Have to say, Rask, I think this is a completely new ball game. We can't go off past lukewarm "protests" of a political nature as a guide. The feeling is too high, too febrile , too angry this time, and with the atrocities a daily, hourly, occurrence.

How many countries will withdraw in protest (as writers did for the PEN America literary awards recently, which then had to be cancelled.) Wouldn't it be terrific if out of the 38+ entrants we were left with fewer than ten in the final -- those nations complicit/supportive of Israel's genocide in Gaza.