🌍 Russia’s Eurovision in 9 words
Plus: A 29-hour flight to where?!
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Today’s briefing: |
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Good morning Intriguer. The last Russian film I saw was back in 2014 — that’s the same year Putin took Ukraine’s Crimea, and his loyalists blasted MH17 out of the sky. Putin’s subsequent isolation is one reason Russia’s art has less reach these days.
But I’d argue the other reason is Putin himself. That Russian film I saw was Leviathan, which ended up winning awards everywhere, and even scoring an Oscar nomination. Russia’s culture ministry part-financed the film, and initially celebrated its success.
But eventually, someone in the Kremlin must’ve actually watched the film, which is about a regular Russian guy getting royally screwed by the corrupt elites running his country. Within months, Putin’s culture ministry was pushing new laws to ban any films that threaten Russia’s unity or culture.
Fast forward a decade, and that inward trajectory in many ways just culminated in Russia’s Intervision song contest over the weekend, leading our briefing for today.
Number of the day
600
That’s how many flights from London’s Heathrow airport (plus Berlin and Brussels) got disrupted on Saturday, after a cyberattack hit a critical check-in tech platform.
Putin on a show
Vietnam’s Duc Phuc
Russia hosted its answer to Eurovision (Intervision) over the weekend. Here's what you missed, in nine words all starting with ‘D’ for some reason.
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Defiant
Russia got booted from Eurovision after invading Ukraine, so at the heart of this Russian version is defiance: You know what? Fine, we don't even need your Eurovision anyways.
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Dualistic
Intervision is a relic from the Cold War, though the first iteration only lasted a few years before the Czech anti-Soviet uprising (it then re-emerged elsewhere across the Soviet Bloc in the 70s and 80s). So with Intervision, Putin now wants to tap this nostalgic history of Russian influence, while also projecting a modern Russia by…
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Dazzling
The event at the Live Arena in Odintsovo opened with a Eurovision-like flag ceremony, using augmented reality and lasers in hopes of dialling the wow-factor up to 11. It's an attempt to project Russia as an advanced society, while also adding to the…
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Distraction
Gathering all Russia's cultural elites, Putin wants to signal stability and normality, in hopes the urbanites of Moscow and St Petersburg won't reflect too much on (say) Putin's failed Summer offensive against Ukraine, the top general he just fired (Lapin), persistent oil shortages, or his slowing economy. To help, Putin also ensured the event was…
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Dogmatic
Despite ‘non-political’ claims, Intervision featured an address from Putin himself and then (after just one song) it cut to an interview with Russia's foreign minister! It eventually wrapped with the Russian hit 'Million Voices', while Russia's own contestant was ultra-nationalist celebrity ‘Shaman’, who has performed in Russian-occupied Ukraine (and even North Korea). It's all about firing up Putin's base, while also projecting the West as…
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Divided
We've explored previously how the Kremlin uses struggling Western celebrities to claim validation, while also hinting at division in the West. This time, the token Westerner was ageing US rocker Joe Lynn Turner (Deep Purple), sitting on the jury.
There was technically also a US entrant (Brandon Howard, rumoured to be Michael Jackson's son) until he pulled out citing ‘family reasons’. His last-minute replacement (a US-Australian artist known as Vassy) also pulled out last-minute, with Moscow claiming it was due to pressure from Australia, though a more plausible theory might be…
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'Decadence'
Russian outlets quickly noticed that Vassy's Wikipedia entry highlighted her support for LGBT rights, clashing with Putin's claims his event would (in contrast to Eurovision's 'decadence') focus on traditional values. A Russia-based IP address reportedly even scrubbed Vassy’s LGBT activism from Wikipedia. Anyway, in projecting Putin as the defender of family values (notwithstanding his own colourful history), the event was also…
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Defensive
Whereas Eurovision songs are typically in English, the Kremlin's Intervision hosts emphasised that this weekend's songs were in their own national language. It's an attempt to show Putin as the defender of linguistic and cultural sovereignty (unless you’re Ukrainian) against the West's over-bearing English, pushing for a more multipolar world.
Anyway, his event also tried to show that Putin is…
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Diversified
His Russia is not only still invited to, say, swanky red carpet events in the Middle East or state visits to China and Vietnam. Intervision also shows those countries even visit Moscow! More than 20 Moscow-friendly nations joined Intervision, to be precise.
Russian opposition outlet Verstka claims the organisers also paid extras to create the illusion of the contest's popularity, portraying them as fans visiting from abroad.
Anyway, it's all about trying to push back on narratives of Putin's isolation.
So… who won? Vietnam's Duc Phuc (winner of Vietnam’s The Voice 10 years ago).
Next year's host? Saudi Arabia.
Intrigue’s Take
We saw nothing to suggest Eurovision should be worried about this competitor re-emerging out of the East. To the contrary, Intervision (as a shameless copy of Eurovision) is arguably evidence of a European cultural victory, even if Putin uses it for his own ends.
Still, that’s not to suggest Eurovision has nothing to worry about. As is often the case with the free world more broadly, the biggest challenge to Europe’s Eurovision cultural juggernaut comes less from any rivals abroad, and more from possible division at home.
You can already see that in the small but growing list of countries saying they’ll ditch next year’s Eurovision if Israel is there: the broadcasters from Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Spain have already made the pledge, ahead of a formal decision either way by the European Broadcasting Union in December.
Sound even smarter:
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Ukraine has dismissed Putin’s Intervision as "an instrument of hostile propaganda and a means of whitewashing the aggressive policy of the Russian Federation".
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The last time Russia hosted Eurovision (2009), it was at the time the most expensive in the contest’s history, using almost a third of the world’s LED screens.
Meanwhile, elsewhere…
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🇺🇸 UNITED STATES – Pay up. Comment: It’s an attempt to curb H-1B overuse: companies will presumably only fork out that $100k when they really have to. Within the US, the biggest impact will be felt in the tech sector, home to perhaps 70% of all H-1B holders. Abroad? It’ll hit hardest in India, the birthplace of ~70% of H-1B workers. That’s why India’s foreign ministry has already voiced unease, right as the two powers try to negotiate a trade truce. |
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🇨🇦 CANADA – Palestinian statehood. Comment: Both the Palestinian Authority (the West Bank) and Hamas (Gaza) have welcomed the recognition, which some of the above Western capitals had conditioned on Palestinian political reforms and the exclusion of Hamas (which in turn just publicly executed three Gazans it accused of collaborating with Israel). |
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🇺🇸 UNITED STATES – TikTok updates. Comment: China hasn’t yet confirmed any of the above, though official statements out of Beijing seem a little more conciliatory lately, with an emphasis on respecting TikTok’s wishes and welcoming the negotiations. |
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🇸🇾 SYRIA – Back on the international stage. Comment: It’s still hard to believe al-Sharaa’s journey, from al-Qaida member to representing Syria in New York within a decade. |
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🇵🇭 PHILIPPINES – Contagion? Comment: It all gives echoes of the recent unrest we’ve covered in Indonesia, Nepal, and elsewhere. We’d argue these echoes are partly amplified by social media, with young netizens quickly drawing comparisons to their own frustrations closer to home. |
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🇸🇩 SUDAN – The civilian toll. |
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🇰🇷 SOUTH KOREA – Don’t insult them. |
Extra Intrigue
🤣 Your weekly roundup of the world’s lighter news
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Organisers of this year’s stone-skimming championships in Scotland have disqualified several competitors for altering their stones.
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Samsung smart fridges are now showing ads.
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A family gathering in Germany almost ended up at the hospital after attendees lit up birthday candles that turned out to be fireworks.
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Authorities in China have fined two teens $300k after they (ahem) relieved themselves in a hot pot then posted the video online.
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And Japanese researchers have won the Ig Nobel prize after discovering that painting zebra stripes on cows decreases nearby fly activity.
Flight of the day
Credits: Markus Mainka / Shutterstock.
China Eastern Airlines has now entered the ‘world’s longest flight’ fray with its new 29-hour route connecting Shanghai and Buenos Aires.
The trip includes a two-hour stopover in New Zealand, so doesn’t technically beat the 19 direct hours Singapore Airlines spends jetting between New York and Singapore each day.
Australia’s Qantas has also been talking about a 20-hour direct Sydney-London flight for more than a decade, with word it could actually become operational in 2027.
Today’s poll
Do you think Russia has succeeded in pushing its cultural clout abroad with Intervision? |
Yesterday’s poll: How do you think the 'Great Game' in the Pacific will end?
🇨🇳 A win for China (45%)
🇺🇸 A win for the West (4%)
🌏 A win for the Pacific (12%)
⚖️ Some kind of balance (36%)
✍️ Other (write in!) (2%)
Your two cents:
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🇨🇳 A.B: “I'm reminded of the pithy: 'China comes with money, the West comes with a lecture'. China can outspend Australia in the Pacific if it comes down to it.”
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🌏 K.P: “No matter the final result of the ‘Great Game’, the Pacific will become economically and politically far more significant than ever before.”
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⚖️ S.F: “The most probable outcome is a tense but managed rivalry, though flashpoints like Taiwan or the South China Sea could still trigger conflict.”
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✍️ E.K.H: “A definitive loss for Pacific nations. Their islands will be buried under the waves while the world's two biggest polluters fight over the scraps.”