#Germany 🇩🇪

[xtruss]

Nearly 200 volunteers helped rescue American caver Mark Dickey after he fell ill 3,000 feet underground. Inside Turkey's Morca cave, 90 different people worked to administer medical care, widen passageways, establish communication networks, and construct a pulley system to pull Dickey from the depths. Photograph By Umit Bektas, Reuters/Redux

How 200 Volunteers Pulled Off One of the Most Difficult Cave Rescues Ever

After receiving a blood transfusion 3,000 feet below ground, ailing American caver Mark Dickey was stable. Saving his life would require an arduous ascent.

— By Vedrana Simicevic | September 14, 2023

On Monday evening—nine days after the call for help was issued—American caver Mark Dickey, who fell seriously ill 3,400 feet deep inside a cave in Turkey, was successfully rescued. It was one of the most difficult and complex cave rescue missions ever executed, according to veteran rescuers involved in the effort.

The Morca Cave, where Dickey was a member of an expedition to map the underground system, is the third deepest in Turkey. It contains a complicated combination of narrow passages and steep, vertical tunnels. The cave’s entrance is a remote spot at 6800 feet above sea level in the Taurus mountains, where only a weak mobile signal can call for help.

Dickey suffered sudden gastrointestinal bleeding, and his condition appeared life-threatening. It took an international team of 200 rescuers—volunteers from nine different countries—eight days to pull off the entire mission. Transporting Dickey to the surface, the most complex part of the rescue, was executed by 90 people and took just over two days.

The European Cave Rescue Association (ECRA), and Cave Rescue Commission of Turkiye (MKK) teams begin the rescue operation for American caver Mark Dickey, trapped inside Turkey's Morca cave after suffering gastrointestinal bleeding. Photograph By Mustafa Unal Uysal, Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

A general view of Morca Cave where rescue teams conduct an operation to rescue the American scientist Mark Dickey, trapped in after suffering from gastrointestinal bleeding in Mersin, Turkiye on September 11, 2023. Photograph By Mustafa Unal Uysal, Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

“Everybody involved went beyond their limit of tiredness and just kept on working. It all developed exceptionally fast,” says Croatian rescuer Dinko Novosel, president of the European Cave Rescue Association (ECRA) and coordinator of the international caving teams conducting the rescue.

Dickey is a well-known member of the world caver community and leads the New Jersey Initial Response Team—a multi-disciplinary rescue group. For the international team, it felt like they were rescuing one of their own.

“These people are some of the most experienced and skilled cavers and rescuers in the world. And each of them gave their maximum,” said Giuseppe Conti, an experienced caver and rescuer from the Italian National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps, who led rescue logistics inside the cave.

An Underground Crisis

Turkey’s landscape is marked by karst, a type of terrain where caves easily form. Mile-deep caves in the region make it a popular destination for local and foreign cave researchers, also known as speleologists.

It was while more than 3,000 feet deep in one of these caves that Dickey suddenly began bleeding internally.

Alerted by his fiancée and fellow member of the expedition, Jessica Van Ord, the first rescuers arrived at the scene on September 3, and a four-person medical team from the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service immediately started a seven-hour descent to reach Dickey. With no direct communication to the ill caver, the rescue team feared they might not reach him in time.

“I had more than ten possible scenarios in my head, including the one where he is already dead. But fortunately, he was in better shape than I was expecting,” said Hungarian doctor and caver Zsófia Zádor.

At the time of their arrival, Dickey had already lost a lot of blood, frighteningly visible by the small hole in the ground filled with his blood. Zador gave him medication to lower his stomach acidity and stop the bleeding. Despite being a thousand meters deep inside the dark and cold cave, surrounded by mud and dust, Zádor and her team were able to perform a blood transfusion and gave Dickey four units of blood and plasma, warming the blood bags with the help of a camp gas stove.

For most of the rescue, Dickey was carried out on a stretcher, an endeavor made dangerous and challenging by the cave's narrow passageways. Photograph By Umit Bektas, Reuters/Redux

Though stabilized, his condition remained life-threatening, explains Zádor. He would have to be carried out in a stretcher.

Meanwhile, 3,000 feet above, the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) started the operation, officially giving ECRA authority to coordinate international teams rescue teams. Cavers from Turkey, Italy, Croatia, Bulgaria, and Poland arrived at the cave’s entry point and began preparing the cave for Dickey’s transport. Rescuers from Ukraine, the U.S., and Romania would soon join the rescue.

Teams equipped the cave with two different communication systems—a phone cable and an additional wireless communication system that can transmit short messages through hundreds of meters of solid rock, called “cave-link.” Bulgarian rescuers widened paths through meandering passages between 1,900 and 2,400 feet, detonating small blasts in some sections and using only chisels and hammers in others. Additional rescuers worked for hours to equip the cave with anchors and ropes.

An International Community of Expert Cavers

Although these kinds of accidents happen very rarely, rescues from the world’s deepest caves are notoriously dangerous.

Through most of the 20th century, getting trapped a few thousand feet inside a cave was, in most cases, a death sentence. But in the last few decades, national caving associations in countries rich with these underground cave systems have grown larger and rescue techniques have improved.

Each national team of cavers brings different expertise. In several European countries—like France, Croatia, and Italy—rescuers are accustomed to big vertical drops, having some of the deepest caves in the world. In England, submerged horizontal underground passages are common, and navigating them is a skill that English cavers used to execute another famous mission—saving 12 boys and their coach from the depths of a Thai cave in 2018.

An ERCA member descends into the Morca cave. Turkey is a popular destination for cave scientists and explorers. It's terrain is marked by karst, a type of rock that easily forms cave rooms and tunnels over time. Photograph By Khalil Hamra, AP

Rescuers work at the entrance of Morca Cave as they take part in a rescue operation to reach U.S. caver Mark Dickey who fell ill and became trapped some 1,000 meters (3,280 ft) underground, near Anamur in Mersin province, southern Turkey September 10, 2023. Photograph By Umit Bektas, Reuters/Redux

This diverse know-how is why ERCA formed in 2012 to share knowledge for rescue missions requiring hundreds of expert cavers.

And it was in 2014 that ERCA tested its life-saving skills when a German cave scientist sustained a head injury deep within the Riesending Cave in Bavaria, near the German border with Austria.

It took 12 days and more than 700 people to bring him back to the surface from a depth of 3,000 feet. It was the biggest cave rescue mission ever organized and the first one that brought together rescuers from five different countries. ECRA members say that 2014 mission gave them the experience they needed to execute the rescue mission in Morca in such a short time.

A Heroic Rescue

“It was much harder than in Germany, we had to be fast because we were afraid he would die”, says Marko Rakovac, a member of the Croatian mountain rescue service who also participated in Riesending cave rescue.

To execute a cave rescue, team members are typically assigned to different parts of the route where they wait for the stretcher. Transporting the injured person is slow and exhausting because the stretcher has to be pulled on a rope, from one anchor to another. In vertical shafts, this is achieved with the help of the pulley system and the counterweight—the latter often the rescuers themselves.

“This time we decided to organize rescuers in self-sufficient teams that would move through longer parts of the cave, from one camp to another,” explained Novosel.

Down in the cold and wet cave, the rescue was gruelling. Rescuers worked for twenty hours at a time, only to struggle to find a place to rest, some of them sleeping on the wet floor, surrounded by the smell of human secretion.

Nine days after issuing a call for help, Dickey was finally rescued and airlifted to a nearby hospital. Dickey is himself an experienced rescuer, and for the team of international cavers, rescuing Dickey meant rescuing one of their own. Photograph By Mert Gokhan Koc, Dia Images/AP

“The team who needed more than 20 hours to transport Dickey to 2,200 feet had to go back down to 3,200 feet to find a place for sleep. After a few hours rest they headed back up to 1,600 feet to work in the next section,” describes Rakovac.

The journey wasn’t without its setbacks. Partway through the transport, Dickey’s condition faltered, alarming the medical team. In a narrow cave passage, another blood transfusion wouldn’t be possible. And while navigating a vertical passage at around 2,200 feet, a large piece of rock detached, squeezing the ankle of a Bulgarian rescuer who narrowly evaded life-threatening injury.

“It had at least [600 pounds]. We had to move the rock so he could pull the leg out. There were twenty people in that section, and everybody went quiet, pondering that we now potentially have two victims,” says Rakovac.

The especially narrow passages—while not particularly difficult for a fit caver—remained the biggest problem during the rescue transport.

It would take too long to physically widen the most problematic passages, says Conti. After consulting with a doctor, they decided to have Dickey navigate the most difficult passages by himself.

After he was successfully rescued, Dickey was flown to nearby Mercin City Hospital to receive medical treatment. Speaking to ABC News, Dickey expressed gratitude and relief: “Cavers are like family, and every step of the way I had people by my side. Once we started moving, it happened a lot faster than I expected”

[iamaldonlopez]

The cold never bothered us anyway! 😂 . . . . . 📍Vilsaplsee, Tannheim 🇦🇹 . . . . . . . . . . . #tiislamigpose #colddontcare #swimatyourownrisk #beautifuldestinations #austria🇦🇹 #germany🇩🇪 #philippines🇵🇭 #pinoy #german #travelphotography #atravels #gay #gaypride #gaymen #couplegoals #todayfanphoto #loveislove #wonderland #amazingplaces (at Vilsalpsee) https://www.instagram.com/p/CebT6c8K-nb/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[gerbie7]

#oberstdorf #kleinwalsertal🏔️🇦🇹 #kleinwalsertal #duitsland #oostenrijk🇦🇹 #oostenrijk #austria #österreich #autriche #germany🇩🇪 #germania #deutschland #germany #ski #skiholiday #skiholidays❄️ #skivakantie🎿 #skivakantie #travel #reisen #reizen #voyage #viaggio #viajar #greatview #nofilter #kaiserwetter #mooiweer #sunnyday #thirtyhashtags (bij Oberstdorf, Germany) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp2s0FKNZUU/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[nazikmoda]

سعر القطعة 45الف Handmade خدمة التوصيل داخل العراق وكافة دول العالم / كركوك/ شارع المحافظة القديمة / مقابل جامع كركوك الكبير ‎الفرع الثاني/شارع المحافظة القديمة/ قرب فندق الصنوبر ☎️ +9647707552710 . . . . New Collection Luxury #syria🇸🇾 #turkey🇹🇷 #iraq🇮🇶 #kurdistan🇹🇯 #iran🇮🇷 #tunisie🇹🇳 #italiya🇮🇹 #france🇫🇷 #holanda🇳🇱 #kirkuk #libya🇱🇾 #eygept🇪🇬 #dubai🇦🇪 #sudiarabia🇸🇦 #qatar🇶🇦 #sudan🇸🇩#filastin🇵🇸 #austria🇦🇹 #canada🇨🇦 #germany🇩🇪 #sweden🇸🇪 #spania🇪🇸 #lübnan🇱🇧 #maldives🇲🇻 (at كركوك / شارع المحافظة) https://www.instagram.com/p/CppmKSstjHP/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[theeraphongk]

เยอรมัน, สวิต, ฝรั่งเศส, ออสเตรีย, อิตาลี, สวยเลอค่าน่าชมแค่ไหน ต้องไปดูด้วยตา 14 วัน #germany🇩🇪 #switzerland🇨🇭 #france🇫🇷 #austria🇦🇹 #italy🇮🇹 (at Suvanphum International Airport สนามบินสุวรรณภูมิ, Bangkok, Thailand) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cj-5QBOhnYX/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[engrfaisalimran]

جو شخص دو خرگوشوں کے پیچھے بھاگتا ہے وہ ایک بھی نہیں پکڑ سکتا Please Follow me on Instagram @engrfaisalimran . . . . . . . #moral #motivationalquotes #motivation #lesson #ledig #dutch #dutchdesign #germany #germany🇩🇪 #berlin #austria #östrreich🇦🇹 #frau #herr #pakistan #humbug #müchen #munich #dank #danke #pakistanzindabad #lahore #islamabad #karachi #flood #single #boy #think #rain #raining (at Engr. Muhammad Faisal Imran) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch07uYfKuOZ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[girlactionfigure]

HERE is the list of the 134 countries that are NOT supporting South Africa's 🇿🇦 claims of genocide against Israel 🇮🇱:

🇦🇩 Andorra 

🇦🇴 Angola 

🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda 

🇦🇷 Argentina 

🇦🇲 Armenia 

🇦🇺 Australia 

🇦🇹 Austria 

🇧🇸 Bahamas 

🇧🇧 Barbados 

🇧🇾 Belarus 

🇧🇿 Belize 

🇧🇹 Bhutan 

🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina 

🇧🇼 Botswana 

🇧🇬 Bulgaria 

🇧🇮 Burundi 

🇨🇻 Cabo Verde 

🇰🇭 Cambodia 

🇨🇦 Canada 

🇨🇫 Central African Republic 

🇨🇱 Chile 

🇨🇳 China 

🇰🇲 Comoros 

🇨🇬 Congo 

🇨🇷 Costa Rica 

🇭🇷 Croatia 

🇨🇺 Cuba 

🇨🇾 Cyprus 

🇨🇿 Czech Republic 

🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo 

🇩🇰 Denmark 

🇩🇲 Dominica 

🇩🇴 Dominican Republic 

🇹🇱 East Timor (Timor-Leste) 

🇪🇨 Ecuador 

🇸🇻 El Salvador 

🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea 

🇪🇷 Eritrea 

🇪🇪 Estonia 

🇸🇿 Eswatini 

🇪🇹 Ethiopia 

🇫🇯 Fiji 

🇫🇮 Finland 

🇫🇷 France 

🇬🇪 Georgia 

🇩🇪 Germany 

🇬🇭 Ghana 

🇬🇷 Greece 

🇬🇩 Grenada 

🇬🇹 Guatemala 

🇭🇹 Haiti 

🇭🇳 Honduras 

🇭🇺 Hungary 

🇮🇸 Iceland 

🇮🇳 India 

🇮🇪 Ireland 

🇮🇹 Italy 

🇯🇲 Jamaica 

🇯🇵 Japan 

🇰🇪 Kenya 

🇰🇮 Kiribati 

🇰🇵 Korea, North (North Korea) 

🇰🇷 Korea, South (South Korea) 

🇽🇰 Kosovo 

🇱🇦 Laos 

🇱🇻 Latvia 

🇱🇸 Lesotho 

🇱🇷 Liberia 

🇱🇮 Liechtenstein 

🇱🇹 Lithuania 

🇱🇺 Luxembourg 

🇲🇬 Madagascar 

🇲🇼 Malawi

🇲🇹 Malta 

🇲🇭 Marshall Islands 

🇲🇺 Mauritius 

🇲🇽 Mexico 

🇫🇲 Micronesia 

🇲🇩 Moldova 

🇲🇨 Monaco 

🇲🇳 Mongolia 

🇲🇪 Montenegro 

🇲🇲 Myanmar (Burma) 

🇳🇷 Nauru 

🇳🇵 Nepal 

🇳🇱 Netherlands 

🇳🇿 New Zealand 

🇳🇮 Nicaragua 

🇲🇰 North Macedonia (Macedonia) 

🇳🇴 Norway 

🇵🇼 Palau 

🇵🇦 Panama 

🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea 

🇵🇾 Paraguay 

🇵🇪 Peru 

🇵🇭 Philippines 

🇵🇱 Poland 

🇵🇹 Portugal 

🇷🇴 Romania 

🇷🇺 Russia 

🇷🇼 Rwanda 

🇰🇳 Saint Kitts and Nevis 

🇱🇨 Saint Lucia 

🇻🇨 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 

🇼🇸 Samoa 

🇸🇲 San Marino 

🇸🇹 Sao Tome and Principe 

🇷🇸 Serbia 

🇸🇨 Seychelles 

🇸🇱 Sierra Leone 

🇸🇬 Singapore 

🇸🇰 Slovakia 

🇸🇮 Slovenia 

🇸🇧 Solomon Islands 

🇪🇸 Spain 

🇱🇰 Sri Lanka 

🇸🇪 Sweden

🇨🇭 Switzerland 

🇹🇼 Taiwan 

🇹🇿 Tanzania 

🇹🇭 Thailand 

🇹🇴 Tonga 

🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago 

🇹🇳 Tunisia 

🇹🇲 Turkmenistan 

🇹🇻 Tuvalu 

🇺🇦 Ukraine 

🇬🇧 United Kingdom (UK) 

🇺🇸 United States of America (USA) 

🇺🇾 Uruguay 

🇻🇺 Vanuatu 

🇻🇦 Vatican City 

🇻🇳 Vietnam 

🇿🇲 Zambia 

🇿🇼 Zimbabwe

[bambooochan6]

Congratulations to Thailand 🏳️‍🌈

Countries Where same-sex marriage is legal: ⏬

2001: Netherlands 🇳🇱

2003: Belgium 🇧🇪

2005: Canada 🇨🇦, Spain 🇪🇸

2006: South Africa 🇿🇦

2009: Norway 🇳🇴, Sweden 🇸🇪

2010: Argentina 🇦🇷, Iceland 🇮🇸, Portugal 🇵🇹

2012: Denmark 🇩🇰

2013: Brazil 🇧🇷, England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿, France 🇫🇷, New Zealand 🇳🇿, Uruguay 🇺🇾

2014: Luxembourg 🇱🇺, Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

2015: Finland 🇫🇮, Ireland 🇮🇪, USA 🇺🇸

2016: Colombia 🇨🇴, Greenland 🇬🇱

2017: Australia 🇦🇺, Malta 🇲🇹, Germany 🇩🇪

2019: Austria 🇦🇹, Ecuador 🇪🇨, Taiwan 🇹🇼, Northern Ireland

2020: Costa Rica 🇨🇷

2021: Chile 🇨🇱

2022: Switzerland 🇨🇭, Slovenia 🇸🇮, Cuba 🇨🇺

2023: Andorra 🇦🇩

2024: Estonia 🇪🇪, Greece 🇬🇷, Thailand 🇹🇭

[mapsontheweb]

Divorce rate per 1,000 marriages in Europe.

🇱🇻 Latvia: 3.1 

🇱🇹 Lithuania: 3.0 

🇪🇪 Estonia: 2.6

🇨🇿 Czechia: 2.4 

🇫🇮 Finland: 2.4 

🇸🇪 Sweden: 2.4 

🇨🇾 Cyprus: 2.2 

🇪🇸 Spain: 2.1 

🇵🇹 Portugal: 2.1 

🇧🇪 Belgium: 2.0 

🇱🇺 Luxembourg: 2.0 

🇫🇷 France: 1.9 

🇩🇪 Germany: 1.9 

🇭🇺 Hungary: 1.9 

🇳🇱 Netherlands: 1.9 

🇬🇧 United Kingdom: 1.8 

🇬🇷 Greece: 1.8 

🇦🇹 Austria: 1.8 

🇸🇰 Slovakia: 1.8 

🇵🇱 Poland: 1.7 

🇷🇴 Romania: 1.6 

🇧🇬 Bulgaria: 1.5 

🇭🇷 Croatia: 1.5 

🇮🇹 Italy: 1.5 

🇸🇮 Slovenia: 1.2 

🇲🇹 Malta: 0.7 

🇮🇪 Ireland: 0.7

by TheGlobal_Index

[sona-verse01]

🌏 PAC 🌍

"Where your special someone is from/living?"

"MUST READ"

This PAC is not limited to your future spouse/partner. It is for your special someone in your life. They can be anyone, your parents, best friend, bf/gf, husband/wife, etc, literally anyone special.

Check out my masterlist as well.

I feel like, Pile 2 is basically for everyone.

All piles are kind of connected to each other. I channelled common countries in 2 or more piles.

Pile 1:

Brazil🇧🇷,

Switzerland🇨🇭,

Attracted to Pile 2?

England🇬🇧,

Germany🇩🇪,

Cambodia🇰🇭,

Chile🇨🇱,

Attracted to Pile 4?

Denmark🇩🇰,

Morocco🇲🇦,

Paraguay🇵🇾,

Iraq🇮🇶

Pile 2:

Australia🇦🇺,

Attracted to Pile 3?

Switzerland🇨🇭,

Attracted to Pile 1?

Qatar🇶🇦,

Nigeria🇳🇬,

Attracted to Pile 3?

Georgia🇬🇪,

Hungary🇭🇺,

Portugal🇵🇹,

Scotland🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿,

UAE🇦🇪,

Attracted to Pile 4?

Tanzania🇹🇿

Pile 3:

India🇮🇳,

Italy🇮🇹,

Australia🇦🇺,

Attracted to Pile 2?

Argentina🇦🇷,

Austria🇦🇹,

Nigeria🇳🇬,

Attracted to Pile 2?

Latvia🇱🇻,

Bahrain🇧🇭,

Serbia🇷🇸,

Turkey🇹🇷

Pile 4:

Russia🇷🇺,

Ecuador🇪🇨,

Belgium🇧🇪,

Chile🇨🇱,

Attracted to Pile 1?

New Zealand🇳🇿,

UAE🇦🇪,

Attracted to Pile 2?

Bhutan🇧🇹,

Colombia🇰🇭,

Slovakia🇸🇰,

Yemen🇾🇪

💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚

Disclaimer:

Don't copy/steal/translate my work.

Don't take it seriously. Take what resonates.

Images are downloaded from internet. I only made the moodboard.

Reblog if you like it.

Feedback is appreciated.

Follow for more.

© @sp22sworld 2023 - All Rights Reserved

[theyhavetakenovermylife]

Their Favorite Eurovision 2024 Songs (Headcanons)

(Rise!Turtles + Bonus!)

A/N: I just HAD to do this! I’ve been wanting to do this for a while now, and I thought it was very fitting to do it for the Rise boys, because, well, they have made it obvious that they love music (and I just couldn’t focus on anything else before I had made this…). And with the running order of the semi finales being revealed today, I just thought it was fitting.

Warnings: Flashing lights💚

Raphael:

1 points: Georgia🇬🇪 Firefighter - Nusta

2 points: Moldova🇲🇩 In the Middle - Natalia Barbu

3 points: Ukraine🇺🇦 Teresa & Maria - alyona alyona, Jerry Heil

4 points: The Netherlands🇳🇱 Europapa - Joost

5 points: Belgium🇧🇪 Before The Party Is Over - Mustii 

6 points: Lithuania🇱🇹 Luktelk - Silvester Belt

7 points: Sweden🇸🇪 Unforgettable - Marcus & Martinus

8 points: Switzerland🇨🇭 The Code - Nemo

10 points: Albania🇦🇱 TiTAN - Besa

12 points: Austria🇦🇹 We Will Rave - Kaleen

Leonardo:

1 points: Armenia🇦🇲 Jako - Ladaniva

2 points: Malta🇲🇹 Loop - Sarah Bonnici

3 points: Cyprus🇨🇾 Liar - Silia Kapsis

4 points: Belgium🇧🇪 Before The Party Is Over - Mustii

5 points: The Netherlands🇳🇱 Europapa - Joost

6 points: Greece🇬🇷 ZARI - Marina Satti

7 points: Portugal🇵🇹 Grito - iolanda

8 points: Switzerland🇨🇭 The Code - Nemo

10 points: Spain🇪🇸 ZORRA - Nebulossa

12 points: Italy🇮🇹 La noia - Angelina Mango

Donatello:

1 points: Latvia🇱🇻 Hollow - Dons

2 points: Australia🇦🇺 One Milkali (One Blood) - Electric Fields

3 points: France🇫🇷 Mon amour - Slimane

4 points: Slovenia🇸🇮 Veronika - Raiven

5 points: Luxembourg🇱🇺 Fighter - TALI

6 points: Lithuania🇱🇹 Luktelk - Silvester Belt

7 points: Sweden🇸🇪 Unforgettable - Marcus & Martinus

8 points: Switzerland🇨🇭 The Code - Nemo

10 points: Belgium🇧🇪 Before The Party Is Over - Mustii

12 points: The Netherlands🇳🇱 Europapa - Joost Klein

Michelangelo:

1 points: Sweden🇸🇪 Unforgettable - Marius & Martinus

2 points: San Marino🇸🇲 11:11 - Megara

3 points: Finland🇫🇮 No Rules! - Windows95Man

4 points: Estonia🇪🇪 (nedest) narkootikumidest et tea me (küll) midagi - 5MIINUST, Puuluup

5 points: Australia🇦🇺 One Milkali (One Blood) - Electric Fields

6 points: Armenia🇦🇲 Jako - Ladaniva

7 points: Switzerland🇨🇭 The Code - Nemo

8 points: Greece🇬🇷 ZARI - Marina Satti

10 points: The Netherlands🇳🇱 Europapa - Joost

12 points: Croatia🇭🇷 Rim Tim Tagi Dim - Baby Lasagna

Bonus!

Splinter:

1 points: Luxembourg🇱🇺 Fighter - TALI

2 points: Germany🇩🇪 Always on the run - ISAAK

3 points: Iceland🇮🇸 Scared of Heights - Hera Björk

4 points: Sweden🇸🇪 Unforgettable - Marcus & Martinus

5 points: France🇫🇷 Mon amour - Slimane

6 points: Portugal🇵🇹 Grito - iolanda

7 points: United Kingdom🇬🇧 Dizzy - Olly Alexander

8 points: Latvia🇱🇻 Hollow - Dons

10 points: Azerbaijan🇦🇿 Özülne Apar - Fahree (ft. Ilkin Dovletov)

12 points: Ukraine🇺🇦 Teresa & Maria - alyona alyona, Jerry Heil

Baron Draxum:

1 points: Ireland🇮🇪 Doomsday Blue - Bambie Thug

2 points: United Kingdom🇬🇧 Dizzy - Olly Alexander

3 points: Slovenia🇸🇮 Veronika - Raiven

4 points: Ukraine🇺🇦 Teresa & Maria - alyona alyona, Jerry Heil

5 points: Norway🇳🇴 Ulveham - Gåte

6 points: Azerbaijan🇦🇿 Özülne Apar - Fahree (ft. Ilkin Dovletov)

7 points: Portugal🇵🇹 Grito - iolanda

8 points: Serbia🇷🇸 Ramondo - Teya Dora

10 points: Latvia🇱🇻 Hollow - Dons

12 points: France🇫🇷 Mon amour - Slimane

April:

1 points: Norway🇳🇴 Ulveham - Gåte

2 points: Georgia🇬🇪 Firefighter - Nusta

3 points: Czech🇨🇿 Pedestal - AIKO

4 points: Poland🇵🇱 The Tower - LUNA

5 points: Cyprus🇨🇾 Liar - Silia Kapsis

6 points: Portugal🇵🇹 Grito - iolanda

7 points: Luxembourg🇱🇺 Fighter - TALI

8 points: The Netherlands🇳🇱 Europapa - Joost

10 points: Italy🇮🇹 La noia - Angelina Mango

12 points: Switzerland🇨🇭 The Code - Nemo

Cassandra:

1 points: Latvia🇱🇻 Hollow - Dons

2 points: Poland🇵🇱 The Tower - LUNA

3 points: Ukraine🇺🇦 Teresa & Maria - alyona alyona, Jerry Heil

4 points: Lithuania🇱🇹 Luktelk - Silvester Belt

5 points: Azerbaijan🇦🇿 Özülne Apar - Fahree (ft. Ilkin Dovletov)

6 points: Slovenia🇸🇮 Veronika - Raiven

7 points: Czech🇨🇿 Pedestal - AIKO

8 points: Portugal🇵🇹 Grito - iolanda

10 points: Norway🇳🇴 Ulveham - Gåte

12 points: Ireland🇮🇪 Doomsday Blue - Bambie Thug

[xtruss]

Nazis attempted to cover up their crimes in the Holocaust—and denial of the genocide persists to this day. Scholars say memorials—like this one in the former train station of Pithiviers, France, from which Jews were sent to death camps—are essential to fighting anti-Semitism. Photograph By Christophe Pitit Tesson, Pool/AFP Via Getty Images

How The Holocaust Happened In Plain Sight

Six Million Jews were Murdered Between 1933 and 1945. How Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party Turned Anti-Semitism into Genocide.

— By Erin Blakemore | Published: January 27, 2023

Six million Jews murdered. Millions more stripped of their livelihoods, their communities, their families, even their names. The horrors of the Holocaust are often expressed in numbers that convey the magnitude of Nazi Germany’s attempt to annihilate Europe’s Jews.

The Nazis and their collaborators killed millions of people whom they perceived as inferior—including Jehovah’s Witnesses, gay men, people with disabilities, Slavic and Roma people, and Communists. However, historians use the term “Holocaust”—also called the Shoah, or “disaster” in Hebrew—to apply strictly to European Jews murdered by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945.

No single statistic can capture the true terror of the systematic killing of a group of human beings—and given its enormity and brutality, the Holocaust is difficult to understand. How did a democratically elected politician incite an entire nation to genocide? Why did people allow it to happen in plain sight? And why do some still deny it ever happened?

A shop selling household goods and clocks on Pinkas Street in the Jewish Quarter of Prague, then part of Czechoslovakia. In many parts of Eastern Europe, anti-Semitism was rampant before the Holocaust and Jews were forced to live separately from the rest of the population. Photograph Via History & Art Images, Getty Images

After Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Polish Jews were forced into ghettos like this one in Warsaw. This image taken by an unknown German photographer was later exhibited at the war crime trials that sought to hold the Nazis and their collaborators accountable after the war. Photograph Via Bettmann, Getty Images

European Jews Before The Holocaust

By 1933, about nine million Jews lived across the continent and in every European nation. Some countries guaranteed Jews equality under the law, which enabled them to become part of the dominant culture. Others, especially in Eastern Europe, kept Jewish life strictly separate.

Jewish life was flourishing, yet Europe’s Jews also faced a long legacy of discrimination and scapegoating. Pogroms—violent riots in which Christians terrorized Jews—were common throughout Eastern Europe. Christians blamed Jews for the death of Jesus, fomented myths of a shadowy cabal that controlled world finances and politics, and claimed Jews brought disease and crime to their communities.

The Rise of Adolf Hitler

It would take one man, Adolf Hitler, to turn centuries of casual anti-Semitism into genocide. Hitler rose to power as leader of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, also known as the Nazi Party, in the 1920s.

Hitler harnessed a tide of discontent and unrest in Germany, which was slowly rebuilding after losing the First World War. The nation had collapsed politically and economically, and owed heavy sanctions under the Treaty of Versailles. The Nazi party blamed Jews for Germany’s troubles and promised to restore the nation to its former glory.

Hitler was democratically elected to the German parliament in 1933, where he was soon appointed as chancellor, the nation’s second-highest position. Less than a year later, Germany’s president died, and Hitler seized absolute control of the country.

Born in Braunau am Inn, Austria, in 1889, Adolf Hitler was a skilled speaker and rose to power in Germany democratically. In the wake of its WWI loss, he blamed the country's economic woes on Jewish people and promised to restore Germany to glory. Photograph By Roger Viollet, Getty Images

The Early Nazi Regime

Immediately after coming to power, the Nazis promulgated a variety of laws aimed at excluding Jews from German life—defining Judaism in racial rather than religious terms. Beginning with an act barring Jews from civil service, they culminated in laws forbidding Jews from German citizenship and intermarriage with non-Jews.

These were not just domestic affairs: Hitler wanted to expand his regime and, in 1939, Germany invaded Poland. It marked the beginning of the Second World War—and the expansion of the Nazis’ anti-Jewish policies.

German officials swiftly forced hundreds of thousands of Polish Jews into crowded ghettoes, and with the help of locals and the German military, specially trained forces called the Einsatzgruppen began systematically shooting Jews and other people the regime deemed undesirable. In just nine months, these mobile murder units shot more than half a million people in a “Holocaust by bullets” that would continue throughout the war.

But Hitler and his Nazi officials were not content with discriminatory laws or mass shootings. By 1942, they agreed to pursue a “final solution” to the existence of European Jews: They would send the continent’s remaining Jews east to death camps where they would be forced into labor and ultimately killed.

Hitler dismisses U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's appeal for peace in a speech before the Reichstag, Nazi Germany's parliament, on April 28, 1939. Months later, Germany invaded Poland. Photograph Via Universal History Archive, Universal Images Groyp/Getty Images

Genocide in Plain Sight

By characterizing their actions as the “evacuation” of Jews from territories that rightfully belonged to non-Jewish Germans, the Nazi operation took place in plain sight. Though thousands of non-Jews rescued, hid, or otherwise helped those targeted by the Holocaust, many others stood by indifferently or collaborated with the Nazis.

With the help of local officials and sympathetic civilians, the Nazis rounded up Jews, stripped them of their personal possessions, and imprisoned them in more than 44,000 concentration camps and other incarceration sites across Europe. Non-Jews were encouraged to betray their Jewish neighbors and move into the homes and businesses they left behind.

Prisoners at Buchenwald Concentration Camp, near Weimar, Germany, in April 1945, the year it was liberated. In the eight years Buchenwald was in operation, it housed between 239,000 and 250,000 prisoners, who were subjected to medical experiments and grueling forced labor. Photograph By Eric Schwab, AFP/Getty Images

Dachau, which opened near Munich in 1933, was the first concentration camp. Five others—Auschwitz-Birkenau, Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka—were designated as killing centers, where most Jews were immediately murdered upon arrival.

The killings took place in assembly-line fashion: Mass transports of Jews were unloaded from train cars and “selected” into groups based on sex, age, and perceived fitness. Those selected for murder were taken to holding areas where they were told to set aside their possessions and undress for “disinfection” or showers.

In reality, they were herded into specially designed killing chambers into which officials pumped lethal carbon monoxide gas or a hydrogen cyanide pesticide called Zyklon B that poisoned its victims within minutes.

The earliest Holocaust victims were buried in mass graves. Later, in a bid to keep the killings a secret, corpses were burned in large crematoria. Some Jews were forced to participate in the killings, and then were themselves executed to maintain secrecy. The victims’ clothing, tooth fillings, possessions, and even hair was stolen by the Nazis.

As Allied troops advanced near the end of the war, Germany sent prisoners on death marches from the western front to Dachau, near Munich. When the camp was liberated in April 1945, pictured here, U.S. troops encountered piles of dead bodies and survivors on the brink of death. Photograph By Roger Viollet, Getty Images

Life in the Camps

Those not chosen for death were ritually humiliated and forced to live in squalid conditions. Many were tattooed with identification numbers and shorn of their hair. Starvation, overcrowding, overwork, and a lack of sanitation led to rampant disease and mass death in these facilities. Torture tactics and brutal medical experiments made the camps a horror beyond description.

“It is not possible to sink lower than this; no human condition is more miserable than this, nor could it conceivably be so,” wrote Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi in his 1947 memoir. “Nothing belongs to us any more…if we speak, they will not listen to us, and if they listen, they will not understand. They will even take away our name.”

But despite almost inconceivable hardships, some managed to resist. “Our aim was to defy Hitler, to do everything we [could] to live,” recalled Majdanek and Auschwitz survivor Helen K. in a 1985 oral history. “He [wanted] us to die, and we didn’t want to oblige him.”

Jews resisted the Holocaust in a variety of ways, from going into hiding to sabotaging camp operations or participating in armed uprisings in ghettoes and concentration camps. Other forms of resistance were quieter, like stealing food, conducting forbidden religious services, or simply attempting to maintain a sense of dignity.

In 2005, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, also known as the Holocaust Memorial, opened in Berlin, Germany. Below ground, an information center shares stories of the Holocaust's victims—which scholars say is essential to preventing history from repeating itself. Photograph By Gerd Ludwig, National Geographic Image Collection

The Aftermath of the Holocaust

As World War II drew to a close in 1944 and 1945, the Nazis attempted to cover up their crimes, burning documents, dismantling death camp sites, and forcing their remaining prisoners on brutal death marches to escape the advancing Allies.

They didn’t succeed: As they liberated swaths of Europe, Allied troops entered camps piled high with corpses and filled, in some cases, with starving, sick victims. The evidence collected in these camps would become the basis of the Nuremberg Trials, the first-ever international war crimes tribunal.l

In the war’s aftermath, the toll of the Holocaust slowly became clear. Just one out of every three European Jews survived, and though estimates vary, historians believe at least six million Jews were murdered. Among them were an estimated 1.3 million massacred by the Einsatzgruppen; approximately a million were murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau alone.

Many survivors had nowhere to go. Poland had Europe’s largest Jewish population before the war, but lost 93 percent of that population in just five years. Entire villages and communities were wiped out and families scattered across Europe. Labeled “displaced persons,” survivors attempted to rebuild their lives. Many left Europe for good, emigrating to Israel, the United States, or elsewhere.

Top: Photographs of a man held captive at Auschwitz, the largest of the Nazi concentration camps established during the Holocaust. These images can be found inside the Menorah Jewish Center in Dnipro, Ukraine, which explores the past, present, and future of Jewish life. Photograph By Abbas, Magnum

Bottom: Six million European Jews were killed—and hundreds of thousands displaced—during the Holocaust. When the international community learned the extent of Nazi brutality during World War II, it became clear existing laws of war were inadequate for addressing these crimes. Photograph Via Bar Am Collection, Magnum Photos (Left) And Photograph Via Bar Am Collection, Magnum Photos (Right)

Holocaust Denial

Despite the enormity of evidence, some people sowed misinformation about the Holocaust, while others denied it happened at all. Holocaust denial persists to this day, even though it is considered a form of antisemitism and is banned in a variety of countries.

How to counter the hate? “Educating about the history of the genocide of the Jewish people and other Nazi crimes offers a robust defence against denial and distortion,” concluded the authors a of a 2021 United Nations report on Holocaust denial.

Though the number of Holocaust survivors has dwindled, their testimonies offer crucial evidence of the Holocaust’s horrors.

“The voices of the victims—their lack of understanding, their despair, their powerful eloquence or their helpless clumsiness—these can shake our well-protected representation of events,” said Saul Friedländer, a historian who survived the Holocaust and whose parents were murdered at Auschwitz, in a 2007 interview with Dissent Magazine. “They can stop us in our tracks. They can restore our initial sense of disbelief, before knowledge rushes in to smother it.”

[lewanarta]

Ski Flying World Championships 2024, Bad Mitterndorf - podium (team):

Slovenia 🇸🇮

Austria 🇦🇹

Germany 🇩🇪

[nazikmoda]

‎العراق / كركوك/ شارع المحافظة القديمة / مقابل جامع كركوك الكبير ‎الفرع الثاني/شارع المحافظة القديمة/ قرب فندق الصنوبر ☎️ +9647707552710 . . . . New Collection Luxury #syria🇸🇾 #turkey🇹🇷 #iraq🇮🇶 #kurdistan🇹🇯 #iran🇮🇷 #tunisie🇹🇳 #italiya🇮🇹 #france🇫🇷 #holanda🇳🇱 #kirkuk #libya🇱🇾 #eygept🇪🇬 #dubai🇦🇪 #sudiarabia🇸🇦 #qatar🇶🇦 #sudan🇸🇩#filastin🇵🇸 #austria🇦🇹 #canada🇨🇦 #germany🇩🇪 #sweden🇸🇪 #spania🇪🇸 #lübnan🇱🇧 #maldives🇲🇻 (at كركوك / شارع المحافظة) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpfcN4Htm5Z/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[dreamyeuphoricll]

One piece characters Nationalities

Brazil🇧🇷: known for its iconic Carnival Festival and the statue of Christ the redeemer 🎺 🎊🪇🥁🪘

Sweden🇸🇪: known as the Pop music Capital of the world 🎵🎤🎙️🎛️🎧🎚️

Japan 🇯🇵: One of the most developed countries,that produce Manga and Anime 🍜🎎👘⛩️🏯㊗️

France 🇫🇷: has the iconic Eiffel Tower,and luxurious fashion brands 🗼👗🍬📸🎨

Canada🇨🇦: famous for its maple syrup, Niagara falls, northern lights and more attractions 🍁🥌 🥞🍯

India🇮🇳: has an iconic building,the Taj mahal,and also the birthplace of Yoga 🧘🏾🥻🕌

United States 🇺🇲: One of the dream place. With famous stars,movies,artists,cities,brands and attractions 🗽🌃🎥🦅🍔🎢🏈

Russia🇷🇺: famous for many things but mostly the beautiful iconic landmarks known as The Moscow Kremlins ☃️🥟💈🌨️🎪

Austria🇦🇹: mostly famous for its castles,palaces and buildings 🏰🧭

China🇨🇳: has beautiful culture and most famous for its food, martial arts,and the iconic Great Wall of China ⛩️🐅🐼🍜🏯🥋

South Africa🇿🇦: famous for its history,natural attractions,food and wildlife 🦁🦓🐗🐃🐘🦏🦒🐦🦃🦚🦈🐬🐳🍊🍌🥘

Germany🇩🇪: renowned for multitude of things but mostly the Oktoberfest 🪽🪽🍄

Italy 🇮🇹: famous for having one of the best foods in the world. 🍝🍕🍤🦞

UK 🇬🇧: famous for many things but mostly the royal history and culture,even for many sports. Not to forget tea and fish and chips🍟☕🚌🎡🏰🤴👸

Spain 🇪🇸: known as one of the top wine-producing countries in the world🍸🍷🍾🥂

Australia 🇦🇺: known as one of the most popular tourist destinations with many unique animals and attractions. Like the iconic Great barrier reef ⛰️🐺🦘🐨🕷️

Comment down below if u got more things to add about ur country

[inhibited-irregularity]

Since the voting was truly abysmal and the real winner was robbed by the corrupt juries, might as well make a "they deserved better" list including both semis and the grand finale and considering both juries and the general public. So, in an attempt to be as objective as I can, here's my

☆♥︎THEY DESERVED BETTER♥︎☆

In no particular order:

🇩🇪 Germany, Lord of the lost - Blood and glitter: I admit that I wasn't a fan in the beginning, and even made a post about how I wish that the rock entries went harder and that LOTL should either commit to hardcore or be more silly with the song. I found the cheesy lyrics delivered in such a serious and dramatic manner cringey, BUT, after their performance last night, changed my mind completely. First of all, I ADORE the lead singer's vocals (and he seems like a cool guy), and the song itself has some seriously good moments, not to mention how freakin catchy it is. Their energy was through the roof, the performance was flawless, and in spite of my initial reaction to the song, I bought it and genuinely loved it. It felt like watching a concert by one of my favorite bands. Not my winner, but I was really disappointed with how low they scored.

🇪🇸 Spain, Blanca Paloma - Eaea: ROBBED. Over the years, the juries projected an image of people that look for all things *artistic* in a song (even though it usually translates as a pretentious kid in art college with no real taste picking the thing they think their 50yo profesor would approve of). Well, they be blind, since Blanca Paloma brought IT, and they failed to recognize. Outstanding vocals, stunning visuals, the power of the entire performance, and all the emotion and significance packed into a seemingly simple concept. It was more like a movie scene than a musical competition entry, she transported me into another dimension and unlocked something ancient and wonderful. All the people I've talked to had different favorites, but they all had strong, immensely positive reactions to Spain. I literally teared up and had a spiritual experience with Blanca Paloma's performance, and the energy she exuded was undeniably healing, freeing and over-all cathartic. While I knew that her chances of winning were slim and I didn't count on the public vote, she deserved SO MUCH MORE from both general public and the juries.

🇦🇹 Austria, Teya and Salena - Who the hell is Edgar: One of my favorites from the very beginning. A quality pop song with a bop-y rhythm and ingenious lyrics. Under the guise of random and silly, there's quite a few things implied - the obvious criticism of the music industry and the more subtle "people are readier to believe that a ghost of a famous writer possessed me than that a woman can write quality lyrics and have a sense of humor" (shout-out to generations of men claiming Kurt Cobain wrote Courtney Love's songs and lyrics, work on your reading comprehension) While that might be a personal observation, here's what absolutely stands. They're adorable, funny, had a fun choreography, a catchy song, the lyrics that are fun even if you don't analyze them, great personalities, solid performance, perfect delivery and the right amount of quality with a dash of random that matches Iceland's Dađy Freyr and that y'all claim to respect. Shame on the audience; the jury can't recognize talent anyway.

🇸🇮 Slovenia, Joker out - Carpe Diem: Not much left to say. Good song, good vibes, all the charisma in the world. They had Måneskin's synergy, they had a good time, the audience had a good time with them, and they were confident in a non-pretentious manner. Special mention for Bojan, the lead singer, who's shown such sportsmanship, was truly an example of a perfect esc. representative. The entire band seems very fun to hang out with, and while they're goofy, they seem very smart with how they manage to balance witty and respectful in interviews. Members aside, their music is refreshing and perfect for people that find mainstream pop repetitive but aren't into anything too heavy. Perfect for a summer music festival or a feel-good playlist.

🇵🇹 Portugal, Mimicat - Ai, coração: you know she's something special when her entire home country shows such support and excitement. I wasn't a fan at first when I saw the national performance, it seemed a bit out-dated and frankly a bit too weird for my taste, but she changed my mind as soon as she took the stage in the first semi. In my opinion, a Broadway-worthy performance, and such personality! Fun aunt vibes, and one of the coolest people this year. When I grow up, I wanna be her.

🇭🇷 Croatia, Let 3 - Mama, ŠČ: The juries are such cowards, honestly. I was familiar with some of the band's history and not everything they did was exactly my taste, but what else to expect from a band so unhinged. I had some misgivings, but they won me over quickly. The punkest thing Eurovison has seen in recent years. That's how you do anti-war, Switzerland. Satire on point. Weird, meaningful, fun, grotesque. How something like that didn't do better in Eurovision is beyond me. But leave it to the cowardly juries that left Italy's Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro with almost no points to do just that. I'm still butthurt.

🇷🇸 Serbia, Luke Black - Samo mi se spava: Listen, I was NOT a fan. All the homophobes aside, everyone in the country and their mom was gushing about how original and unique the song is, which can be annoying to someone who's as exposed to various aspects of pop culture as I am (humble,I know), and I still think his singing could be better. At first, he was a bit awkward and seemed pretentious during the national selection. However, the performance did stand out, he amped his energy and put such effort, and there's no denying the flawless staging and production and how well it suits him, and over time, he's proved to be a funny, likeable and down to earth guy (with flawless fashion sense). I'm proud of him and how he represented the country, and he definitely didn't deserve to be at the bottom of the list.

🇮🇸 Iceland, Diljá - Power: I'm OUTRAGED that it didn't qualify and can only call lesbophobia idk. I mean, Im not familiar with her sexuality, but if I've ever seen something that doesn't give a damn about the male gaze, this would be it. Still, it's beyond me how she didn't qualify. One of the best vocals this year, not to mention she sung FLAWLESSLY while running and jumping all over the stage with zero breaks. The track itself is meh to me, but should be something that Eurovision fans enjoy; that being said, the vocal and performance can make or break a song with such a track, and she ATE. Power indeed, I was blown away. Her being super-cute is just a bonus. She has my heart and my votes ♡ Too bad people didn't agree.

🇷🇴 Romania, Theodor Andrei - D.G.T: Ok, I can't shout that he deserved to qualify, I knew the chances were slim and the song had some ways to go, not to mention the hot mess of a national performance. However, he doesn't deserve ANY hate that he's getting, and in my opinion, he was the best male vocal this year. I'm in love with his voice and he doesn't lack charisma either. I loved the re-vamp with the acoustic guitar, but at the end of the day, the stage was a bit empty. I will add D. G. T. to my playlist though, and I wish him a wonderful career and a powerful return.

🇱🇻 Latvia, Sudden Lights - Aijā; Well, this one hurts. I know it wasn't a fan favorite, but I was rooting for it so much and still think it deserved to qualify over some *questionable* entries. While it was something straight out of my high-school playlist, I didn't find it derivative and it was warm, touching and comforting. And beautiful, goddammit. I get how it's not everyone's cup of tea, but come on.

🇵🇱 Poland, Jann - Gladiator: Was this a jumpscare? Lol. No need to write a huge paragraph, the entire world knows that he was robbed. I've never seen someone so charismatic and meant to be a performer, and I enjoyed both the song, the lyrics and the delivery, even though I immediately noticed a similarity with Judas by Lady Gaga. However, I feel obliged to say that he should work on his vocals and that y'all wouldn't be so mad if he didn't look the way he looks. Still, the true choice of Poland, and I have no doubt he would've done great in the final.

AND FINALLY .....

THE ONE TRUE WINNER

💚💚💚💚🇫🇮🇫🇮🇫🇮💚💚💚

Käärija (my beloved) - Cha Cha Cha:

Ok, he didn't lack the love or the appreciation. But the RIGGERY. The ROBBERY. THE AUDACITY.

First of all, the song is a banger. It mixes industrial rock, techno and eurodance perfectly, with flawless transitions, while managing to catch the ears of people that aren't into any of those genres. Great intro that pulls you in immediately, and the pacing done just right. Now onto Käärijä himself. He's a fucking star. A legend. It's impossible not to like him. Every video of him I've seen was so much fun. Performance wise, great energy, great delivery. The song manages to appeal so many people with staying unique and checking all the boxes. Want something for the angst? He got you. Want something upbeat? Cha cha cha motherfuckers. Want weird? "My name is Kääärijää", there's our green man. Want quality production? Boy from Vantaa's got it.

The only possible criticism I can see him receiving is something along the lines of "it's gimmicky", which is frankly a ridiculous thing to say about a Eurovision entry (insert the Maryl Streep from Devil Wears Prada meme) and if it were gimmicky, he wouldn't have become the only artist to ever have his name chanted by the entire audience while Sweden gets points, and I wouldn't have replayed it so many times since it came out without getting bored. Honestly, one of the rare songs that puts me in a good mood, cos it has that "starting from anger and angst and acknowledging bad feelings and THEN bringing you to upbeat and happy" thing going on. Eh. Fuck the jury.

This concludes my list. Special mentions.

Not my cup of tea, but deserved the praise - Norway, Italy, Australia, Armenia

Deserved more public votes, undeniable quality, but faded into the background compared to my other favs - France, Czechia

Not for me but I get it- Moldova, Estonia, Georgia

+ Acknowledging Malta for pulling that performance and getting everything possible out of a song that relies entirely on one catchy hook. Most improved entry since the nationals, good show, likeable group, fun staging.