The greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century . . .

This is from USA Today

In his annual state of the nation address to parliament and the country's top political leaders, Putin said the Soviet collapse was "a genuine tragedy" for Russians.

"First and foremost it is worth acknowledging that the demise of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century," Putin said. "As for the Russian people, it became a genuine tragedy. Tens of millions of our fellow citizens and countrymen found themselves beyond the fringes of Russian territory.

"The epidemic of collapse has spilled over to Russia itself," he said, referring to separatist movements such as those in Chechnya.

Sounds like this guy would like to bring back the KGB. I think he plans on staying in charge for a long time to come, one way or another.

But look on the bright side. When we and the U.S.S.R. were locked in the cold war, Hollywood had some great stuff for thriller movies and even comedies. What do we have now? Well, we can't make movies about the bad guys now because to do so would tend to make Pres. Bush look like a leader, and Hollywood is unwilling to concede the point. But Hollywood knows that if they make movies glorifying the other side, you know, the terrorists, people would pay to see the movie only on the east and west coasts. That's why Hollywood keeps remaking old movies. They don't have to be responsible for the content, and they don't have to figure out if there's a story they can tell that we will buy.

So, maybe, just maybe, Mr. Putin might be helping us out a little by becoming a much needed Iconic Implacable Foe. Doing so would let Hollywood start writing spy thrillers again.

Or maybe I'm just trying way too hard to find a bright side to Mr. Putin's statement.