Today's editorial in the New York Times suggests that Mr. Putin should allieviate the demographic decline of Russia " through improved democratic institutions". Before dispensing advice to Russia, the NYT editorial writers should have checked the estimated birthrates of various nations in the CIA World Factbook. They would have learned that the country with the highest birthrate of 51.33 per 1,000 people is Niger, while some of the highly democratic countries of Europe are at the bottom of the ranking , with Italy's birthrate at 9.7 and Germany's at 8.33. Russia's birthrate is 9.8, just a tiny bit above Switzerland's with 9.77, and above the new democracies of Latvia with 9.04 and Lithuania with 8.62. If the editorial writers of the New York Times have nothing sensible to say about President Putin's address, and what it means for the US, then perhaps they should keep silent.