What We're Watching
India's Election Tourism – Your Signal authors are always on the lookout for vacations that combine relaxation with opportunities to nerd out on global politics and, man, have we found one: "Election Tourism India" has a five-week-long offering that combines standard sightseeing with the chance to attend colorful local political rallies across the country and meet-and-greet events with candidates for India's parliament. More than 3,500 people from outside India have already signed up, and we're going to find this hard to resist.
Golan blowback – In an unusual show of agreement between bitter regional rivals, the largest Gulf Arab states and Iran all condemned the US decision to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, a section of Syrian territory that Israel has occupied since 1967. We're watching to see if this makes it harder to get regional buy-in on any new Middle East Peace Plan. Wait, there's a new Middle East Peace plan? Yes, allegedly Jared Kushner has recently been putting the final touches on his magnum opus. But any solution will require support from Saudi Arabia and other regional Arab powers that can't, for domestic political reasons, accept legitimizing further Israeli occupation of Arab landWhat We're Ignoring
Russians quoting non-existent Chinese proverbs – When a reporter asked Vladimir Putin's seasoned spokesman Dmitry Peskov about the end of the Mueller investigation at a press conference in Moscow this week, Peskov replied, "I would like to quote the words of a Chinese philosopher who said, 'It is very hard to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if it is not there,'" Good zinger, Dmitry Sergeyevich, but it seems that the proverb is . . . not actually from China.
"Techno-dystopian" Eurovision contestants – An Icelandic band called Hatari (or "Haters" in English) won the Nordic country's national Eurovision contest, securing a spot in the pan-European televised song contest and kitsch-fest which half your Signal authors love, and Alex hates. (Willis thinks Eurovision is a precursor of End Times.) The band, which takes the stage in sadomasochism garb, describes its music as "techno-dystopian"and roars that "hate will prevail... and Europe's heart impale. Burn off its web of lies." Lead singer Matthías Tryggva hailed the victory as bringing the band "one step nearer to our plan, to destroy capitalism." We like techno-dystopian BDSM metal as much as anyone, but we're ignoring Hatari, because Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails got there first.
