Red Dawn 2019: Reinstate 八一

Given the current state of things¹, it might be worth considering a re-release of 'Red Dawn (2012)', containing the original People's Republic of China story-line and imagery. It might not make the film any better, but at least the story and scenery would make a modicum more sense. Either-way, it would be pretty cool to see Chinese and Russian military on American streets, even in such a silly film as this.

¹ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-un-nuclear/risk-of-nuclear-war-now-highest-since-ww2-un-arms-research-chief-says-idUSKCN1SR24H

Below is a small list of [some defunct] URLs relating to the original version of film. There are images and texts about the original making of the film, as well as reviews and concerns about its release (circa 2010).

film info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Dawn_(2012_film)
official website: http://reddawn2010.com/
images of filming in Detroit: http://detroitfunk.com/red-dawn/
'Russians' turn up on set: http://reddawn2010.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=88:those-russians-just-cant-stay-out
concept art: http://www.productionillustration.com/gallery/red-dawn/
Some posters used in the film: http://hiro-tan.org/~ekoontz/red_dawn/
Review of the original version: http://www.libertasfilmmagazine.com/exclusive-libertas-sees-the-uncensored-version-of-mgms-new-red-dawn/
Anti-film preview: https://www.theawl.com/2010/05/real-america-red-dawn-remade-china-is-coming-for-our-children/
Anti-Film website: http://www.anti-reddawn2010.com/
Red Dawn News Twitter: https://twitter.com/reddawnnews
Forum thread discussing film changes: https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/red-dawn-remake-finally-coming-out.213393/


Some other images relating to the film in its current state:


A poor attempt at repainting one of the PLA stars to one representing the KPA.



A scene in the film where the symbol on a sign rapidly changes back and forth.
[see full video: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1JYxl5qNOCYY7HUoUkPzeblFcO07ueg-f]



The average colour of each frame in the film.
[explanation: https://oioiiooixiii.blogspot.com/2018/09/ffmpeg-fapa-frame-averaged-pixel-array.html]

Russia needs to get its act together

While our American friends show how it's really just child's play, Vova, with his persistent love of Rube Goldberg mechanics, makes himself look like a really bad Bond villain...

James Bond: "Do you expect me to talk?"
Bond villain: "Haha no Mr. Bond, I expect you suffer a suspicious, but recoverable, ailment in a public place, using an easily traceable substance, in the middle of the most tense geopolitical situation since the Cold War, weeks before my country hosts the FIFA World Cup."

context: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Skripal
context: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoneman_Douglas_High_School_shooting

Review: Winter Olympics 2018

High above the Olympic village, dastardly Vova Putin flies upon his diabolical meldonium powered Dope Rocket™, sprinkling athletes with his dope juice. - February 26, 2018

The 'Games' this year seemed a bit dull and uninspiring. Perhaps that is just my own perception though. Perhaps there weren't enough Time magazine covers with barbed wire Olympic rings, stories about weird toilets, warnings of 'Black Widows' blowing up planes with toothpaste bombs, or comparisons to the 1936 Berlin Games with premonitions of homosexuals being exterminated, to heighten my attention and excitement. The only bit of drama came from the ever persistent 'Russian Doping Scandal' story.

'Doping' seems to mean a lot of things these days. If you rub the wrong boil ointment on your arse, it's classed as 'doping'. It doesn't mean unusual amounts of asthma medication, or Japanese figure skaters winning gold medals 'doped' up on pain killers though.* Sport is filled with the dopes: the athletes, the officials, the journalists.¹

I liked the pre-recorded 'drones' section of the opening ceremony. Although what I missed was the outrage and accusations of 'State media censorship' when they switched to it, like there was when a back-up recording was used in the 2014 Sochi Games after there was a malfunction in the most important image of the Games: The appearance of the Olympic rings. That meant there was no similar 'feel-good' moment in the closing ceremony, like in Sochi when the organisers mocked themselves over the malfunctioning Olympic rings and the West collectively gasped: 'oh my goodness, Russians must be human too?'.

I thought it very nice that the USA sent vice-president Pence to the games, to sit next to the DPRK representative. The DPRK; the most sanctioned country in the world; the country, we're told, who might blow up the planet at any moment! The USA were unable to send anyone to Sochi though, because "Russia".²

There was no snow in the Republic of Korea, so they manufactured it all. Again [like a broken record]: Four years ago, we heard complaint, ridicule, and mockery, about how the Sochi snow wasn't 'real snow' and how embarrassing it was to have to put it there artificially.³

Alpine skiing: Not bad. Personally, it was a bit of a flop due the German women's team not doing so well. More importantly, their racesuit was the worst I've ever seen (and we thought the 'go faster stripes' of Sochi were bad!). Highlights: Poor American performance; Super-G race where Ester Ledecká pipped Anna [Fenninger] Veith for the gold medal.

All in all, a lackluster Games; very utilitarian. Russia didn't exist; America and China results were woeful.

* http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0004254098

¹ I find the whole topic of "drug" use in sport difficult to resolve. Humans are electro-chemical machines, we exist in, and are, chemistry. We can't be measured like the length of a ski, or number of bullets in the magazine of a biathlon rifle. "Drugs" seem like an intangible thing to track without some level of hypocrisy. As an example, there's already a potent stimulant that's classed as uncontrollable: Trimethylxanthine, aka, caffeine. Maybe its legal status is helped by the fact that all these sporting events are sponsored by caffeinated beverages.

² "the 1980's are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back" - Barack Obama.

³ How much energy was used to generate this snow? We'll be lambasted with Global Warming warnings, and how traditionally snowy areas are now snowless due to rising temperatures, meanwhile we'll burn up the planet to put snow back into these places. It seems like a downward spiral.

"Snow" pic.twitter.com/l9G7ZqyF2G

— OIOIIOOIXIII (@oioiiooixiii) February 15, 2018

⁴ How uninspired do you have to be to write "Germany" in faux Hangul script and stick it down the front of a racesuit 4 times. This is truly their worst. The blank one in 2010 was sublime in comparison. pic.twitter.com/rwuG1a8yOK

— OIOIIOOIXIII (@oioiiooixiii) February 18, 2018

see also: https://oioiiooixiii.blogspot.com/search/label/Sochi%202014

2013: Путин (Putin) on Snowden

Vova plays the game.

originally published: 2013, June.
video source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BkQw9wBpcE

bonus content...

2017: State of the Internet

Created with (GPL-2.0-or-later) Dia: http://live.gnome.org/Dia

'Kalinka': Cool Story Bro

comment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrdGQPtlteM&lc=z132svfrqmyyx3exf04cfl24jyvfw534ecg
context: https://twitter.com/oioiiooixiii/status/687811853028880384

WW3 starts on Youtube

And as the missile silo doors opened, many began to question the logic of using YouTube for diplomatic negotiations.. pic.twitter.com/fdm77AFKje

— oioiiooixiii (@oioiiooixiii) March 19, 2015

source video: https://youtu.be/L4NTBg2rr8w?t=39m20s

Пропаганда убивает / Propaganda kills

original: https://twitter.com/russian_market/status/572019957359357952

The return of politically motivated falling oil prices

The price of crude oil hasn't taken a nose dive like this since 2008, when Georgia decided to start a war with Russia #

With sanctions on Russia not biting enough, America tells the Saudi's to: "pump, ye bastards!"

story: http://www.euronews.com/2014/11/27/russian-economy-stumbles-under-oil-price-pressure/

Ukrainians erect new monuments to replace toppled Lenin

Captain Euro: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Euro
Toppled Lenin monuments: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_the_monument_to_Lenin_in_Kiev

Crimea.ru Vs. Crimea.ua

Whois records indicate that crimea.ua was created in 1992 and crimea.ru in 2000. This is a look at how the Internet Archive's "WayBack Machine" has cached both websites over the years of their existence.

In December 2013, crimea.ua started getting near daily visits from the WayBack Machine. This was just after the "Euromaidan" "revolution" began in November, but before it reached it's culmination in February, and before the international dispute over Crimea's sovereignty appeared. It's not clear how or why this caching regime took place, nor if it has any real significance. A closer inspection of whois details might be worth a look.

source: https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://crimea.ru
info: http://whois.domaintools.com/crimea.ru
context: http://crimea.ru

source: https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://crimea.ua
info: http://whois.domaintools.com/crimea.ua
context: http://crimea.ua

Let slip the dogs of war...

context: http://www.theguardian.com/world/us-news-blog/2014/aug/01/obama-putin-poodle-leopard-caption-competition

Ukrainian Conspiracy Theories: The Bombing of Луганск (Lugansk)

info: http://www.reddit.com/r/CombatFootage/comments/27407u/missile_strike_in_lugansk/chy2ikk

X-Men: First Class (2011)

Hey, look at that, Crimea is Russia. In fact all of Ukraine is Russia. According to this film, the entire Soviet Union is Russia, and not just in imagery, all the dialogue refers to the Soviet Union as Russia.

The film's story revolves around the 1962 "Cuban Missile Crisis" and it's all: Russia this, and Russia that. That's not too bad though, "Russia" is an inaccurate term often used during the Cold War, and I must give the film credit for including the missiles in Turkey aspect, which sparked it all off to begin with.

On the doors of the Soviet "war room" we see two imperial Russian crests, a common sight in Russia today. Common today but an impossible abnormality in the Soviet Union. It's akin to a Tom Clancy film, depicting the IRA waving Union Jacks and singing God Save the Queen. A complete contradiction.

At first, I thought perhaps they were filming on location, in a Russian museum or something, but no, this was a mock-up in London, so they deliberately chose to put those emblems on the doors. An honest mistake? Perhaps (the film is riddled with mistakes), but...

The film makers went to such a bizarre effort to make the Soviet Union appear as Russia. Here on the "war room" map, we see the Soviet Union marked as российская сфср (Russian SFSR). Russia was but one of the socialist republics of the USSR. This is like showing a map of Europe, where all the European Union countries shaded one colour and titled as "Germany". Or the United Kingdom and Common Wealth labeled as England.

It's odd though, because it's written in cyrillic. They could have written any old rubbish and no English speaking viewer would know any better, but why go to that effort and not just write, Союз Советских Социалистических Республик, or simply, СССР. They wrote СССР elsewhere, but why not here...

By the end of the film, Michael Fassbender had given up, and just spoke with an Irish accent. So pronounced was it, that I thought perhaps Magneto was being played by Dylan Moran.

But for all inaccuracies, most people will only care about J-Law's blue boobs.

info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1270798/

The biggest wars are fought for your mind...

source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27030652
source: http://en.itar-tass.com/world/727806

Carl Sagan Vs. Neil deGrasse Tyson

Moon Landing: July 20, 1969. No other act of human exploration ever laid a plaque saying "We Come In Peace For All Mankind"
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) July 20, 2013

"For me, the most ironic token of that moment in history is the plaque signed by President Richard M. Nixon that Apollo 11 took to the Moon. It reads: "We came in peace for all mankind." As the United States was dropping 7.5 megatons of conventional explosives on small nations in Southeast Asia, we congratulated ourselves on our humanity: We would harm no one on a lifeless rock. "

Excerpt from Carl Sagan (1994, pp.206-215)
Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
New York: Random House
via:  http://alexpetrov.com/memes/astro/apollo.html

Naughty, naughty, @EuromaidanPR person

You could spend your life dissecting the disinformation war over Крым / Crimea. This one only took a couple of clicks on Google, however.

tweet: https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPR/status/442999336134516736
link: http://urb-a.livejournal.com/4669307.html?thread=114130555#t114130555

A few things to remember when you hear British politicians pontificate over Crimea

Weaponised Homosexuality

Some years ago, I noticed the diverging trends between the West's and Russia's views on the topic of homosexuality, but it was the contrast in messages between the Pope and Russian Patriarch in July 2013 that really got me interested. There's a lot here about comments and actions by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, but this is necessary, as the Orthodox Church continues to entangle itself more and more into the running of Russian state affairs. The Catholic Pope plays an important role for the West also.* These are just some scraps of information (in chronological order) that I can recall from over the years, a decent Google search will uncover far more. I may add to these as time goes on.

20 April 2005  New Pope: Vatican makes a valuable present for Russian Orthodox Church  The Russian Orthodox Church has received a valuable present from the Vatican - the new Pope German Joseph Ratzinger or, as his new name goes, Benedict XVI, is the most conservative cardinal. The new pontiff condemns divorces, marriages between homosexuals, cloning and so on. The Russian Orthodox Church shares all these positions. http://en.ria.ru/world/2http://sputniknews.com/art_living/20160212/1034672002/kirill-francis-meeting.html0050420/39711408.html

8 July 2010   Bergoglio accuses same-sex marriage bill of 'being Satan's work to destroy God's plan' Bergoglio [Pope Francis] accused the bill of being more than just "a simple legislative instrument" and said it was "a move by the devil, looking to confuse and deceive all children of God." http://www.buenosairesherald.com/BreakingNews/View/38707

13 July 2010  Argentina Senate to Vote on Gay Marriage The war of words continued on Tuesday as church leaders staged large protests around the country against the proposed law. On Sunday, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio [Pope Francis], the archbishop of Buenos Aires, had declared it a “destructive attack on God’s plan.” http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/world/americas/14argentina.html

21 October 2010  European Council for Human Rights rules against Russia in Moscow Gay Rights case  The case concerned the complaints by a Russian gay-rights activist (Никола́й Алексе́ев / Nikolay Alexeyev) about a repeated rejection by the Moscow authorities of his requests to organise gay-pride parades. http://humanrightseurope.blogspot.com/2010/10/echr-rules-on-moscow-gay-rights-case.html

30 October 2010  Rally against gay parades held in Moscow  The rally was organized by a number of Orthodox organizations and began with a prayer. Many people carried icons and signs reading "We do not need gay parades!", "A gay parade will never be held in Moscow", and others. http://en.ria.ru/society/20101030/161148984.html

12 March 2012 Church Official Urges Nationwide 'Gay Propaganda' Law A new law in Russia's second city, St. Petersburg, that imposes fines for spreading "gay propaganda" among minors should be implemented nationwide, an Orthodox Church official said on Monday, a day after the legislation was signed by the city's governor. http://en.ria.ru/society/20120312/172114388.html

13 April 2012 Russia Rejects G8 Attempts to Single out Homosexuals Russia has disassociated itself from words in a G8 statement that singled out homosexuals as a separate group whose rights need to be protected, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Friday. “We have repeatedly said that the Russian Federation condemns any forms and manifestations of discrimination on any grounds. We proceed from the assumption that a ban on discrimination in international legal acts on human rights is general and relates to all people without exception,” Ryabkov told journalists. http://en.ria.ru/society/20120413/172789854.html

21 May 2012             Newsweek magazine declares Barack Obama to be "The First Gay President". http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/05/newsweek-cover-the-first-gay-president-123283.html

13 March 2013 Habemus Papam! Cardinal Bergolio Elected Pope Francis Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J., the first Jesuit pope in history, was elected to the papacy, taking the name of Pope Francis. [this came after the surprise resignation of "ultra conservative" Pope Benedict XVI (28.02.2013), the first such resignation since 1415. The resignation of Pope Gregory XII took place for political reasons, to end the "Western Schism". Benedict XVI claims he was not pressured, and stepped down due to being of "advanced age".] http://www.news.va/en/news/habemus-papam-cardinal-bergolio-elected-pope

22 July 2013 Russian government and the church successfully cooperate in various aspects of civil life - Putin. According to the President, the Russian Orthodox Church and the government are now cooperating in more than one aspect, including the cultivation of moral values and supporting families. http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_07_22/Russian-government-and-the-church-successfully-cooperate-in-various-aspects-of-civil-life-Putin-8704/

22 July 2013 Gay marriage is sign of the of apocalypse - Patriarch Kirill "This is a very dangerous sign of the apocalypse ... It means people are choosing a path of self-destruction," Patriarch Kirill told churchgoers on Moscow's Red Square. http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_07_22/Gay-marriage-is-sign-of-the-of-apocalypse-Patriarch-Kirill-8698/

29 July 2013 Pope Francis Discusses Gay Catholics: 'Who Am I To Judge?' Gay people should be integrated into society instead of ostracized, Pope Francis told journalists after his weeklong trip to Brazil. Answering a question about reports of homosexuals in the clergy, the pope answered, "If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?" [slick talk, as this stance is no different to any other Pope, who let's it up to God to do the judging. It's also quite contrary to his homophobic remarks pre-Popedom.] http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/07/29/206622682/pope-francis-discusses-gay-catholics-who-am-i-to-judge

07 August 2013 Stephen Fry to IOC: Putin treats gays just like Hitler treated Jews Popular British entertainer, Stephen Fry, caused much debate, from every-side, when he suggested that the Russian law forbidding the "propagation of non-traditional sexual relations to minors" is identical to the inhuman treatment and murdering of Jews during the Holocaust. Fry demanded that "An absolute ban on the Russian Winter Olympics of 2014 in Sochi is simply essential,". http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/world-at-play/putin-gays-hitler-jews-olympic-ban-stephen-fry

18 December 2013 Obama states that he will not attend Olympic Games at Sochi - sends gay athletes in his place. President Barack Obama sent Russia a clear message about its treatment of gays and lesbians with who he is -- and isn't -- sending to represent the United States at the Sochi Olympics. For the first time since 2000, however, the U.S. will not send a president, former president, first lady or vice president to the Games. http://espn.go.com/olympics/story/_/id/10154712/president-barack-obama-selects-gay-athletes-sochi-delegation

16 December 2013 Gay Rights mag names Pope Francis 'Person of the Year' despite same-sex marriage stance The December issue of The Advocate features Pope Francis with a “NO H8” message photoshopped on his right cheek. Next to his photo is a quote from the pope’s interview with reporters in July, while en route from Brazil to Rome. http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/12/16/Pope-Francis-Same-Sex-Marriage-Opponent-Named-Person-of-the-Year-By-Gay-Rights-Mag

23 December 2013 TIME magazine declares Pope Francis their "Person of the Year".  "The first non-European pope in 1,200 years..." “If a homosexual person is of good will and is in search of God, I am no one to judge.” [TIME define their "Person of the Year" as not a championing (this is always explained when defending their awarding of Hitler as "Man of the Year"). It is doubly interesting to note their choice of the Pope over Edward Snowden.] http://poy.time.com/2013/12/11/person-of-the-year-pope-francis-the-peoples-pope/

* The role of a Catholic Pope in all this should not be under estimated. The Pope can act as a leveraging tool for the West over Russia. A previous example is Pope John Paul II. Like the extraordinary events regarding the inauguration of Pope Francis after Benedict's resignation, the choice of a Polish Pope also came as a surprise, as he the first non-Italian Pope elected in over 500 years. Even more interestingly, in every biography of Pope John Paul II, you will see listed as his first achievement, his instrumental involvement in the abolishment of Communism in his home country of Poland, which paved the way for the eventual dissolution of the Soviet Union.

see also:  http://oioiiooixiii.blogspot.com/2014/01/sochi-olympics-conspiracy-theory.html

--- UPDATES ---

12 January 2016 "Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis come together for a historic meeting in the Cuban capital, the first time that the leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches have met in nearly 1,000 years." http://sputniknews.com/art_living/20160212/1034672002/kirill-francis-meeting.html

Kissy, kissy?