Further evidence of the infinite flexibility of the Melian Dialogue; it’s clear that its general principles can be applied to absolutely any situation in which there is an imbalance of power between two parties. When the news of arrests of senior and former FIFA executives on bribery charges broke, my immediate response (on Twitter, naturally) was something to the effect of “FIFA exacts what it can, and UEFA endures what it must” (okay, the original tweet was a little less refined). I’m relieved to hear, via Paul Cartledge, that I’m not the only person who thought of Thucydides in this context. One Matt Kaiser offers a substantial summary of the Melian Dialogue and its historical context in a blog post on ‘Soccer, International Criminal Law, and Thucydides’. The conclusion:
Clearly, the United States is riding high. We’ve got the power of Athens and then some (we can cripple a country’s banking abilities without loading a single rifle). But the lesson of the Melian debate is that when power trumps reason it’s deeply problematic.
We seem to be following the Athenians not just in our accumulation of power, but also in our interest in talking to others about how we use it.
Well, yes, I too thought the most crucial aspect of this whole affair was American imperialism…
Sphinx 
Hmm I think that as you say with the Melian league that ‘it’s clear that its general principles can be applied to absolutely any situation in which there is an imbalance of power between two parties’ – and that what’s playing out on the world stage appears to give licence for power corruption on a smaller scale in any organisation. In any job there is the idealist – especially in public services of health and education – where more and more often there are reports and evidence of the powers-that-be using ‘reason’ on how to teach; what to teach; how to look after patients …which go against the gut instinct of those caught up in the machinery of the top down regimes. But it’s either shut up and comply, or argue and be squashed (a metaphor for Melian destruction!)
Meanwhile, the Grauniad’s editorial on FIFA today talks of “sport from Pericles to Putin” being shot through with politics. Why, besides the alliteration, Pericles? It was Alcibiades who won chariot races and then put this forward as a qualification for wielding power. Am I missing smething..?
I think perhaps the learned scribes at the Gdiaruna meant another Pericles, Shakespeare’s, who loved a sporting metaphor.
A man whom both the waters and the wind,
In that vast tennis-court, have made the ball
For them to play upon, entreats you pity him:
He asks of you, that never used to beg.
Depressingly no not at all …!