Former Russian Leader Boris Yeltsin Dies
By JIM HEINTZ
AP
MOSCOW (April 23) — Former President Boris Yeltsin, who engineered the final collapse of the Soviet Union and pushed Russia to embrace democracy and a market economy, died Monday. He was 76.
Kremlin spokesman Alexander Smirnov confirmed Yeltsin’s death and Russian news agencies cited Sergei Mironov, head of the presidential administration’s medical center, as saying the former president died Monday of heart failure at the Central Clinical Hospital.
Although Yeltsin pushed Russia to embrace democracy and a market economy, many of its citizens will remember him mostly for presiding over the country’s steep decline.
Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet president, summed up the complexity of Yeltsin’s in a condolence statement minutes after the death was announced. He referred to Yeltsin as one “on whose shoulders are both great deeds for the country and serious errors,” according to the news agency Interfax.
Here is the full story.
Asking Gorbachev–the head of the criminal regime that Yeltsin helped to bring down–to sum up Yeltsin is like asking Al Capone to comment upon the life of Eliot Ness.
Rofl. Gorbachev was the man who won the Nobel prize for peace for his part in bringing an end to the USSR and was the person who helped bring Yeltsin to power! Indeed, Yeltsin then went on to shame Gorbachev but your views are quite mixed up.
Asking Gorbachev–the head of the criminal regime that Yeltsin helped to bring down–to sum up Yeltsin is like asking Al Capone to comment upon the life of Eliot Ness.
It is painful to see people who like one of the best intellectual games who know the history so badly. Gorbachev who came to the power in 1985, brought the communist goverment down. He allowed to criticise communist party to read whatever you want to watch movies to go abroad. He had power that could be compared to Asian despots and tried to make it a civilized country where even he succeded he would have much less power than before. If you look carefully at Eltsin deeds, he tryed to concentrate as much power as possible. He ordered tanks to shoot at parlament in 93, when he breaked the constitution by dissolving it (to stop the constitutional crisis the parlament suggested a simulteneuos reelection of parlament and the president, Eltsin refused). After the level of life dropped by 40% (comparing with 89) in any remotely democratic country the president could not be reelected. 3% of population liked him as a president in February of 96, nevertheles he became reelected in summer. The result the auctions of state property that was profitable to the people who gave money for his reelection (in Russia, officially the candidates given money from the state and they can’t use any other money). It was given to them for a fraction of the actual price (oil, aluminium and so on…). He started the war in Chechnya, that killed tens of thousand soldiers, hundreds of thousand civilians. Whenever he had a choice between what is good for the country and for himself he always selected the latter.
It is painful to see people who like one of the best intellectual games argue by ad hominem (“know history so badly”) and appeal to authority (“Nobel prize for peace”–also won by such notable promoters of peace as Le Duc Tho, Henry Kissenger, and Yasser Arafat). The notion that Gorbachev “brought the communist government down” is meaningful only if one adds the adverb “inadvertently.”
One of Yeltsin’s bigger gaffs was in making Pukin his successor.
Blaming Gorby is silly. Given how Gorby came to power, the way he exercised his power spoke well of the man. Had Gorby been a leader more like some western ideal, he never would have ascended to power during the Communist reign.
Yeltsin made big mistakes in the transitioning from centrally controlled to market economy. But no person or committee could have done much better. The situation was hopelessly complex and messy.
Susan, what is reason to put these news to the Chess Blog?
As Russian citizen, who is living in the USA, I have my own vision of Yeltsin, Putin, Gorbachev et. al.
But here I prefer to discuss Kramnik, Topalov, Polgar, Fisher, Kasparov, the United States local chess news, but not Yeltsin.
“This site is where I provide chess enthusiasts with updates on my activities, interests and important chess news from around the world.”
This is one of the news today that interests me 🙂
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
http://www.PolgarChess.com
OK, thank you.
Of course you can promote any news, that interest you on your own blog 🙂
Alcohol Kills! 🙁
What kind of ignorant looney redneck wrote the first comment? 🙂
Here’s what the ignorant looney redneck NY Times said:
“But where Mr. Gorbachev sought to perpetuate the Communist
Party, Mr. Yeltsin helped break the party’s hold over the Russian
people. Although his commitment to reform wavered, Mr. Yeltsin
eliminated censorship of the news media, tolerated public criticism
and steered Russia toward a free market. The rapid privatization of
industry led to a form of buccaneer capitalism and a new class of
oligarchs, who usurped political power as they plundered the
country’s resources.
“But Mr. Yeltsin’s actions ensured that there would be no turning
back to the centralized Soviet command economy, which had
strangled growth and reduced a country of talented and cultured
people and rich in natural resources to a beggar among nations.
“Not least, Mr. Yeltsin was instrumental in dismembering the
Soviet Union and allowing its former republics to make their way as independent states.”