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Monday, April 23, 2007

Moscow, Moscow, Moscow

posted by on April 23 at 7:53 AM

Boris Yeltsin is dead. The Russian democracy he helped to establish preceded him in death.

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1

Sad, sad.

Posted by Quoting Oscar Wilde | April 23, 2007 8:11 AM
2

Preceded, not proceeded.

Posted by cressona | April 23, 2007 8:40 AM
3

Thanks, Cressona. Change made.

Posted by Dan Savage | April 23, 2007 9:07 AM
4

Yeltsin bears a large part of the responsibility for the death of Russian democracy, too. He was the champion of the "shock therapy" economic policies that devastated early post-Soviet Russia. His tank-shelling and subsequent dissolution of the elected national parliament in 1993, in support of those disastrous economic policies, was not a good precedent. He was re-elected in large part through corrupt policies of bribing the electorate. He started the war in Chechnya. Every element of Russia's current regression was set in motion by him and his drunken policies. If I were Russian, I'd prefer Putin over Yeltsin.

Yeltsin's great moment of leadership, for which he should rightfully be remembered, is his defense of Gorbachev during the 1991 coup. That's what everyone remembers, but it's not the whole story.

Posted by Cascadian | April 23, 2007 9:59 AM
5

You know, I would like someone to explain how all of these societies like Russia and the Middle East and China are supposed to develop Western style democracies. I mean at least Yelstien tried but many parts of the world have no tradition of self government and democratic rule. Most have LONG histories of various forms of despotic governments. The fact that Russia HAD something that sorta looked like a quasi-democracy is a pretty big step forward for them.

Posted by Just Me | April 23, 2007 1:58 PM

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