Oh nyet, not again! The second unfortunate thing about a possible reprise of the Cold War with Russia is the return of Socialist Realism parodies. A recent cover of The Economist (above) featuring Putin liberally borrows from the Lenin poster (below). It's not that the former is inappropriate; it's just so unimaginatively retro. If the incursion into Georgia does erupt into a real cold war, how about we keep Socialist Realism on ice?