this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2023
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[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 35 points 1 year ago (4 children)

While assassinations aren't exactly rare in Russia, I do find it slightly funny when people immediately suspect foul play when old men in stressful jobs die in Russia. Especially in a country renowned for the prevalence of alcoholism.

I mean, the average male life expectancy is under 65 in Russia. This guy didn't even die particularly prematurely by Russian standards. And it's not as if he looks like the picture of health in the picture attached to the article.

[–] SatanicNotMessianic@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well, you have to factor the guy’ s class into it, not just his age.

The problem with the “avg age at time of death” is that it picks up thinks like infant mortality (1.7% in 2002 and 2.9% in 1979). You also have to look at the contribution of wealth and class.

Even there, the better metric for a person might be “expected years of life remaining.” Since someone who is 65 didn’t die in infancy and wasn’t killed as a teen, all of those factors (which drag life expectancy down) can be ignored. If you’re still talking populations and cohorts, you’re still factoring in things like poverty and access to healthcare, but it might give a better understanding of the statistical probability of a person to die of natural causes in a hotel at that age.

[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

it picks up thinks like infant mortality

Russia has a lower infant mortality than the US. Free healthcare. If anything, that lower infant mortality rate would lead you to expect a higher life expectancy than the US.

Although it's changing, the thing that drags down life expectancy in Russia really is alcoholism. Especially with older generations of men who drink like goldfish:

More than 30% of all deaths in Russia in 2012 were attributable to alcohol, according to WHO data crunched by the OECD. That’s by far the highest among the nations it tracked. ... More than 30% of all deaths in Russia in 2012 were attributable to alcohol, according to WHO data crunched by the OECD. That’s by far the highest among the nations it tracked.

Apparently, because younger people drink significantly less, life expectancy rose to 68 in 2018. Not too long ago, most Russian men didn't live past 65. I suspect that'll be a record for a while longer, given the average life expectancy and the scale of losses on the Ukrainian front.

[–] SatanicNotMessianic@lemmy.ml -2 points 1 year ago

The comparative death rates between Russia and the US have literally nothing to do with the facts under discussion, which is whether a given 65 year old person’s death should be done considered because of a population - level statistical characteristic. What are you on about?

Nothing that you observed does anything but reinforce the point that expected-time-of-remaining life on a cohort basis including wealth and privilege is the only way to make an accurate judgement as to the expectations involved in a given death.

[–] circuscritic@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Exactly. Remove Russian and it's "61 year old man died of heart attack during work trip".

Also, Putin generally doesn't want any question that the person was murdered e.g. fall from window, poison, plane exploding, etc.

Now, it's possible that this was a more discreet operation, or another agency e.g. Ukrainian SBU, but again, "older man dies of heart attack" isn't exactly unusual.

[–] Everythingispenguins@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I wonder if he has done anything publicly that would put him in someone's crosshairs?

[–] circuscritic@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago

I didn't even look him up, but I'm sure he did, as he's a Russian diplomat.

My point is that in this case, with the information that's available, the most likely cause of death is natural.

If additional information comes out, maybe that changes, but a 61 year old man in a high stress job, dying of a heart attack is not suspicious.

Putin assassinating people with this much ambiguity around cause of death, is uncommon.

Ukraine killing people with this much ambiguity would be more believable, but again, we'd need more information to become available for that to make more sense than natural causes.

[–] Maeve@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

The average life expectancy for men in my USA community is 64, women 56.