Popular fascination with the byzantine networks of Russian organized crime seem to be reaching new heights, as demonstrated by the popular film Eastern Promises, offering moviegoers an imagined peek into the smoky backrooms of elite London restaurants, where gangsters bearing star tattoos engage in shady deals and horrific violence. It’s a pretty good thriller, yet the movie never goes anywhere near the three Ps of politics, poisonings, or Putin. Garry Kasparov has probably done the most to bring the mafia paradigm to bear upon today’s Russian political scene, and today this continues with a new report from Stratfor. The analysts write: “Unlike the normal situation in civilized societies, there is no clear distinction in Russia between criminal enterprises and the government.” I imagine that Hollywood is not yet done exploiting this goldmine of material.