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).