By James M. Dorsey
This year's World Cup is not just about soccer - at least not as far as the Middle East and North Africa is concerned. For Iran and Algeria, the region's only two teams competing among the 32 finalists in Brazil, it is about projection on the global stage and equating soccer prowess with national strength. For others in the region, the World Cup is one more round in long-standing political battles and propaganda wars.
Israel, often the target of these wars, appears to be emerging rather unscathed from the Brazil round. Beyond successfully fending off, at least for now, Palestinian attempts to have its membership in world soccer body FIFA suspended, it has fared reasonably well in its efforts to equate opposition to Israeli policy with anti-Jewish sentiment and position itself as an island of rationality in a sea of insanity.
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