All articles tagged with #cold war
Jeff Daniels stars as Reagan opposite Jared Harris’s Gorbachev in a Reykjavik Summit drama that aims to spark political conversation but leans one-sided to a US perspective; strong performances and striking Icelandic visuals cannot fully compensate for director Michael Russell Gunn’s restrained, schematic approach.
Apple TV+ released a trailer for Mayday, an action buddy comedy set during the Cold War, starring Ryan Reynolds as a U.S. Navy pilot stranded behind enemy lines who forms an unlikely alliance with ex-KGB agent Kenneth Branagh. The film is written, directed, and produced by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein and premieres September 4 on Apple TV.
Russia has restarted a regeneration program for the W-46 and W-84 diesel engines, enabling about 1,000 of the oldest T-72A hulls from long-term storage to be brought back to operational status and helping roughly 5,100 Soviet-era tanks be restored or readied. Some restored tanks will be upgraded toward the T-72B3M standard with added armor and modern electronics, but they still lag modern Russian tanks. Analysts caution that Russia no longer has a true Cold War stockpile to draw on for rapid regeneration after attritional warfare, signaling a shift in how it would conduct large-scale mechanized warfare in the future.
A Soviet MiG-25 Foxbat reportedly fired an AA-6 air-to-air missile at a U.S. SR-71 Blackbird near Vladivostok, but the Blackbird’s Defensive Electronic Gear allegedly interrupted the lock. Some accounts suggest the missile may have locked back onto the MiG-25 that fired it, illustrating the dangerous and fast-paced cat-and-mouse dynamic of Cold War high-speed interception. The piece also recalls Viktor Belenko’s 1976 defection and the Soviet goal of shooting down the SR-71 as the “holy grail,” while noting the MiG-25’s limitations at high speed and altitude.
Archaeologists using ground-penetrating radar uncovered a 1960s Royal Observer Corps bunker buried inside Scarborough Castle; sealed in 1968, its exact location had faded from memory until the dig revealed a waterlogged interior whose preserved features include a wooden door and paint. The bunker, designed to house up to 60 staff with basic air, water, and sewage systems but no heating, adds a new Cold War chapter to a site whose history spans Iron Age to Anglo-Saxon times, though there are no immediate plans to open it to visitors.
English Heritage archaeologists, backed by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, uncovered a sealed Royal Observer Corps Cold War bunker buried inside Scarborough Castle. Built in 1963 and sealed in 1968, the post featured bunk beds, communications rooms, an air‑filtration system and a 30‑day water reserve, with no windows. The find, part of a ROC centennial effort, deepens understanding of Britain’s civil‑defense network and paves the way for further study, including comparisons with a nearby restored York bunker.
BuzzFeed’s Screen Time highlights Ponies on Peacock as the must-watch this weekend, praising Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson for their chemistry as two 1977 embassy secretaries who become CIA operatives amid a Moscow conspiracy; the piece also references other current TV picks like A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and Tell Me Lies.
Emilia Clarke stars in Peacock’s Ponies, a 1977 Moscow-set spy caper about Bea and Twila, two Americans drawn into undercover work after their CIA husbands’ deaths. The series blends witty capers with an evolving friendship and emotional depth, anchored by Clarke in her first leading TV role since Game of Thrones, with a cliffhanger hinting at a Season 2 continuation.
NORAD celebrates 70 years of tracking Santa's sleigh, a tradition that began in 1955 as a playful way to promote air defense awareness during the Cold War, and has since become a beloved holiday event involving thousands of volunteers answering children's calls worldwide.
The article discusses Putin's annual political spectacle, highlighting Yulia Navalnaya's hopes for her husband's political legacy, recent security concerns over Google tracking in Dutch intelligence recruitment, and geopolitical tensions involving Russia's war in Ukraine and the potential for a new Cold War, with insights from figures like Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky warns that Russia will take decades to move past its imperialist-military narrative, as tensions in Ukraine and Europe suggest a potential Cold War II, with warnings from Putin's adversaries about ongoing conflicts and geopolitical risks.
The series 'It: Welcome to Derry' introduces a military subplot set in 1962, involving secret projects to retrieve a fear-generating entity, Pennywise, to potentially use it as a weapon against the Soviets, but the plan is highly dangerous and likely to backfire.
The article commemorates the 15th anniversary of Call of Duty: Black Ops, highlighting how Treyarch's bold departure from traditional WWII themes to a complex Cold War espionage narrative redefined the franchise, establishing Black Ops as a pivotal series with innovative storytelling, multiplayer modes, and Zombies mode, despite mixed critical reception and a shift in franchise dynamics.
Jane Fonda has revived the Committee for the First Amendment, a Cold War-era activist group originally backed by her father Henry Fonda, to defend free speech amid current political tensions, with notable signers including Florence Pugh and Billie Eilish.
President Putin views the Ukraine conflict through a lens of grievance over Russia's diminished status since the Cold War, emphasizing a desire to restore Russia's regional and global influence, while Western nations and NATO have responded by strengthening their alliances and military presence in Eastern Europe.