Vodka makes Russia work By Joseph Tartakovsky 05/15/2006 In the fall of 1977, the state vodka monopoly of the Polish People's Republic filed suit in an international trade court claiming that vodka had first been distilled in Poland. For this reason, it argued, only Polish firms had the right to sell the clear alcohol in foreign markets under the name "vodka." An incredulous Soviet Ministry of Trade initially ignored this as a joke. But it was a particularly pernicious joke, touching the tender parts of the Russian soul, not to mention Warsaw Pact solidarity, so the ministry grudgingly asked the...