Back in the U.S.S.R.
Sep 10th, 2008 by Andy
Last Friday evening my wife and I were sitting down to enjoy an episode of 24 (we’re only on Season Two - don’t tell us what happens) and we thought it would be nice to have a drink. We were out of wine! We were down to our last beer! I reminded her that we had a box of other stuff (rum, vodka, gin, etc.) down in the basement. Most of that stuff we picked up from my parents house when my mom moved about 5 years ago. Most of their stuff had been sitting around for a while (my parents = not big drinkers).
We had some cranberry juice and it seemed like vodka would go well. My wife found a bottle and we opened it up and mixed some drinks. As we were heading back into the living room she showed me the bottle:

Yes, at the top it says, “Imported from the USSR.”
Awesome. My drum kit still has an old set of Paiste 1000 cymbals that were “Made in West Germany.” Interesting that Germany has so thoroughly reinvented itself that we often forget about the West/East German days.
Mark,
the Germans didn’t reinvent something to have us forgetting it. We’re a generation later here in Europe and nobody’s bothered anymore. Do you think Europeans consider the U.S. as a marketing-reinvention of the racial discriminations a generation ago ?
Fred,
I didn’t mean to suggest that Germany *wants* us to forget the days of the Cold War, as if they have something worth forgetting or hiding. You seem to have taken offense at that potential insinuation, and I’m sorry that it came across.