The bombing is also a nice illustration of the fact that Putin is not, as rather uniformed people occasionally suggest, some kind of omnipotent and omniscient force of malevolence, and that his grip on the country is highly variable (very tight in some places, exceedingly weak in others).
It is now firmly in the grip of the Pakistani Taliban, who won it by force of arms, a victory that has been certified by yet another "peace" agreement with the government.
The emotional force of a novel that has the power to grip a reader through many readings spread across multiple decades just cannot be delivered by a 112-minute movie.
In Gaza, the Kadima-led government is about to agree to a cease-fire that will in the end strengthen Hamas's grip on power and legitimize the terror group as a political force.