented on the media reports at issue. It is possible that the White House has leaked Trump’s plan to test the waters.

The New York Post has quoted an unnamed top Trump aide as saying that Trump wants the FIFA President as the next UN Chief because he firmly believes that Infantino is respected by everyone around the world, and recognises that he (Infantino) has a special ability to bring people together. But the truth is apparently otherwise. All leaders are fond of sycophants. Infantino is putty in Trump’s hands. Does the international community have a high opinion of the current FIFA chief?

The world must have lost whatever respect it may have had for Infantino when FIFA unashamedly gave in to Trump, who personally called Infantino and requested a review of a red card issued to US striker Folarin Balogun; FIFA subsequently suspended the player’s one-game ban and allowed him to play against Belgium, much to the resentment of the entire Europe. There have been calls for Infantino’s ouster for doing so. Most of all, FIFA incurred much international opprobrium by awarding its inaugural peace prize to Trump despite his military aggression.

How Infantino has ruined his reputation and that of FIFA by grovelling before Trump became evident on the day of the FIFA World Cup final match between Spain and Argentina last Sunday. There were scattered boos from the crowd when Trump was shown briefly on the jumbotron. But the stadium erupted in boos when he and his candidate for the post of UN chief entered the field for the presentation ceremony. That is the stigma of association Infantino has to bear for getting close to Trump.

The claim, attributed to Trump that the incumbent FIFA chief is capable of bringing nations together through football, and therefore he can lead the UN may be based on the belief that sports unite humanity. But it should be viewed against the central argument of George Orwell’s brilliant essay, The Sporting Spirit, which shatters the myth that international sports foster global goodwill. Orwell wrote it following the Dynamo Moscow football team’s tour of Britain in 1945. The matches were marred by disputed refereeing decisions, accusations of unfair play, violent incidents and intense nationalistic passions. Orwell’s arguments are still valid, the most famous one being that modern sports are essentially “war minus the shooting” driven by intense nationalism, a desire to humiliate the opponent, and a lust for victory rather than fair play. This was borne out by the Argentinian players’ deplorable behaviour during and after the recent FIFA World Cup final. Above all, the Iranian football team faced severe logistical hurdles, visa restrictions, and mandatory same-day travel policies at the hands of the US, prompting the head coach of Iran Amir Ghalenoei to say that his squad was the most oppressed due to those restrictions. FIFA lacked the courage to stand up for the Iranian team. How FIFA chief Infantino would behave if Trump succeeded in making him the UN Secretary General is not difficult to imagine.

The possibility of Trump going ahead with his plan to make Infantino the next UN Chief and even using US tariffs to pressure other countries into supporting his candidate cannot be ruled out. It is believed that none of the other prospective candidates has the backing of the permanent members of the Security Council, and this situation is expected to help Trump have the FIFA chief elevated to the top post. However, running the UN is a whole different ballgame. Perhaps, the only striking similarity between FIFA and the UN is that the latter’s mandate receives the same treatment as a football from the Permanent Five and their close allies.

There is one main dissimilarity between FIFA and the UN. FIFA, by and large, enforces the Laws of the Game, but the veto-wielding powers of the UN are guided by Rafferty’s rules, as can be seen from the way they are attacking other countries and committing blatant human rights violations with impunity. The US even abducts and assassinates the leaders of other nations openly.

The Trump administration called the UNHRC (United Nations Human Rights Council) a ‘cesspool’ before withdrawing from it in 2018. Going by the US contention, the UN can be considered a bigger version of what the Trump government called the UNHRC, in 2018, and therefore Infantino should not consider it an honour to be considered by Trump for the post of UN Secretary-General.

Wednesday 22nd July, 2026

Nicaragua’s long-serving President Daniel Ortega, 80, is always in the news for the wrong reasons. He has captured the headlines again by declaring that Nicaragua will not have elections hereafter as he wants to “build a wall” against the Opposition. A former Marxist guerrilla, he made this announcement during a recent ceremony to mark the 47th anniversary of the Sandinista revolution, which overthrew Anastasio Somoza’s dictatorship.

It is said that Russia got rid of the Tsar but had too many Commissars to contend with thereafter. The Nicaraguan people, who ousted the U.S.-backed right-wing dictator Somoza, hoping for liberation from the clutches of that dictator, have been languishing under the family dictatorship of Ortega and his wife, Murillo, who is the Co-President; they now face the threat of being deprived of their franchise.

Politicians may espouse different ideologies, but they behave similarly after savouring power, which drives them to act out of expediency rather than principle and do everything possible to perpetuate their hold on it. In Sri Lanka, a left-leaning government went to the extent of misusing its two-thirds majority to extend its parliamentary term by two years from 1975 to 1977. In doing so, the SLFP-led United Front cooked its own goose. The UNP, which came to power in 1977, made a general election disappear in 1982, and President J. R. Jayewardene, a full-blooded capitalist, even considered ‘rolling back electoral democracy’. Democracy has suffered at the hands of other Presidents as well.

The NPP government led by the JVP, a former ‘Marxist’ guerrilla outfit, too, has chosen to postpone elections as it is wary of facing an electoral contest any time soon. Some political commentators are of the view that the PC polls may not be held next year as well. More worryingly, some JVP leaders often quote the Chinese Communist Party leaders as having said that a government should be in power for about 15 to 20 years to develop a country. Their rhetoric and action lend credence to the Opposition’s claim that they are working towards establishing a one-party rule. They unleashed mindless terror in a bid to scuttle elections and capture power through extra-parliamentary means in the late 1980s and tried to storm the parliament complex in 2022.

In an interview with The Guardian, Tiziano Breda, Latin America senior analyst at the NGO, Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, has explained why the Ortega and Murillo regime is wary of facing elections: “Ortega and Murillo are evidently afraid of the idea that the slightest political opening could create the conditions for dissent to manifest and threaten their grip on power, possibly suggesting that their already feeble domestic support is further falling.” This is the predicament of a former Marxist rebel and his associates in Nicaragua.

Participation in democratic elections as well as gaining representation in political institutions is no guarantee of one’s commitment to democracy. Ortega returned to power in 2006 by winning a presidential election, 16 years after losing parliamentary polls. He has since retained power through successive elections that critics say have become increasingly undemocratic. Adolf Hitler employed a similar method. He exploited public anger over the Great Depression, unemployment and the Treaty of Versailles, enabling the Nazi Party to expand its support through relentless propaganda, mass rallies and appeals to German nationalism and capture power democratically. In the July 1932 parliamentary election, the Nazis emerged as the largest party in the Reichstag, although they never secured an outright majority. Hitler then passed the Enabling Act on March 23, 1933 by intimidating legislators and excluding many opposition deputies, allowing his government to enact legislation without parliamentary approval, effectively dismantling Germany’s constitutional democracy. All other political parties in Germany were banned and independent trade unions dissolved; the press was censored and political dissent ruthlessly crushed. The Nazis thus transformed Germany into a one-party dictatorship.

Eternal vigilance is said to be the price of liberty. Sri Lankan voters do not act rationally when they elect their representatives. They go to the polls in search of political messiahs and wish for governments with mammoth majorities to improve their lot. Be careful what you wish for.

Tuesday 21st July, 2026

The National Council for Road Safety (NCRS) is reportedly planning to launch a countrywide campaign to inspect vehicles in the public transport sector. This is something long overdue. The police, politicians and transport authorities spring into action in the aftermath of a tragic accident and formulate strategies to ensure road safety, but they lose interest in their ad hoc initiatives, with the passage of time. Road safety programmes should be sustained over the long term to produce the desired results.

Following the tragic Garandi Ella bus crash last year, transport authorities took action to ramp up vehicle roadworthiness and passenger safety regulations. They ordered mandatory condition checks on buses to prevent mechanical defects and driver fatigue from endangering the lives of passengers. But nothing has since been heard of that vehicle inspection programme.

There have been a couple of tragic road accidents during the past several days. Two lives were lost on Sunday when a car collided with a moving truck in Matara. Road fatality statistics are chilling. The police recorded 2,231 fatal accidents and 2,341 deaths in 2023, and the number of fatal accidents increased to 2,403, with 2,521 deaths, the following year. Last year, 2,597 fatal accidents claimed 2,746 lives. Road accidents in Sri Lanka claim an average of 2,500 to 2,700 lives annually.

Announcing that the inspection of public transport vehicles will get underway in September, the NCRS has identified drivers’ negligence and mechanical defects in vehicles as leading causes of road accidents. True, undisciplined drivers and vehicle defects are responsible for road accidents. However, there are other causative factors that must not be overlooked if roads are to be made safe. The causes of road accidents in Sri Lanka, identified by road safety experts, include speeding, distractions, recklessness, fatigue, driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics, inclement weather, inadequate road conditions, tailgating, improper lane changes, inexperience of drivers, overtaking dangerously, poor visibility, unroadworthy vehicles, lack of proper road signage, and jaywalking. One of these factors or a combination of them could lead to road accidents. Hence, a campaign to make roads safe should not be limited to drug screening and vehicle inspections.

Most buses operating in Sri Lanka are not purpose-built. They are truck chassis fitted with passenger vehicle bodies and seats. One wonders whether this could be the reason why bus owners and their workers treat passengers like cargo. Successive governments have not done anything about this issue though experts have pointed out that ‘truck-chassis buses’ cannot provide the comfort, stability and safety of the buses built specifically for transporting people. In this country, transporting cattle in cramped conditions is a punishable offence. The police take trucks with cattle packed tightly in them into custody and prosecute their drivers and owners––and rightly so. But no such action is taken against overcrowded buses.

The NCRS programme to inspect public transport vehicles should be coupled with regular random drug screening. Some bus and truck drivers are addicted to drugs. According to media reports, a raid at the Bastian Mawatha private bus terminal in Colombo some time ago, revealed that nearly 18 percent of the drivers and conductors were under the influence of narcotic drugs. Similar inspections in Piliyandala, Horana, Nugegoda and Navinna also resulted in the arrest of several drivers and conductors who tested positive for substances such as heroin, cannabis and crystal methamphetamine, commonly known as “ice”. Truck drivers must also be subjected to regular random drug screening. They are also responsible for many road accidents.

The NCRS vehicle inspection programme is bound to run into stiff resistance from the private bus operators who have become a law unto themselves. Many passenger buses, both private and state-owned, are badly maintained and therefore unroadworthy. Truckers are also likely to protest. It is hoped that the transport authorities and the police will have the courage to tell such bus and truck operators where to get off.