Today CNN is running a report entitled "Russia's bleak picture of health" which cites some scary Eberstadt-like statistics: average male lifespan of 60 years, some 50% of 18-year-olds who won't reach retirement age, and 30% of women under 30 are smokers.Earlier, state-owned Russia Today was running a cheerful and exceptionally long opinion column entitled "Are Russians the healthiest people on the planet?," citing the fact that Russians wear smaller jean sizes and eat more organic produce (at least in comparison to the United States, the most obese nation in the world after Australia).
Russia Today really does some amazing reporting, no? This is almost as good as the interview which revealed that "America lives in a fascist state" or that one guy, interviewed over and over again, who says that the United States will disintegrate
into four separate countries by next fall. I'm not particularly a fan
of all that AEI-backed doom-and-gloom about Russian demographics
either, but we used to expect a higher standard from the practiced
masters of propaganda.
We're all going to die someday, and I think I'd much rather go out with a fine vodka and tobacco than cuddling a Big Mac.
[Photo from Vidiot's photostream on Flickr.]
We're all going to die someday, and I think I'd much rather go out with a fine vodka and tobacco than cuddling a Big Mac.
[Photo from Vidiot's photostream on Flickr.]
