I am not a devoted fan of soccer. But the World Cup has held a growing fascination for me. Take, for example, the contest between England and Argentina, "the Second Falklands War" (only the results are reversed). A war-like excitement on both sides. Agitated crowds. Flags. Anthems. A veritable war, only without Margaret Thatcher in England and without the murderous generals in Argentina. Without the blood. Without the dead.

Even more so the U.S. and Iran. The sons of Allah against the Great Satan. Western culture against Moslem savagery. Embraces before, kisses afterwards, just as in the ancient myth of Sumer (what is now the area on the periphery of Iran). It is where the cataclysmic battle between the hero Gilgamesh and his enemy Enkidu took place. After that battle the two became soul brothers.

Konrad Lorenz, who studied animal behavior and its relevance in understanding of human behavior, believed that aggression is innate to human nature and that it is hereditary. We inherited it through a biological process over hundreds of millions of years. It was essential to the development of the human race. But now that the human mind has invented the nuclear bomb, this agression threatens the very survival of humankind. It is impossible to root it out -- but it is possible to divert it into harmless channels. Like soccer.

The World Cup validates this theory. After all, the game is nothing but aggression. Aggression on the field, aggression among the spectators in the stands and those at home, aggression of hooligans out in the streets. Facial expressions, body language, guttural exclamations -- all these belong to the realm of battle. It is a pretend-war, providing a (mostly) harmless outlet to aggression.

This outlet is so useful because it provides a non-violent channel for the most powerful collective instinct of our times -- nationalism. The human animal, like many other creatures in nature, requires a sense of belonging, "us" against "them". "We" are the good, the righteous, the master race, the chosen people, the children of light. "They" are the bad ones, the Evil Empire, the inferior race, the subhumans, the immoral goyim who are more closely related to the beasts than to us. Soccer provides a legitimate and acceptable outlet for all of these emotions. Together in hope (before the game), together in pride (if we win or even if we lose with honor). There is no minority discrimination. The French cheer on the African and the Arab on their team.

But the World Cup is much more than just a series of soccer games. It is the vision of the future. The World Cup embodies a world-order. It contains international law, recognized by all and obeyed by all without hesitation or objection. It is equally familiar to a Russian muzhik as it is to an Argentinean gaucho. There is a law and there is a judge. One may complain about the judge's decision, but one may not defy it. Millions of Italians watch the game with the same emotions as millions of Chinese. Tiny Croatia is equal to the American giant. The same has not been achieved in the United Nations. Brazil is a soccer superpower not because of its size and riches but because of its talented players. There is a lesson in this.

On the threshold of the 21st century, the best minds of the human race understand that a new compulsory world order must be established, with international law, an international court with international mandatory powers and an international police force.. Every terrorist group and every mafia can arm itself today with nuclear, chemical or biological weapons of destruction, holding tens of millions in fear. A tiny country can bring about an irreversible ecological catastrophe. At this very moment, there are dozens of "small" wars being waged across the world, accompanied by ethnic cleansings and genocide. The hole in the ozone layer threatens the future survival of the human race. The economy and the media are global. When the stock exchange crashes in Hong Kong, a store keeper in Tel-Aviv may lose his life savings. When the rain forest in Brazil is being burned, it has an effect on our climate. El Nino and the Internet do not recognize national borders.

Some beginnings of a world order can be found here and there, for instance in the international tribunal for trying war criminals. But human development lags hundreds of years behind the objective reality. In the area of the Middle Eastern conflict, the U.N. proves itself to be toothless. Saddam Hussein, Kim Il Sung and Binyamin Netanyahyu can each spit into the face of the world and emerge as victors. The world is stuck in the nationalist phase (which in its time was progressive and vital for the development of society and the economy). Europe is moving toward a regional stage, which seems like the vision of the future -- although it, too, is already obsolete.

The next stage is a global government, a global democracy and global law. A global government capable of using its power to prevent genocide and wars, of enforcing the safeguarding of human rights and international justice, just like the court and the police enforce the law on each of us within our countries. This is still a distant vision, but I have no doubt that it will come -- if the human race survives until then (which is not at all a given).

Actually the World Cup points to the destination as well as to the path. The world-law of soccer does not cancel out national pride. On the contrary -- it only diverts it to a constructive channel. The religious fervor with which the players and the spectators sing their respective national anthems, the unfurled national flags, the nationalist spirit overwhelming the crowds during a game -- all these indicate that a national sense which is natural and deep does not contradict the vision of a world order.