For many first-time visitors to Russia, the first thing they notice is the rather dramatic difference in the number of people smoking. Just in time for World No Smoke Day, Rospotrebnadzor has released statistics that makes Russia the #1 smoking country in the world, reporting that 65% of men and 30% of women regularly puff away their days. This is an unmitigated tragedy from a public health perspective, and is certainly no help to the rash of deadly fires in Russia: according to the New York Times, "High rates of alcoholism and smoking are also factors, fire officials say, because intoxicated people are often unable to escape fires, or inadvertently set them." On the other hand, perhaps the elevated number of smokers is a sign of this mass affluence we keep hearing so much about?
Holy Smokes!
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Ha-ha. I liked that one. Cigarettes, of course, are dirt cheap in Russia, and Russians are not morons, they know it's dangerous to smoke, especially those without filters that are still widely sold in Russia. But most people see no particular point in living a long time because life is so bleak, so why not? In the end, the main reason people don't live a long time is because they don't want to.
I must say, though, I find it really and increasingly vexing the way you continually refer to horrific events taking place in Russia as "tragedies" without making any effort to hold the people of the country accountable for their misconduct. Frankly, I think it's rather patronizing of the Russian people, and I think if I were one of them I'd be offended.
I'm curious: Try as I may, I can't remember a post on this blog that called the people of Russia on the carpet for anything, not even their failure to demand justice for Mr. K. Can you refer me to any such post? If not, what's the reason that you refuse to hold them accountable? Do you believe they're too pathetic to ever possibly meet such expectations?
Well, most people complain that this blog is too critical, so we can't always make everyone happy.
I'm not being patronizing - and with regard to smoking cigarettes, well, that's just people's choices.
With regard to oil spills, I have seen one up close and volunteered on the clean up effort, and believe me, it is tragic. I think Bob said he is working on a post about the government's inability to handle emergencies that should make some points on accountability.
Bob's next post on the "government's inability to handle emergencies" should also include FEMA's failure during and after Hurricane Katrina, unless he would like his post to lack an inch of objectivity ;)