[A. Pole]

Bump

[Thrownatbirth]

Not so amazing that US liberals would bash Boris.

[ClearCase_guy]

I generally consider Gorbachev to be a leader who inherited a tottering empire, tried to fix it and only succeeded in making it fall completely apart -- then Gorbachev looked around and said, "I ... uh ... meant to do that."

Yeltsin, on the other hand, knew what he was doing, and succeeded in pushing communism off the stage in a very deliberate fashion. I respected Yeltsin. It's a shame that Putin is trying to revive the Bad Old Days.

[annalex]

Yeltsin was likable and brave.

Setting up as plutocracy masquerading as capitalism was his great error. History may be able to answer whether the error was of discernment or deliberate.

As Americans, we should ponder this question: is the ease with which the Soviet plutocracy transformed itself into a capitalist plutocracy under American set of advisors a signal for us to reassess our own version of capitalism?

May the good Lord rest Yeltsin’s soul, and give him forgiveness of sin and everlasting peace.

[Tailgunner Joe]

Russians may miss the EVIL EMPIRE like Putin does, but Moscow's slaves in the Soviet "prison of nations" rejoice and thank God for its collapse.

If it were not Yeltsin, Soviet troops would have not been withdrawn from Lithuania - “If it were not Boris Yeltsin, trust me, we would have encountered serious problems in withdrawal of Soviet troops from Lithuania.”