Not planning to watch this tonight. Not for any reason related to Israel's participation (which has arguments for and against it) but because it's just not really my cup of tea. Especially because it goes on so long and finishes far too late. I have things to do in the morning.
Apparently we're 19th highest in the odds market with Look Mum, No Computer deciding for some reason to have a German song title...
I doubt we'll do well at all - especially as we're liable to do awfully on the televote - we got nil points on that last time.
The Palestinian movement is not in itself antisemitic, but the amount of antisemitism that is present in it is a serious problem that needs fixing before it brings the house down - and the people it is supporting with it.
There is no way to achieve Palestinian rights and statehood without Israel agreeing to it. That is made harder because of the antisemitism, which causes genuine fear among some and makes for good deflection material for others.
Antisemites are ultimately serving Israel with their hatred.
Ian Fleming could be a bit of a racist, to put it mildly. He saved some of his worst bigotry for Koreans in Goldfinger - Bond considers them "rather lower than apes" and Goldfinger considers them "the cruellest, most ruthless people in the world".
Anyway, one wonders what he'd make of K-content, because it is clear that stereotype is nowhere near the truth.
It's Good Friday today and that means time for my annual Easter post. As I am sure I've said before, I hope this is decent and interesting, but it is God who ultimately brings people to Christ, not humans.
I've been doing a lot of pouring of tea and washing-up lately in connection with a major local event I am involved in over the Easter weekend. This has been hard work, but it has been worthwhile and indeed appreciated by many.
Indeed, the thought occurred to me about how they did the washing up in Jesus' time. Apparently involving a lot of sand. Clay pots didn't last very long either and were generally thrown away once broken or used as "scrap paper" for writing on. That is why we find a lot of bits of them on archaeological digs - the landfill of today is the museum piece of tomorrow. Especially with some of our forever plastics...
Jesus would have done the washing up - and a lot of manual work other too. He'd have swept the sawdust from his father's workshop, brought in the carts of wood required for his products and probably sharpened the tools as well. I'd be curious to see what a 1st century saw looked like and I might try to find out afterwards.
Jesus' final act of service before his arrest and crucifixion would have been the washing of the feet at the Last Supper. I imagine this was a task reserved for the lowest servants and slaves in Roman society. Also, you'd have seen some pretty nasty toenails in an era where steel-capped boots weren't really a thing. Yet, Jesus not only voluntarily chose to do this task, despite being master of ceremonies, indeed he actively stopped others from doing it. This was the living God reducing himself to menial status - just before he went even further.
It's this sort of attitude we should seek to emulate in our Christian life. Volunteering to put the chairs away or remove the rubbish from people's tables after the meal. Helping people take stuff out to their car. Even if they say they don't need your help, you'll feel better that you offered. Of course, one should not do something that you are completely unsuited for or which might actually cause you harm - God wants able servants, not injured ones.
If asked to do a task, you should generally accept unless you have a good reason not to. You may well moan under your breath, but remember that you were once reliant on people taking care of you... and will likely be again at some point in your future.
I will finish this post with a song we sing a lot at church.
I wish you and your loved ones all a Happy Easter.
This post is going to cover my thoughts on the war in the Middle East as it enters its second month.
Just because you contain a monster, it doesn't mean that the monster isn't still there. Or to use another metaphor, hornets still go out and sting, which Iran has been doing for decades under the three Ayatollahs. Also, what is the difference between containment and appeasement? Does it depend on which side is doing it?
Declaring that the desire was to overthrow the Islamic regime was a stupid move - it set up an unrealistic winning condition.
Donald Trump lies so often that he won't be believed even when he is telling the truth. Aesop had a few things to say about that.
Iran is playing a similar game to Germany in both World Wars - unable to defeat the US militarily, it hopes to cause the global economy so much pain that it gives up. This is a move that risk the GCC going from defence to offence.
The US armed forces, especially the navy, have been badly run down by underfunding and the twenty-five years of the war on terror. This is now showing in a major way.
Reopening the Straits of Hormuz will require diplomacy or armed force likely to produce a level of US casualties that would cause massive damage to the Republicans politically. Vietnam ultimately, bar the one-term Carter presidency, kept the Democrats out of power for over two decades and their 1992 victory wasn't exactly convincing either.
A popular uprising will not happen during the bombing campaign. It might later, but these things are notoriously difficult to predict.
