{"id":105165,"date":"2024-10-23T14:36:38","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T19:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=105165"},"modified":"2024-10-23T14:45:13","modified_gmt":"2024-10-23T19:45:13","slug":"105165","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=105165","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Ukraine, in an Unlikely Attack on an Iconic Cultural Mainstay, Is Sending Drones Into Russia To Blow Up Its Vodka Distilleries.<\/a><\/p>\n

In a blow to Russia, Ukraine used the cover of night yesterday to blast four large vodka distilleries. Video clips posted online purported to show alcohol tanks burning fiercely in Tula and Tambov, two Russian regions about 300 miles from eastern Ukraine.<\/p>\n

In the largest attack to date on Russia\u2019s alcohol industry, drones flew from Ukraine and set off the pre-dawn blazes. In President Putin\u2019s wartime economy, alcohol distilleries produce vodka for drinking and ethanol for the military machine.<\/p>\n

Russia is the world\u2019s largest consumer of vodka \u2014 about 21 shots per adult per month, according to the World Population Review. This is about 70 percent more than Ukraine\u2019s per capita consumption and almost five times American consumption.<\/p>\n

In a nation where vodka sales average 600 million liters a year, it is unclear whether yesterday\u2019s pyrotechnics will seriously dent Russia\u2019s vodka industry. However, it is a psychological blow to an industry revered by the average Russian man.<\/p>\n

In 988, Prince Volodomyr the Great rejected Islam because of Islam\u2019s prohibition of drinking alcohol. Instead, he Christianized Kievan Rus. He is quoted as saying: \u201cDrinking is the joy of all Rus. We cannot exist without its pleasure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vodka was for Tsarist Russia what oil is for modern Russia. In the mid-19th century, vodka taxes accounted for up to 40 percent of government revenue. By 1911, 89 percent of all alcohol sold in Russia was vodka.<\/p>\n

In the opening days of Nazi Germany\u2019s 1941 attack on the Soviet Union, the Luftwaffe sought out and severely damaged Moscow\u2019s Kristall, the Soviet Union\u2019s largest distillery. During World War II, Red Army soldiers advanced through Eastern Europe fueled in part by daily rations of two shots of vodka.<\/p>\n

This week, it is unlikely that Ukraine\u2019s attack on Russia\u2019s iconic cultural product will galvanize Russians to rally around their President\u2019s war on Ukraine. More likely, it will simply become the latest indignity that Russians have to put up with as they seek to avoid getting dragged into his war.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, a national draft order prompted about 1 million Russian men to leave the country. To avoid a repeat this fall, Mr. Putin is burning through oil earnings to buy soldiers. First-time signing bonuses have soared to $25,000, the equivalent of two year\u2019s annual salary for workers outside big cities. Enlistment bonuses rise as hair-raising news from the war front filters back home.<\/p>\n

For Russian soldiers, last month was the bloodiest month of the 31-month war, American and British officials say. Daily Russian casualties averaged 1,200 killed or severely wounded a day. Ukraine\u2019s August 6 invasion of a chunk of Russia\u2019s Kursk region has not sparked a surge in enlistments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis unprecedented Ukrainian occupation of Russian territory\u201d has exposed what the Atlantic Council\u2019s Ukraine editor, Peter Dickinson, calls \u201cthe limitations of the Kremlin war machine.\u201d Mr. Dickinson made that observation two weeks ago in an essay titled \u201cPutin doesn\u2019t have enough troops to defeat Ukraine and defend Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Dickinson contended that \u201cwhile many continue to view the Russian military as an irresistible force with virtually limitless supplies of men and machines, it is now increasingly apparent that in reality, Putin\u2019s attempt to conquer Ukraine has left his army dangerously overstretched and unable to defend Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to this shortage of warriors, Russia is training and equipping as many as 10,000 North Korean soldiers to fight against Ukraine. Ukrainian officials say these units will go to Russia\u2019s Kursk region to join the fight to expel Ukrainian soldiers from Kursk, the first invasion of Russia by a foreign power since World War II. In simple English, this means that the Kremlin is paying foreign mercenaries to liberate Russian soil because Russians will not fight for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ukraine, in an Unlikely Attack on an Iconic Cultural Mainstay, Is Sending Drones Into Russia To Blow Up Its Vodka Distilleries. In a blow to Russia, Ukraine used the cover of night yesterday to blast four large vodka distilleries. Video clips posted online purported to show alcohol tanks burning fiercely in Tula and Tambov, two … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international","category-now-for-something-completely-different"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=105165"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105166,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105165\/revisions\/105166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=105165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=105165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=105165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}