Boris Yeltsin Dies

[Albert Tatlock]

Boris Yeltsin dies - Smirnoff to lay off thousands.

[Albert Tatlock]

Often referred to as 'that scruffy drunk' in Russia - Yeltsins body now lies in a state

[Chinahand]

He'll be remembered for 2 things - at the moment the Russians see his era as one of national humiliation and economic decline, but there is also the fact he ended the paranoia and xenophobia that the communist era bred and allowed a certain amount of democracy and freedom of thought to return.

 

For me the economic decline was inevitable - the communist system had bankrupted itself and to blame Yeltsin for saying enough is enough is to miss the cause of the failure. While Russia's continued growth now, and its future prospects - they rely on the freedoms and democracy reforms that Yeltsin haltingly started.

 

For all of Putin's authoritarianism the ability of Russians to control their political and personal destiny has massively improved - to the good of the country - that is his inheritance from Yeltsin.

 

For me his joy d'vivre, drunkeness, forcefullness and tenacity against authoritarianism - it took real guts to get on a Soviet Tank and tell the Politbureau and the KGB to F-off - exemplify a part of the Russian personality I really respect.

 

Seeing Clinton collapse into genuine hysterics from a Yeltsin one liner shows to me the political world has lost a great personality, and someone who's legacy is more than just an era of economic decline in Russia.

 

He lived life to the fullest extent possible - I have a lot of respect for that!

[Gladys]

but there is also the fact he ended the paranoia and xenophobia that the communist era bred

 

Despite his 'clown' public persona, as time passes I think he will be considered one of the great movers and shakers of the 20th century.

 

However, I am told that Russian paranoia is not borne of the communist era, but was a national trait long before it (it probably shaped the communist state), and far from xenophobia, the average Russian prior, and probably still now, would trust a foreigner above a stranger of their own. The paranoia was directed to external states as part of the communist state manipulation and control and thus cultivated xenophobia.

 

The social history of Russia is truly fascinating; as the average Russian was kept in the dark about many events (Afghanistan and Chechnya being examples that a Ukrainian colleague has explained to me 'from the inside'), so were the West kept in the dark about the internal workings of the Soviets. The betrayal that the ordinary person in the former USSR has felt as information has emerged about various events cannot be underestimated.

 

My education extended as far as the Urals with very little appreciation of the wealth of culture behind them; all we were told was of the Russian Steppes!

 

Perhaps China next!