Since setting up this page a few years ago, I have received several emails asking for the source of Putin's readings. Putin is the political officer who recites two quotes during his conversation with Captain Ramius. Finally, probably ten years after I first saw the movie, I can answer those questions.

The first quote I managed to identify last year, although a biblical scholar would have recognized it much sooner. Putin begins reading in Russian, while the camera zooms in on his face. On the word "Armageddon", he switches to English. It is from the New Testiment: Revelation, Chapter 16, Verses 15-17. (Available in English from The Bible Gateway.) Putin skips a few sentances in the begining; I do not know which translation he is using.

The second quote has puzzled me for a long time. Ramius comments that, "It is an ancient Hindu text, quoted by an American. He invented the atomic bomb and was later accused of being a communist." It was over a dinner discussion about famous scientists that the answer to this puzzle arrived. Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer was the supervising scientist of the Manhattan Project. On July 16, 1945 he was present at the first detonation of the atomic bomb. He quoted the Bhagavad-Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32) by saying: "...now I am become Death [Shiva], the destroyer of worlds...". (For slightly more information and the original text, visit Rich Geib's page on Thoughts Worth Thinking.)