In the current phase of the cold war, one of the severest trials of strength with the adversary involves the ability to belt down toast after toast without falling over. The Russians have the advantage of longer familiarity with the chosen weapon, which is usually vodka.
But they are apparently not willing to leave it at that. Last week in Rome, Italy's Foreign Minister Gaetano Martino, waiting to greet a distinguished German visitor, Konrad Adenauer, told of a triumph of toastmanship achieved by the hardheaded, steel-stomached old man on his visit to Moscow last September. Unaware of der Alte's heroic...