What Qatar's World Cup Learned From Hitler’s Olympics – The Lid

Qatar’s government has reportedly been pressuring Hamas—which it finances— to refrain from launching rockets into Israel during the World Cup soccer matches presently underway in the Gulf state. Sound familiar?   

Using temporary deceit as a political weapon has a long and ignoble history. It originated with Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin, a Russian cabinet minister who is said to have built fake villages—or deceptively redecorated existing ones—along the route traveled by Czarina Catherine II during her visit to Crimea in 1787. As a result, Potemkin’s name has become associated with this kind of deceit.