Rochester, N.Y.—Bernie Ecclestone has always made outlandish quotes. When you are as successful, rich, and powerful as he is, you feel you can make such statements. Let's face it, he certainly has built a sporting empire that despite his many critics within the sport, has made the sport's participates very, very rich.

Bernie is a masterful negotiator and (usually) always gets what he wants. It is this ability that always leaves one wondering if his quotes all have an endgame in mind for a business deal, political fight, or publicity headline grabber.

However, there are times when one worries that Bernie is a lot more serious with a quote than flippant. Especially, when the quotes are either borderline bad taste or outright ridiculous. And, they generally come back to bite him in the ass.

There is of course his Hitler quote. The one about how he (sort of) admired Hitler for "the ability to get things done." The great irony in that admiration is if Hitler really got everything done, he would have won the war, conquered England, and snuffed out Bernie. After all, Ecclestone is Jewish.

This past November, Bernie made an absolutely ludicrous quote after the kidnap attempt on Jenson Button during the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend. Bernie said that Button may have been at fault. "I think they look for victims who are not too bright," he said. The blame the victim mentality is so hideous, it's barely worth commenting on.

However, as the saying goes, karma is a bitch. A short while later, Bernie himself was a victim of a vicious mugging where allegedly he was staked out and specifically targeted for his possessions. So, does this mean Bernie is not too bright? A weak looking person who "deserves" to have been attacked? According to Bernie, that appears to be the situation, but any sane, logical person would know that's simply absurd.

The latest quote to come back and haunt him are his views on the new world order. Specifically, how he perceives which countries are on the rise and which are in a downfall. One of his favorite quotes is to mention how the Middle East and parts of Asia are where it's at, and that Europe is becoming a third world country.

Of course, for Bernie, there is only one definition of a non-third world country -- anyone who can pay his sanctioning fees. However, to the rest of the world, third world means a lot more than whether the government is extravagantly wealthy.

There are many factors that define a third world country -- Gross National Product, imports vs. exports, natural wealth (minerals, agriculture, etc.), percentage of the poor population, poverty level, gap between the rich, middle class, and poor, education levels, infrastructure, health standards, stable government, corruption amongst the government, government's treatment of their people, and so on.

As we learned in Bahrain, things weren't so rosy even in a supposedly stable Gulf state that appeared wealthy to the point of being fat, dumb, and happy. It turned out the gap between the rich and poor is huge. The monarchial government took a disproportionate amount of the country's oil wealth for itself without proper distribution to the people. The prince behind the Grand Prix was more interested in his pet F1 project than most of the citizenship.

When the political upheaval and protests spread amongst Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, no one expected it to go as far as Bahrain. It did, because Bahrain in reality was anything like Bernie wanted all of us to believe. It was not a true rising power. It was indeed a third world country by nearly every definition.

Now, the Bahrain GP is canceled, perhaps never to be rescheduled. Perhaps never to reappear on the F1 calendar again. The question is, who else is next? Is another Middle Eastern race doomed with yet another people's uprising? Is the India GP ever going to get off the ground or be doomed to a quagmire of ineffective management?

Despite Bernie's believes, you cannot grow a business when you start to rely solely on third world countries. The money is often nothing more than a government exploiting its people, and it can go away as quickly as it came. Promises mean nothing when a government is overthrown. Grand plans are worthless if corruption destroys the financial structure. A race built on one man's self gratification is not sustainable when that person is out of the picture and no one ever bought tickets to attend.

In Bernie's view, Europe may be a wasteland of soon to be third world countries. However, it is the foundation of Formula One for so many reasons. Bernie needs to redefine his view of a third world country. It's not all about simply paying an outlandish sanctioning fee.

Copyright © 2011 by and Deep Throttle. All Rights Reserved.