October 13, 2025

"House of Dynamite" is showing NOW in Santa Fe at Sky Cinemas; Study Group screenings and discussions in Santa Fe, Los Alamos, and Albuquerque / $13 B spent at LANL for... 1 pit? / U.S. now at war with Russia

Dear friends --

I am quite remiss in not spreading the word before now that"A House of Dynamite" (trailer) is unexpectedly showing NOW at Sky Cinemas in Santa Fe. We do not know how long it will continue there, but here are the known remaining showtimes:

• 10/13 Mon 6:15 pm
• 10/14 Tues 11:15 am, 3:15 pm, 6:15 pm
• 10/15 Wed 11:15 am, 3:15 pm, 7:15 pm
• 10/16 Thu  11:10 am, 3:15 pm

We saw the movie and think it's terrific, exceeding our expectations. It is anything but a cliche. It was superbly cast and acted, and the scenes were to our eye indistinguishable from the reality they depicted. There was no sensationalism, just drama.

There is certainly value in seeing the film as an immersive theater experience. The 11:15 showing cost us $10 apiece.

The political value of seeing the movie at a Study Group event followed by discussion will however be many times that of seeing it privately or in a theater without discussion.

Of course you might be able to do both! If you see the film, why not make some notes and then come to a Study Group screening and discussion later, with your thoughts to add to the mix.

Netflix will stream this film starting October 24.

Our screenings and discussions:

• On Sunday October 26 at 6 pm, in cooperation with the Santa Fe Friends Meeting (Quakers) at the Friends meeting house, 505 Camino de Los Marquez, Santa Fe (map). 
• On Wednesday October 29, also from 6-9 pm, at the Los Alamos SALA "Social Center" (map).
  
• On Sunday November 30 at the Guild Cinema (map) in Albuquerque, from 12:30 to 3:30 pm.

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We still have had no word about whether LANL made any pits this past fiscal year. We are 13 days into the new year -- and it is 22 years since 2003, since which date NNSA has spent $13 billion trying to make pits at LANL.

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On Ukraine and Russian relations in general, we commend to you the brief recent selections and comments on our Ukraine War page. Things are happening.

As Alastair Crooke remarked this morning, there is no evading the fact the U.S. is now at war with Russia.

Needless to say, this affects crisis stability -- an unspoken theme in "A House of Dynamite."

The situation is not static. Serious threats are being made by the U.S. (e.g. for U.S. crews to launch and guide long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles into Russia). Events could quickly turn existential without any person in the West actually planning for that to happen. U.S. leaders simply do not understand Russia. It's a job requirement.

Meanwhile the war itself is becoming more dynamic, at the front and in the Ukrainian and Russian rears.

How the West will process its deepening Ukrainian defeat is up in the air. It is, as Emmanuel Todd says, a much more consequential defeat than the prior ones in Vietnam and Afghanistan, coming as it does in a time of economic decline and social and political crisis.

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Regarding the new arms race (that the U.S. has already "lost"), you might have seen this good essay by Scott Ritter, "Trump's 'Super Duper' Delusion' (Oct 11, 2025; minor error: there are 400 ICBMs deployed, not 450; 50 silos are empty).

In an arms race New Mexico is, and will remain, the biggest loser. As they say, stop digging.

It would be easy to underestimate our own power in this.

Greg, for the Study Group