Druzhba and Nastrovje: The Ukraine War and the Structural Alcoholism of the Russian Army
The war in Ukraine is constantly experiencing new meanings, interpretations, forecasts and facets by the many military experts or reports and intelligence findings from the secret services, above all the brave MI 6:
“British intelligence sees alcohol as a contributing factor to Russian casualties
Why has Russia lost a six-figure number of soldiers since attacking Ukraine? The British secret service says: The answer can also be found in widespread alcohol consumption.
Doesn’t that somewhat diminish the heroic image of the brave heart Ukrainians and their superior fighting spirit, if the Ukrainian victories are mainly due to the drunkenness of the Russian drunkards who stagger across the battlefield and see everything twice after some vodka too much? Well, at first you didn’t even think of the most obvious thing and it needs secret classified information and top secret information to be revealed so that an important factor in the war is not dismissed as a Russophobic cliché and stereotype of the drinking Russians: The Russians have a problem with structural alcoholism. Not structural pacifism, as former German general Vad attested to the Germans, as the Russians are more known for structural militarism, which, however, in combination with structural alcoholism seems to be a rather fatal combination. According to the British secret service, the losses suffered by the Russian troops are largely due to their vodka consumption. Whereby this is not only to be understood as funny social drinking, but alcoholism in Russia as well as in other countries is often not only a luxury problem of a hedonistic and escapist affluent society, but also the opium of the people in view of dreary social conditions, which are also socialized en masse as a result and in the case of the Ukraine war it is also simply the naked and panicky suppression of the sheer fear of death of the forced Russian conscripts. However, for these reasons there seems to be a kind of structural alcoholism in Russian society and its military, which is socially widely accepted.
As was once the case with the Prussian officer corps of the former German aristocratic nobility and landowner (Junker) military, where drinking, gambling, delinquency and a duel at 6 a.m. at the village oak alleged violations of honor, which were committed or perceived as such while drunk, were paired, later the military upper class a bit little later recruited its top layers from mensurations beating and drinking fraternity members and bourgeoisized the German aristorcratic military into a bourgeois military, the Wehrmacht, however, in addition to alcohol, was given more amphetamines like their top abstinent and vegetarian Gröfaz by his personal physician Morell or Bismarck, who already consumed a bottle of red wine for breakfast along with a fat roast. Even in the post-war Bundeswehr with its compulsory military service, drinking was considered good manners and part of the warrior ethos and masculinity cult, even after basic training and retirement ( „Aus ist´s!“/“It’s over!“- not really). If one wants to speak of lines of continuity and tradition of German imperialism, one should not ignore the excessive consumption of alcohol by the German military at the time.
Similar to the US troops in the Vietnam War, who smoked marijuhana, ate LSD and drank tons of Whiskey and beer at the frontzt or in the Recreation and Refresh Centers. The Vietnam War was also called the first „psychedelic war“, sex and drugs and rock ’n‘ roll including whiskey and beer – some even thought that the Vietnam War was not lost against the ascetic Viet Cong lost because of Nixon’s failure to supply arms to South Vietnam on the front, lost atthe media front or home front, but between the red light districts of Patpong and the brothels and bars of Saigon and the Jim Morrison Door song „Show me the way to the next whiskey bar“was also very popular among the GIs.
It would also be interesting to know whether the US American Stingers were the only game changer in the Russian Afghan war or as well the consumption of vodka and the influence of the extensive thriving, blossoming and flourishing opium Afghan opium and poppy fields on the Red Army of the Soviet Union. When I was in the guerrilla war zone in Burma in the 90s, it was also interesting that the guerrillas there cultivated, traded and exported drugs, but their own population and their troops were forbidden to consume them and detered by death penalty, so that their fighting power and morale was maintained.
In the meantime there is drug screening and a kind of alcohol ban in the Bundeswehr and the US Army. So no longer you can behave like Churchill with a fat cigar and whiskey on the rock around the clock. „War on the rocks“ is over. In addition, the two founders of Anonymous Alcoholics were two ex-US military personnel who wanted to fight the structural alcoholism of the troops and then of the population, found their pursuit of happiness in religion and developed a ten-point program towards God, sobriety and abstinence similar to the older Salvation Army. Adenauer already knew that the Russians drink passionately during his first visit to Moscow, where he tried to neutralize long nights of negotiations with lots of vodka by liters of olive oil so as not to be drunk under the table and ripped off. Brezhnev also drank the red wine glass at the reception at Willy Brand with one sip, especially since Willy was not averse to women, brandy and vodka either and a good part of German Ostpolitik and Russophilia was also due to the fun drinking that was popular at the time. Even with the most rudimentary Russian language skills (Druschba, Nastrowje, Towaritsch and Mir), peaceful coexistence and friendship between peoples could be celebrated excessively over a vodka, as was also celebrated smoking and drinking on state television at Werner Höfer’s International Morning Pint (Internationaler Frühschoppen) on ARD by the „old school macho gentlemen“ (Alice Schwarzer) during prime time.
With Yeltsin, you could see this in drunken, funny dance-bear interludes and performances when visiting Kohl and often slurred press releases in front of the camera, although sometimes doubts arose as to whether the good, impulsive and always Slaw-soulish Boris should be left alone with the atomic suitcase an f the red button so unhesitatingly. Putin was apparently the first sober president, but perhaps also the only sober Russian. It didn’t help either, especially since he now behaves like a drunk, aggressive prol thug or a drained alcoholic in delirium. Interesting, do the Ukrainians not drink? But they probably discipline themselves because of their superior fighting morale, while the demotivated and depressive, sometimes looting and raping Russian soldiers are more looking for the good of their souls in a bottle. Perhaps there was only Kadyrov’s Muslim Chechen butchers a sober sprinkling within that blue sea. Or maybe the Ukrainians prefer to pour their vodka into Molotov cocktails, while the Russians prefer to drink it straight away and swallow the good stuff rather than misuse it. Gorbachev, after whom a vodka brand was named, issued a vodka ban in the early 1990s, but had to withdraw it quickly because his popularity ratings fell rapidly with the falling alcohol levels of his people. Don’t forget that many beer revolts in Bavaria were triggered because of increases in beer prices or problems with the supply chains.
Perhaps NATO should not only or no longer deliever arms to the Ukrainians, but should supply vodka to the Russians. Perhaps by means of small care packages that are dropped behind the front lines with vodka or candy bombers and parachute. Maybe this could be the real game changer if the West doesn´t want to deliver rocktes and fighter jets. This could also warm the heart of a red wine and peace loving pacifist like Margot Käßmann, who wanted to drink a peace tea with the Taliban. Not feasible with Russians, but maybe Käßmann will drink a peace vodka with the Schoigu. Therefore the qustion remains whether my whiskey bet with Ben Hodges about the conquest of Crimea in August is still so contemporary and political correct in times of the new US alcohol prohibition and post-heroic drinking of water, since masculinity is no longer defined with drinking ability, but this is now seen as „toxic masculinity“ while modern day´s IQ intelligence, strength of character and morality is scientifcally, meticulously measured and statistically recorded in liters of consumed mineral water, smoothies, Red Bull energy drinks, mallow teas or oat milk with the help health bracelet and associated fitness app, along with athletic performance.