I have lagged behind posting how prophetic my Bond novel is. I’m going to post a lot of headlines.
The Wizard
“Initially, the Chinese military covertly sought the vessel against Beijing’s wishes, using a former basketball player, Xu Zengping, as a front to purchase the incomplete Soviet carrier under the guise of converting it into a floating casino.“
Since February 2022, the UK has committed nearly £12 billion in total support to Ukraine, with £7.1 billion earmarked for military aid. (Picture source UK MoD)
This James Bond Story Demands a Proper Adaptation
PUBLISHED 3 DAYS AGO
The movie adaptation shares a name… and little else.
THE BIG PICTURE
- Moonraker was one of the campiest James Bond films, straying far from the original novel’s plot.
- The movie focused on a global threat, unlike the book’s localized storyline. The novel is grounded in reality, whereas the film appeared to piggyback off of Star Wars ‘ success.
- Moonraker ‘s absurd elements, like comical uniforms and racist stereotypes, make it a film in need of a redo.
March 17, 2024 Topic: Security Region: Asia Blog Brand: The Reboot Tags: MilitaryDefenseHistoryChinaAircraft CarriersNavyPLANUkraine
How China’s Navy Scammed Its Way Into Aircraft Carriers
The acquisition of China’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, reads like a geopolitical thriller mixed with a comedy of errors. Initially, the Chinese military covertly sought the vessel against Beijing’s wishes, using a former basketball player, Xu Zengping, as a front to purchase the incomplete Soviet carrier under the guise of converting it into a floating casino.
AWorld War II-era ship born along the Napa River and tested in harrowing Navy and Coast Guard missions by the dozens looks to have a better future than the scrap heap.
Mark “Doc” Avraham is spearheading efforts to care for the decommissioned boat — named the USS Shackle while in the Navy and Acushnet during its Coast Guard service — at a marina in Tacoma, Washington. He envisions it being a place for homeless veterans to live and train for jobs, and a museum with a café.
And who knows – perhaps the Shackle/Acushnet could return to the county of its birth. Eight decades ago, Basalt built ships for the Navy at the site of today’s Napa Pipe, recently renamed RiverSound and the planned site for hundreds of homes and a Costco.
- Exhibit looks at 100 years of Jerusalem through the eyes of its artists
- Set in new Tower of David pavilion in Old City and nearby Hamiffal art space, show serves up shot of history chased by exploration of the city’s complicated contemporary realities
- By JESSICA STEINBERG FOLLOWToday, 6:59 am
- Curator Tal Kobo at the Tower of David Museum’s new exhibit, ‘Spirit of the Stone,’ which opened March 7, 2024 (Courtesy Ricky Rachman)
- The Tower of David Museum is taking an extensive look at art over the last 100 years in Jerusalem in its latest exhibit, “Jerusalem School,” which portrays the city as reflected in the works of artists who have called the city home from the earliest days of the Bezalel art school to the contemporary works of recent years.
- “Jerusalem School,” which opened March 7 and will remain in place through July 15, is split into two parts in two separate venues, one examining pre-state art in the museum’s new Angelina Drahi Entrance pavilion exhibition space, and another that takes the story forward to modern times at art space HaMiffal, just a short walk away.
- “We’re the museum of Jerusalem,” said Eilat Lieber, director of the Tower of the David Museum. “We have asked ourselves many times, what happened in Jerusalem in the art world?”
On March 22, 2024, the British Ministry of Defense announced through its X account a new £60 million package of military support for Ukraine, marking a substantial contribution from the UK-administered International Fund for Ukraine. This latest aid package aims to bolster Ukraine’s Armed Forces in their ongoing conflict, providing advanced new surveillance drones along with a £20 million allocation for air defense systems to safeguard Ukraine’s airspace.
March 25, 2024 Topic: Security Region: Americas Tags: U.S. NavyNavyMilitaryBattleshipsUSS New JerseyWWIIDefense
The U.S. Navy Can’t Afford a Fleet of “Battleships”?
The USS New Jersey, an iconic Iowa-class dreadnought now serving as a museum ship, is making headlines as it undergoes a significant maintenance phase, including repainting and hull repairs, at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.
Imagine if Carl Jung Pyschoanalysed James Bond…
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May 27, 2018
Freud and Jung are the two godfathers of psychoanalysis. The former tended to focus on mummy issues and repressed desires, while the latter tended to focus on culture, myths and spirituality. Perhaps, the most intriguing work of Jung was his work on alchemy. Rather than seeing it as the debunked method of turning actual lead into gold, he viewed it metaphorically as the process for human transformation or as he called it individuation.
You may ask what this has got to with James Bond, well I came across a great article in the excellent movie magazine Beneficial Shock! that applied this Jungian idea on the four Daniel Craig James Bond movies. So I thought I’d lay it out:
Stage 1 of alchemy — nigredo (blackening) in Casino Royale
In this stage, your persona and sense of self of stripped away so that you are left like a black gloop. In Casino Royale, the stripping away starts early as we see Bond fighting in a men’s toilets in the opening scenes. Later, he meets Vesper Lynd on his way to Montenegro, which can be translated as black mountain (see the word “black” again). She is every bit his match and we see the soft side of Bond. He later even says “I have no armour left you’ve stripped it from me”. She naturally betrays him, which pushes him over the edge — a primal mess.
Russia lost a third of its Black Sea Fleet warships before top brass decided to take Ukraine’s naval drones more seriously
Mar 19, 2024, 1:46 PM PDTShareSave
- Ukraine has found repeated success in the Black Sea by using naval drones to hammer Russian ships.
- As of last month, Russia had already lost a third of its Black Sea Fleet, officials said.
- This has forced Moscow’s top brass to look into better ways to protect its warships from drones.
The Patriarchate of Jerusalem announced that the monastic schema of nun Marianna Agathokleous, Abbess of the Holy Monastery of Saint George in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem is suspended until her chastisement. The reason for this is that she abandoned her ministry and went to Australia without proper permission.
South Africa Works to Build US Ties as Lawmakers Urge Review
- Bill to review ties passes committee, to go to full House vote
- US, South Africa at loggerheads over geopolitical events
Inside Israel’s Disturbing Denial of Starvation in Gaza
Israeli authorities and pro-Israel keyboard warriors, who systematically deny the evidence of expert research, aid agencies and Gazans themselves about catastrophic hunger in Gaza, have a clear, shameless motivationShare in FacebookShare in TwitterShare in WhatsApp
Palestinians waiting for food distribution in the southern city of Rafah, Gaza Strip.Credit: Hatem Ali,APDahlia ScheindlinGet email notification for articles from Dahlia ScheindlinFollow
Mar 26, 2024
Among the ugliest spectacles of the ugliest phase of Israeli and Palestinian history is the attempt to deny the horrors committed by “our” side. Israeli authorities and pro-Israel keyboard warriors are cultivating denialism daily, and shamelessly.
In addition to waging a war of shocking brutality against civilians, the narrative-makers are busy doing the unthinkable: denying hunger in Gaza. Caveat: the word for “hunger” and “famine” are identical in Hebrew, but it’s splitting hairs to argue that they deny famine, not hunger. The aim is to absolve Israel.
Rosamond Press 
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