The Economist features a spatial chart showing the longitude of the capitals of the last 20 Eurovision winners. It is clear that the downfall of Communism and the expansion of Eurovision into the former Soviet States has changed the geography of winners. There are complaints that this is because the Eastern European states vote in a bloc supporting each other. Some see a political conspriacy; however, after looking at voting patterns it appears that it is less political than cultural. States that hate each other (Russia/Georgia, Russian/most of its neighbors) tend to vote for each other. I conclude that this is because the cultures are similiar to one another in their taste of pop music. That and recent submissions from countries like the United Kingdom has been really bad lately.
Catholicgauze hopes everyone in the concert hall in Moscow and watching have a good time. Personally I am cheering for the Israeli peace song There Must Be Another Way but I do enjoy the Georgian entry that was kicked out, We Don't Wanna Put In.
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