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ClandesTime 195 – The New Cultural Cold War

The original Cultural Cold War has been the subject of numerous books and articles on both sides of the divide, but the new version has been almost entirely ignored. This week, I talk to writer and cultural critic Max Parry about the new Cultural Cold War, focusing in on HBO’s mini-series Chernobyl and season 3 of Stranger Things. We discuss when the new cultural conflict began and why, before drilling down into these two examples to illustrate how the propaganda works. We round off looking to the future as this cultural conflict is likely to continue and expand.

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Jack Ryan Star John Krasinski Tries to Dispell Allegations of Propaganda

With just a week to go before season 2 of Amazon's Jack Ryan is released and the eponymous star John Krasinski has tried to downplay allegations that the show is propaganda for a US coup or war in Venezuela.  In an interview he tried to make out that the new ...
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‘While the Script is Somewhat Clichéd, We Are Not Movie Critics’ – DOD Memo on The Heroes of Desert Storm

There aren't very many films about the first Gulf War, which is ironic because if ever there was a war for PR purposes, that was it.  While Jarhead and Three Kings were rejected by the Pentagon's Hollywood office, one film that did benefit from military support was The Heroes of ...
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Subscriber Podcast #35 – China, Censorship and South Park

Over the last few weeks a storm has been brewing about the Chinese government’s censorship of American movies, as well as several countries banning or censoring the Chinese co-production Abominable. On this month’s subscriber-only podcast I analyse these controversies for their double standards and general stupidity, and review the recent ...
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Vietnam Bans a Movie, But Somehow It is China’s Fault?

Today's entertainment news features an absolute gem of political hypocrisy: Vietnam's one party 'Communist' state has banned the animated kids' movie Abominable, and the Western media are heralding the decision, claiming that Vietnam are standing up to China's censorious one party 'Communist' state.  This is perhaps the dumbest employment of ...
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Ex-MI6 Boss Says he Wouldn’t Have Allowed Skyfall to Blow Up MI6 HQ

Former head of MI6 and Iraq War criminal Sir Richard Dearlove continued his recent speight of complaining about everything by claiming that he was never told that the producers of several Bond films had been granted permission to film the MI6 headquarters at Vauxhall Cross.  Dearlove says that the requests ...
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ClandesTime 195 – The New Cultural Cold War

The original Cultural Cold War has been the subject of numerous books and articles on both sides of the divide, but the new version has been almost entirely ignored. This week, I talk to journalist Max Parry about the new Cultural Cold War, focusing in on HBO’s mini-series Chernobyl and ...
Read more

Did the Pentagon Support Venezuela Coup Porn Jack Ryan Season 2?

As prep for my forthcoming video on Amazon's Jack Ryan as next-gen propaganda I've been keeping an eye on promotions and events around the launch of season two in November.  The first episode was shown at New York Comic-Con a few days ago, and at a panel discussion the new ...
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The Film Censorship Cold War — China vs the US

Recently, Martha Bayles of The Atlantic published a hilariously misleading essay calling for Hollywood to produce more pro-American propaganda, in the face of the Chinese government’s increased role in the entertainment industry. While FAIR have put out a solid rebuttal of Bayles’ hack quackery (hat tip to Max Parry who ...
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Ex-MI6 Boss Blasts Le Carré’s Spy Novels, Even Though MI6 Vetted Most of Them

Former MI6 chief Richard Dearlove has criticised spy author John Le Carré for his 'nihilistic' and 'corrosive' view of British intelligence, even though Le Carré submitted all of his early novels to MI6 for them to review prior to publication.  This appears to be the latest round of intelligence doublespeak ...
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Even the US Army Warned of Violence at the Joker Premiere But So Far, So Good

For weeks the internet has been awash with claims, rumours, scuttlebutt and hearsay about some kind of shooting at the premiere of the new Joker movie.  Even the US Army sent out a memo saying they'd received a 'credible threat' of a shooting attack, but the film's premiere went off ...
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ClandesTime 194 – Oliver Stone’s JFK

This week, I welcome to the show author and friend James Oddy to discuss the JFK assassination case and its treatment in the Oliver Stone movie JFK. We look at the psychological and political consequences of the assassination, as well as the political and cultural impact of the film. We ...
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Napalm, Ambushes and Russian Roulette: Why the Pentagon Rejected The Deer Hunter

The epic war drama The Deer Hunter won five Oscars, despite the central conceit and metaphor of the film being inaccurate.  This conceit - that the Viet Cong forced American prisoners of war to play Russian Roulette - is the main reason the film was rejected for DOD support, along ...
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