QotD: "A vodka fuelled Genghis Khan't"

. . . it is absurd to contend that Russia as a long term threat in the way the Soviet Union threatened the world for more than fifty years. Hapless Russia has a near mono-culture economy (GDP the size of Italy, for gawd's sake) and catastrophic demographics that make Europe seem like a stud-farm (Germany, Poland and Austria more or less total the same population as Russia's 'hordes'). The appropriate personification for Russia circa 2008 is not an oil fuelled Genghis Khan, threatening to surge once more across Eurasia . . . no, it is more like a drunk with a knife unable to admit they have terminal liver disease . . . a vodka fuelled Genghis Khan't if you will.

Perry de Havilland, "Like a drunk with a knife", Samizdata, 2008-08-19