> roughly 37% of Russia’s male population are alcoholics. There's a very big selection bias you're not accounting for, the amount of people in the russian mil

> roughly 37% of Russia’s male population are alcoholics. There's a very big selection bias you're not accounting for, the amount of people in the russian military who are alcoholics might be significantly lower than that of the overall population. An obvious explanation could be that people who have steady jobs (in the army) are less likely to become alcoholics. > I was pondering the reported ineffectiveness of Russia’s military, so I did a quick search on alcoholism across the world. This is not really a scientific way of going about things: you shouldn't go thinking about possible conclusions, and then start looking for data supporting your claims. You need a theory that fits the evidence, not evidence that fits your theory.