Boris Yeltsin Has Died
By Erick Posted in History — Comments (8) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
The first Russian President, Boris Yeltsin, has died. During the fall of the USSR, a coup was engineered to get Gorbachev out of power. Yeltsin, then the President of Russia, the state not the nation, engineered a counter coup, restoring Gorbachev to power when the Red Army sided with the people.
The coup was undone, the Soviet Union collapse, and the world witnessed Yeltsin giving directions to a hapless Gorbachev. Soon the hammer and sickle came down, the Russian flag went up, the USSR disintegrated, and Yeltsin became President of a free Russia.
In 1993, still dealing with the vestiges of Soviet government, Yeltsin engineered widespread reforms only to see the Supreme Soviet and Congress of People's Deputies block the reforms. Yeltsin ordered tanks to fire on the Russian White House, it's Parliament, then began ruling by decree. He passed bold reforms from granting free speech rights to fostering the free market, but then descending in oligarchy and autocracy, undermining the very democracy he helped create.
On New Years Eve 1999, Boris Yeltsin resigned from the Russian Presidency six months before his term ended. He handed power to Putin and did something unexpected -- he apologized to the Russian people for failing them and pursuing further reforms to give them more freedom and more economic security.
His early days were his finest hours, and his last hour in office was his noblest.
Boris Yeltsin, RIP. 1931-2007.
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Boris Yeltsin Has Died 8 Comments (0 topical, 8 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
I agree. Yeltsin has as big a share of the credit for bring down the USSR. Without his efforts it is possible they could have stabilized the USSR for a few years, which might have been enough for them to put together a longer term fix for the dictatorship.
I have to say that Boris N. Yeltsin was my hero. Like everyone else, he had his flaws, but in many ways I think what he did ended the cold war even more than Ronald Reagan (my other hero). I have read all three of his autobiographys - he did not come to power by an accident. Nor was he someone who sought power for the sake of it - he just wanted to get things done. He was an engineer by trade, not a lawer like so many others in politics.
I could say so much about him - he was such a fine man. But most people today probably do not understand how easy it would have been for the deposing of Gorbachev to lead to the communists taking firm hold of Russia again and turning the clock back. In the early hours of the coup, the world was silent. George HW Bush gave a statement saying that he 'could work' with the official head of the coup (Gorbachev's deputy). The leaders of most of the other Soviet Republics were silent (with the exception of the Baltic states).
But it was Boris Yeltsin who left his villa - despite the fact that it was surrounded by special forces who were planning to arrest him - and made it to his parliament. And it was he and he alone who walked out of there and climbed on top of that tank to read his statement, calling on the army not to dishonor Mother Russia by turning on it's own citizens. Without Yeltsin the coup might easily have succeeded – and without his forethought in forging good ties with the army (many pro-democracy supporters at the time had been hostile to the armed forces) it still might have.
Yeltsin could have done what Putin has – tried to make himself into a dictator, but that was never his desire. The situation in Russia is not what we might hope, but imagine if it had been Putin and not Yeltsin who had taken over in the wake of the Soviet Union’s collapse. Godspeed Boris Nikolayevich – that drunk village priest who nearly drowned you when you were baptized had it right – you were a good, strong lad. I raise my glass to you!
Yeltsin's greatest quality was that he clearly had the best interests of the Russian people at heart. After Tsarism and Totalitarianism, I can't even imagine how it must have felt to be a Russian citizen in the late summer of 1991, watching Yeltsin speak from atop a tank, the tricolor unfurled behind him.
I'm just thankful that he was who he was, where he was, and when he was.
God bless him.
Elections are coming up soon in Russia. Given that KGB agents are now basically admitting poisoning political enemies, one has to wonder whether Yeltsin was killed as the only figure powerful enough to ever possibly stand against Putin.
And as far as I know had dropped out of politics. No KGB conspiracy required for this.
Socialism doesn't work. It looks nice on paper, but it's been tried and it's failed miserably every time (usually accompanied by widespread death and suffering).
Proud member of the V.R.W.C.
"His early days were his finest hours, and his last hour in office was his noblest."
His noblest perhaps, but his judgement may have been lacking, as in the same hour he launched Putin, who is now rapidly demolishing what little democratic spirit exists in Russia.
I remember more of his excentrics than are mentioned in the obituaries. As a sign of respect towards the deceased that's fitting, but I'm afraid history will not be all that kind to mr Yeltsin. He did a remarkable job in what was undoubtedly an extremely difficult time and might even be considered a hero for his first couple of years, but his presidency left a lot of debris as well.
He lived long enough to see his dream of a democratic Russia obliterated by Putin. Sad.
A precedent embalms a principle.
- Disraeli
Very well said. In most ways, I think he did the best he could with what lights he had.
In memoriam:
I like remembering this gentleman having a good time.