A perfectly-tailored suit, a luxurious wristwatch and… a gun Walter PPK. He gets off from a special edition of Aston Martin and orders vodka-martini; shaken not stirred. These are details of the unchangeable style of the most popular British movie actor, James Bond, immune to fashion and variety, just like the time of the Island. As the facts show, behind the character and the different plots of the films, quite often, are hidden real stories, decoded messages and even considerable foreign policy concepts. In this perspective, the last film of the series shed light on the internal contradictions and the strategic challenges facing the United Kingdom.
The story of James Bond came from the novel of the English writer, Ian Fleming, who in order to stick to the tradition that nothing on the island is what it seems to be, is apart from being a writer and a journalist, an officer for the British intelligence under the code name 17F. During World War II, Fleming is the author and the initiator of many operations, among which is the operation ‘Golden Eye’ – a plan for maintaining communications with Gibraltar in case Spain enters the war on the side of the Axis and attack the Mediterranean colony of Britain – key for Mediterranean control.
In the novels of Fleming, the characters and their stories are intertwined with real people. For example, the character of Miss Moneypenny is borrowed from the red-haired secretary of Fleming at ‘Times’ – Joan Hole, and the head of the intelligence service, ‘M’, is the artistic image of counter-admiral, John Godfrey – Fleming’s superior at the naval intelligence of the Kingdom. As it became clear later on, the use of these types of initials dates back to the first chief of MI-6, Mansfield Smith-Cumming, who signs documents with the Latin initial, ‘C’, following the first letter of his surname. Bond himself, according to Fleming’s description, is a combined character of the British intelligence the author has met. In the stories of James Bond, Fleming includes aspects of characters and intelligence work of officers from the British service, like Conrad O’Bryan, Bill Dunderdale, Sir Fitzroy Maclean and others. Real spy stories are reflected in the pages of his book. The plot of one of J.F. Kennedy’s most favorite books, ‘From Russia, with love’, is based on events around Eugene Carp, a naval attache and spy in Budapest, who in February 1950, is trying to take on the ‘Orient Express’ in Budapest, documents regarding the discovered American spy network in Eastern Europe.
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In the books of Ian Fleming as well as in their screen adaptations, and subsequent new films in the series, shows the visible mark of a precise analysis of geopolitical laws and foreign-policy tendencies for the period; as well as serious messages regarding the position of Britain in the world, the Anglo-American relationship, and the modern challenges facing British national security. In the latest movies, the themes of cyber-security, international terrorism, and crime, transnational ecology organizations, and control over the water resources are prominent.
The latest one – Spectre – opened the door so that the broad audience could see the existence of by-passing in the strategic concepts between the leading groups in the system of the British elite – without a doubt, the major factor in whose light we have to analyze the Brexit. It would be naïve to believe that the exit of Britain from the European Union is an event that happened by chance, caused by the opportunism of the British prime minister, the naivety of the electorate or the xenophobic Farage. The facts demonstrate that leading groups on the Island are reconsidering the role and place of Great Britain in the changing world and taking steps to implement a new global strategy.
Two different parts of the British elite coexist by tradition. On one side, these is the elite, which has clearly made a group in the early 20th Century around the society of the ‘Round Table’ – an organization associated with the name of Cecil Rhodes, representing the interests of the big banks and financial Anglo -Saxon capital, the trade of precious metals and stones. Traditionally, it is considered that these are the establishments, which support the expansion of the British Empire throughout the years and is related to the expansion of their trade and financial interests and they are the foundation for promoting globalization and trans-national projects. This is a logical consequence of the existence of the state borders and national interests acting as a barrier for the expanding influence of these commercial and financial structures. An original spokesperson of the group nowadays is the financier, George Soros. This group, in recent decades, managed major transfers of capital to East Asia and particularly, China. Among the largest financial institutions in the celestial, controlled by this group, are Hong Kong and Shanghai banking corporation (HSBC) and partly Standard Chartered and Bank of China.
On the other side, is the traditional British elite linked to the Royal Court, the Security Services, and aristocratic families. The interests of this group are related, most of all, with the preservation and the development and the economy of the United Kingdom and stabilizing the trade relations with the developing markets. Inevitably, between these two groups, conflicts arise and differences in concepts of the role of the Kingdom in the changing world.
