Empire of Death

The collapse of the Soviet Union hit male life expectancy with the impact of a war. Average life expectancy fell from a peak of 65 in the mid-1980s down to 58 in the early 1990s. After Putin took over in 1999, life expectancy slowly recovered, reaching 63 in 2010 (female life expectancy is now 75, the highest in Russian history -- the huge gap is due mostly to alcoholism, homicides and traffic accidents, which kill lots of young males).

Now Russia's post-Soviet collapse has its eerie American echo.

This shambles which was once an Empire has lost the capacity to build or inspire. But it still has the most astonishing power to destroy.