'Moscow’s role internationally under Putin has been consistently destructive of basic human rights. ..to assist the Assad regime in its brutal war against many of his own citizens.'<blockquote>'Serious economic and social issues across Russia continue to be ignored in Moscow. Maureen Orth, the award winning journalist writing in the current issue of Vanity Fair, focuses on two social issues on which the government should be directing full attention and resources:
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Twenty-five percent of Russian men still die before the age of 55, many from alcoholism and the violent deaths … it fosters. (Mark) Schrad has recently published Vodka Politics, which analyzes how vodka has been used throughout Russian history, from tzars to dictators, as a means of social control … 77 per cent of kids between the ages of 15 and 17 drink vodka regularly; in rural areas, the percentage can be as high as 90. Russia has more heroin addicts than any other country…
… only 30 per cent of Russian babies are born healthy … many unhealthy Russian babies are ‘discarded’ – sent to government institutions where they often develop cognitive difficulties. Unhealthy children grow up to be unhealthy adults: half of the conscripted Russian army has to be put in limited service because of poor health.</blockquote>
Moscow’s role internationally under Putin has been consistently destructive of basic human rights. For Syria, for example, where the UK-based Syrian Observatory said this week that 150,344 deaths have been documented since the conflict began in March 2011, Mr. Putin has used Russia’s permanent veto at the UN Security Council consistently to assist the Assad regime in its brutal war against many of his own citizens.
Whether Mr. Putin wants 143 million fellow Russians to live better lives or to be further isolated economically and politically by the international community is clearly now in his hands .. , "the Ukrainians that Mr. Putin is wishing out of the equation just spent three months staring down Mr. Yanukovych’s riot police. They won’t simply back down now.” '
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Putin: Internal struggles within Russia could lead to his downfall, April 4, 2014</blockquote>
Context<blockquote>
The Numbers Vladimir Putin Doesn’t Want You to See, March 31, 2014
Russia - '..drinking more now than they did in the 1970s and 1980s..''..He wanted to save the whole Russian people like that, one at a time..'</blockquote>