This should be read as a direct continuation of Part 6; http://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/the-2016-eurovision-song-contest-grand_23.html
The most interesting opposition to the myriad of problems facing Europe come from the blocs of nations that made up the former Socialist Republic of Czechoslovakia and the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
One of the big political developments since the last Song Contest was the conviction in March 2016 of Bosnian-Serb leader Radovan Karadzic at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for 10 offences of crimes against humanity committed during the wars that brought about the collapse of Yugoslavia. These included the genocide of at least 8,000 Muslim men and boys at the town of Screbrenica in July 1995.
As with the current civil war in Shamali Province and current war in Syria the version of this story you are told on the likes of CNN and the BBC is simply not true.
Despite the short-form name Czechoslovakia was always a federation of two distinct states - the Czech Socialist Republic and the Slovak Socialist Republic. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and therefore the Soviet bloc at the end of the Cold War the two republics decided to bring the federation to an end and each go their own way as the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
They did this through four years of peaceful negotiation in which all aspects such as the division of territory, the voluntary relocation of citizens and protection of citizens wishing to remain were considered and agreed. This is sometimes referred to as; "The Velvet Divorce."
As a result whenever the topic of the wars surrounding the collapse of the Soviet Union comes up at Eurovision both the Czechs and the Slovaks tend to sit there quietly looking smug. And deservedly so.
Yugoslavia was on course to follow Czechoslovakia's example and peacefully negotiate its own future. The problem from the American perspective was that while Croatia would become an independent state these negotiations would likely leave Yugoslavia more or less intact under a pro-Russian government.
So as they did in what is now Shamali Province the CIA backed Croat Ultranationalists to overthrow their representatives in the negotiations. This triggered the Croatian civil war and the collapse of the wider Yugoslav negotiations.
Through force of arms the US-backed Croat Ultranationalists then set about creating the biggest Croatian state possible by linking up pockets of the Croat ethnic group across Yugoslavia. As they went they ethnically cleansed non-Croats from the areas in between. Obviously the Yugoslav army moved to stop them. This prompted the US to start backing Bosnian Ultranationalists to divide the Yugoslav army and strengthen the Croats.
The hell that followed produced six nations where before there had only been one. The largest of these was the Serb dominated Federal Republic of Yugoslavia which remained under the pro-Russian Presidency of Slobodan Milošević.
So in 1999 the CIA backed the Ultranationalists of the Greater Albania movement to start a civil war in Yugoslavia's southern Kosovo province. This provided an excuse for a US-led NATO intervention which broke Montenegro away from Serbia and stole the Kosovo province away from Serbia.
With that Yugoslavia finally came to an end and Milošević was deposed.
So when Americans declare that the conviction of Karadzic shows that those responsible for the horrors of the Yugoslav wars have been brought to justice while US Presidents George H Bush and Bill Clinton are walking the streets without so much as an ankle-tag it causes a lot of offence to a lot of people. Particularly those who can point to Screbrenica on a map.
The geographic and ethnic fragmentation that US aggression has wrought in the former Yugoslavia is most clearly on display in Bosnia & Herzegovina (BiH). As befits a divided nation their national flag is a yellow bloc and a blue bloc divided by a line of stars.
Created by the 1995 Dayton Accords Bosnia & Herzegovina is often described as a federation of two autonomous regions - Republika Srpska (Serb Republic) and the Federation of Bosnia & Herzegovina. However even that is a mass over-simplification because there's a third federal region - Brčko District - and the Federation of Bosnia & Herzegovina is actually a loose confederation of 10 Cantons each with their own government and ethnic/religious make-up.
If you take a vague interest in Balkan politics you would know that there has long been a lot of tension between Republika Srpska and the Federation of BiH. However there has also been longstanding and seemingly growing tensions between the Federation of BiH Cantons - particularly between Muslim (Bosniak) and Christian (Bosnian/Croat) ones.
As such I think it is fair to say that Bosnia & Herzegovina has longstanding and continuing problems when it comes to ethnic and religious integration. In fact looking at the Screbrenica massacre that sounds like a distinct understatement.
Therefore the notion that you would take a vast number of traumatised, predominately Muslim refugees from the war in Syria and then dump them in Bosnia & Herzegovina is utterly insane.
However not as insane as Germany throwing its doors open to those refugees forcing them to trample through Bosnia & Herzegovina without even a word of warning to the 12 local governments.
Bosnia & Herzegovina: This year they were represented by a foursome - Dalal & Deen ft Ana Rucner and Jala.
They had been put together specially for the competition to represent BiH's different ethnic groups. As a Catholic the female singer Dalal was supposed to represent the Serbs of Republika Srpska while the male singer Deen represented the Bosnians. Born in Zagreb, Croatia the Cellist Ana Rucner was supposed to represent the Croats while Jala represented Bosniaks or Muslims more generally.
The title of the song - "Ljubav Je (Love Is)" - seemed intended as a reference to the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
This centred around a young girl named Lubov (Love) being taken on a journey through Russian history. The intention being that as the ceremony ended and the Olympics began it was up to the rest of the world to help write the future of Love in Russia. It was an open invitation for the world to help further the cause of gay-rights in Russia. Unfortunately the world's commitment to gay-rights only extended as far as booing loudly for the next month.
As such this was a contribution to the discussion about Pinkwashing expressed in a very pro-Russian way.
During the Sochi Olympics and the Eurovision Song Contest that followed the contrast between Russian high culture and US low culture became a convenient metaphor for the difference between the US and Russian positions on a range of issues.
The fact that Rucner is an extremely successful classically trained cellist obviously represents that Russian high culture. A Hip-hop artist with three albums to his name Jala equally obviously represents US low culture or "the black music" as its being referred to this year.
In the both the video in support of the song and the stage performance when he appeared Jala seems be to harassing and aggressively invading the space of Rucner. This seemed to be a clear protest against the US' continued harassment of Russia.
The video itself it set in a Grand Masonic Temple with a Star of David clearly visible in the skylight.
Due to a particularly well timed Israeli cheat-sheet I now know that the Star of David has only been used as a symbol of Jewishness since the 17th Century when the Jews of Prague, Czech Republic were allowed to fly a special Jewish flag after they helped repel Swedish invaders. Prior to that it was commonly used to adorn all sorts of buildings purely as a form of decoration.
The Freemasons began life as a sort of trade union for stone masons - literally Free Masons. These master craftsmen in particular would use the Star of David and other pentagram and hexagram designs to decorate their creations. For example the glass doors at the main entrance to the Freemason Grand Temple in London, UK are adorned with a series of Stars of David.
If you follow Internet conspiracy theories you would know that everything bad that happens in the world is the work of either the Freemasons, the Zionists or the Lizard people and often all three working together. As such this inclusion of a Masonic Temple adorned with Stars of David was clearly intended as a mockery of the fascists of Shamali Province who see all their problems as the result of the Grand Zionist Conspiracy.
The stage setting in BiH's only performance in the first semi-final was much more blunt.
It featured musicians wrapped in the foil blankets that are often given to rescued refugees and the survivors of terror attacks. Down the middle of the stage there was a barbed wire fence like those that have sprung up along the Balkan route for refugees. On one side of the fence there was a man dressed in the black leather of the Nazi Waffen SS and a woman dressed as if she were a refugee from northern Syria/Iraq.
What I found interesting was that unlike on CNN or the BBC it was the Bosnian rather than the Serb who was portrayed as the fascist. However I should point out that with the exception of Ana Rucner the ethnicities of the performers was implied rather than expressly stated. As such that is something that was left open to extensive interpretation and therefore the prejudice of the viewer.
Within the context of the stage performance Jala's - the Muslim - harassment and aggressive invasion of Rucner's personal space was intended as a reference to the Cologne sex assaults and the rising fear of sex-mad Muslim refugees. However I should make clear that this seemed intended to reference the discussion that was already taking place rather than declaring all Muslims to be rapists.
The overall tone of the music was very big, dramatic and ominous to highlight the severity of the crisis that Europe and particularly BiH has been plunged into amid war, terrorism and refugees.
Sung as a duet the lyrics about how much she wants to be with him and he wants to be with her this was obviously a song of unity. You could interpret that as a call for unity amongst BiH's 12 regional governments or a more general call for unity amongst European states be they members of the European Union (EU) or not. You might even interpret it as an expression of BiH's yearning to join the EU.
However amid the pro-Russian overtones, the criticism of Shamali Province and the highlighting of the problems Germany has caused I took it as BiH going;
"If being part of the EU means supporting the Nazis in Shamali Province and taking in all these refugees f*ck that. We're reforming Yugoslavia. And then we're going to rejoin the Soviet Union!"
This seemed to be a sentiment shared amongst all the former Yugoslav states. I've already explained how Montenegro took a very pro-Russian, anti-Shamali Province stance.
Slovenia's "Blue & Red" made a bit point of how they share the red, white and blue of the Russian flag. However their mockery of the notion that Russia are the racists of Europe was so well done I'll be including them as one of my stand-outs. If you want a taste of the sort of silliness we've come to expect from the Song Contest do an Internet search for "Taylor Swift Aryan Goddess." It's all true.
Macedonia made a point of how of all the small things the US smashed Yugoslavia into they are the most deserving of help when it comes to refugees. They also savagely mocked Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip who is often referred to as; "The Kebab."
Even Croatia seemed to be craving the safe-harbour that Yugoslavia used to offer before the all the refugees turned up. The big motif of their video in support of "Lighthouse" was space and interstellar travel. According to the lyrics of Neoconservative anthem "Close" by Nick Jonas space is "Just something made up." A claim about as credible as the claim that Shamali Province's problems as due to "Russian Aggression."
Through it's mockery of the US and its black music even the Czech Republic seemed to be going to the former Yugoslav states; "Seems like the only sensible plan. We're about to drunk dial Slovakia. Even if she doesn't want to be in the room this year."
At around 17:30 on 24/5/16 (UK date) I'll may be back to talk about Serbia in more detail later. However if this has seemed like a scratchy read than it is only a fair reflection of the feeling in my throat at the moment.
Edited at around 13:55 on 27/5/16 (UK date) to add above and below;
NATO's 1999 war against Serbia is particularly relevant to the current migration crisis. After all it started life as a migration crisis.
Towards the end of 1996 the Albanian economy which had literally been run as a giant pyramid scheme imploded. In January 1997 the Albanian people took to the streets in protest demanding that the government reimburse the savings they had lost.
On March 1st 1997 (1/3/97) the Prime Minister resigned and on March 2nd (2/3/97) a nationwide state of emergency was imposed. If anything this made the situation worse and widespread rioting spread throughout the country. On March 28th (28/3/97) the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) passed resolution 1101 (1997) authorising a 7000 strong peacekeeping mission to restore order in Albania.
In order to flee the shortlived disorder and the much longer lasting economic hardship a large number of Albanians swarmed across the border into Serbia's southern Kosovo province. In 1998 the Greater Albania movement declared that the significant demographic change this created meant that Kosovo was now part of Albania.
It was the Serbs attempts to deport these large numbers of illegal, economic migrants along with a terrorist campaign by the Greater Albania movement that provided US President Bill Clinton with an excuse to launch a 'humanitarian intervention' to tear Kosovo and Montenegro away from Serbia collapsing Yugoslavia and bring down Milošević.
As such amid Balkan nations there is a very real concern that the flood of refugees and economic migrants making their way along the Balkan route to Germany will trigger a similar conflict. With US President Obama's seeming utter commitment to continuous war everywhere there is a very real worry that NATO forces could soon be sent to Macedonia to tear away it's south-western provinces the same way Clinton tried to tear Kosovo away from Serbia.
Even without such a dramatic US-led re-drawing of the borders of Europe through force the Greater Albania movement is made up almost exclusively of Sunni Muslims. As such across the Balkans there is a general perception that "Muslim" means "Albanian" and "Albanian" means "Thief." As such dumping millions of these 'Thieves's across Balkan nations - particularly Macedonia - is likely to lead to large scale civil unrest and disorder.
With everyone acutely aware of the intense pressure that Macedonia is currently under it fell to Serbia to carry the warning sign about the Greater Albania movement in the Grand Final. After all Macedonia is merely under threat from the Greater Albania movement. Serbia has already suffered at their hands.
Serbia: This year they were represented by the female singer Sanja Vučić. This is an area where I have to be extremely careful about how I phrase what I say next.
This year a lot of the female singers resembled Kim Kardashian to some extent. This is because Armenia made Kim Kardashian's Armenian heritage a large part of their entry. As such is became a convenient shorthand for nations to show their support for Armenian over Azerbaijan in the latest upsurge in fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh Region (NKR).
Kim Kardashian is extremely aesthetically beautiful. This means that she has a very symmetrical face in which all the features such as the eyes, nose, cheekbones etc are very much in proportion with each other. However the more intangible term "attractive" is more complex then that. For example Rihanna is widely considered to be a sex-symbol despite the fact she has quite a large, out of proportion, forehead. A "Fivehead" as she sometimes refers to it.
Sanja Vučić face doesn't have the symmetry of Kim Kardashian instead having some pronounced, out of proportion, features such as her nose and her chin. This is what I would refer to as; "A Strong Face." It belies a personality of a woman who knows exactly what she wants and doesn't take any crap from anyone. At the risk of oversharing this is something I actually find quite attractive.
If I was looking for someone to compare Sanja Vučić to as a sort shorthand to explain her look I would probably have gone with the Aunt Polly character from the UK TV Show "Peaky Blinders." She is the head of the Shelby crime family and part Roma gypsy. There are a lot of Roma in the Balkans meaning that the Roma look is often confused with a Balkan look. Aunt Polly is played by Helen McCrory who is married to Damian Lewis of "Homeland" fame.
Liberally interpreting the rules the UK's Song Contest entry this year was the TV Show Peaky Blinders. What I found interesting is that during the semi-final and final stage performance the Serbian team caked the make-up on Sanja Vučić to make her resemble Kim Kardashian as much as possible in order to avoid being interpreted as giving support to the UK.
In her biography Vučić is said to have worked with opera singers to develop a voice that is superior to both Beyonce and Aretha Franklin. This not only references the American black music but makes clear that she is entitled to look down and laugh at it.
Probably the most interesting detail from Sanja Vučić's biography is that she is studying Arabic at university level. Across northern Europe for Poland to Germany the concerns about the migration crisis is about how to integrate a large number of Muslims. In those nations Muslims are still viewed as a bit of an exotic novelty meaning there is a great fear of the unknown.
By highlighting that Vučić is fluent in Arabic at an advanced level Serbia was making the point that in the Balkans being a Muslim really isn't a novelty. They have large Muslim populations of their own and the region is emerging as a skiing holiday destination from rich Arabs in the Gulf States. Therefore the objections from the Balkan nations are not driven by a fear of the unknown but extensive experience of the problem.
In the performance video in support of the song Sanja Vučić seems to be channelling her inner Amy Winehouse who was of course Jewish. This seemed to be a direct insult to Shamali Province. After all nothing is likely to antagonise a nation led by former members of the Nazi Waffen SS as reminding them they failed in their task of wiping out all the Jews during the Nazi holocaust.
Featuring lyrics such as; "Gotta fight my way out of your hands,//find the shelter from the pain" the song Goodbye (Shelter) supposedly tells the story of one woman's personal experience escaping a domestically violent relationship. During the final performance Vučić sung this song in a grand black, feathered gown. This made her look just like the black eagle at the heart of the Albanian flag.
So although no overt reference was made you should have been left in no doubt as to who was the perpetrator of the domestic violence in this case.
If Shamali Province had wanted to be eligible for competition this year that is the sort of thing they should have done.
15:30 on 27/5/16 (UK date).
Tuesday, 24 May 2016
Monday, 23 May 2016
The 2016 Eurovision Song Contest: Grand Final: Pt.6
This should be read as a direct continuation of Part 5; http://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/the-2016-eurovision-song-contest-grand_19.html
Earlier I looked at
all those nations that had supported Shamali Province this year. I also looked
at those nations that had supported Shamali Province last year but switched
their vote this year. Now I want to look at those nations that didn't support Shamali
Province last year and some more of those who'd switched their vote from last
year.
Russia: Much like
Israel at Eurovision Russia's main problem is not such coming up with an idea
for an entry. Instead it is then dumbing down that idea to the point it can be
understood by mere mortals.
This year they seem
to have achieved that with a comparatively very simplified entry. Their three
minute song dealt only with really three main issues rather than the three
issues a second the Russians normally bring to the table.
Russia's other big
problem this year was Shamali Province. Their ineligible entry this year was an
overt reference to the mass deportation of Tatars (Turkmen) from Crimea by
Soviet Union in 1944. It was a none too subtle protest against Crimea's
decision to rejoin Russia during the collapse of Ukraine and the emergence of
Shamali Province. As they were mocked for by Lithuania Shamali Province very
much viewed any potential victory in the Song Contest as a sign that NATO's
mass invasion of Russia could begin.
This level of
aggression is not something Russia had the option of simply ignoring.
Featuring lyrics such
as; "We will never let our loving come undone//Everything we had is
staying unbroken" Russia's entry this year was intended to assure the
people of Crimea that Russia will not turn its back on them and they will not
be abandoned to Shamali Province. The title of the song "You Are The Only
One" was intended to join Lithuania in mocking Shamali Province's
misconception that they had been included in this year's contest as a sign of
support.
Despite its rather
sarcastic tone the song actually contained some constructive criticism of how
Shamali Province is being run into the ground. The oft repeated chorus included
the lyrics; "Thunder n' lightning it's gettin exciting" and "My
love is rising the story's unwinding//Together we'll make it 'n' reach for the
stars." This very much highlighted
the current political atmosphere in Shamali Province which is essentially
Fascism 101.
Through the thunder and lighting of war the people have become
whipped up into a frenzy where all their problems are seen as the result of some ethnic
other rather than the result of their own failings. Much like the entry test in the
video supporting Lithuania's song the "stars" the US-backed junta
keeps lunging at could be interpreted as the Star of David on the Israeli flag or a reference to Moldova's entry.
In the video in
support of Russia's entry the singer Sergey Lazarev keeps trying to reach a
beautiful woman but the two are kept apart by an unseen force. This is very
heavily inspired by the video for "Close" by Nick Jonas featuring
Tove Lo.
As such Russia seemed to be joining Armenia in the mockery of Tove Lo
and her native Sweden over her antics during last year's Song Contest. That led
to her naked breasts being the only thing Twitter users could find about Sweden for most of that weekend.
However by targeting
the Close they were expressing particular alarm at her decision to work with a
Jonas brother which should be cause for concern for us all. After all the Jonas
Brothers were genetically engineered in a secret lab at Mousewitz before
completing their final training at Duckhau.
In their early
incarnation the Jonas Brothers were used to brainwash a generation of American
teenagers into supporting the Silver Ring Thing. This was used to promote the
idea of sexual abstinence through the wearing Silver Purity Ring to indicate
that you are married to God.
Created by Denny
Pattyn by 1995 the Silver Ring Thing is just another aspect of Evangelical
Christian movement that not only opposes gay-rights but actively supports
gay-conversion 'therapy' that simply does not work.
They are also extremely
opposed to any form of sex education or the use of contraception. Breaking the
link between US President George W Bush and the Silver Ring movement to allow
US aid programs to fund the use on condoms was one of the greatest victories in
the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa.
My most enduring
memory of the Jonas Brothers though is when they appeared on a UK chatshow
presented by Gabby Logan. She is also a BBC Sports presenter who has worked on
many major sporting events including the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
As a running feature
for the chatshow guests were asked to bring in and talk about the book that
most influenced them as a child. This produced the usual round of Charlotte's
Webs, To Kill a Mocking Bird and various Roald Dahl novels. Nick Jonas however
recommended that radical Neoconservative tome "The Fountain Head" by
Ayn Rand.
I swear Gabby Logan
then shot him a look as if she wanted to lean in, pat him on the knee and go; "I don't
care who you are. One Nazi salute and you're straight out the door."
So when people say
that the Jonas Brothers are a neoconservative conspiracy to destroy the earth
and all the people living upon it they're normally only about 20% joking.
Joe Jonas is now
trying to target the dance music crowd under the name "DNCE." Even by
the standards of hipsters his backing band seem particularly dead-eyed.
Although the unseen
forces succeeded in keeping the star-crossed lovers apart in the video blocks,
rather like stepping stones kept emerging as if trying to build a bridge
between the two. Russia brought this motif into both their semi-final and final
stage performances. On the stage backdrop animated white blocks were projected.
The twist was that some of these blocks took on physical form being pushed out
from the backdrop allowing Lazarev to climb them.
This was done in
reference to an incident in November 2015 when Turkmen terrorists blew up all
the pylons carrying electricity to Crimea. This caused a total blackout on the
peninsula of 1.9 million people just at the start of the brutal Black Sea
winter. Demonstrating their lack of control over the country the Kiev junta
attempted to repair the pylons but were stopped by the Turkmen terrorists.
With hospitals and other vital services being
forced to close amid freezing temperatures some 28 civilians were killed as a
direct result of this terrorist activity.
In response Russia
set about building a series of what are termed "Power Bridges" to
supply Crimea with electricity directly from the Russian mainland. They were
completed on May 12th (12/5/16) the day of the second Song Contest semi-final.
The Turkmen have threatened to blow them up too.
In the run-up to and
throughout much of this year's contest there seemed to be a general consensus
that this was going to be Russia's year. In order to avoid it being blatantly
obvious that this was being done in protest against the continuing economic
sanctions on Russia this forced Russia to provide a strong entry. Their dumbing
down was actually part of this effort.
Unfortunately
Russia's mass of creative energy couldn't be suppressed for the entire week.
In his biography a
point was made of the fact that Sergey Lazarev won all of the prizes at the
2015 Russian Music Awards. The Russians brought this up themselves in order to
invite constructive criticism of Russia's somewhat questionable domestic
politics. Particularly things like Vladimir Putin's 80% approval ratings.
They continued this
theme in the jury voting for the first semi-final which as always took place on
Monday (10/5/16) evening/night following the dress rehearsal. The results of the
jury voting are supposed to be kept as a strictly guarded secret until the
public have voted following the semi-final broadcast. However one of the
Russian jurists decided to broadcast the whole thing live on Periscope. This
prompted an uproar and a formal investigation.
Knowing exactly what
they were doing the Russians were extremely careful not to broadcast any of the
actual details of the voting so no action was taken. However the incident did
invite further questions about 'Russian Voting' while introducing Periscope into
the technical discussions within the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) as
Eurovision is formally known.
France actually tried
doing much the same thing during the week in a much more clumsy manner. On May
11th (11/5/16) that a 19 year old woman had used Periscope to broadcast her own
suicide by jumping in front of a train at the Elgy station around 40km (25
miles) south of Paris. This obviously occurred outside of the Song Contest
bubble and carried with it a death toll. As such it far from in keeping with
the spirit of the competition and therefore Russia's effort was far superior.
However as is often
Russia's problem I think their Periscope stunt went over a lot of people's
heads. Missing the point they instead viewed it as Russian misbehaviour and
marked Russia down accordingly in the final.
Aside from winning a
suspiciously high number of Russian Music Awards and selling out nationwide
tours in minutes Sergey Lazarev is also a highly successful actor and TV
presenter in Russia. In fact it was his work dubbing the Zac Efron role in
"High School Musical" helped me explain the voiceover aspect of the
animation trend at this year's contest.
However his wholesome
reputation was tarnished during the contest when photographs emerged of Lazarev
engaging in a pornographic photoshoot as a young man. I cannot comment on all
of these photographs because only a handful of them were deemed fit to print. The
fact that I am using phrases like "Fit to Print" should be clear
enough indication to you of the role these photographs play in the ever present
sex, nudity, censorship debate
The photographs which
were published show Lazarev sitting fully nude on a bed with his back to the
camera. This was very much in the style of the postcard for Estonia's entry
which saw Juri Pootsman sitting fully nude with his back to the camera on a
jetty before diving into the lake exposing his pert boy buttocks. As I said in covering
that at the time this was a reference to the Pinkwashing debate and a little
wink of apology to Russia.
In fact despite the
claims that Russia were furious and humiliated by the leak of these pictures the
rumour I've heard is that Russian intelligence left them somewhere for private
Estonia hackers who support Shamali Province to find. This is of course the
sort of spy-game we've seen with Wikileaks and then Edwards Snowden. Even
before this story broke I'd detected a little warning in Estonia's entry to its
young activists not to embarrass themselves by supporting Shamali Province.
Again though I think
this sort of sophisticated spy-trick went over the heads of a lot of people.
Also while there are certainly parties that are allowed to be critical of Russia's
treatment at the hands of the Eurovision gay-rights-for-gays mob Russia is most
certainly not one of them. Any attempt by Russia to do so is only going to
provoke a backlash.
The other problem
with the photographs is that they had a very strong sado-masochistic,
misogynist tone to them. Lazarev is shown either holding a woodsaw to the
throat of a semi-naked woman handcuffed to a radiator or forcing the woman to
kiss and suck on the saw.
This of course was
done in the context of a professional photoshoot between consenting adults. As
such it was intended to send the message that Shamali Province's Jamala and her
fellow Turkmen Islamofascists get positively sexually aroused by the prospect of
engaging in a bit of domestic violence. Or "Domestic Terrorism" as it
is more often referred to.
Again though I think
that might have gone right over the heads of the squishy, liberal Eurovision
crowd. Particularly amongst those trapped in nations where the news media
aren't allowed to discuss Islamofascist terrorism.
Despite understanding it even I sort
of got the impression that Russia were saying that they wanted to slit Jamala's throat. That's still
quite a strong statement for Eurovision.
Belarus: I largely dealt with their entry at the time of the second semi-final. However the title "Help You To Fly" was primarily intended as a clear reference to the Minsk Protocol.
Drawn up by both parties to Shamali Province's civil war alongside the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and endorsed by the so-called "Normandy Four" (Shamali Province, Russia, Germany, France) the Minsk Protocol is not a grand Zionist conspiracy to subjugate Shamali Province. Instead it is a blueprint to stop the people of what used to be Ukraine tearing their nation apart.
Everyone really wants the US-backed junta to hurry up and implement it.
Moldova: One of the stranger claims about Shamali Province is that the US had to overthrow the Ukrainian government to allow Russia to establish a strip of land through Odessa linking the Russian mainland to the ethnically Russian Transnistria region of Moldova. This is why the US has to be allowed to deploy forces to Moldova.
Logically this obviously an extremely difficult concept for rational people to get their heads around. Particularly in Moldova.
In her biography much is made of the fact that their singer Lidia Isac
was born in Russia and is hugely popular in nations with large
ethnically Russian populations such as Latvia. In 1993 she won a music
competition in Yalta, Crimea which hosted the famous 1945 Yalta
Conference at which the post-World War Two map of Europe was drawn. Isac
is probably most popular though in central Asian nations such as Kyrgyzstan.
It is with these nations along with some in eastern Europe that Russia
wants to establish its Eurasian Union (EU) to rival the European Union
(EU).
Featuring lyrics like; "Still I believe, I’m holding on//I didn’t mean to let you down" Moldova's entry "Falling Stars" sounded quite a lot like a call to arms to ethnic Russians living in areas Transnistria to prepare to once again be united by the Russian Motherland.
However with a chorus featuring the lyrics; "All of our love turned into dust//We’re the brightest falling stars" it hardly expressed optimism at the success of the Russian Motherland and the Eurasian Union. As such it seemed to be mocking the US conspiracy theory over Transnistria while giving Shamali Province a particular headache as they tried to decode the contradictions.
During Thursday's (12/5/16) second semi-final which featured the Republic of Ireland the UK suddenly discovered an unexploded World War Two bomb in the Lansdown area of Bath. The Irish Rugby Union team play at the Lansdowne Road ground in Dublin.
What is interesting about the Irish Rugby Union team is that it represents both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Before each game they have to play the anthems of both nations. As their anthem Irish rugby fans have adopted the song; "The Fields of Athenry."
In the afternoon before Saturday's (14/5/16) Grand Final a mass brawl between two groups of immigrant workers broke out at Moscow's Khovanskoye cemetery. This obviously highlighted that despite popular misconception Russia has an ethnically diverse population including recent immigrants. It also invoked The Fields of Athenry which has lyrics about watching the last star fall as the fields low lie from famine.
I thought this was rather a good riposte to the UK's out of bubble antics. However it also occurred outside of the Song Contest bubble meaning that it might have irritated people. Coming after the Friday (13/5/16) jury vote though it would not have had an effect on that vote.
The Russian Grand Final stage show which was probably the main factor in the jury vote did end with an animation of a woman trying to catch a falling star in clear reference to Moldova's entry.
As such it seemed that Russia and Moldova went beyond merely expressing support for each into ganging up together to bully Shamali Province.
Exciting as this is at around 14:00 on 23/5/16 (UK date) I really need to clean my kitchen. It's starting to become an issue.
Edited at around 15:50 on 23/5/16 (UK date) to add;
Cyprus: The reason why Shamali Province's entry this year was ineligible is that it broke possibly the only non-negotiable rule within Eurovision. Song's cannot be overtly political.
The reason why this rule is considered so important is that it forces competitors to get creative driving up standards across the Eurovision area and within the competition. Without it every song would simply descend into a Grindcore (very heavy metal) tirade against a nation's neighbours.
Much like Montenegro Cyprus decided to protest Shamali Province's inclusion by entering a Grindcore tirade.
The name of the band "Minus One" seemed to be a recommendation of how the juries should score Shamali Province this year. The song title "Alter Ego" is a reference to the hidden, Islamofascist identity of the Turkmen terrorists whom Shamali Province's Jamala is demanding we all feel sorry for. As with Montenegro the use of very masculine rock music contributes to the Pinkwashing/Gay-rights debate.
It is also quite clear that Cyprus are really not happy at the US suggestion that the world suddenly decides to overlook the 1974 invasion and continued occupation of northern Cyprus by Turkey.
The video in support of the song shows the band primarily playing beneath electricity pylons. Like the ones the Turkmen blew up in Crimea.
It also shows a Ford Mustang car being driven along a deserted road. This was a reference to the 2014 film "Mustang" which the Obama administration ordered be denied the 2015 Oscar for Best Foreign Feature as not to embarrass Vice President Joe Biden.
As with Belarus the video also features heavily a Grey Wolf. This is intended as a reference to the Grey Wolves of Shamali Province and the Turkish Grey Wolves in order to highlight the fact that although there may be no shared history the two groups are now very firmly linked.
Clearly in their protest against falling standards in the Song Contest subtly was not what Cyprus was aiming for this year.
In both the video and both stage performances the lead singer wore a hooded, cloak-like black coat. This could be described as a "Male Abiya" in reference to the more traditional blue Abiya that Jamala wore during her Grand Final performance. The intention being to remind people that this wasn't the Islamofascists celebrating the concept of multi-culturalism.
The video also featured a woman who bore something of a resemblence to Kim Kardashian. This was a little nod to the Nagorno-Karabakh Region (NKR) dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan and one that was quite common this year.
The main point though was that this woman was dressed in Sado-Masochistic-style leather and chains. This was to make the point that there was at least one woman at this year's Song Contest who gets positively fizzy in the knickers at the prospect of engaging in some domestic violence.
The video also invoked the white steps used during Russia's stage performances. As such I'm becoming less and less convinced that Russia was genuinely outraged when Sergey Lazarev's porn pictures were leaked by those courageous Estonia hackers.
In their own stage performances members of the band were locked in their own personal cages/jail cells. The message being that there were certain competitors - who were never overtly named - who should be locked up for persistant and grevious rule violations.
This was a sentiment echoed by Bulgaria with their song "If Love Were A Crime" by Poli Genova. As a former Soviet bloc nation which has now joined the European Union (EU) this was them going; "If supporting Shamali Province is the EU's idea of love then we should all be in prison."
Following the frankly ludicrious suggestion that Shamali Province had even competed in let alone won this year's Song Contest Swedish intelligence blew up one of their own television transmission towers in Boras on Sunday (15/5/16). After all even the suggestion that the 2017 contest be held in Shamali Province rather brings to mind that George Orwell quote;
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."
Greece: Their song "Utopian Land" was the now traditional complaint about the economic crisis and the European Union (EU) bailout measures. The general tone of it being; "Yeah(!) Join the EU(!) It's Great(!) Everyone's really rich(!) Everybody's happy(!) No-one ever argues(!)"
One of the big, long-running disputes between the EU and Greece has been the Greeks rather lavish higher education system. This is prepared to pay for every single Greek citizen to obtain not only Batchelors and Masters degrees but also PHD's all for free.
The band Argo is made up of a mix of classically trained professional musicians and self-taught folk musicians. This obviously poses the question of whether everyone really needs a PHD?
Featuring the lyric: "Waiting for the plane//for two hours straight//I got some pickles and my friend has got the drinks//Vodka it is, then, and whatever else time brings" Greece was making the point that their economy would recover a lot quicker if they were allowed to resume exports to the large Russian market.
The bandname "Argo" is a reference to the 2012 film "Argo" which explores the link between the CIA and Hollywood when it comes to creating fake propaganda stories.
The folk musicans in the band come from and are expert in the musical traditions of Greece's Pontian region. This sits on the Black Sea coast. It allows the Greeks to go; "We know we sit on the coast of the Black Sea. We know that Bulgaria sits on the shores of the Black Sea. We also know that Russia borders the Black Sea. As does Shamali Province..."
"...Are there any other nations we can think of that border the Black Sea(?)"
17:05 on 23/5/16 (UK date).
Edited at around 18:30 on 23/5/16 (UK date) to add: Greek Lyrics. Above.
Edited at around 15:50 on 23/5/16 (UK date) to add;
Cyprus: The reason why Shamali Province's entry this year was ineligible is that it broke possibly the only non-negotiable rule within Eurovision. Song's cannot be overtly political.
The reason why this rule is considered so important is that it forces competitors to get creative driving up standards across the Eurovision area and within the competition. Without it every song would simply descend into a Grindcore (very heavy metal) tirade against a nation's neighbours.
Much like Montenegro Cyprus decided to protest Shamali Province's inclusion by entering a Grindcore tirade.
The name of the band "Minus One" seemed to be a recommendation of how the juries should score Shamali Province this year. The song title "Alter Ego" is a reference to the hidden, Islamofascist identity of the Turkmen terrorists whom Shamali Province's Jamala is demanding we all feel sorry for. As with Montenegro the use of very masculine rock music contributes to the Pinkwashing/Gay-rights debate.
It is also quite clear that Cyprus are really not happy at the US suggestion that the world suddenly decides to overlook the 1974 invasion and continued occupation of northern Cyprus by Turkey.
The video in support of the song shows the band primarily playing beneath electricity pylons. Like the ones the Turkmen blew up in Crimea.
It also shows a Ford Mustang car being driven along a deserted road. This was a reference to the 2014 film "Mustang" which the Obama administration ordered be denied the 2015 Oscar for Best Foreign Feature as not to embarrass Vice President Joe Biden.
As with Belarus the video also features heavily a Grey Wolf. This is intended as a reference to the Grey Wolves of Shamali Province and the Turkish Grey Wolves in order to highlight the fact that although there may be no shared history the two groups are now very firmly linked.
Clearly in their protest against falling standards in the Song Contest subtly was not what Cyprus was aiming for this year.
In both the video and both stage performances the lead singer wore a hooded, cloak-like black coat. This could be described as a "Male Abiya" in reference to the more traditional blue Abiya that Jamala wore during her Grand Final performance. The intention being to remind people that this wasn't the Islamofascists celebrating the concept of multi-culturalism.
The video also featured a woman who bore something of a resemblence to Kim Kardashian. This was a little nod to the Nagorno-Karabakh Region (NKR) dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan and one that was quite common this year.
The main point though was that this woman was dressed in Sado-Masochistic-style leather and chains. This was to make the point that there was at least one woman at this year's Song Contest who gets positively fizzy in the knickers at the prospect of engaging in some domestic violence.
The video also invoked the white steps used during Russia's stage performances. As such I'm becoming less and less convinced that Russia was genuinely outraged when Sergey Lazarev's porn pictures were leaked by those courageous Estonia hackers.
In their own stage performances members of the band were locked in their own personal cages/jail cells. The message being that there were certain competitors - who were never overtly named - who should be locked up for persistant and grevious rule violations.
This was a sentiment echoed by Bulgaria with their song "If Love Were A Crime" by Poli Genova. As a former Soviet bloc nation which has now joined the European Union (EU) this was them going; "If supporting Shamali Province is the EU's idea of love then we should all be in prison."
Following the frankly ludicrious suggestion that Shamali Province had even competed in let alone won this year's Song Contest Swedish intelligence blew up one of their own television transmission towers in Boras on Sunday (15/5/16). After all even the suggestion that the 2017 contest be held in Shamali Province rather brings to mind that George Orwell quote;
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."
Greece: Their song "Utopian Land" was the now traditional complaint about the economic crisis and the European Union (EU) bailout measures. The general tone of it being; "Yeah(!) Join the EU(!) It's Great(!) Everyone's really rich(!) Everybody's happy(!) No-one ever argues(!)"
One of the big, long-running disputes between the EU and Greece has been the Greeks rather lavish higher education system. This is prepared to pay for every single Greek citizen to obtain not only Batchelors and Masters degrees but also PHD's all for free.
The band Argo is made up of a mix of classically trained professional musicians and self-taught folk musicians. This obviously poses the question of whether everyone really needs a PHD?
Featuring the lyric: "Waiting for the plane//for two hours straight//I got some pickles and my friend has got the drinks//Vodka it is, then, and whatever else time brings" Greece was making the point that their economy would recover a lot quicker if they were allowed to resume exports to the large Russian market.
The bandname "Argo" is a reference to the 2012 film "Argo" which explores the link between the CIA and Hollywood when it comes to creating fake propaganda stories.
The folk musicans in the band come from and are expert in the musical traditions of Greece's Pontian region. This sits on the Black Sea coast. It allows the Greeks to go; "We know we sit on the coast of the Black Sea. We know that Bulgaria sits on the shores of the Black Sea. We also know that Russia borders the Black Sea. As does Shamali Province..."
"...Are there any other nations we can think of that border the Black Sea(?)"
17:05 on 23/5/16 (UK date).
Edited at around 18:30 on 23/5/16 (UK date) to add: Greek Lyrics. Above.
People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/g/georgeorwe159448.html
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/g/georgeorwe159448.html
Thursday, 19 May 2016
The 2016 Eurovision Song Contest: Grand Final. Pt.5.
This should be read as a direct continuation of Part 4; http://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/the-2016-eurovision-song-contest-grand_18.html
I say "should" but on this occasion it's not compulsory. Having looked at the nation's that supported Shamali Province and those who have switched their votes this logically I should now go and look at those nations that opposed Shamali Province including more of those who've switched their vote.
Before that though I'm going to take a little detour. Via Pyongyang.
Australia: Their entry "Sound of Silence" by Dami Im features the lyric; "Trying to feel your love through face time." This has been interpreted by some as a reference to the video-calling function "FaceTime" available on a host of Apple Inc products - most commonly the "iPhone."
Aside from very strict rules forbidding overt political references the Song Contest has an equally strict rule forbidding product placement and other forms of commercial advertising. As such it has been contended that Australia's entry is also ineligible for competition.
If I was arguing in their defence I would point out that at no point do they reference Apple or even the "FaceTime" brand. I would also point out that the term; "face time" was in common usage before Apple released their product. As such it is debatable whether Apple's claim to own the rights to the term would stand up to legal scrutiny. After all I couldn't well go and copyright the term "Potato" now could I.
I would also beg that the rules are interpreted liberally in this case because the alternative; "Trying to feel your love through the video-calling function on my generic smartphone" doesn't really scan as a song lyric. Although not an Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) lawyer I believe this argument is formally known as "Artistic License."
The reason why any alternate lyric would have to make clear that they are talking about the video-calling function on a smartphone is because Australia's entry is almost entirely a reference to the 2013 film "Her."
If you were to pitch this film in a single phrase you might say; "Johnny Cash gets caught between two women. Sam and Amy." As such my ego very much approves.
The central premise of "Her" is that a man falls in love with the Artificially Intelligent (AI) operating system which is common to all of his devices. However with the combination of an earpiece and a pocket sized camera/screen it's clear that a smartphone is the primary reference point. In the unspecified near future where the film is set this isn't considered at all odd because everybody seems to be doing it.
This topic is obviously significant to the technical aspects of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) which is commonly known by the brandname "Eurovision."
After all more and more people are now accessing TV and music content through computers - the Song Contest livestream being a case in point. Even if you haven't signed up to products like "Apple TV" or "Netflix" it is still extremely likely that the satellite decoder box you use to watch TV is still a mini-computer with its own operating system.
In fact I'm a little concerned that one of things that may have increased tensions with in the Song Contest bubble is that during the second semi-final - right after Serbia performed - I recorded a BBC2 TV show called "Peaky Blinders."
Due to the rather wobbly operating system on my decoder box this meant I lost the semi-final broadcast. I simply went into another room with a digital TV and used Twitter to make it quite clear that I was still watching.
Perhaps inspired by the surrealists such as Dali and Magritte or perhaps the earlier Dadaists like Duchamp and Satie the UK's entry for the Song Contest this year was the TV show "Peaky Blinders."
If you were to now use a generic Internet search engine to find out more about Peaky Blinders it is extremely likely that search engine would use a primative form of AI to autocomplete your search term.
Personally I'm still catching up but I gather much of the action from this season of Peaky Blinders centres around British Establishment paedophiles trying to smuggle weapons to the Russian "Whites" to fight the Russian "Reds" in Georgia in the mid-1920's. Apparently much of this is being funded by jewels that have been smuggled up inside women's *ahem* 'jewels.'
I gather the land of Fashion, Fellini and Opera have put in another typically average performance this year.
The sub-text to the film "Her" though is an examination of the stresses of long distance relationships that movie and music stars often find themselves in.
With the film nominally being set on the west coast of the US the vast Pacific Ocean between California and Asia is used to signify that long distance. The voice of the operating system "Sam" is provided by Scarlett Johansson who really broke through in the 2003 film "Lost in Translation" which is set in Japan.
Within Japanese society there is what is known as the "Hikikomori" phenomenon. This sees adolescents and young adults actively withdrawing from society and shunning all forms of human contact in order to live a digital life online. As such if there is any nation that's going to start developing sexual relationships with their computer operating systems it's likely to be the Japanese.
Australia of course enjoys something of a long distance relationship with the rest of the Eurovision area. Although technically it sits a good 3000km (1800 miles) inside the eastern border it is after all in an entirely different hemisphere.
The reason why Australia competes in the Song Contest is because a significant proportion of Song Contest fans live in Australia. As a result their participating broadcaster SBS has been paying for the broadcasting rights for much of the contest's 61 year history.
Last year Australia were allowed to compete under a special dispensation on account of it being 60th anniversary year. Quite why Australia were allowed to compete this year is much harder to explain. They certainly haven't joined the EBU which is the main criteria for eligibility for the competition.
Membership of the EBU goes beyond simply paying the membership fee. You are also expected to contribute expertise that further the science and technology of broadcasting.
Aside from the annual Song Contest the most overt example of this is the news pool. This means that the designated news broadcaster - ITN in the UK - has to make a certain portion of their footage available to all the other EBU members. Although it may not make it on screen this gives EBU members at least a vague idea of what is going on in the politics of other EBU members.
Although it might not have been intentional I got a prime example of this on Monday (16/5/16) when Euronews which is the EBU's news channel were showing a report on the Philippines. At exactly the same time the French news channel France24 were showing the same report. On my program guide Euronews and France24 are next to each other. I had to stop for a moment while I worked out if my TV or my brain had suddenly broken.
Therefore Australia's entry "Sound of Silence" was a protest against the EBU rules not being enforced strictly enough.
The message being that because they weren't being forced to join the news pool they were struggling to follow what was going on so had to rely on copying an American movie.
It is perhaps a further sign that the stress of the situation proved too much for the Rebels of the Bleeding Heart that sit on Song Contest juries that a lot of people voted for Australia. Because they felt sorry for them.
Although they made a great effort of being seen to be struggling the Australians actually did rather well for themselves on the political front.
While I'm not sure of the exact filming and release schedules "Her" was the first film two of its main actresses did following their debut nude performance on screen. This obviously contributes to the ever present sex, nudity, censorship debate.
Olivia Wilde appeared topless in the 2011 film "The Change Up." I remember this because one night I channel surfed onto it in just enough time to go; "Oh look it's ... And there are her breasts." I had to watch the entire film again just for some sense of context. It really wasn't worth the effort.
Scarlett Johansson appears fully nude in the 2013 film "Under the Skin." This is a serious piece of artistic filmmaking. For example rather than using dialogue it employs abrasive background sound effects to move the story along. Annoying it was broadcast in the UK on the same day as the Umpqua Community College shooting - October 1st 2015 (1/10/15). As a result I got about 45 minutes in before concluding I really wasn't in the right frame of mind to deal with it.
In fact not knowing that Scarlett Johansson appears fully nude in it the next day I sort of fast forwarded through the recording basically thinking;"If this doesn't start to even resemble a normal film at some point I'm just going to delete it." It was a bit of a shock then to discover that I now know Scarlett Johansson as well as any future children she may have. It is source of annoyance to me that I've not yet been able to watch the film again in full so I can discuss it properly.
The video in support of Australia's entry is set in a sort of deserted warehouse with black floors. That is taken almost directly from scenes in Under the Skin.
Directed by very famous music video director Spike Jonze "Her" also makes a number of similar coded references to both Under the Skin and The Change Up that you would only get if you had seen both films.
As a sign of how much respect Australia has for the Song Contest having won the Australian X-Factor in 2013 Dami Im is a major star there. Even before she was selected for this year's contest I was vaguely aware of the name. She was actually born in the Republic of Korea (RoK/South) before migrating with her parents to Australia at age 9. As such she is a talking point about migration and integration.
Much like Russia Australia has a somewhat undeserved reputation as a nation of racists. Particularly in Europe and the US all we seem to hear about them are protests against conditions in their Immigration Detention Facilities. Or that there's been another big race riot on the beaches of Cronulla near Sydney.
Australia of course is the type of country where it is still socially acceptable to refer to a friend, neighbour or workmate of Greek or Mediterranean appearance as; "A Wog." In the UK if you displayed a "Golliwog" doll in your window you would be charged with inciting racial hatred against black people.
Despite this reputation about 7% of the Australian population are Asian including many like Dami Im who were born outside of Australia. They are extremely well integrated into Australian society to the point where Australia has almost become a victim of its own success. After all very few people would even entertain the idea that the blanket term "Australian" doesn't automatically include people of Asian appearance.
A rather good example of this comes from a showbiz feud between US comedian Chelsea Handler and Australian comedian Adam Hills. In the UK Hills of course presents a show called; "The Last Leg." This was at the forefront of the gay-rights protests against Russia ahead of the 2014 Sochi Olympics. In fact I got the impression that The Last Leg wasn't allowed to go to Sochi because MI6 couldn't guarantee its safety.
Although I can't remember when Chelsea Handler did a series of US chat-shows from Australia. As a local Adam Hills was booked as a guest. At one point in the show Handler announced that she was surprised to see some Asian people in Australia. She then proceeded to do that racist impression of Asian people where you squint your eyes and start changing your "R's" to "W's." Hills decided to set her straight live on air. I understand the feud continues to this day.
Not only is she an X-Factor winner Dami Im is also a classically trained pianist. This seems to be a further nod of apology to Russia. Particularly now Tony Abbott's been given the heave-ho before Vladimir Putin got the opportunity to take him up on his offer of a fist-fight.
So as has often been the case things in Europe were going well. Then the Germans turned up.
At around 16:50 on 19/5/16 (UK date) I'll pick that up after dinner because I've managed to give myself a headache.
Edited at around 18:50 on 19/5/16 (UK date) to add above and below;
Germany: Through things like Manga animation, Harajuku fashion, video games and to some extent pop music Japanese culture is becoming increasingly popular in Europe. This is interesting because in many ways European and Japanese culture are extremely different.
As an ancedote on Tuesday (17/5/16) I was having my usual Tuesday night dinner with my father in the usual pub. In recent weeks they've changed the lay-out of their dining area to resemble the type of communal tables common in Japanese resturants like a sushi bar or the "Wagamama" chain which is not only pan-European but also global. After I'd explained to him what a Wagamama's was my father commented that it must be near impossible to have a private conversation in one.
I than began to explain to him that in Japanese society no-one would contemplate having a private conversation in a public resturant. In fact you would be expected to remain within the polite - Teineigo- version of the Japanese spoken language. The staff would be expected to speak to you respectful - Sonkeigo - version of the Japanese spoken language. Do not even get me started on the differences between written and spoken Japanese.
Another key area where Japanese culture differs from particularly western European culture are in its attitudes to women. Although things are slowly changing Japan still ranks 105th out 136 in the 2006 Global Gender Gap Index. Probably the most well known example of Japanese attitudes towards woman is that of the Geisha. Although these are wrongly mistaken for prositutes they are trained from a very young age simply to entertain rich men through dance, song, games and conversation rather than sex.
I feel I should reassure particularly American readers that the Eurovision Song Contest is normally a lot more fun than this. It tends to focus on broad social/political issues such to attitudes to women's right. This year the topic of cultural difference is relevent to the more specific issue of racial integration.
Jaime-Lee Kriewitz presents rather a good talking point about this because she is obsessed with Japanese culture. Coming from Hanover in Germany she is of course white rather than Asian. This raises the point that actually a lot of Japanese people have extremely white skin. As for her name "Jaime" is an English name. In this context so is "Lee" but it also a very common Asian name while "Kriewitz" is pure German.
As such rather like that joke about the Anglo-Chinese engineering firm "Hu, Watt & Wen" "Jaime-Lee Kriewitz" sounds like a Two Ronnies sketch that even in 1970's Britain would still be deemed a little bit too racist.
The song itself "Ghost" is very clearly a reference to the white-faced Geisha as it relates to the wider topic of women's rights.
The problem is that clearly someone high up in the German government got wind of Australia's entry and assumed it must be about South-East Asian politics - particularly the relationship between the US, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK/North) and China.
So the order came down from on-high; "Make her more Korean!"
With Germany assuming that Australia's entry was about South-East Asian politics and making their entry about South-East Asian politics South-East Asians started assuming the whole thing was about their politics too.
As a result the first two/three days of the Eurovision Song Contest coincided with the first Congress of the ruling Workers Party of Korea that North Korea has held in 35 years. It ended with a Eurovision-style exhibition of North Korean pop and folk music and dancing.
I for one could really have lived without that and I think most people in Asian could've done too.
The team behind Germany's Eurovision entry is actually extremely strong. The song was produced by a guy called Conrad Hensel. His last job was as sound designer for this little movie called "The Revenant" - you may have heard of it.
The mere two words of his name therefore bring in all the issues regarding the recent Oscars particular as it related to all the issues regarding the Paris Agreement to make Climate Change a permenant and unstoppable force.
As such I suspect that when the order came down from upon high the German Eurovision teams reaction was along the lines of;
"No. That's stupid. However if Merkel once again wants to make herself look like a fool in front of all of Europe and most of Asia it is but our duty to serve."
Being one of the so-called Big Five Germany only had to perform in the final. Along with the performance video in support of the song this stage setting had a very fairytale theme that nodded both to "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Alice in Wonderland" without directly referencing either. It featured dozens of plastic trees spread wide across the stage.
This took so long to set up it forced the presenters to fill dead air while the director no doubt screamed in their ear pieces. In short it seemed intended to p*ss everyone off.
In keeping with the fairytale theme a giant moon was projected onto the stage backdrop. If you are familar with the imagery of things like Little Red Riding Hood this is the type of moon you would expect to see a Grey Wolf howling at. That seemed like an attempt to dismiss any reference to either the Grey Wolves of Shamali Province or the Turkish Grey Wolves of northern Syria as mere fairytale.
Politically though the main takeaway from Germany's entry this year is that it seemed deliberately all over the place and unable to make up its mind.
Austria: Their entry this year "Loin d'ici (roughly: And So Will I)" was performed by ZOË.
If you are a German speaker as Austrians tend to be you will know that those two little dots known as a "Diacritic Umlaut" above the E in her name is extremely important. Even if it is frequently just left out of an English translation.
If you speak Turkish - as quite a few Austrians do - you would consider this double "Tittle" as it's know to be even more important. In Turkish a mistake over putting a single tittle rather than a double tittle over just one letter can change the meaning of an entire sentence from something; "Hello, Goodmorning" into; "I'm going to smash my way into your house at night, rape your mother and kill your children."
Grammer has therefore been something of an issue this year.
The supporting video and both performances by Austria this year were simply cheap rip-offs of the German entry. However where the Germans used dozens of plastic trees the Austrians projected animations of what looked like Magic Mushrooms onto the stage backdrop. This seemed to suggest that whomever came up with the 'German idea' was clearly either on drugs or in urgent need of a psychiatric assesment.
Sung in French if I had to sum up Austria's entry in a single phrase it would be; "F*cking Hell. If Merkel carries on like this we're going to start telling people we're French!"
Judging by the "Allahu Akbar" stabbing at a Munich train station on the first full day of competition - May 9th (9/5/16) - the entire German state of Bravaria is threatening to secede and join Austria.
The reason why French was chosen as the alternate language is that part of France's entry was sung in English. The French are traditionally so protective over their language there is actually a semi-serious discussion going on in France over whether that broke domestic French law.
Mainly though on the migration/refugee issue Angela Merkel's got to be looking at the recent Victory Day comemmorations as a nostalgic reminder of when Germany used to be popular in Europe.
20:45 on 19/5/16 (UK date).
I say "should" but on this occasion it's not compulsory. Having looked at the nation's that supported Shamali Province and those who have switched their votes this logically I should now go and look at those nations that opposed Shamali Province including more of those who've switched their vote.
Before that though I'm going to take a little detour. Via Pyongyang.
Australia: Their entry "Sound of Silence" by Dami Im features the lyric; "Trying to feel your love through face time." This has been interpreted by some as a reference to the video-calling function "FaceTime" available on a host of Apple Inc products - most commonly the "iPhone."
Aside from very strict rules forbidding overt political references the Song Contest has an equally strict rule forbidding product placement and other forms of commercial advertising. As such it has been contended that Australia's entry is also ineligible for competition.
If I was arguing in their defence I would point out that at no point do they reference Apple or even the "FaceTime" brand. I would also point out that the term; "face time" was in common usage before Apple released their product. As such it is debatable whether Apple's claim to own the rights to the term would stand up to legal scrutiny. After all I couldn't well go and copyright the term "Potato" now could I.
I would also beg that the rules are interpreted liberally in this case because the alternative; "Trying to feel your love through the video-calling function on my generic smartphone" doesn't really scan as a song lyric. Although not an Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) lawyer I believe this argument is formally known as "Artistic License."
The reason why any alternate lyric would have to make clear that they are talking about the video-calling function on a smartphone is because Australia's entry is almost entirely a reference to the 2013 film "Her."
If you were to pitch this film in a single phrase you might say; "Johnny Cash gets caught between two women. Sam and Amy." As such my ego very much approves.
The central premise of "Her" is that a man falls in love with the Artificially Intelligent (AI) operating system which is common to all of his devices. However with the combination of an earpiece and a pocket sized camera/screen it's clear that a smartphone is the primary reference point. In the unspecified near future where the film is set this isn't considered at all odd because everybody seems to be doing it.
This topic is obviously significant to the technical aspects of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) which is commonly known by the brandname "Eurovision."
After all more and more people are now accessing TV and music content through computers - the Song Contest livestream being a case in point. Even if you haven't signed up to products like "Apple TV" or "Netflix" it is still extremely likely that the satellite decoder box you use to watch TV is still a mini-computer with its own operating system.
In fact I'm a little concerned that one of things that may have increased tensions with in the Song Contest bubble is that during the second semi-final - right after Serbia performed - I recorded a BBC2 TV show called "Peaky Blinders."
Due to the rather wobbly operating system on my decoder box this meant I lost the semi-final broadcast. I simply went into another room with a digital TV and used Twitter to make it quite clear that I was still watching.
Perhaps inspired by the surrealists such as Dali and Magritte or perhaps the earlier Dadaists like Duchamp and Satie the UK's entry for the Song Contest this year was the TV show "Peaky Blinders."
If you were to now use a generic Internet search engine to find out more about Peaky Blinders it is extremely likely that search engine would use a primative form of AI to autocomplete your search term.
Personally I'm still catching up but I gather much of the action from this season of Peaky Blinders centres around British Establishment paedophiles trying to smuggle weapons to the Russian "Whites" to fight the Russian "Reds" in Georgia in the mid-1920's. Apparently much of this is being funded by jewels that have been smuggled up inside women's *ahem* 'jewels.'
I gather the land of Fashion, Fellini and Opera have put in another typically average performance this year.
The sub-text to the film "Her" though is an examination of the stresses of long distance relationships that movie and music stars often find themselves in.
With the film nominally being set on the west coast of the US the vast Pacific Ocean between California and Asia is used to signify that long distance. The voice of the operating system "Sam" is provided by Scarlett Johansson who really broke through in the 2003 film "Lost in Translation" which is set in Japan.
Within Japanese society there is what is known as the "Hikikomori" phenomenon. This sees adolescents and young adults actively withdrawing from society and shunning all forms of human contact in order to live a digital life online. As such if there is any nation that's going to start developing sexual relationships with their computer operating systems it's likely to be the Japanese.
Australia of course enjoys something of a long distance relationship with the rest of the Eurovision area. Although technically it sits a good 3000km (1800 miles) inside the eastern border it is after all in an entirely different hemisphere.
The reason why Australia competes in the Song Contest is because a significant proportion of Song Contest fans live in Australia. As a result their participating broadcaster SBS has been paying for the broadcasting rights for much of the contest's 61 year history.
Last year Australia were allowed to compete under a special dispensation on account of it being 60th anniversary year. Quite why Australia were allowed to compete this year is much harder to explain. They certainly haven't joined the EBU which is the main criteria for eligibility for the competition.
Membership of the EBU goes beyond simply paying the membership fee. You are also expected to contribute expertise that further the science and technology of broadcasting.
Aside from the annual Song Contest the most overt example of this is the news pool. This means that the designated news broadcaster - ITN in the UK - has to make a certain portion of their footage available to all the other EBU members. Although it may not make it on screen this gives EBU members at least a vague idea of what is going on in the politics of other EBU members.
Although it might not have been intentional I got a prime example of this on Monday (16/5/16) when Euronews which is the EBU's news channel were showing a report on the Philippines. At exactly the same time the French news channel France24 were showing the same report. On my program guide Euronews and France24 are next to each other. I had to stop for a moment while I worked out if my TV or my brain had suddenly broken.
Therefore Australia's entry "Sound of Silence" was a protest against the EBU rules not being enforced strictly enough.
The message being that because they weren't being forced to join the news pool they were struggling to follow what was going on so had to rely on copying an American movie.
It is perhaps a further sign that the stress of the situation proved too much for the Rebels of the Bleeding Heart that sit on Song Contest juries that a lot of people voted for Australia. Because they felt sorry for them.
Although they made a great effort of being seen to be struggling the Australians actually did rather well for themselves on the political front.
While I'm not sure of the exact filming and release schedules "Her" was the first film two of its main actresses did following their debut nude performance on screen. This obviously contributes to the ever present sex, nudity, censorship debate.
Olivia Wilde appeared topless in the 2011 film "The Change Up." I remember this because one night I channel surfed onto it in just enough time to go; "Oh look it's ... And there are her breasts." I had to watch the entire film again just for some sense of context. It really wasn't worth the effort.
Scarlett Johansson appears fully nude in the 2013 film "Under the Skin." This is a serious piece of artistic filmmaking. For example rather than using dialogue it employs abrasive background sound effects to move the story along. Annoying it was broadcast in the UK on the same day as the Umpqua Community College shooting - October 1st 2015 (1/10/15). As a result I got about 45 minutes in before concluding I really wasn't in the right frame of mind to deal with it.
In fact not knowing that Scarlett Johansson appears fully nude in it the next day I sort of fast forwarded through the recording basically thinking;"If this doesn't start to even resemble a normal film at some point I'm just going to delete it." It was a bit of a shock then to discover that I now know Scarlett Johansson as well as any future children she may have. It is source of annoyance to me that I've not yet been able to watch the film again in full so I can discuss it properly.
The video in support of Australia's entry is set in a sort of deserted warehouse with black floors. That is taken almost directly from scenes in Under the Skin.
Directed by very famous music video director Spike Jonze "Her" also makes a number of similar coded references to both Under the Skin and The Change Up that you would only get if you had seen both films.
As a sign of how much respect Australia has for the Song Contest having won the Australian X-Factor in 2013 Dami Im is a major star there. Even before she was selected for this year's contest I was vaguely aware of the name. She was actually born in the Republic of Korea (RoK/South) before migrating with her parents to Australia at age 9. As such she is a talking point about migration and integration.
Much like Russia Australia has a somewhat undeserved reputation as a nation of racists. Particularly in Europe and the US all we seem to hear about them are protests against conditions in their Immigration Detention Facilities. Or that there's been another big race riot on the beaches of Cronulla near Sydney.
Australia of course is the type of country where it is still socially acceptable to refer to a friend, neighbour or workmate of Greek or Mediterranean appearance as; "A Wog." In the UK if you displayed a "Golliwog" doll in your window you would be charged with inciting racial hatred against black people.
Despite this reputation about 7% of the Australian population are Asian including many like Dami Im who were born outside of Australia. They are extremely well integrated into Australian society to the point where Australia has almost become a victim of its own success. After all very few people would even entertain the idea that the blanket term "Australian" doesn't automatically include people of Asian appearance.
A rather good example of this comes from a showbiz feud between US comedian Chelsea Handler and Australian comedian Adam Hills. In the UK Hills of course presents a show called; "The Last Leg." This was at the forefront of the gay-rights protests against Russia ahead of the 2014 Sochi Olympics. In fact I got the impression that The Last Leg wasn't allowed to go to Sochi because MI6 couldn't guarantee its safety.
Although I can't remember when Chelsea Handler did a series of US chat-shows from Australia. As a local Adam Hills was booked as a guest. At one point in the show Handler announced that she was surprised to see some Asian people in Australia. She then proceeded to do that racist impression of Asian people where you squint your eyes and start changing your "R's" to "W's." Hills decided to set her straight live on air. I understand the feud continues to this day.
Not only is she an X-Factor winner Dami Im is also a classically trained pianist. This seems to be a further nod of apology to Russia. Particularly now Tony Abbott's been given the heave-ho before Vladimir Putin got the opportunity to take him up on his offer of a fist-fight.
So as has often been the case things in Europe were going well. Then the Germans turned up.
At around 16:50 on 19/5/16 (UK date) I'll pick that up after dinner because I've managed to give myself a headache.
Edited at around 18:50 on 19/5/16 (UK date) to add above and below;
Germany: Through things like Manga animation, Harajuku fashion, video games and to some extent pop music Japanese culture is becoming increasingly popular in Europe. This is interesting because in many ways European and Japanese culture are extremely different.
As an ancedote on Tuesday (17/5/16) I was having my usual Tuesday night dinner with my father in the usual pub. In recent weeks they've changed the lay-out of their dining area to resemble the type of communal tables common in Japanese resturants like a sushi bar or the "Wagamama" chain which is not only pan-European but also global. After I'd explained to him what a Wagamama's was my father commented that it must be near impossible to have a private conversation in one.
I than began to explain to him that in Japanese society no-one would contemplate having a private conversation in a public resturant. In fact you would be expected to remain within the polite - Teineigo- version of the Japanese spoken language. The staff would be expected to speak to you respectful - Sonkeigo - version of the Japanese spoken language. Do not even get me started on the differences between written and spoken Japanese.
Another key area where Japanese culture differs from particularly western European culture are in its attitudes to women. Although things are slowly changing Japan still ranks 105th out 136 in the 2006 Global Gender Gap Index. Probably the most well known example of Japanese attitudes towards woman is that of the Geisha. Although these are wrongly mistaken for prositutes they are trained from a very young age simply to entertain rich men through dance, song, games and conversation rather than sex.
I feel I should reassure particularly American readers that the Eurovision Song Contest is normally a lot more fun than this. It tends to focus on broad social/political issues such to attitudes to women's right. This year the topic of cultural difference is relevent to the more specific issue of racial integration.
Jaime-Lee Kriewitz presents rather a good talking point about this because she is obsessed with Japanese culture. Coming from Hanover in Germany she is of course white rather than Asian. This raises the point that actually a lot of Japanese people have extremely white skin. As for her name "Jaime" is an English name. In this context so is "Lee" but it also a very common Asian name while "Kriewitz" is pure German.
As such rather like that joke about the Anglo-Chinese engineering firm "Hu, Watt & Wen" "Jaime-Lee Kriewitz" sounds like a Two Ronnies sketch that even in 1970's Britain would still be deemed a little bit too racist.
The song itself "Ghost" is very clearly a reference to the white-faced Geisha as it relates to the wider topic of women's rights.
The problem is that clearly someone high up in the German government got wind of Australia's entry and assumed it must be about South-East Asian politics - particularly the relationship between the US, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK/North) and China.
So the order came down from on-high; "Make her more Korean!"
With Germany assuming that Australia's entry was about South-East Asian politics and making their entry about South-East Asian politics South-East Asians started assuming the whole thing was about their politics too.
As a result the first two/three days of the Eurovision Song Contest coincided with the first Congress of the ruling Workers Party of Korea that North Korea has held in 35 years. It ended with a Eurovision-style exhibition of North Korean pop and folk music and dancing.
I for one could really have lived without that and I think most people in Asian could've done too.
The team behind Germany's Eurovision entry is actually extremely strong. The song was produced by a guy called Conrad Hensel. His last job was as sound designer for this little movie called "The Revenant" - you may have heard of it.
The mere two words of his name therefore bring in all the issues regarding the recent Oscars particular as it related to all the issues regarding the Paris Agreement to make Climate Change a permenant and unstoppable force.
As such I suspect that when the order came down from upon high the German Eurovision teams reaction was along the lines of;
"No. That's stupid. However if Merkel once again wants to make herself look like a fool in front of all of Europe and most of Asia it is but our duty to serve."
Being one of the so-called Big Five Germany only had to perform in the final. Along with the performance video in support of the song this stage setting had a very fairytale theme that nodded both to "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Alice in Wonderland" without directly referencing either. It featured dozens of plastic trees spread wide across the stage.
This took so long to set up it forced the presenters to fill dead air while the director no doubt screamed in their ear pieces. In short it seemed intended to p*ss everyone off.
In keeping with the fairytale theme a giant moon was projected onto the stage backdrop. If you are familar with the imagery of things like Little Red Riding Hood this is the type of moon you would expect to see a Grey Wolf howling at. That seemed like an attempt to dismiss any reference to either the Grey Wolves of Shamali Province or the Turkish Grey Wolves of northern Syria as mere fairytale.
Politically though the main takeaway from Germany's entry this year is that it seemed deliberately all over the place and unable to make up its mind.
Austria: Their entry this year "Loin d'ici (roughly: And So Will I)" was performed by ZOË.
If you are a German speaker as Austrians tend to be you will know that those two little dots known as a "Diacritic Umlaut" above the E in her name is extremely important. Even if it is frequently just left out of an English translation.
If you speak Turkish - as quite a few Austrians do - you would consider this double "Tittle" as it's know to be even more important. In Turkish a mistake over putting a single tittle rather than a double tittle over just one letter can change the meaning of an entire sentence from something; "Hello, Goodmorning" into; "I'm going to smash my way into your house at night, rape your mother and kill your children."
Grammer has therefore been something of an issue this year.
The supporting video and both performances by Austria this year were simply cheap rip-offs of the German entry. However where the Germans used dozens of plastic trees the Austrians projected animations of what looked like Magic Mushrooms onto the stage backdrop. This seemed to suggest that whomever came up with the 'German idea' was clearly either on drugs or in urgent need of a psychiatric assesment.
Sung in French if I had to sum up Austria's entry in a single phrase it would be; "F*cking Hell. If Merkel carries on like this we're going to start telling people we're French!"
Judging by the "Allahu Akbar" stabbing at a Munich train station on the first full day of competition - May 9th (9/5/16) - the entire German state of Bravaria is threatening to secede and join Austria.
The reason why French was chosen as the alternate language is that part of France's entry was sung in English. The French are traditionally so protective over their language there is actually a semi-serious discussion going on in France over whether that broke domestic French law.
Mainly though on the migration/refugee issue Angela Merkel's got to be looking at the recent Victory Day comemmorations as a nostalgic reminder of when Germany used to be popular in Europe.
20:45 on 19/5/16 (UK date).
Egypt Air Filght MS804: Missing.
This Egypt Air flight MS804 en route from Paris, France to Cairo, Egypt has gone missing over the Mediterranean Sea. It was carrying 56 passengers, 7 aircrew and 3 air marshalls.
Following the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on July 17th 2014 (7/7/14) I said that it was too soon to jump to conclusion. The final report into that crash published 15 months later found that most of the conclusions we did leap to were in fact wrong.
Following the crash of Kogalymavia (Metrojet) flight 7K9268 over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on October 31st 2015 (31/10/15) I also said that it was too early to jump to conclusions.
Following the crash of FlyDubai flight FZ981 at Rostov-on-Don airport in Russia on March19th 2016 (19/3/16) I again said that it was too early to jump to conclusions. Although that investigation has don't yet been completed all indicators point to it just being a plane crash.
With there being no Mayday call and all flight telemetry seeming to stop dead we are not yet in a position where we can fully conclude even that flight MS804 has crashed. Military and civilian ships are currently searching the area of the flight's last known position for wreckage.
However I will say that the Eurovision Song Contest has just taken place in Stockholm, Sweden. Belarus were represented by a song entitled; "Help You to Fly."
In preparation for the contest on May 1st (1/5/16) British Airways flight BA108 from Dubai to London, UK had to be escorted by military jets after straying into Hungary's airspace. This was done to highlight the Balkan route into Europe for refugees fleeing the Middle-East. Hungary was chosen because it's airforce operates "Gripen" jets manufactured by the Swedish company SAAB. A few days later an Air France flight to the UK embarrassed itself.
The intended flight plan of MS804 seems to almost exactly mirror the intended flight plan of BA108. Only in reverse. It's final destination was Egypt.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) affiliate in Egypt are the Supporters of the Holy House/Ansar Bait al-Maqdis (ABM). A small group they are based in the north of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. In order to make themselves sound bigger than they are ABM like to refer to themselves as ISIL's Sinai Province.
As such for the time being I think my priority remains the mortality and morbidity conference into how ISIL's Shamali Province became crowned "Queens of Europe" at Eurovision. After all Islamofascists really don't get gay culture.
I will say though that on May 10th (10/5/16) France along with the US and Shamali Province vetoed a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution to list the Islamic Movement of the Freemen of the Levant/Harakat Ahrar ash-Sham al-Islamiyya (Ahrar al-Sham) and the Army of Islam/Jaish al-Islam (JAI) as global terror groups alongside ISIL and Al Qaeda.
They can't do something like that and then expect me to have tears for any future French victims of terror attacks.
10:50 on 19/5/16 (UK date).
Following the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on July 17th 2014 (7/7/14) I said that it was too soon to jump to conclusion. The final report into that crash published 15 months later found that most of the conclusions we did leap to were in fact wrong.
Following the crash of Kogalymavia (Metrojet) flight 7K9268 over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on October 31st 2015 (31/10/15) I also said that it was too early to jump to conclusions.
Following the crash of FlyDubai flight FZ981 at Rostov-on-Don airport in Russia on March19th 2016 (19/3/16) I again said that it was too early to jump to conclusions. Although that investigation has don't yet been completed all indicators point to it just being a plane crash.
With there being no Mayday call and all flight telemetry seeming to stop dead we are not yet in a position where we can fully conclude even that flight MS804 has crashed. Military and civilian ships are currently searching the area of the flight's last known position for wreckage.
However I will say that the Eurovision Song Contest has just taken place in Stockholm, Sweden. Belarus were represented by a song entitled; "Help You to Fly."
In preparation for the contest on May 1st (1/5/16) British Airways flight BA108 from Dubai to London, UK had to be escorted by military jets after straying into Hungary's airspace. This was done to highlight the Balkan route into Europe for refugees fleeing the Middle-East. Hungary was chosen because it's airforce operates "Gripen" jets manufactured by the Swedish company SAAB. A few days later an Air France flight to the UK embarrassed itself.
The intended flight plan of MS804 seems to almost exactly mirror the intended flight plan of BA108. Only in reverse. It's final destination was Egypt.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) affiliate in Egypt are the Supporters of the Holy House/Ansar Bait al-Maqdis (ABM). A small group they are based in the north of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. In order to make themselves sound bigger than they are ABM like to refer to themselves as ISIL's Sinai Province.
As such for the time being I think my priority remains the mortality and morbidity conference into how ISIL's Shamali Province became crowned "Queens of Europe" at Eurovision. After all Islamofascists really don't get gay culture.
I will say though that on May 10th (10/5/16) France along with the US and Shamali Province vetoed a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution to list the Islamic Movement of the Freemen of the Levant/Harakat Ahrar ash-Sham al-Islamiyya (Ahrar al-Sham) and the Army of Islam/Jaish al-Islam (JAI) as global terror groups alongside ISIL and Al Qaeda.
They can't do something like that and then expect me to have tears for any future French victims of terror attacks.
10:50 on 19/5/16 (UK date).
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