Disclaimer: This article is about metanarratives between nations, not the politics of the general population of those nations, who often get little to no say in their role in geopolitics. Like many things, this starts with football. I was watching a "fan debate" where someone mentioned reports that the UAE had pressured the UK to drop allegations of financial doping involving the Sheik Mansour owned club Manchester City. The response was the classic "we don't know" spiel often given by fans who really don't want to think about the last two decades of their clubs success being built on corruption.1...