Putin advisor hails Nunn film on nuclear terror ("Last Best Chance")

WASHINGTON — "Last Best Chance," a short movie about efforts by al-Qaida terrorists to obtain nuclear weapons to use against the United States and Great Britain, has drawn applause from a senior Russian official despite its portrayal of weaknesses in the security of Russia's stockpile.

In the opening scene, gangsters offer an underpaid Russian scientist a bribe to help them steal a warhead from a poorly secured weapons site.

"I think this movie should be distributed all over the world," Sergei Karaganov, foreign policy adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Tuesday night after watching a screening of the 45-minute film. "I disagree with some of the elements, but it's a great movie."

The film, a fast-paced drama about the frantic efforts of an American president to stop the terrorists, was produced by the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonprofit organization headed by former Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn and businessman Ted Turner.

The film, in which former Sen. Fred Thompson plays the president, is to be aired Monday night on HBO. The network has also scheduled four additional showings.

Scripted as a fast-paced "techno-thriller," its purpose is to stimulate public concern about nuclear terrorism, one of the chief concerns of the organization.

As writer Hendrik Hertzberg observed in The New Yorker, the film has "no sex scenes, no car chases and no wisecracking sidekicks" but "lays out a frighteningly plausible narrative of how terrorists might buy or steal the makings of a nuclear bomb."

In addition to trying to buy a warhead in Russia, al-Qaida has agents working to secure weapons-grade uranium and plutonium in other countries.

The movie cuts rapidly from "Oval Office" scenes to a warehouse in Poland, a crude weapons factory in Sudan, and a lonely crossing point on the U.S.-Canadian border as Russia, the United States and other countries race to stop the terrorists.

It has previously been screened in Atlanta and other cities and the group has given away more than 52,000 DVDs to people who asked for it on a Web site, www.lastbestchance.org.

Nunn and Karaganov talked about nuclear terrorism and the Russian-U.S. relationship in a short panel discussion following the Tuesday screening here.

They agreed that the two countries should be able to "walk and chew gum at the same time," Nunn's term for cooperating on efforts to secure nuclear weapons, even while they differ in many other areas.

Nunn has for the past decade cajoled both American and Russian officials to take more decisive action to lock down nuclear weapons and weapons-grade nuclear material. He also lobbies for both countries to relax the Cold War "quick response" strategies each still maintains in the event of a possible attack by the other.

The former Georgia senator confirmed in an interview that making the movie – with $1 million from the Nuclear Threat Initiative, the MacArthur Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York – was his idea.

"If we spent $1 million on newspaper advertisements and television commercials about this problem, we wouldn't even make a ripple," he said.

"The film, a fast-paced drama about the frantic efforts of an American president to stop the terrorists, was produced by the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonprofit organization headed by former Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn and businessman Ted Turner.

The film, in which former Sen. Fred Thompson plays the president, is to be aired Monday night on HBO. The network has also scheduled four additional showings."

I wonder what it will really be like.

If they could put this in the theaters with the Kerry movie, "Inside the Bubble", it could be a great combo...

I would have TWO buckets of popcorn...

2 posted on 10/15/2005 9:57:00 PM PDT by bitt (THE PRESIDENT: "Ask the pollsters. My job is to lead and to solve problems. ")

"I think this movie should be distributed all over the world," Sergei Karaganov, foreign policy adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin

Someone looking for an excuse? Normally Russia is very uptight on anything that makes them look weak.

3 posted on 10/15/2005 11:01:14 PM PDT by American in Israel (A wise man's heart directs him to the right, but the foolish mans heart directs him toward the left.)

I took the plunge and asked for a free copy, will have a Freeper review up soon!

To: FairOpinion; ExSoldier; appalachian_dweller; WestCoastGal; Velveeta; DAVEY CROCKETT; Alabama MOM; ..

Thank you for the ping F.O.

Why is Putin in favor of us seeing this movie?

Could it be to add to fear?

6 posted on 10/16/2005 4:01:24 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny (You say that you have prayed about your problem! Now, shut up and listen to God's answer.)

Why is Putin in favor of us seeing this movie?

I have the movie. It's about 45 min long. I will show it to my students. Not to scare them, but to inform them.

7 posted on 10/16/2005 4:09:10 PM PDT by ExSoldier (Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on dinner. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.)

I received my free copy but have yet to watch it. How is it?

I showed it to all my students. It's not exactly action packed, but it IS sobering and there is a not so subtle message directed at the government. The end is very disturbing, at least it was so for the kids. There is a little blood, but it's so quick, if you blink you'll miss it. I was worried about a more subtle message given who paid for the films production (Carnighie Institute). Certainly one of the main funding contributors for the Council on Foreign Relations. But it was pretty basic and pretty good.

9 posted on 02/03/2006 4:44:50 PM PST by ExSoldier (Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on dinner. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.)

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