Drinking is Never the Answer, but will it Help End the Russia-Ukraine War?
Throughout history, when people are called to fight they’ve been accompanied by alcohol. George Washington’s Continental Army benefited from drunk Hessians celebrating Christmas, enabling a successful attack on Trenton and kept the Revolution going beyond 1776. That same victor, G-Wash, would later be President and have to put down a rebellion of Massachusetts farmers who were angered when the heavily in debt US government passed a tax on whiskey. (The irony of the Whiskey Rebellion of 1791 can be discussed in another piece.)
In 1918, towards the end of World War I, Germany launched a Spring Offensive in the hopes of decisively winning the war. The thing that slowed them down wasn’t the French army, but rather casks of abandoned French brandy. They stopped to drink themselves silly, slowing their advance towards Paris. This gave the French time to regroup – along with a million fresh American troops – to fling the Germans back.
Now alcohol is having an effect in a contemporary conflict in Ukraine. At the front it’s safe to say Russian soldiers’ brain cells are taking a toll as they drink (beyond normal copious Russian levels) to deal with the fact they are nothing more than cannon fodder. Apparently, even North Korean troops stationed in Kursk have broken out the vodka as a way to cope with their ridiculous situation (being on loan to defend another country’s home territory 4,000 miles away).
The price of vodka, a staple of Russian life and the national product since the beginning of time, has increased by 25% since the war started due to both inflation and the crash of the ruble.
With the rest of Russia’s economy deteriorating along with the ruble, it’s a wonder they don’t just make vodka the state currency. It holds its value. Inflation has exceeded 9% and the main central bank has lifted the interest rate to 21%. The demand for more vodka will only increase to numb the senses with this crashing economy. This just might be what the doctor ordered to foment revolution in Russia for a change of tenants in the Kremlin and force a peace to end their aggressive and brutal war against Ukraine.
Ukraine has proven to be a more than formidable opponent on the battlefield but everyone knows Kyiv needs help if it is going to win the war. That is clear with all the billions in aid and equipment from the West, but they will need help from the East as well, meaning Russians. They need Russia to implode. This is not without precedent. Russia proved in 1917 they were capable of national implosion in spectacular fashion.
In order for this to happen the people need to be galvanized. They need to be outraged. 700,000+ casualties from an evil war launched by their own bloodthirsty government against a nation 10 times smaller than them? No. Maybe a trickle of outrage.
Is a quarter million dead Russian boys being delivered to mothers in body bags enough to spark outrage? Perhaps outrage behind closed doors, but nothing that rattles Putin’s windows.
Now I give you the spiking price of vodka. On New Year’s Day the Russian finance minister hiked prices by 20% on all vodka products in Russia. The domestically produced alcohol accounts for 90% of all that is drunk in the country. This means an extra 50 rubles for a bottle of Stoli and consumers are already reeling from a 6% hike from six months ago. Beyond inflation the main reason for this government-sponsored increase is that it is the Kremlin’s means of bolstering their military budget for the war in Ukraine.
The last time thirsty Russians were hit with this kind of increase was during wartime. In 1981, two years into the Afghanistan invasion, another ill-advised bloody fiasco, the Soviet Union raised the price of vodka. The people were so disgruntled they made a song about it.
If you care to sing along here’s part of the lyrics…
”Tell Illyich [Lenin]…We can handle Vodka at 10 …but if it becomes 25 then it’s Revolution again!”
One can only hope this causes enough outrage to pour out from the national collective conscience like a tipped over bottle of overpriced Smirnoff. This war’s ending is as much in the Russian people’s hands as it is the Ukrainians, perhaps more so. Whether it be casualties, a tanked economy, or the skyrocketing price of Vodka, something must give and cause change to stop this unending slaughter. Then we can all hoist a reasonably priced shot and toast to a new found peace.
