Politics Continues to Resemble Dan Brown Novels

After that whole exciting escapade in July with the Russian spies in New York (recently name-dropped in Gossip Girl, so you know it is dead), the whole finding sexy Russian spies in America thing kind of died out. Until it came out that there was a whole money laundering scheme based in New York. Pictured left, coed Kristina Svechinskaya, 21, is the new Anna Chapman. She's an Eastern European girl over here on a student visa. She was part of an 80 member hacking ring that managed to create a computer virus that relocated $9 million into other accounts from businesses and bank customers. Svechinskaya managed herself to siphon $35,000 dollars. New York magazine reports that she showed up in court crying and in skin-tight jeans, asking the question on everyone's mind- "But is Kristina SEXY enough to become a star?"

In other science fiction novel news, a computer worm is currently ravaging the computers in Iranian nuclear plants, stalling all development in the enrichment of uranium. The computer worm is called Stuxtnet, and the Iranians working on a resolution to the conflict claim that, not only is the worm foreign born, but it also appears to be from Israel, due to a name located deep inside the worm's code. The New York Times can explain it with the appropriate drama:

Deep inside the computer worm that some specialists suspect is aimed at slowing Iran’s race for a nuclear weapon lies what could be a fleeting reference to the Book of Esther, the Old Testament tale in which the Jews pre-empt a Persian plot to destroy them.

While Israel, at the moment, is the most likely candidate for Most Evil Country, it is also possible the worm originated from any country with their sniper rifles on Iran's pretty head, including the United States. Or, in some M. Night Shyamalan-esque (back when he was still good) twist, it could have been created by Iran to have an excuse to target Israel even more than usual. But that is a little too much like a Bond film for comfort.

So, Dan Brown, when you are ready to write a new novel, just open up a newspaper.