#but at this point Finland should have won

[bellatrixdulac]

Ok I turned the the TV off after Sweden won, but now I'm wondering if the audience let her sing her song or if they started to scream cha cha cha again like during the voting

[memesmunsigra]

This account is pro Eurovision jury slander

[khalaris]

well. that was rubbish.

[pinktinselmonstrosity]

/

[cursed-nurse]

Fuck the fucking jury

[holyprincenerd]

yes yes rigged this cha cha that but please let’s not ignore this right now:

https://www.aftonbladet.se/podcasts/ab/episode/355975 Swedish “eurovision expert” Tobbe Ek (for those of you who aren’t Swedish, this is the same guy who accused Måneskin of doing coke on live tv back in 2021) and his posse of minions decided that it was time to spread some absolutely hateful rhetoric against the people of Finland by calling them shitty, idiotic, telling them they should be ashamed of not voting for Sweden (??? literally what???) etc etc, while also dragging in other contestants like Lord of the Lost and insulting them as a means of questioning why the Finnish public voted for them but not for Sweden. (You know. Because it totally doesn’t make any sense at all that a country known for having the most metal bands per capita in the world would vote for Lord of the Lost. Not at all.) 

As the cherry on top of this xenophobic shit cake, they started to go on about how “There’s no way there were ten contestants who were better than Sweden this year.” (Again. Not only disrespecting the other contestants, but them pretending not to grasp the concept of a country known for preferring heavier music choosing to vote mostly for bands this year... Yeah... Couldn’t be their preferences...)

Again, this man is considered a Eurovision expert here in Sweden, yet this is the type of behaviour he and his coworkers display over a nonissue like the Finnish public not voting for Sweden this year. If there’s something shameful here, it’s this.

To reiterate: These are three grown-ass well past 40-year old people having a genuine meltdown over one (1) singular country not voting for them.

Why are we giving Tobbe Ek (and his irrelevant coworkers) a platform, again?

EDIT:

Hoo boy, there’s more. Because of course there is.

ALRIGHT here’s an article from one of our tabloids using quite suspiciously colonialistic sounding rhetoric about Finland being “the kingdom’s previous eastern half”.

https://www.expressen.se/noje/finska-sveket-mot-sverige-gav-noll-poang-efter-uppmaningen-rosta-taktiskt/

The specific quote in Swedish: “Tv-tittarna i tidigare östra rikshalvan gav nämligen Sverige noll(!) poäng under Eurovisionfinalen på lördagen.”

Translation: “TV viewers in [our] kingdom’s previous eastern half gave namely zero(!) points to Sweden during the Eurovision finale on Saturday.”

Yeah, Johan Bratell (the writer of the article) is technically not wrong about Finland having been a part of Sweden. But why bring this up now? This was so clearly meant as a condescending insult.

The article also talks about a throwaway comment that the Finnish commentator Mikko Silvennoinen made about tactical voting (or more specifically, an anonymous comment he read out loud about tactical voting). From my understanding this was a joke reference to the previous elections which took place recently in Finland and forced a portion of the Finnish public to vote tactically as an attempt to block a far-right party from getting into the parliament. It’s embarrassing how much these people are reaching.

And even if they were voting tactically, so what? Sweden won. Why are we so focused on the public vote of one (1) country, Jesus Christ this is embarrassing.

EDIT 2: WHY THIS MATTERS. A LOT.

For those of you who are not in the know about Swedish politics, these statements are reflecting some far-right political views that have their roots all the way back in the times when Sweden ruled over Finland. In recent memory, our far-right political party Sverigedemokraterna claimed that the Swedish minority group Tornedalians are not Swedish, because they may speak local dialects that blend Finnish into Swedish, or speak the minority language Meänkieli. Coincidentally, Meänkieli just so happens to be a minority language that blends Finnish and Swedish, as it is mostly spoken by people who live by the Torneå river, i.e. the Finnish-Swedish border. Here’s an article about this controversy (however you may not be able to read it unless you’re subscribed to said newspaper): https://www.dn.se/asikt/orimligt-att-tornedalingar-inte-skulle-vara-svenskar/?fbclid=IwAR33K_UVRhXlJhyPd3gY7GDXN_lotUdrtM1AeL-nRzWE26Tmq5BFE0lIUzw

Sverigedemokraterna also believe that the Swedish minority group of Sweden Finns should essentially cut their ties to their Finnish roots and that they should not be able to be citizens of both Finland and Sweden. https://aip.nu/sverigedemokraterna-och-de-dubbla-medborgarskapen/

This sort of rhetoric is ridiculously common here, and in situations like the ones that have occurred in light of the ESC, they almost never get called out. Because it’s common. Because it’s okay to call Finnish people names and to use colonial rhetoric against all Finns, both those who live in Finland and those who live in Sweden. Because this is “friendly banter.” Mind you, as someone who technically belongs to both of the aforementioned minority groups I’m completely fine with the actually friendly banter and piss taking that we usually partake in, because it is just that. Friendly. But this is not it. This is actually harmful. I have never seen so many Swedish people attacking Finns on social media as I’ve seen these past few days. The usual colonialistic and fennophobic insults have started to rear their ugly heads: People have started to insult the Finnish language (a fennophobic sentiment that goes way back to the days when Finland was under Swedish rule and the Swedish tried to get rid of the language), they have started to insult the way Finns look (goes back to fennophobic rhetoric of Finns essentially not being “white enough”), etcetera. For more information on how the Swedish government treated the Sweden Finns and Tornedalians (the fact that they tried to abolish both the Meänkieli language and the Finnish language from Sweden and have even done skull measurements as an attempt to prove that these minority groups are not equal to Swedes), here’s another article: https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/norrbotten/regeringen-tillsatter-sanningskommission

For those of you who speak Finnish and are interested in the topic, the book Kansankodin pimeämpi puoli by Tapio Tamminen goes into both issues, with photographic evidence of skull measurement incidents among other things. Meanwhile, the Finnish media is mostly just reporting on the tomfoolery of these “journalists.” Sure, there are a lot of Finns who are acting out as well and spreading hateful rhetoric against Swedes, but the difference here is that one group is punching up, while the other is punching down.

Whether Tobbe Ek, Jenny Ågren, Markus Larsson and Johan Bratell meant to cause this does not matter. They’ve still done it, in the case of the former group, they’ve even dragged other Europeans (and Australians!) into this mess.

They’ve gone ahead and spread fennophobic rhetoric on huge platforms: Sweden’s biggest national tabloids. They should be held accountable for this.

To reiterate: ALL THIS OVER THE FINNISH PUBLIC “NOT VOTING FOR SWEDEN” DURING THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST OF 2023.

Edit 3: Just in case we need a bit of clarification:

I know this whole post may come across quite negatively. So let me make this clear: There is an issue with the Swedish culture and its normalisation of fennophobia, however, that doesn’t mean every Swede is maliciously fennophobic. It’s literally just so normalised here, that sometimes people don’t even notice when they’re partaking in it, and because of said normalisation, for many these fennophobic and colonialist insults have become a sort of knee jerk reaction to when there’s “actual beef” with Finland. (Which, obviously, is a fucking problem, because look who has to bear the brunt of that.) 

Moreover, many Swedes aren’t even familiar with their shared history with Finland, and the discrimination Finland was put through during the Swedish rule (not to mention the discrimination the Sweden Finns and Tornedalians have had to face and still face). That part of our shared history simply isn’t taught in schools here, so a regular person would have to know to go out and look for the information. Heck, the only reason I’m aware of this is because at the end of the day, despite having been born and raised in Sweden, I am ethnically Finnish, and grew up by the border with very strong ties to the Finnish culture because of it. But less about me, and more about this issue. Most Swedes (and Swedish journalists who have any sort of sense in them and who work for respectable publications) have expressed their dissatisfaction with this years results as well. There’s a reason Cha Cha Cha is charting so well on Swedish Spotify. There’s a reason for why the Swedish jury and the public gave Finland 12 points.

So, Tl;dr:

1. Swedish tabloids are trash.

2. We have an undeniable problem with how normalised fennophobia is here, and it’s absolutely bizarre that this is how it’s getting exposed.

3. Most regular Swedes aren’t happy with this either, and are in fact not Finland’s and the Finnish people’s greatest haters in the world.

4. Tobbe Ek should get fired. At the bare minimun, he and his coworkers should probably issue some sort of apology for spreading this, seeing how it is actually hurting a lot of people.

Anyway, please don’t hate on the Swedes because of this lol, think about what Jere from Vantaa would think about that. 💚

[niuniente]

Finland was robbed, I voted for him and I will die on that hill, no matter how many Loreen fans would call me "misogynist" for stating the obvious. Did you have other favs besides Finland? Germany and Serbia deserved better too!! ToT

Germany, Spain, Albania, Norway and France definitely deserved more. Of course, when Sweden HAS TO win, the jury votes HAVE TO go to Sweden so the jury can't give points to other countries :3 Norway is furious of this year's competition and say this was rigged. Everyone seems to have a real bad taste in their mouth after Sweden won only because jury wanted it.

Just look at the like-dislike ratio on Youtube on Sweden's song:

Every single other Eurovision official victory video is having the similar like-dislike balance. Absolutely unheard in Eurovision! Usually, while there might be disagreements on who should have won, the winner is celebrated nevertheless. I heard the audience was booing and chanting Cha-Cha-Cha when the winner was announced and that outside in many places, where people had gathered to celebrate, people literally just walked out.

As said online: United by music, divided by jury. The shitshow aftermath is strong. Every single Eurovision social media post celebrating Sweden is full of negative messages and how Käärijä should have won. Eurovision Youtube mod keeps removing negative comments quickly. Yesterday there were lots of critical voices in the comments, now there's suspiciously too many positive voices for such a huge dislike ratio.

Loreen herself is completely innocent in this. Too bad this will affect her career and public image negatively.

There was no reason for Finland not to win. None. If the televoting was to believe, it was Finland's victory. But apparently televoting doesn't do a shit when jury decided that a country X must win, let's give them so many votes that even if the 2nd place runner got full 12 points of ALL European countries by televote, they can still win with 20 points only.

And that's never going to happen.

Talk about robbing televoters' money since their voting doesn't count :))))

[vienna-salvatori]

I think the most frustrating thing about this is I don’t even dislike Tattoo? I know a lot of other people do. You’re all valid, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s fine. Just fine! Definitely deserved to qualify for the final! Probably should have been on the left side of the leaderboard, no worries! I wouldn’t even object to a top 10 result! Loreen is a good singer and there is a reason she won the competition with a very similar song before!

In another world, this song would’ve been shuffled into my eurovision playlists like any other decent entry. I’d mostly forget about it until I heard it again, at which point I would remember the stupid fucking panini press staging, grin for a bit, then move on with life.

except I’m so pissed on Finland’s behalf and the way the votes went down that it is legitimately hard for me to appreciate it. I don’t want to dislike it but I can basically feel my opinions of the song shifting to match my opinions of the circumstances. I can feel my opinions of Loreen herself shifting, too, which is really frustrating because I know this isn’t her fault at all, but it feels like she’s stolen it

this is just. not a satisfying result. not for Finland who were completely robbed. not for the entire audience, who voted against the jury so strongly and for nothing. not for Loreen, who must have heard that the crowd wasn’t on her side and I can’t even imagine what that must’ve felt like.

[kneeslapworthy]

some thoughts about eurovision from a swede

obviously, i am very happy that sweden won. it’s incredible to have been able to witness so many wins this early in my life and especially two wins from the same artist!

however, i completely sympathize and agree with the people who are upset. finland won the televote by a long shot. 

but what i cannot sympathize with is blatant hate aimed towards loreen. let me remind you that it is not her fault that she won. it is in no way justified to bully her or create this narrative of a greedy woman stealing the prize (a narrative which i’ve seen users tried to spread on this website). 

sweden is also not at fault here. sweden did not choose to send loreen because it would increase our chances of winning. it was the people of sweden who voted. in fact, loreen competed in the swedish pre-selection in 2017 and didn’t even qualify for the finale! 

the conclusion my friends and i reached was that the jury cannot continue having this much influence over the results of the competition. the juries are notoriously corrupt and it always ends up with neighboring countries voting for each other. at most i can see them being able to give out one point each, but even then i think this system has become obsolete. the music that wins should reflect the preferences of the viewers, end of story. 

in all honesty i think the discussions surrounding eurovision on this website lack so much nuance. the take “finland not win, so sweden big bad” is just so logically unsound and leads to so much unnecessary hatred being spread. 

finland should’ve won. i agree. i am upset about this too. but i am also so happy to see an incredible artist from my country win with an incredible song. these feelings can coexist. i would like to see people on the internet be able to express their frustration without it being at the expense of an innocent woman. 

[grantmentis]

2024 u18 Women's Worlds Information

What: The biggest junior tournament for women's hockey, featuring the top players from 8 of the best IIHF countries

When: January 6th to January 14th

Full schedule available here (it will even convert to your time!) Since this takes place in Switzerland, most of these games will be early morning for North American's, but there's a few afternoon starts.

Where: Zug, Switzerland

Where to watch: The following will host at least some of the games. Sadly a lot are only showing games in their country and medal games (for example, in the round robin, TSN and NHL Network are only showing USA, Canada, and Slovakia.) There are also some alternate sources to watch if you do not have access to these channels, and I'm happy to connect if you're an active account on here if you DM me

TSN

RDS

NHL Network

SVT Sweden

Discovery Finland

Swiss digital / ringier sports

Format: There is an initial round robin round among each of the two groups, group A and Group B.

Group A contains Finland, Canada, Czechia, Germany

Group B contains Sweden, United States, Slovakia, Switzerland

After that, the teams will play a cross-over Quarter-final game in the following format (via wikipedia)

Who: Below the cut is the rosters for each team, a few notable players, and what the main goals for each team will be

Switzerland

(Text version available here and here)

2023 Finish: 7th place

What to expect: Switzerland has had a rough few years in the tournament, having had to play to avoid relegation the last two years. If they can stay out of the relegation game

Players to watch: Ivana Wey had 4 assists last world juniors, and is currently playing on a beyond stacked SWHL B team where she's seen a lot of ice time and scored a lot of goals. 15 year old Norina Müller is one of the youngest forwards on the roster, and has seen some time in a SWHL A team this year, which is impressive experience especially at her age.

USA

Text version of roster available here and here

2023 finish: 3rd place/Bronze

What to expect: USA was upset by Sweden in last years semifinals, and is hoping to make it back to the medal game and upset the favorites and their rivals in Canada

Players to watch: Captain Maggie Scannell is in this tournament for a third time and was one of the best players last year, with 8 points in 5 games. 17 year old Boston College commit Ava Thomas is one of the many excited prospects coming out of the Philadelphia Jr Flyers program in recent year. She has dominated in many national tournaments before with speed that she utilizes well, and is a must watch as she makes her intentional debut.

Sweden

2023 Finish: silver

What to expect: Last year, Sweden had a huge victory over the USA to make the finals only to experience a disappointing 10-0 finish. This year, they will want revenge and a gold medal, maintaining a lot of the same group.

Players to watch: Hilda Svensson was the top scorer on the team and she has only gotten better, as one of the top scorers on SDHL team HV71. Isabelle Leijonhielm is playing in this tournament for the third time, and has taken a pretty big step at the SDHL level this year despite being on a struggling team and has a knack for getting shots through traffic

Slovakia:

Text version available here

Last year: 6th place finish

What to expect: Hope to continue to build on last year, but unlikely to move much in the standings, and show more depth

Players to watch: If you don't already know about Nela Lopusanova, you should look her up and instantly see what a sensation she is. Won best player of the tournament last year after scoring 9 goals and 3 assists in 5 games including a michigan goal, and has spent the past year at one of the best prep schools in north america. Her teammate, Ema Tothova, has also spend the past year getting better, and is one of the top scorers in the EWHL. The two will almost certainly be linemates and a must watch for this tournament

Canada

Text version can be found here and here

Last year: First/Gold

What to expect: Last year, Canada steamrolled everyone to victory, and much of the same roster is back and expecting to do it again. People have named this as one of the best u18 rosters we have seen.

Players to watch: Caitlin Kraemer had 10 goals last tournament, so eyes will be on her to repeat that great performance. Defender Chloe Primerano will be making her exciting u18 worlds debut after dominating the CSSHL U22 by having one of the best season ever recorded and becoming the highest scoring defender of all time in the league in just 45 games

Germany

Text version available here and here

Last year: Was in u18 Division I group A and was promoted!

What to expect: Germany will mainly be trying to avoid relegation and stay in the top division, a lot of the key player that helped with promotion have aged out sadly

Players to watch: Anastasia Gruß was one of the top scorers last tourament with 5 points in 5 games. Emilija Birka and Mathilda Heine will be two of the youngest playres at this tournament at only 14 year old, so it will be interesting to see how they impact the roster

Finland

Text version available here and here

Last year: Fourth Place

What to expect; This is a team that wants to medal, and has more depth than teams like Switzerland or Slovakia, but may not have the star power to fully compete for a medal. Sanni Vanhanen aging out is a huge loss, and don't have some of the elite goaltender prospects to make up for that like they have in the past. That said, it's still Finland, and there are many players poised to break out. Such as the following!

Players to watch: Emma Ekoluoma has been great both in the Finnish top League (naisten liiga) as well as in international competition this year. Nelly Anderson is a 16 year old defender who made major steps this year and was impactful as she played more games in Naisten Liiga, and I'd expect her to get some big minutes

Czechia

Text version here and here

Last Year: Fifth Place

Expectations: Medal! There's a lot of reason to believe this group can take a big step this year as Czechia has reaped the rewards of investing in their women's program the past few seasons

Players to watch: Adéla Šapovalivová was the top scorer for Czechia last year, and this year she enters as one of the top scorers in the SDHL where she plays against many senior level players. Same for Tereza Plosová, a university of minnesota commit who has already been a consistent producer in the SDHL and played on the Czech senior team. Goaltender Daniela Nováková looked good in an extremely small sample size at last years tournament, so we will see if she can build on that

[a-silent-symphony]

The 4 songs Nightwish have only performed live once

They’ve been around for two-and-a-half decades and played nearly 1,000 shows, and through it all symphonic metal’s superstars have only performed these songs one time

You can’t talk about symphonic metal without mentioning Nightwish. Not long after forming in the mid-1990s, Tuomas Holopainen’s majestic mavens became the measuring stick for the genre. They scored regular chart success in their native Finland while at the same time earning critical acclaim, thanks to their unencumbered, all-instruments-blaring vision.

Nightwish have written upwards of 100 songs since they started, and most of them have serenaded fans during their litany of live shows in that time. Hammer’s already listed the tracks that these maximalists have never once performed, but an even more exclusive club is that of the ones they brought out once then immediately scrapped. Below are the four songs Nightwish have only played live on a solitary occasion, according to setlist database setlist.fm.

Moondance (Oceanborn, 1998)

Nightwish’s debut, 1997’s Angels Fall First, was written and recorded with the intention of it being a demo, not a fully fledged studio album. As a result, it’s far more raw, rough and ready than anything else the Finns have ever unfurled. Followup Oceanborn swiftly chartered them down more grandiose avenues, and the instrumental Moondance is indicative of the more heroic sound the band craved: keyboardist Tuomas busts out a bombastic melody as his fellow musicians gallop along.

However, maybe because it would leave Nightwish’s vocalist with nothing to do for a bit, this segue’s only ever made the set once. It was at Club Feeniks in Turku, Finland, on February 13, 1999, performed as part of a broader instrumental suite towards the end of the night.

Sleepwalker (2000)

Oceanborn marked Nightwish’s commercial coming out party. Its lead single, Sacrament Of Wilderness, was the band’s first song to top the Finnish charts, then the album’s cover of Walking In The Air repeated that feat in 1999. Because of such success, the maestros decided to battle for a spot at the 2000 Eurovision Song Contest, hoping to represent their home nation with a newly written piece, Sleepwalker.

Sleepwalker won the public vote when Nightwish made their case on national TV to stand for Finland, but the scores of a judging panel brought them down to third place overall. The bid was disappointingly dashed, meaning that the sole performance of this song was to those stuffy judges in Helsinki on February 12, 2000.

Meadows Of Heaven (Dark Passion Play, 2007)

Nightwish brought the tour for 2007’s Dark Passion Play to an end in poetic fashion. Meadows Of Heaven is the final song on album six (the first to feature Anette Olzen behind the mic), and it ends 75 minutes of cinematic metal in appropriately operatic form. Its live debut was saved for the very last show the band played before retreating into the writing room to dream up Imaginaerum, aptly closing the main set.

Nightwish didn’t return to the stage until 2012, by which point they had 75 more minutes and 13 more songs in their arsenal. Unsurprisingly, then, Meadows Of Heaven became a one-and-done, but it served its role beautifully the one time it did rear its head.

Pan (Human :||: Nature, 2020)

Like many, many other metal bands, Nightwish saw the pandemic through by replacing the touring they should have done for 2020’s Human :||: Nature with a livestream. Actually, strike that: they hosted two. The band played a two-night set, dubbed An Evening With Nightwish In A Virtual World, which marked the debut of numerous songs from the preceding album, including Shoemaker, Tribal and Noise.

The only one that didn’t make it onto real-life stages was Pan. It’s a shame, as not only does the song continue Nightwish’s overblown ways unabated, but it flaunts some pretty gnarly riffs to boot. Sadly, though, the fact remains: this anthem was dispatched following its livestream debut. And, given that Nightwish are currently gearing up to release Human :||: Nature’s successor, it’s unlikely it’ll get its time in the sun.

[personal8nonsense]

I don't hate Switzerland's entry. I don't love it either but it was a good performance, and I can understand why it would have won... However, I don't like how less than halfway through the jury votes it had more points than Sweden at the end of the jury session last year. This reads to me as 'We did the math, we saw what you did for Finland, and we won't let it happen again'. This would absolutely mean that Maneskin was the last true public pick in history, and that we won't see the public decide the winner at all in the foreseeable future. This has another unfortunate and unintended consequence, which is that more voters, just like I this year, are pooling their votes even more onto 1 to 3 entries at most because diluted votes may as well not count... this leads to people essentially betting on the most likely winners, and leaves a lot of good entries in the dirt, without showing them the love they deserve even if they weren't to win. The more they try to fix it, the worse it gets, I truly believe we should just abolish the juries altogether. 'BuT ISraEl woUld haVe beEn 3rD plACe wiThoUT juRies" So what? You're boycotting aren't you?

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

Ok, everyone, I just need to get it off my chest:

I understand Croatia was this year’s Finland. I understand you don’t like the juries, and maybe you got flashbacks from last year.

But it’s historical that the first nonbinary person has won esc. With all the drama that has happened this week, we should at least be happy for that.

Maybe it would have also been a bigger thing if not for all the controversies this year… but I wanna focus on the positive things for once.

You know the jury would never go for a song like Croatia. I still think they gave him decent points. They gave him WAY MORE points than Käärijä. Yes, sometimes it felt like they gave way too much points to Switzerland. You can be mad about that. Maybe we need to focus on something like that in the end rather than so much else. And yes, 100%, The Netherlands were robbed and could have been big in BOTH juries and televotes.

But still. First nonbinary to win is BIG. REALLY BIG. Also please do not misgender Nemo, I’ve seen a lot of that.

Also… my friends… isn’t the thing with esc that the wrong song wins half of the time? It’s kind of more of a win to not win.

[mariacallous]

Next week, leaders from the 32 members of NATO will gather in Washington to celebrate a truly remarkable achievement: the 75th anniversary of the strongest, most enduring alliance in recorded history. That NATO can also celebrate its powerful resurgence since the Russian invasion of Ukraine is a signature achievement of U.S. President Joe Biden. Under his leadership, the alliance has expanded to include two well-armed, strategically savvy new members, Finland and Sweden. On Biden’s watch, the number of NATO states spending 2 percent or more of their GDP on defense has expanded from nine to 23, with several other countries on course to meet this target soon. At the summit, the Biden administration will rightly press allies to think of 2 percent as a floor, not a target.

During Biden’s term, NATO readiness also has expanded dramatically, including more U.S. soldiers deployed to Europe, more NATO troops in the front-line states closest to Russia, and roughly 500,000 alliance soldiers ready for combat in Europe. Plans are well underway in Europe and the United States to vastly expand the alliance’s collective military-industrial base—alleviating not only shortages of key weapons and munitions for Ukraine but making the alliance as a whole better prepared for future threats.

In 2022, Biden led the alliance in responding quickly and comprehensively to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It seems far-fetched now, but it’s useful to remember how many politicians, analysts, and journalists expected Russian forces to be in downtown Kyiv within days. The world also feared that Russian President Vladimir Putin would succeed in deposing or killing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, install a puppet regime, and thereby gain control of all of Ukraine. That none of this happened, that Ukraine was able to liberate about half of the territory initially occupied by Russian forces, and that it has held the line against relentless Russian assaults—all while a direct conflict between NATO and Russia has been avoided—is a remarkable achievement.

As the war has dragged on, the share of military, economic, and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine from European NATO allies has increased dramatically. Under Biden’s watch, trans-Atlantic burden-sharing has become real, not just a talking point: Today, Europe outspends Washington in terms of total support for Ukraine. In fact, Europe is sending much more aid directly to Ukraine, whereas U.S. military spending stays in the United States to build new weapons for the U.S. military, which then transfers its older, often decommissioned weapons to Ukraine.

None of these achievements were inevitable. After the West won the Cold War in the early 1990s, some European and U.S. leaders argued that NATO should be disbanded since its mission was over. Thankfully, that did not happen, as the security threat posed by Russia to NATO members is as high as it ever was during the Cold War—and arguably higher considering that the Cold War was relatively stable in Europe. Similarly, many have argued over the last three decades against NATO expansion. Thankfully, these voices did not carry the day. Imagine how many more countries on Russia’s borders might be at war or under the threat of invasion from Moscow if they were not under NATO’s umbrella.

Imagine if Donald Trump had been president when Putin made the decision to invade Ukraine.  Given his past record of praising Putin and being indifferent to Ukraine, Trump most likely would have done nothing to aid Ukraine—throwing Kyiv under the bus, immeasurably strengthening Moscow, and deeply dividing the alliance. Also compare this year’s celebratory and unified summit to the chaotic 2018 version in Brussels, where then-U.S. President Trump threatened to withdraw from the alliance. While berating NATO allies, Trump consistently praised Putin. More recently, Trump said he would “not protect” what he considers free-riding European allies and “would encourage [the Russians] to do whatever the hell they want.”

But even with Biden in the White House, a united and firm NATO response to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was not inevitable. After all, Biden was vice president in 2014, when Russia invaded and annexed Crimea and sent its troops into the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine—the first act in what is now a 10-year Russian invasion. Neither the Obama administration nor other allied governments responded forcefully. Although there were some sanctions and Russia was kicked out of what was then still the G-8, the United States and most NATO countries crucially did not supply weapons to Kyiv. Putin therefore had reason to believe that the U.S. and NATO response would be similarly tepid in 2022. That turned out not to be true, in large part due to Biden’s leadership within the alliance.

Russia’s war is now well into its third year with no end in sight in terms of either a military breakthrough or a negotiated peace. Clearly, Putin is waiting to see if Trump will win the November U.S. presidential election, calculating with good reason that he will get a much better deal under Trump, including U.S. recognition of his illegal annexation of Ukrainian territory. But even if Biden is reelected, the prospects for a complete liberation of Ukraine from Russian occupation are fading. But imagine how much worse it would be for Ukraine today were it not for NATO’s assistance.

At the summit next week, only incremental progress will be made on Ukraine’s accession to NATO. That the summit will therefore only discuss a “bridge” to membership—not an actual invitation—will disappoint Kyiv but also some in Washington and other allied capitals who want membership for Ukraine now. As a compromise, I personally have proposed that NATO issue an invitation to Ukraine now, followed by a long ratification process that would be completed only after the war is over. But right now, that seems a bridge too far for the alliance. Still, members will be taking steps at the summit to institutionalize the NATO-Ukraine relationship, including the creation of a NATO command for Ukraine in Germany and the deployment of a NATO civilian leader to a permanent office in Kyiv. These should be seen as positive steps on the road to membership.

The final step—a formal invitation to membership—should be taken immediately after the war is over. Ukraine’s membership in NATO is the only way to guarantee that Putin will not use a cease-fire or other negotiated break in the war to prepare the next phase of his invasion, just as he did between 2014 and 2022. The bilateral security agreements that Ukraine has signed with several countries are useful but not enough—they do not carry the weight of treaties and can be revoked at any time. Only NATO membership will finally prevent another Russian invasion.

Some analysts say making the end of the war a condition of membership gives Putin an incentive to prolong the conflict to keep Ukraine out of NATO. It’s a legitimate worry but convincing only at first glance. If Ukraine and its supporters stay the course and the war ends with Russian forces pushed out completely, Putin will not have the capacity to keep fighting. But if the war ends with Russia still occupying parts of Ukraine, Putin will trumpet this outcome as a fantastic victory—far more important to him than stopping NATO expansion, which was only a tertiary motivation for invading Ukraine in the first place. After all, not only did Putin refrain from invading Finland when it declared its intention to join the alliance in 2022, but Russia even withdrew many of its troops and weapons stationed near the border for redeployment to Ukraine. If Russia feels safe enough to leave a 830-mile border with a well-armed NATO state virtually undefended, then it clearly does not consider the bloc a threat.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once said, “There is only one thing worse than fighting with allies, and that is fighting without them.” Americans learned that lesson in 2001, when U.S. forces fought alongside their NATO allies in Afghanistan, the only instance in the alliance’s history when the Article 5 mutual defense clause was invoked. There is no greater burden than dying for one’s ally, and that is exactly what the United States’ European and Canadian allies did in Afghanistan. Today, U.S. security, prosperity, and values continue to be advanced by a strong NATO—an incomparable U.S. foreign-policy asset that should never be taken for granted. That is cause for celebration—and for the hope that Americans will continue to appreciate leaders who value and nurture allies.

[storm-ec]

I have to tell you, I started following Blind Channel just after Eurovision, and it opened up my world. I really love them and i keep supporting Finland. That's why I supported Käärijä last year. I wanted him to win, I voted for him, something difficult as I count as 'rest of the world.' After that, I kept being a fan, listening to his songs daily, and stuff like that. Also, I followed Joost for him. But now, it feels so sad and disappointing. I won't 'cancel him' for what happened yesterday, but I'll probably stop supporting him for a while. Let's be honest, people. It's not the first time he's done something questionable. I understood that he was friends with N0A because they met at the contest, and probably Kä didn't know a thing about the conflict. But today, everyone knows about it. We're not talking about political stuff; we're talking about lives, people being killed and suffering for the power and money of a criminal government and population.

I know not all Jews are Zionists, and there are brave people, including Jews, against the war and genocide. He has to know there's a war, he knows there are people suffering, and he doesn't give a damn about it. Maybe he kinda 'apologized,' but what he wrote was about being caught, not for treating that woman (Zionist supporter) friendly when the others didn't even approach her.

Also, an important point is that I already saw cases like this, all important, EC with the derogatory 'Skimo' word and Joost with the song made with Russian musicians, but those issues were explained, there were apologies, and people involved were educated by themselves, it was necessary to studied and made official statements.

Today Joost held a piece of paper with 'Käärijä should have won,' but then Kä made a TikTok with a genocidal supporter? With the same woman that Joost confronted at the press conference? But above all, with the woman that will join the military when ESC ends? It just makes me think if Kä really listens to people or just cares about music because he's Joost's friend but he doesn't know Jo's against the Zionist and the Israeli representation in the competition? Jo's being pushed by the ESC and Israeli media for his comments, and Kä's actions could affect him too ..but back to what really matters.

I think this whole situation won't be fixed with an improvised 'No war' because being neutral might sound right, might sound cool, but it isn't. Saying this empty stuff is like saying, 'I don't care, I don't know why you're fighting, just stop it because we cant partying' And that's bad, people. That's pretty bad. It's not just ignorance but indifference.

I really hope that Kä could (finally) educate himself because that's not our job as fans, and he could understand that being famous also brings responsibilities. I really hope I could like him and support him as before someday, but for now, I prefer to keep my distance. I won't influence you all by writing 'don't support him' or 'let's forgive him,' that's something that each one has to decide.

Stay safe and think about lives, about people in Palestine being attacked without reason and the people who are gone for ambition

[eurovision-revisited]

2000 Stockholm - Number 7 - Anna Eriksson - "Oot voimani mun"

Yes, another song from Euroviisut and this is the one that finished as runner up, only four points behind the winner. It's pure iskelmä; disco-schlager-pop in its purest form. Not only did it finish second, beating Nightwish, it went on to win the OGAE second chance contest for the year - although it is tailor-made for OGAE's tastes.

Anna Eriksson at this point had released three albums and was awarded the Finnish music industry's EMMA award for best newcomer in 1995. She's had several hit songs from these albums. She is by no means unknown, though perhaps slightly overshadowed by some of her competition at Euroviisut.

That however means nothing when you consider the strength of the song she's singing, and just how good she is at singing it. Oot voimani mun (You Are My Strength) is ageless. It would have been big in the 1970s and it would still do well at Eurovision today. It starts off with a bang and never lets up. Anna tells us just how strong she is and how that strength comes from her love. She has so much strength, this sounds like a superhero-origin schlager.

Given what song won Euroviisut and where Finland finished in the Eurovision final, what an absolute missed opportunity this song is. YLE organised one of the best national finals in Finland's history only to fall victim of the classic 50/50 jury/televote problem of something mediocre being selected when the jury and televote strongly disagree about what's good. Anna, you should have been on that stage.

Instead she only got better and went on to have even bigger iskelmä hits in Finland, with platinum selling albums and hits. In 2010, she took an abrupt perpendicular turn into singing her own more experimental non-schlager songs and then continued to receive critical acclaim and awards across the Nordic world. She's now making avant-garde, independent films by herself and, yes, still winning awards including best film at the Prague Independent Film Festival and Venice Independent Film Festival.