Unlike Most Wars, Putin’s ‘Special Military Operation’ in Ukraine has Pushed Down Russians’ Sex Drive

  Paul Goble

            Staunton, Sept. 2 – Wars normally drive up the sex drive of men involved in them. But, Russians now say, Putin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine has had just the opposite effect. According to the latest statistics, sales of condoms in Russia have fallen by 16.4 percent in the first seven months of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.

            That is one of the anecdotes offered by Moscow journalist Tatyana Pushkaryova in her latest collection (publizist.ru/blogs/107374/43788/-). Among the best of the rest are the following:

·       Putin thought he had pulled a fast one on the West by demanding that countries there pay for Russian gas in rubles. The results have been impressive if not exactly what he wanted: Gazprom has lost its European market and its total exports have fallen by 36 percent. Once again, the brilliant geopolitician has outplayed everyone, including himself.

·       A two-headed dove was found in Moscow. Both heads declared that their situation was not the result of environmental contamination. They also said that Sobyanin is the best master Moscow has ever had.

·       Gorbachev achieved something unprecedented in Russia but normal in most countries. He didn’t use his power to amass great wealth.

·       The Russian Federation has given Belarus two billion US dollars for import substitution. The problem is that Minsk may use it to stop buying Russian products.

·       You have to give it to Russia’s current leaders. They have the ability to break and destroy everything they didn’t create, including the window to Europe Peter the Great opened.

·       Moscow police detained a man carrying a sign saying that the sixth commandment is “do not kill.” The Orthodox church is angry but only behind closed doors. Outwardly, it continues to lick Caesar’s shoes.

·       The United Russia Party has found that 60 percent of its members occasionally like Navalny’s posts and have to be dropped from the party’s membership list. That leaves the ruling party with only ten million members. But what is most amazing is that it appears Navalny is more popular with United Russia’s current members than it is.