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"Right to punish the artists?"
Estonia: Minister discusses possible boycott of Eurovision in Moscow
With an anti Russian feeling running high currently in the country, Estonian Minister of Culture, Laine Jänes, is openly discussing the possibility for Estonia to boycott the next Eurovision Song Contest due to the Russian-Georgian conflict.
Ms Jänes seems to be taking a balanced approach to the issue. Whereas, on one hand she suggests that a common boycott strategy with Latvia and Lithuania could be a possibility, she also made it clear that it is a matter that should be thoroughly discussed and many factors are to be taken into consideration. One of those being the viewpoints of local artists: "Some might ask whether it is right to punish the artists, as the contest is very important to them", she said. Ms Jänes also emphasised that culture should be like a bridge between countries and people, uniting and not dividing.
The Minister also seems to attach great importance to the Eurovision Song Contest, comparing the decision to boycott it to that of boycotting the Olympic Games. She admits, though, that it is harder to change the venue of the Eurovision Song Contest than of the Olympic games, as the latter is decided upon political reasons whereas one earns the right to host the contest only by winning it.
The issue will be discussed openly among all interested parties, ie members of the music industry as well as the wider public says Margus Allikmaa, Chairman of the Board of ETV, the Estonian national broadcaster, who is personally in favour of a boycott. A decision should be reached soon.
Special thanks to Kristiina Veerde for her contribution to the article.
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I really don't know what to think... If anybody boycotts the contest for the reason we all know I won't be surprised and I won't judge them... Now you take your own conclusions.
are u so sensitive for Georgia or u r agry beacuse Russia win eurovision? i m so curius about that. many countreys from EBU make wars and they still doing but i never here anybody of u to be so sensitive for exable 2 countreys of EBU every day kill many people ( israel - turkey) and that 2 countreys dont care about human rights but NOBODY SAY NOTHING !! u r so hypocrites and selfishs !! in my opinion Estonia must to banned from 2009 esc beacuse the coverment of Estonia make one peace cultural song contest a political issue !
Let's bocott Russia!!!
i wish some people here would stop being such bleeding hearted
pious and claim that Eurovision in a non political event and should stay that way bla bla
Eurovision is more political than peace talks in the middle east
and if you need any more proof for that just check the scoreboard of the recent years.
Lina ESC
I have you know I have criticised Israel's actions many times on here! they do not go unharmed believe me!
are u so sensitive for Georgia or u r agry beacuse Russia win eurovision? i m so curius about that. many countreys from EBU make wars and they still doing but i never here anybody of u to be so sensitive for exable 2 countreys of EBU every day kill many people ( israel - turkey) and that 2 countreys dont care about human rights but NOBODY SAY NOTHING !! u r so hypocrites and selfishs !! in my opinion Estonia must to banned from 2009 esc beacuse the coverment of Estonia make one peace cultural song contest a political issue !
"None of us here are experts on the war and we never get the full picture from TV, news etc. So we're a bit clueless really, so shall we drop it?? please"
Jonny k, actually you have to ask for more than that. Ask people not to bring Chechnya, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Iraq, The Falklands, Eritrea, Cyprus, northern Ireland (and all the other conflicts I did no mention) troubles to the table.
Ask just everybody to drop the war topic and I´ll gladly agree to your suggestion.
you dont need to be expert to recognise Russia
violence in Georgia its shamless
@ Jonny K
Please, speak in u re name about expriance with war ... people from Croatia,Bih,Kosovo still remeber agesion from Serbia
"I am not Hungarian I only live in Hungary.You would not want to live where my family lives now but I know many more about this this war and Georgia and Ossetia from any one here."
1) do you come from SOssetia?
2) Why did you come to live in perverted and mean West?
3) why didn´t you get a Russian passport?
4) If you care so much about SO, why didn´t you join the conscripts there?
Nobody commented in what I showed you THE PROOF THAT RUSSIA TRIED TO HANDLE IT WITHOUT VIOLENCE AND THE UNITED NATIONS AMERICA AND EUROPE REFUSED!
Because all you think is how to prove Russia is bad and you dont see EVIDENCE that it was the UN, AMERICA AND EUROPE who let things get to here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
South Ossetians should have been killed so you all will be happy?
I hope the Russian Parliament tomorrow decides to RECOGNIZE SOUTH OSSETIA.
i say lets all boycott the next eurovision in moscow 2009. moscow/russia had no right to go in and cause a war....very wrong of them.....lets boycott the event
black cat
Russia DID kill innocent people in Georgia, South Ossetian or not, it doesn't matter civilians were killed by RUSSIA!
Russia has been stedily more aggressive towards its neighbours in recent months and years and this is a climax to it! it should not be encouraged or endorsed or even partly justified! It doesn't matter what Georgia did , Russia did just the same if not more! as an independent nation it has to take responsibility for its actions, it acted unilaterally and illegally, short of another country invading its territory military action and the killing of soldiers, other forms of combatants and civilians is both ILLEGAL AND IMMORAL! Russia CANNOT be vindicated in this situation they are in the wrong! Georgia might be too and so might other countries but Russia is the host of Eurovision and if countries want to show their discomfort and disapproval of Russia's blatant violence and aggression they have every right to do it and they should be backed all the way!
Like it or not with countries competing against each other in ANY competition politics is going to play a role! Eurovision was even BUILT on political ideas! those ideas do not seem compatible with Russia and its recent actions therefore Russia should either not host the contest or expect multiple boycotts and or criticism from other countries!
1. I am posting this again.
Louis Charbonneau of Reuters reported on August 8th, UN council split on South Ossetia, Russia angry. “…council diplomats said one phrase in it was unacceptable to Georgia, the United States and Europeans. That wording called on all sides in the conflict ‘to renounce the use of force’
Comments?????????
2. In an interview with the Kommersant, the U.S. Ambassador to Russia, John Beyrle, confirmed that the Russian response to Georgia's attack on South Ossetia was legitimate. He also stated, however, that Russia went too far by invading Georgia 'proper', and that Russia now has to abide by the cease-fire agreement and stop hinting at regime-change in Tblisi. A small bit of an AP report in the International Herald Tribune:
John Beyrle [...] told the Kommersant Friday that Russia "gave a well-grounded response" to a Georgian attack on Russian peacekeepers, but exceeded its authority by invading Georgia proper.
Ambassador Beyrle has presumably been green-lighted to give this statement, and he has also stated to the Kommersant that Saakashvili acted without the consent and against the advice of the United States in attacking South Ossetia. This signals a certain ratcheting-down of tensions between the U.S. and Russia, and a readiness on the side of the U.S. to come to an accommodation.
Do you want to bet if America changes its tune how fast Europe will too????????????
Fact remains: Russia do not care for this people, they only care to control more valuable area.
And America and Europe cares?????????? Americans trained the Georgian army who killed them!
Between the 2 evils they prefer Russia they dont have other choice noone recognizes them.
Russia didnt kill South Ossetians Georgia did and you seem to forget it! Why would South Ossetians want to live in a country that kills them??????????????????? And has killed them for YEARS you dont know half of the story.
You say So we should let every little minority have their own country you mean?
No one recognized South Ossetia not even Russia- their choices are 2 - Georgia or Russia they want Russia because their brothers are there and Russians dont kill them like Georgians do.
Hard to understand????????????????
And why europe recognized Kosovo???? Answer me that?
@Xevus
I am in Hungary but I am not Hungarian.
You say - you would agree that if the case was the other way round then North Ossetia could re-unite with the South under Georgian flag? I guess you don't agree with that because you want Russia to control the area-
North Ossetia = 700.000 (in the Russian Federation)
South Ossetia = 70.000 (minus the dead from Georgians)
What is more logical? North Ossetia to unite with Georgia or South Ossetia with Russia? Especially because this is what they want, doesnt matter what THEY want??????????????
@Xevus
Must be nice to sit in your peaceful Sweden and lecture others. How long is it since you had war there??????????
Try having a brother in North Ossetia and a mother in South Ossetia and THEN come lecture me! If Russia had not done what they did and I dont care why they did it all South Ossetians would be DEAD! And they were late too! 80% of the capital was DAMAGED by the Georgians.
South Ossetians want to unite with their families in North Ossetia be in that situation and then make lectures!
Well, echoes of the 1980 Moscow olympics ...
Moscow - the doomed city?
The only thing I want to say is that black cat is right in one thing...Russia did ask the UN to condemn the use of force by Georgia to South Ossetia and they didn't. Russia attacked the next day.
That is a fact.
About the rest I don't want to say anything because like I said earlier, depending on what media everyone is watching, they form an opinion.
And again...I am totally against boycotting music contests.
Xevus
Spot on hear hear!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey, try this one:
http://snipurl.com/3j4ao
OPINION - Pat Buchanan
"Who Started Cold War II?
Tue Aug 19, 3:00 AM ET
The American people should be eternally grateful to Old Europe for having spiked the Bush-McCain plan to bring Georgia into NATO.
Had Georgia been in NATO when Mikheil Saakashvili invaded South Ossetia, we would be eyeball to eyeball with Russia, facing war in the Caucasus, where Moscow's superiority is as great as U.S. superiority in the Caribbean during the Cuban missile crisis.
If the Russia-Georgia war proves nothing else, it is the insanity of giving erratic hotheads in volatile nations the power to drag the United States into war.
From Harry Truman to Ronald Reagan, as Defense Secretary Robert Gates said, U.S. presidents have sought to avoid shooting wars with Russia, even when the Bear was at its most beastly.
Truman refused to use force to break Stalin's Berlin blockade. Ike refused to intervene when the Butcher of Budapest drowned the Hungarian Revolution in blood. LBJ sat impotent as Leonid Brezhnev's tanks crushed the Prague Spring. Jimmy Carter's response to Brezhnev's invasion of Afghanistan was to boycott the Moscow Olympics. When Brezhnev ordered his Warsaw satraps to crush Solidarity and shot down a South Korean airliner killing scores of U.S. citizens, including a congressman, Reagan did — nothing.
These presidents were not cowards. They simply would not go to war when no vital U.S. interest was at risk to justify a war. Yet, had George W. Bush prevailed and were Georgia in NATO, U.S. Marines could be fighting Russian troops over whose flag should fly over a province of 70,000 South Ossetians who prefer Russians to Georgians.
[...]
http://news.yahoo.co(...)19/...pbux/op_337089
Do you in the west even know did anyone tell you that Russia TRIED to solve this without violence and the UN refused?????????????
Read!
Louis Charbonneau of Reuters reported on August 8th, UN council split on South Ossetia, Russia angry. “…council diplomats said one phrase in it was unacceptable to Georgia, the United States and Europeans. That wording called on all sides in the conflict ‘to renounce the use of force’."
They didnt agree! I bet no one has told you about this have they??????????
independent people do not have masters 
good for the Georgians then!
Finn P
About Kosovo, why don't you read the Rambouillet agreement from wikipedia?
http://en.wikipedia.(...)ambouillet_Agreement
Conclusions:
THE USA WANTED TO OCCUPY THE WHOLE OF YUGOSLAVIA, WITH THIS RAMBOUILLET AGREEMENT.
THE ALBANIANS WERE NOT EVEN ASKED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE TALKS THAT RESULTED TO THE RAMBOUILLET AGREEMENT
DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT FINN P ?
@Jonny
The South Ossetians want to be with their brothers in North Ossetia and they are Russian citizens not Georgians. Argentina attacked Falklands and you defended them why cant Russia defend South Ossetia???
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