Yes to Israel, no to Russia. Quo vadis, Eurovision?
This year the Eurovision Song Contest celebrated its 70th anniversary. The winner of this jubilee year is Bulgarian singer Dara. Was it because the audience liked “Bangaranga” so much, or rather because Bulgaria is not Israel? And what about Russia? What is Eurovision? The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual music competition organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), a non-profit association of mostly public, but also some commercial, radio and television stations. Eurovision was created in 1956 to unite Europe (that was still a little bit divided after the 2nd world war) in an amusing, laidback way. Which would be also apolitical – at least that’s what’s proclaimed. The reality is a bit more complicated… 💡: Listen to the most legendary Eurovisions songs Can Eurovision be really apolitical? The final round of the 70th Eurovision took place on Saturday, 16th May, in Vienna. And just like the previous year, it was not without a tense atmosphere around the participation of Israel. Several protests took place in the streets of the Austrian capital because of it. And the Netherlands, Ireland, Iceland, Slovenia and Spain even refused to participate. The final vote was also tense, with Bulgarian Dara and Israeli Noam Bettan facing against each other. In the end Bulgaria won by 173 points. This scenario is weirdly similar to what happened last year when Austria beat Israel. Eurovision as Israeli soft power tool Even though Israel won 4 times throughout the history: in 1978, 1979, 1998 and 2018, in other years, we’ve rarely seen it score top ranking spots. Even in 2024, when the world was still shocked by Hamas’s October attack, Israel came 5th. So how come that in 2025, when we could hear much more critical voices on Israel, it almost won? The answer lies in a recent investigation by The New York Times. According to it the Israeli government spent more than a million dollars on online advertisements promoting Israel’s participation in Eurovision. Diplomats and various Israeli advocacy groups also spread videos on social media calling for repeated voting for the Israeli singer. Because yes, in Eurovision you can vote multiple times. Indecisive people surely appreciate that, however it leaves room for cheating. This year, Eurovision prohibited both of the promotion strategies Israel used. Ironically, it was because last year several European media reported that Israel had paid for an online campaign in an attempt to influence the European audience. We’ve already been there… This benevolence of Eurovision towards Israel might seem surprising compared to its attitude towards Russia. After its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russia was quickly banned from the competition. Well, “quickly”; after 14 years of controversial behavior, that began with the invasion of Georgia in 2008, continued with the annexation of Crimea and western parts of Ukraine in 2014. Eurovision has long been benevolent towards Russia in the same way it is now benevolent towards Israel. On the contrary, Eurovision was no longer so benevolent when in 2009 Georgia tried to “get back” at Russia at least musically with the song “We Don’t Wanna Put In”. “EBU told Georgia that the song’s lyrics did not comply with the rules about “lyrics, speeches, gestures of a political or similar nature”, and asked Georgia to either re-write the lyrics of the song, or select another to compete. The day after Georgia withdrew from Eurovision 2009 – which was held in Russia,” says the Eurovision website. The boycott of Russia came only after the political consensus on this country unified across Europe as a result of the 2022 invasion. In the case of Israel, this unification simply hasn’t happened yet. The killings Israel is committing in Gaza are being done in the name of its self-defense. And however disproportionate this self-defense is, some Europeans still see it as justifiable because it didn’t come unprovoked. The large Israeli diaspora in European countries also plays a role. Public broadcasters (= members of the EBU) may fear a possible negative response, or even accusations of anti-Semitism, in case they oppose Israel’s practices or participation. Is a boycott even the effective solution? Speaking of boycotts, we should also ask how effective they are. Because even though Russians cannot compete under their own flag, they still find their way in Eurovision. For example, the songwriter of Dara’s winning “Bangaranga”, Dimitris Kontopoulos, worked on several Russian Eurovision songs together with Philipp Kirkorov, who’s a supporter of Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Eden Golan also had some ties to Russia. Although in 2024 she represented Israel in Eurovision, she spent a significant part of her life living in Russia. Where she was trying for a musical breakthrough by performing at various competitions – including in occupied Crimea. Although this doesn’t immediately make her an active Putin supporter, it certainly doesn’t make her his critic Apoliticality or hypocrisy? As a reaction to the accusations of double standards in Eurovision, its director, Martin Green, said that Russia could “theoretically” be allowed to rejoin the competition if its broadcaster proved they are independent of Putin’s regime. He probably wanted to be diplomatic, but it doesn’t paint a very good picture of Eurovision. While it tries to appease openly aggressive countries by turning a blind eye and offering loopholes, it is merciless towards their victims who want to “defend” themselves with nothing but a mere satire… But was it ever any different? Even the organization of the very first Eurovision in 1956 was actually a political concept: to start a cooperation between European public broadcasters. And this year, politics were not absent either. For example, the song by rapper Satoshi “Viva, Moldova!” is basically a patriotic manifesto calling for the pro-Western integration of Moldova. And the Croatian band Lelek did not abandon the political theme either, singing about the oppression faced by Croatian Catholics in Bosnia and Herzegovina under the rule of the former Ottoman Empire. Eurovision is simply never held in a vacuum. The ambition to be “apolitical” won’t magically erase the existing relations between competing countries.
Why is There a War in Ukraine?
Even though the whole world talks about the war in Ukraine, not many people know this conflict’s background. Not because they would be stupid – war in Ukraine is actually pretty simple – but because it takes time to understand it. Some poeple don’t have this time. And then other people try to take advantage of them: spreading misleading or even purposely false information. The following article therefore summarizes all important moments in Ukrainian history relevant to the current war. Yeah, it’s long, but we tried – after all, we’re talking about more than a thousand years of development… We also didn’t want to leave out any important information. Putin and Russian propaganda often justify the war in Ukraine by selecting only what suits them from Ukrainian history – it’s hard to detect if you don’t have the whole picture – so here it is 😉 Kievan Rus’: How it All Began The story begins in the 9th century with Kievan Rus’, the first state formation of Slavs (before there were only tribes). Covering parts of modern-day Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus. Because Kievan Rus’ was very big, its ruler Vladimir the Great divided it into smaller principalities between his sons: But Kievan Rus’ never controlled all of modern Ukraine. The southern steppe dominated Turkic tribes – the Pechenegs and Cumans – who were constantly in conflict with Kievan Rus’ (everyone was constantly in a conflict in this time period). In the 13th century, Mongolian Empire invaded Kievan Rus’. It was more precisely one sector of Mongolian Empire called the Golden Horde. Kievan Rus’ fell apart. Its successor states were Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia, Novgorod Republic and Vladimir-Suzdal. Ukraine between Poland, Moscow, and the Crimean Khanate Kingdom of Galicia and Volhynia was later divided between Poland and Latvia. Those countries were in their prime at that time, and later they formed a Polish-Lithuanian Union. Novgorod Republic and Vladimir-Suzdal were located in a territory of nowadays Russia, and Vladimir-Suzdal later transformed into Principality of Moscow, which is ancestor to nowadays Russia. In the 15th century, the Golden Horde transformed into the Crimean Khanate, a vessel of the Ottoman Empire. The word vessel can be a little bit confusing: it might feel like a synonym for friend or partner… But keep in mind, at this time of history, all states were competitors trying to secure their own safety, and get as much power as possible – event those three states on the territory of Ukraine: Polish-Lithuanian Union, Principality of Moscow, and Crimean Khanate Cossacks Into this dynamics emerged Cossacks. Semi-independent, combative groups with uncertain ethnic origin, which started to settle around the Dnipro river in the 16th century. Basically at a meeting point of our three states (Polish-Lithuanian Union, Moscow Principality, and Crimean Khanate) The combativeness of Cossacks was making them hard to conquer, and at the same time – in the eyes of Poland and Crimean Khanate – an ideal army: if they paid them enough money, they would go fight anyone. In the 17th century, Cossack leader Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, sought to renew Kievan Rus’. To accomplish that, he allied with the Crimean Khanate. At first they were winning – Cossacks even managed to form their state: so-called Hetmanate (name derived from “hetman”, the leader of the Cossacks). But after some time, the Crimean Khanate got scared by the power Cossacks were gaining and betrayed them. Cossacks had to search for a new ally. Out of all possibilities, Khmelnytskyi resorted to Moscow. He had to – nothing else worked out. This 1654 Pereyaslav Agreement between Cossacks and Moscow was very unequal. Cossacks had to accept the sovereignty of the Tsar. Hetmanate, which was pretty much the majority of nowadays Ukraine, fell under the full control of Russia. After Khmelnytskyi died, his successors tried to get Hetmanate out of the Russian influence – without any success. Since Poland was also making territorial claims, Ukraine was split along the Dnieper River: the west went to Poland, the east stayed with Russia. In the 18th despite its big size, Poland lost its power and neighboring countries Prussia, Russia and the Habsburg monarch decided to use this opportunity and divided Poland between themselves. (It’s called “three partitions of Poland”). This meant the Russian sphere of influence moved more to the west and the only part of nowadays Ukraine left out was Galicia, now belonging to the Habsburg monarchy. Neither Habsburg monarchy nor Russia were ideal for Ukrainians to live in. They were both trying to suppress their national identity. Russia maybe a bit more, since they were trying to claim Ukrainian language is just a branch of Russian language. The German-speaking Habsburg monarchy obviously couldn’t use this argument. When Russians are nowadays making territorial claims about Ukraine, this historical period is one of their arguments. Another one is Crimea. A Glimpse into Crimea While Ukraine’s heartland was divided between Poland and Russia, Crimea followed its own path. Originally ruled by the Crimean Khanate, a vassal of the Ottoman Empire, it fell to Catherine the Great in the 18th century after Russia won in the war against the Ottomans. Crimea stayed under Russia until 1954. As all parts of the Soviet Union, Crimea underwent strong Russification. It was the worst under Stalin, who tried to get rid of Crimea’s indigenous population, Crimean Tatars, by deporting them to gulags. In 1954, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev donated Crimea to Ukraine. At that time it was a symbolic gesture with little practical impact, since both were part of the USSR. However it started to be problematic after the fall of the Soviet Union. After the fall of the Soviet Union, there were some attempts to make Crimea independent. Historically and ethnically, Crimean Tatars truly don’t have much in common – neither with Russia, nor with Ukraine. They are a Turkic ethnic group, with a language from Turkic languages family, and their predominant religion is Islam. Plus until the 18th century they had their own country: Crimean Khanate. So, in an