Andy Young of Siberian Light fame is now blogging over at Taking Aim, and he reports now that Russia is expecting a huge shortage of vodka. The issue is so big, in fact, that it was front page news on Komsomolskaya Pravda. Cause? An anti-counterfeiting law that came into effect on January 1 stipulating that every bottle of vodka must have an excise duty stamp on it. It sounds like the Stamp Act of 1765 that helped produce a boycott of British goods and push forward the American Revolution.

A shortage of vodka would be terrible politics for Putin. Hell, his popularity bombed by over ten percent just from a simple pension hike earlier last year. I’m expecting to hear chants of “no taxation without representation” any day now. Could this be what puts him over the edge? Maybe I’m saying this a bit tongue-in-cheek, but you never know. I hate to think of how Russians will act when they’re sober.