UNITED NATIONS, May 5, updated below -- As the NPT review conference lurches on, thrown into turmoil by the appearance of Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Wednesday afternoon sees the U.S. premeire of the documentary "Countdown to Zero." On a podium in an antiseptic conference room sat producer Lawrence Bender, Michael Douglas and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
"Business man" Jeff Skoll described the movie as a rallying cry to support the UN's efforts leading to disarmament, and said its opening will be on July 9. So Inner City Press will review the film, in the form of a live blog, herebelow.
Among the first on-camera speakers in the film is Valerie Plame Wilson -- yes, that Valerie Plame, wife of Joe Wilson, outed by the Republicans. Is she the main expert, or is this a political choice?
A Russian thief of uranium, who tried to sell it to a fence who bought car batteries. Now released from jail? He's smoking on a balcony, looking at the horizon.
Footage of plane crashes and other screw ups -- combined with story of a bomb falling on Goldsboro, North Carolina in the 1960s, detonation stopped by only one switch.
Americans interviewed in front of Yankee Stadium -- "we have the bomb, of course, that goes without saying." But North Korea?
Oops -- the voice over says if Iran gets the bomb, its "rivals" will want one, listing Saudia Arabia, Egypt, Turkey-- and Syria. But Syria is an ALLY of Iran...
Update of 5:02 p.m.-- Ban Ki-moon has left the screening, Vijay Nambiar with him. Apparently Kim Won-soo left earlier. Countdown to Zero, indeed.
On January 25, 1995 the US tested a missile from Norway, which Russia interpreted as an attack. Yeltsin was given five mintues to "launch on warning" but didn't. Film's voice over says "he wasn't drunk." Or...
Footage of Ahmadinejad and centrifuges... Of F.W. de Klerk, who upon taking power found the country had six Hiroshima like nukes. He said, let's stop. Inspiring music. But what's the plan?
Take missiles off high alert status... don't lose any highly enriched uranium, just like not an ounce of gold has been lost from Fort Knox....
It ends with Obama and Medvedev, "a new generation," hope. One viewer noted, the word Israel was not said once during the film. This is the UN -- will it come up as a question?
Update: the first question, from Iraq's Ambassador Bayati - is about Israel.
Postscript: in the Q&A session, Inner City Press asked the panel if they would translate the movie into Farsi and Chinese, referring the focus on Iran's nuclear program, and China's skepticism of sanctions. Lawrence Bender answered, snugly, that he expected the movie to quickly be available in China as a bootleg. It would be more difficult, he said, to get it into Iran.
But what is your proposal, Inner City Press asked, on Iran? Bender shifted to name dropping, saying that he had asked this very question, "at the Council on Foreign Relations... to Brent Scowcroft" who answered, "If I knew, I wouldn't be here."
When Inner City Press asked about the film listing Syria as a "rival" of Iran, the panel shrugged. They meant that if Iran gets a bomb, so too will the others lists: Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt and Syria. We assume smaller Syria was included due to reports of a nuclear reactor with North Korean help. But would that be Syria preparing for what the movie calls its "rival" Iran, or for Israel? Why was that country not mentioned in the movie? Watch this site.
