LEGITIMATE POLITICAL DISCOURSE? Our thoughts and prayers are with Ukrainians right now, as they fight for their very existence. Before Russian Vladimir Putin gave the order to invade their sovereign country, there was evidence that Ukrainians weren’t going to accept it. No better example than when Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Butosov took offense to the views of a pro-Russian member of parliament by the name of Nestor Shufrych who appeared on a talk show with him. Butosov belted Shufrch in the mouth and rolled around on the studio floor with him for a bit. The video also shows a sign language interpreter calmly continuing her signing as the lads duked it out. In hindsight, the fight on the studio stage was eerily prescient of what would play out on the world stage as well.
THE QUEEN’S SPEECH: Here’s a speech we hope is never given. Salon.com picked an interesting time, as Russia surrounded Ukraine and Putin released pictures of nuclear weapons drills, to remind us that back in 1983, Buckingham palace figured it would be prudent to draft a speech for Queen Elizabeth II to use just in case the U.S. and the USSR started lobbing nuclear weapons at each other. The draft of the speech was released in 2013, as part of the U.K.’s declassification efforts. There must have been some specific intelligence that convinced the Brits that preparing some remarks was prudent. The draft is a reminder of how some things remain unchanged over the decades – and how some things don’t.
THAT WAS THEN: NPR ran a five-part series marking the 50th anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s trip to China. Some of the fallout from the unexpected trip exposed secret intelligence cooperation between the U.S. and China about their mutual foe: the Soviet Union. Relations between Washington and Beijing warmed a bit in the next couple of years. NPR says that shortly after the U.S. and China established diplomatic relations in early 1979, Deng Xiaoping visited DC. NPR says Deng requested to make one stop that has never been reported before: to CIA Headquarters. “He arrived at the headquarters in the dead of night. Everyone had gone home. CIA headquarters was basically empty. Deng’s first stop was the command center,” NPR says. Deng reportedly had a 45-minute meeting in CIA Director Stansfield Turner’s office. No word on whether he swung by the most critical portion of any Langley visit these days – the gift shop.
DIPLO-THRILLER: It is not every day that Foggy Bottom is the setting for a TV thriller. But Netflix has announced an 8-part political thriller called, “The Diplomat” starring Keri Russell, who plays a career diplomat, “who lands a high-profile job she’s unsuited for in the midst of an international crisis, creating tectonic implications for her marriage and her political future.”Russell, as you may recall, previously starred in “The Americans.”
PANAMA PICTURE: A trailer just dropped for an upcoming movie called “Panama” in which Mel Gibson and Cole Hauser star in an action thriller set during the political upheaval of 1989 Panama. The U.S. is on the brink of invading Panama and a former Marine (Cole Hauser) is hired by a CIA operative (Mel Gibson) for a top secret arms trade mission. Alone, and among the most dangerous of arms dealers, Hauser’s character supposedly, “learns the true nature of political power.” The film is set to come out sometime this year but exactly when and where is unclear as it seems to have had some upheaval of its own. Originally, Morgan Freeman and Frank Grillo were slated to be the stars. Unclear why the leads were changed in the film. We’re guessing it had something to do with the true nature of Hollywood political power.
PARAMOUNT PLUS: The streaming service Paramount+ has picked up a CIA drama series called “Lioness” starring Zoe Saldaña. Nicole Kidman is an executive producer through her company Blossom Films. According to a Paramount+ press release: “Lioness is based on a real-life CIA program and follows a Marine who is recruited to befriend the daughter of a terrorist to bring the organization down from within. Saldaña plays Joe, a strong-willed, hard-nosed, station chief of the CIA’s Lioness program, tasked with training, managing and leading her female undercover operatives working to assassinate the world’s most dangerous terrorists.” We’d like to know more about this “real-life CIA program” – which sounds more “reel-life” to us.
BIG BANG THEORY: Military.com says there is a debate going on about the biggest explosion in motion picture history. The “Guinness World Records of 2022” (we were surprised to notice they no longer call themselves the “Guinness BOOK of World Records”) says the James Bond movie “Spectre” had the biggest blast using 2,223 gallons of fuel and 72 pounds of explosives for one heckuva boom. You can catch a clip of it here. But film director Michael Bay says his 2001 movie, “Pearl Harbor” should hold the record. We’re not sure which one – but there are six minutes of things exploding in this excerpt. Other folks might say the biggest movie bomb was the 2019 musical, “Cats”
POCKET LITTER: Dead Droplets and bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
COMMANDERS GET LITTLE RESPECT: DC residents are not saluting the new name for the outfit formerly known (among other things) as the “Washington Football Team.” The Washington Post says 37% of locals just dislike the moniker but 17% hate it. On the bright side – the positive rating for the “Commanders” is probably a more favorable review than residents would give to the “politicians.”
BUNNY BUGS PENTAGON: Something weird is going on in the Pentagon. OK, that’s not new. But the fresh trend is that odd animals keep turning up in unexpected places. A few weeks ago, a chicken tried to sneak into the building. No word on what it was trying to pullet. Then last week, a rabbit showed up unannounced in the Center Courtyard of what is supposed to be one of the world's most secure buildings. At last report, no one could explain how it got in there but we figure someone pulled it out of his or her hat.
WHAT’S UP, DOC? We imagine you have seen some hare raising things out there. Don’t be a Fudd. Share your news with us by sending an email to: TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com.
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