Austria's talented entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest is highly deserving of all her accolades and acclaim and has managed to unite a big part of the world in respect. The evening did not go so well for Russia and affiliates that took a sour-grapes attitude after being the brunt of much booing and jeers, not only the performance but also when the viewer and jury votes were tallied and anyone voted for Russia.
Russia distained the whole extravaganza, blocking the segment in national broadcasts when the Austrian power-ballad was aired and holding it up as emblematic of what the West and European Union represents and shamed any Western-oriented former satellite states for aspiring to such things. Russian government officials went so far as to claim the contestant was part of US intelligence psychological operation, meant to demoralise and upturn the spiritual values of the Russian peoples. Although I don’t believe that for a second, stranger plots yet have been hatched: Chuck Barris, host of the wonderfully bizarre Gong Show was in fact a spy and an assassin for the US CIA and the absurdists’ game show (and spin-offs, the Dating Game and the Newlywed Game) was a means for transmitting coded messages to other field operatives, though the agency disavows any knowledge of this.
