The 2018 Eurovision Song Contest: Winners & Stand Outs Pt.2

This is best read as a continuation of Part 1; https://watchitdie.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-2018-eurovision-song-contest.html

Italy: This year they were represented by Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro with the song; "Non Mi Avete Fatto Niente (You Did Not Do Anything To Me)."

Italy's entry this year was not so much overtly political as horrifyingly political.

The main theme of this year's Song Contest has been; "How Did We All Get It So Horribly Wrong." The symptom of Eurovision and Europe's collective failure that Italy have decided to focus on is the massive rise in Islamist terrorism.

The lyrics of the song directly reference specific Islamist terrorist attacks;
  
"The sun on La Rambla today isn't the same." In reference to the August 17th 2017 (17/8/17) attack on Las Ramblas in Barcelona, Spain which killed 13 and wounded at least 130.

"In France, there's a concert // People having fun // Someone sings powerfully // Someone screams at death." In reference to the November 13th 2015 (13/11/15) series of attacks in Paris, France which killed 130 and wounded at least 400 more. Including at the Bataclan concert venue.

"In Nice, the sea is red with fire and shame // With people on the asphalt and blood in the sewer."  In reference to the July 14th 2016 (14/7/16) attack in Nice, France which left 86 people dead and at least a further 400 injured. A particularly useful reference with one half of France's entry this year being originally from Nice.

Then there is the lyric; "In London it always rains, but today it doesn't hurt // The sky makes no exception, even for a funeral."  

That could be a reference to any number of Islamist terror attacks that have struck the British capital recently. Including the March 22nd 2017 (22/3/17) Westminster attack which resulted in 5 deaths and 49 injuries. Or the June 3rd 2017 (3/6/17) London Bridge attack which left 8 people dead 48 wounded.

What is interesting is that it doesn't reference the May 22nd (22/5/17) Manchester Evening News Arena (MENA) attack. Resulting in the deaths of 22 people and leaving 139 this was by far the most deadly attack Britain experienced in 2017. 

By targeting children it also stood out as particularly spiteful. Alongside the May 30th 2017 (30/5/17) bombing of the Al-Faqma Ice Cream shop in Baghdad, Iraq during Ramadan.

The song's lack of accuracy continued with the lyric; "Now they don't know what time it is in Cairo."

Egypt has been struck by numerous appalling Islamist terror attacks. 

These include the so-called "Palm Sunday Bombings" which killed 47 and wounded 126 in bombings at two Coptic Christian Churches on April 9th 2017 (9/4/17). The November 24th (24/11/17) attack on the al-Rawda Mosque which killed 311 and wounded at least 122.

The thing is that none of these attacks happened in Egypt's capital Cairo. The al-Rawda Mosque attack took place in al-Rawda in the Sinai Peninsula. The Palm Sunday bombings took place in the cities of Alexandria and Tanta which sit on the Mediterranean coast around 220km (130 miles) and 80km (50 miles) north or Cairo respectively.  

However if the song had referenced al-Rawda, Alexandria or Tanta rather than the capital Cairo it's unlikely anyone would have realised it was talking about Egypt. 

Highlighting that Europeans seem happy to ignore Islamist terror attacks when they happen in Arab nations. Even if in places such as Spain's Melilla region those Arab nations are directly connected to European nations.

At 311 the death toll from the al-Rawda Mosque attack alone dwarfs the total of 246 from all the terror attacks in European nations mentioned in the song combined.

I also found the claim that when it comes to Islamist terrorism Egyptians don't know what time it is unusual.

In January 2011 the Egyptian people overthrew the dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak.

Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan saw in this an opportunity to create the New Ottoman Empire. Exploiting his links with the Muslim Brotherhood organisation he installed Mohammed Morsi as his puppet President.

Erdogan actually celebrated Morsi's June 30th 2012 (30/6/12) inauguration by flying a Turkish F-4 Phantom jet in Syrian airspace. 

When this Turkish jet was predictably shotdown Erdogan tried to use this example of; "Syrian Aggression" as an excuse to launch an overt Turkish invasion of Syria. In order to overthrow its government and establish a New Ottoman Empire stretching all the way from Bulgaria to Sudan. 

In 2013 then US President Barack Obama dispatched Rihanna on her Diamonds World Tour (DWT). 

This was intended as an apology by the US to the Gulf Monarchies for Rihanna's role in Egypt's 2011 revolution. Not least because of the fact that Rihanna had absolutely no role in Egypt's 2011 revolution this has become a byword in Eurovision circles for Obama's utter incompetence.

Funnily enough Obama's cunning plan to use a popstar to convey hidden political messages did not faze the nations of the Eurovision Song Contest one little bit. In fact during the European leg of Rihanna's DWT everyone got bored and did something else.

What the Egyptian people did on July 3rd 2013 (3/7/13) was hold a second revolution to overthrow the Turkish puppet regime of Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.

So to me it seems that when it comes to the current wave of Islamist terror the Egyptian people know what time it is and have known for a good few years.

They're just waiting for western nations to figure out what time it is. Despite all the expensive watches Qatari lobbyists have been buying for western politicians.

The video in support of the song is equally emotive. 

It mixes real-life footage of the aftermath and memorials to the terror attacks mentioned with equally real-life footage of the current war in Syria. At a certain point the footage reverses as if bombs could be undropped or bullets unfired. The video features the lyrics of the song as subtitles in many languages. Most notably Ukrainian and Russian.

Alongside the real-life footage the video also features battle scenes from a movie set in Afghanistan. I think this may be from the 2015 Danish move; "A War." However not being able to specifically place it I think it may have been shot just for this video.

This mixture of real-life and fiction takes a jab at particularly America's attitude to the conflict in Syria under Obama.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) frequently produce propaganda video showing their battlefield victories. Many of these scenes are in fact stolen from video games and movies. Particularly the 2013 Russian movie; "Stalingrad."

In response to this Russia have taken to trolling America by sneaking similar footage from video games and movies into their press releases. Predictably the US has condemned Russia's fictional claims while accepting ISIL's lies as fact.

One particular sequence from the video shows Syrian troops patrolling a ruined city street alongside a civilian woman and a child. She is wearing a full Islamic veil. This footage is taken from Aleppo City following its liberation in December 2016.

When Aleppo City was on the verge of being liberated western nations, led by France, tried really hard to stop it being freed. They claimed that Syrian troops would slaughter all the civilians living there. As this footage proves that was a complete lie.

The sequence also serves as reminder that the forces who occupied Aleppo City up to its liberation do not share the western values of democracy, inclusion and diversity so treasured by the Eurovision community. They are Islamist extremists who wish to overthrow Syria's secular government so they can exterminate all those who do not adhere to their warped version of Islam.

When it comes to terrorist attacks on European nations ISIL are particularly fixated on Italy.

ISIL are an apocalyptic organisation. They believe that they are fulfilling a religious prophecy which will bring about the end of the World. First they will defeat the "Crusaders." This will trigger a final battle against the Shia Muslim "Unbelievers" during which God will ascend to Earth ending the World and leading ISIL to victory.

In this prophecy quite who these "Crusaders" are is not exactly clear. However the prophecy dates back to the time of the Prophet Muhammad who lived at the end of the 6th Century AD and the start of the 7th Century AD.  Therefore it precedes the Christian Crusades of the 11th and 12th Century AD by a good 300 years.

One of the key military leaders during the time of the Prophet was Khalid Ibn al-Walid. He commanded the Prophet's forces during the Battle of Medina and ISIL's affiliate in the Daraa/Golan Heights area of Syria have adopted the name The Army of Khalid Ibn al-Walid/Jaish al-Khalid Ibn al-Walid in honour of him.

Following the death of the Prophet, Khalid Ibn al-Walid led the 634AD to 638AD Muslim Conquest of the Levant. He did this by defeating the Byzantine-Roman Empire.

As such it is reasonable to conclude that in ISIL's prophecy the "Crusaders" are the Romans. Or as they're known now; "The Italians."

Italy also completely surround the Vatican City. A nation state in its own right the Vatican City is home to the Catholic Pope. As the supreme leader of all the World's Catholics the Pope can be viewed as something like a Muslim Caliph. And therefore a rival to ISIL's own self-proclaimed Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

ISIL have repeatedly threatened to attack Italy. In August 2016 they launched a big online propaganda campaign claiming that they would soon conquer the Italian capital Rome. 

One ISIL member in particular claimed that they would conquer Rome and execute all of Europe's gays by throwing them off the; "Leaning Tower of Pizza."

We think he meant the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Which isn't in Rome. It's in Pisa.

The Para-Olympic themed British TV show; "The Last Leg" responded to this threat by starting the Twitter hashtag; "Jihadi Food Tours." 

This suggested other food based pun related landmarks ISIL might like to try to conquer. Such as France's "Notre Ham Cathedral." This hashtag went global with people who'd never heard of the TV show joining in for weeks after it started.

Particularly during the time of the 2014 Winter Olympics the US hijacked Russia's poor record on gay-rights to drum up support for ISIL. The Last Leg have enjoyed this Russia bashing almost as much as the Eurovision community have done.

It is rather strange that supposed supporters of gay-rights are in such a rush to condemn Russia for its opposition to Islamist terrorists who want to and do murder gay people by throwing them off tall buildings.

Despite repeated threats to the point of obsession ISIL have not yet attacked Italy. In short they've done nothing to them. 

At around 15:25 on 19/6/18 (UK date) I will explore the reasons for that tomorrow (clue; Stockholm, 1975). I have no desire to be adding to this during the Russia V Egypt World Cup match.

Edited at around 15:05 on 20/6/18 (UK date) to add;

Italy actually experienced a similar thing with Al Qaeda following the September 11th 2001 (11/9/01) attacks. Hence why the twin towers of light at the 9/11 Memorial featured so heavily in the video in support of the song.

Following the 9/11 attacks Al Qaeda did carry out other attacks. In Bali, Indonesia in 2002. In Madrid, Spain in 2004. In London, UK in 2005. There were also various other Al Qaeda attacks which were thwarted before they could take place.

Al Qaeda however not only didn't attack Italy they did not even attempt to attack Italy.

9/11 era Al Qaeda are a different group from the one that currently operates in places like Syria. Both version of Al Qaeda are significantly different from ISIL.

Al Qaeda's name literally translates as; "The Base." This is very much how they operate as a core clandestine network. That core network then recruits, equips and directs small local cells which actually carry out the attacks. 

For a long time Al Qaeda used Italy as essentially their logistics hub within Europe. This is where they did all the things like financing and coordinating communications. Things which on their own are often not actually illegal and certainly don't amount to terrorism. 

As such Al Qaeda declined to attack Italy in order to protect this logistics hub from the scrutiny that would come from the mass security response to an attack.

Nearly twenty years later it is easy to forget just how irrational and obnoxious the US became in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. 

For example the CIA declared me to be an Al Qaeda member and demanded that Britain's security services monitor me. Although the request to extradite me to Guantanamo Bay never came it was always in the background of these conversations. Mine is just one of several thousand similarly ludicrous cases.

Then of course in 2003 the US invaded Iraq. In defiance of the the UN Security Council and against the best advice of its European allies.

With the US burning its bridges with its allies those allies became a lot less inclined to help the US. For example the UK knew for a long time that Osama bin Laden was hiding out in Pakistan. However deciding that any threat he posed was contained and monitored they thought it was funny not to let the Americans in on that little secret.

Eventually investigations into other terror attacks did lead investigators back to Al Qaeda's network in Italy and it was dismantled. In the paranoid atmosphere elements within the US intelligence community became convinced that Italy had been sheltering this Al Qaeda network as a way to spite America.

With Italy again seeming to be spared ISIL attacks this conspiracy theory has started to re-emerge. That Italy has done a deal to protect ISIL provided ISIL doesn't attack Italy. Although I have to say that I've only heard this from attention seeking commentators rather than anyone at the professional, governmental level.

The real reason why Italy hasn't been attacked by ISIL is a lot less interesting. Although everyone seems to forget about it Italy actually has an extremely long and successful history in battling terrorism.

In discussing the war against ISIL and associated groups I often mention this Cold War Arc of Resistance. This is a network of groups such as the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) in Palestine. The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey. The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) in Northern Ireland and so on.

The Arc of Resistance also had a presence in continental western Europe. In Italy there was the Brigate Rosse (Red Brigades). They were closely linked in ideology and methods to the more famous West Germany group the Red Army Faction (RAF/Baader-Meinhof).

The artist biography in support of the entry makes a point of the fact that Fabrizio Moro was born in Rome in 1974. The year the Red Brigades expanded their operations to Rome.

According to West German intelligence the Red Army Faction plotted to attack the 1975 Song Contest held in Stockholm, Sweden prompting a massive increase in security.

When I talk about the Arc of Resistance I also often talk about the Gladio Network. This is a NATO-led clandestine network intended to counter the Arc of Resistance groups in a way that traditional security services can't be seen to do. It really shouldn't come as a surprise that the Gladio Network began in Italy.

In the Arab world these clashes between the Arc of Resistance and the Gladio Network made the AK-47 assault rifle an iconic weapon. In Northern Ireland the same clashes led to the AR-18 assault rifle gaining similar iconic status.

The actions of the Red Brigades made an icon out of another weapon. The Beretta PM-12 sub-machine gun. This was used by all sides in the conflict. It also made a resurgence after the November 2015 Paris Massacres when the French police started digging them out of their armouries.

Of the Gladio Network probably the only overt group is the Turkish Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). However as Turkey's election on Sunday (24/6/18) shows they have been totally absorbed by the Muslim Brotherhood Islamist Justice & Development Party (AKP).

The rest of the groups in the Gladio Network are so clandestine that they don't even have names. Instead they exist hidden in the shadows of the criminal underworld. This allows them to fund and arm themselves. It also allows their actions to be plausibly denied as simply underworld feuds between drug dealers.

Terrorists also need some access to the criminal underworld in order to fund and arm themselves. The presence of the Gladio Network helps to deny terrorists that access.

Italy's criminal underworld is famously extremely well organised. It is highly unlikely that the Mafia groups are giving ISIL the freedom they need to plan and carry out attacks in Italy.

The presence of the Mafia also means that Italian police and security forces are extremely well practised in infiltrating and acting against groups which are much more organised than ISIL.

Within Italy you have the far-right, anti-immigrant Lega Nord (Northern League) party. Following the Song Contest they have formed part of Italy's coalition government. Lega Nord have been extremely successful in using the threat of Islamist terrorism in promoting their anti-immigrant agenda.

By reminding people that despite all the immigration Italy has not experienced an Islamist terror attack this song seems to be inviting Lega Nord to shut-up with their nonsense.

Both Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro are extremely popular and successful artists. Meta has 8 Platinum and 7 Gold records to his name. Moro has 4 Gold albums. Artists of this calibre and reputation are normally a sign that a nation really wants to win the Song Contest.

However Italy's entry clearly violates the golden; "No Overt Politics" rule. Breaking this rule inevitably leads to entries being marked down and is normally a clear sign that a nation really doesn't want to win the Song Contest.

This year France also very clearly broke this golden rule. They did that because the threat of Islamist terrorism means that they don't want to go to the effort of hosting and providing security for the 2019 Song Contest.

Italy's entry addressed the issue of Islamist terrorism directly. Therefore I think it's possible that people interpreted it as Italy also trying to avoid hosting the 2019 Song Contest due to the security challenges.

However I think that Italy were trying to win as an open challenge to ISIL. By showing that they are in no way afraid of hosting the 2019 Song Contest.

Also I say that songs which break the golden rule get marked down and never win. In 2016 Shamali Province broke the rule with the overtly political song "1944." As has been a big talking point this year they were rewarded with victory. Then went on to promptly abuse that privilege.

So Italy seem to be making the point that if we can ignore the rules to support ISIL we should be allowed to ignore the rules to oppose them.

Therefore I would have chosen Italy as my winner. Particularly as Shamali Province has still not been punished for their bad behaviour.

16:20 on 20/6/18 (UK date).