Speaking of eerie connections, what?s the deal with Russians and booze? I?ve run across a couple of interesting tidbits in book reviews lately regarding our former(?) Cold War adversary:
1. Price Vladimir I converted the state of Rus to Orthodox Christianity in 988. It was later considered by many to be the ?Third Rome? after Constantinople fell to the Turks in 1453, being the center (at least according to Russians) of the Eastern Orthodox faith and thus the true heir of Roman civilization. But it turns out that Vladimir almost converted Russia to Islam, but opted Orthodox because it permitted alcohol consumption.
2. Nativist kook and politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky, perhaps channeling his sort-of namesake, used this as a campaign slogan not too long ago in Russian national elections: ?A man for every woman and a cheap bottle of vodka for every man.?
Interesting priorities there.
