Back in the U.S.S.R.

From Daniel W. Drezner's blog:

I definitely feel better about investing in the U.S.S.R..... I mean, Russia

In the wake of the Russian government's prosecution of Yukos oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, president Vladimir Putin tried to assuage domestic and foreign investors in his state-of-the-nation address.

Lots of fun quotes like from the AP article he references like:

President Vladimir Putin lamented the demise of the Soviet Union in some of his strongest language to date, saying in a nationally televised speech before parliament Monday that it was "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.''

And:

Putin, who served as a colonel in the KGB, has resurrected some communist symbols during his presidency, bringing back the music of the old Soviet anthem and the Soviet-style red banner as the military's flag.

I don't know about you, the idea of a re-emerging Soviet empire makes me a little nervous. All you gung ho neo-cons chasing after shadows screaming "Bin Laden!" better take note.