Pete
| Industry | Communications or Media |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Writer via foreign & defence blogging. |
| Introduction | Peter Coates has an MA (Strategic Studies, High Distinction average). More than 40 years experience on international political and military matters. I've written more than 2200 reports, which remain available on this blog, for free. If you've arrived at an old blog article, to get to the latest article, just click on the largest (Blue) Title up top. Best way to navigate this site is to put a keyword in the search box, top left corner. Reader Comments below articles remain a major feature of this Blog. SubMatts is also stored at the Australian National Library's Trove webarchive. For more info see "my complete profile" below: |
| Interests | Even Peaceful history & politics worldwide. Centrist politically. Atheist irreligiously. Monty Python fan eg. Bruces' Philosophers' Song https://youtu.be/a1sn0ZSfnMo?si=lsp2BM73vTOOo0ly or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_OIs49m56E . Am conditionally a constitutional monarchist, unless King Charlie stuffs up. Here's Zadok the Priest with Monarchs through History https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIvy-gqTOvc : Portraits of: the late Queen * ; Rosie the Riveter ** ; and Che (a one revolution wonder before he lost his marbles!) *** on my wall. Have crushes on Princess Kate (she has a maturity Diana never had, but has Diana's dress sense https://youtu.be/FF0is2piAbI ) and on the polymath Professor Alice Roberts https://youtu.be/px0LIhPIWXs?t=15s . Love all sports as long as they're Tennis, Tour de France or the World Cup Soccer Finals. The rest apparent from the movie, music & book details below. *Late QE2 painting https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/H1sAAOSw6YxiSdlk/s-l500.jpg **Rosie poster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosie_the_Riveter#/media/File:We_Can_Do_It!_NARA_535413_-_Restoration_2.jpg ***Che's iconic photo poster https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/CheHigh.jpg/330px-CheHigh.jpg . Oh! BTW. Kylie Rocks! https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/nov/10/kylie-minogue-i-was-searching-for-my-favourite-manolos-then-i-remembered-theyre-in-the-va |
| Favorite Movies | "The Angel" Egyptian-Israeli double agent extraordinaire: "Queen's Gambit" & "Bodyguard" both on Netflix. "The Spy" (great series, where "Borat" plays dead serious character) : "Baghdad Central" series; "The Capture" series: "The Right Stuff"; "The Graduate" https://youtu.be/grSyetZVOD0 : "Dr. Strangelove" https://youtu.be/A9ihKq34Ozc : "West Side Story" https://youtu.be/hoQEddtFN3Q?t=28s ; "Dr Zhivago" https://youtu.be/vXtFRl1nSs4 : "The Deer Hunter" https://youtu.be/9Bbm-7vdlbs ; "Forrest Gump" https://youtu.be/w4qINY8KYpM : "Young Frankenstein" https://youtu.be/RyU99BCNRuU : "Traitor" Estonian CI series; "Das Boot" (movie & TV series); "Enemy at the Gates" [Stalingrad sniper]"; "Darling" with lovely, still living, Julie Christie; "Amadeus" https://youtu.be/th_ro9CiASc ; "The Crown" TV; "The Optimists" (passes Russian censor as Putin likes the "good" KGB boss); "Letterkenny" Canuckistanis https://youtu.be/NXpmR4V78Fo ; "The Bureau" (DGSE series, brilliant), "The Looming Tower" (AQ, but mainly FBI vs CIA); "Peaky Blinders" series; "Outlander" (TV, time travel), "Killing Eve", "The Americans" (Sov illegals series); "Berlin Station" series; "Homeland", "Informer" UK series, "Greyzone" Scandi CT series; "Mad Men" series; "Life of Brian" ; "Bridge of Spies"; "Master and Commander"; "Good the Bad and the Ugly"; "Lawrence of Arabia"; "Empire of the Sun"; "Zero Dark Thirty"; "Year of Living Dangerously"; "Lantana"; South Park https://youtu.be/KeprIqxrDQo ; "Casablanca"; "Young Einstein" in Aus https://youtu.be/WtP4yQNpNF4?t=17s ; "National Lampoon Christmas Vacation"; In memory of Pete's late Dad, a true soldier scholar who was interviewed 25 seconds into this Video https://australiansatwarfilmarchive.unsw.edu.au/archive/667-henry-john-coates |
| Favorite Music | Classical Gas https://youtu.be/EEzyrpfrPEI?si=O--NGFy5ariN4hyq : Stairway https://youtu.be/o0RlZ0DBJaQ : Kasey https://youtu.be/v5rOdF9rUKI ; Echoes https://youtu.be/QnC6l56g_V4 : Cute Russian lass in jeans https://youtu.be/70hG3JrAS5E : Ukraine https://youtu.be/einTXaSeGAI : Cheryl https://youtu.be/55YrUmhhW14 : Streets of London https://youtu.be/SpLMpu2-MXo ; Cat https://youtu.be/H_ZhdlWePfU ; John Denver https://youtu.be/g5sbTHMP0Ig ; Corrs https://youtu.be/yJnHrKMKg9I ; Seekers https://youtu.be/wZf41UudAbI?t=30s : Beatles https://youtu.be/Qyclqo_AV2M & https://youtu.be/kc1DVyZ_t20 : Mac https://youtu.be/Y3ywicffOj4 ; US Civil War https://youtu.be/1VK1KcZoDu0 ; Maxine https://youtu.be/wp43OdtAAkM : "Green Fields of France" https://youtu.be/oL2U6QX49DQ ; Peter, Paul and Mary (a Mezzo-soprano Goddess :) https://youtu.be/Ld6fAO4idaI ; "Jet Plane" https://youtu.be/IVEATF7VNTk ; Wagner's Pilgrims https://youtu.be/xALV8Er0Mf0?t=2m : Dido https://youtu.be/ryaDOcEej2Q : Unofficial Aussie Anthem https://youtu.be/rjkrjYitgeA ; Louis Armstrong's What A Wonderful World https://youtu.be/p-T6aaRV9HY |
| Favorite Books | "Asia-Pacific Defence Reporter (APDR)" magazine; "The Hacker and the State" by Buchanan; "Queen of Spies" by Park (probably much still current on SIS); "History of the Five Eyes" by Richard Kerbaj : [SOE/OSS/CIA] "Woman of No Importance" by Sonia Purnell, "The China Mirage: The Hidden History of American Disaster in Asia" : "Warrior Elite" by Robert Macklin : "Super Nuke!" by C.C. Jett, (best example of Australia's huge future basic nuclear & SSN training task) : All novels by Australia's Judy Nunn and by Stella Rimington (ex-DG MI5) : "The Palace Papers" by Tina Brown : "My Beautiful Spy" by Colin Falconer ; "Agent Storm: My Life Inside al-Qaeda" by Morten Storm ; "In the Enemy's House" by Howard Blum ; "The World's Greatest Submarines" by David Ross; "Man Without a Face" (autobiog by Stasi-External's longtime boss, Markus Wolf): "One Crowded Hour" fictionalised in "Highways to a War" by Koch; "Agent Running in the Field" last le Carré, "On Her Majesty's Nuclear Service" by Eric Thompson; "In Extremis" by Hilsum; "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" by T E Lawrence; "Under Pressure" by Humphreys (very funny); "Che Guevara" by Jon Lee Anderson ; "The Secrets We Kept" by Lara Prescott; "The Skripal Files" by Mark Urban, "Nine Lives" (MI6 agent in AQ); "Monkeys in the Dark" by Blanche d'Alpuget ; "Hemingway's Secret Adventures" by Reynolds; "Gideon's Spies" (Mossad); "The Spy and the Traitor", "Agent Sonya" and all other books by Ben Macintyre; "Family of Spies" (Walker ring); Adam Brookes' "Night Heron, Spy Games & Spy's Daughter"; "Stasiland" & "All That I Am" both by Anna Funder; "Deep Under Cover" by Jack Barsky; "Running Critical" (Rickover); "The Rickover Effect" by Rockwell; "Year of Living Dangerously" by Christopher Koch; "Blind Man's Bluff"; Run Silent Run Deep; "Agents of Innocence" by David Ignatius; Polmar & Moore's "Cold War Submarines"; all novels by Tom Sharpe eg. the anti-Apartheid "Riotous Assembly". |