The greatest russian hero of wide lowlands has perished!

[Meshugger]

A sad day for mother russia. :sad:

[Gorgon]

Ehh.. He had his moment standing up to the Communist coup, and deserves part of the credit for turning Russia in a more democratic direction,but wasen't rather more the incompetent drunk while in office,

[Meshugger]

He could make show you a good time...

...and he could even make a President laugh.

[Lyric Suite]

A sad day for all Vodka producers around the world. R.I.P. comrade...

[metadigital]

...and he could even make a President laugh.

Did Yeltsin just break wind?

[Walsingham]

Rather like Clinton, I feel he benefits somewhat from his predecessor's performance.

EDIT: I mean of course ... er... that thing when... Putin.

[Enoch]

Rather like Clinton, I feel he benefits somewhat from his predecessor's performance.

EDIT: I mean of course ... er... that thing when... Putin.

Although, rather unlike Clinton, he was instrumental in the appointment of the man who replaced him.

[Walsingham]

Rather like Clinton, I feel he benefits somewhat from his predecessor's performance.

EDIT: I mean of course ... er... that thing when... Putin.

Although, rather unlike Clinton, he was instrumental in the appointment of the man who replaced him.

 

NOW who's being naive?

[Cantousent]

You're saying that the Gnomes of Zurich, headed by Clinton, put Bush in office? I don't konw who's being naive, but you're being crazy.

 

EDIT: and my response doesn't do justice to Yeltsin. Say what you want about him, but when I was a kid, we were pretty much settled on the idea that Communism was there to stay in the Soviet Union. He was a great man who refused to do nothing.

Edited April 24, 2007 by Cantousent

[metadigital]

Is that the same as insisting on doing something?

[Walsingham]

You're saying that the Gnomes of Zurich, headed by Clinton, put Bush in office? I don't konw who's being naive, but you're being crazy.

 

I can't help it. It'sa ll this exercise. Angries up the blood.

[Cantousent]

Is that the same as insisting on doing something?

No. More like, all it would have taken for the communists to prevail would have been for Yeltsin to do nothing.

[Pop]

Wide lowlands? I thought Yeltsin was native to the Ural mountain range.

[SteveThaiBinh]

Do you remember when he signed the order outlawing the Communist Party on national TV, with Gorbachev looking on and pleading with him to stop? That was a powerful moment.

 

I also remember ( think) that he kept the Irish Prime Minister waiting at Dublin Airport for him because he was too drunk to get off the plane.

 

A mixed record, certainly, but his biggest mistake (allowing a tiny clique of oligarchs to take control of the Russian economy) had a lot to do with bad advice from Western neo-liberals and the World Bank.

[Walsingham]

May I henceforth suggest we refer to Putin as 'Vlad the Irradiator'?

[SteveThaiBinh]

May I henceforth suggest we refer to Putin as 'Vlad the Irradiator'?

Does he work in food processing and storage?

[Walsingham]

I don't know, but is anyone else scared by recent developments over there?

[Diamond]

Yes.

[Walsingham]

All hail Czar Vladimir the Second!

[metadigital]

It's actually more dangerous to be a journalist in Moscow than in Palestine or Iraq.

 

 

 

 

 

(Oh no3z, I said the "I" word!?!11one1!! )

[SteveThaiBinh]

The Daily Telegraph is in a nose-diving, tail-spinning panic about it, yes.

 

Myself, I'm worried, but then, I was always worried. Putin has been doing pretty awful things - and allowing his military to do pretty awful things - for many years - in Chechnya, for example. But he was fighting terrorism, so you can't worry about niceties like freedom, human rights and respect for life when you're fighting terrorism, right? Except legalised abuses like that contaminate the whole system, and begin to poison the body politic, as we now see.

 

I really wish the US would close down Guantanamo Bay. :sad:

[Walsingham]

The Daily Telegraph is in a nose-diving, tail-spinning panic about it, yes.

 

Myself, I'm worried, but then, I was always worried. Putin has been doing pretty awful things - and allowing his military to do pretty awful things - for many years - in Chechnya, for example. But he was fighting terrorism, so you can't worry about niceties like freedom, human rights and respect for life when you're fighting terrorism, right? Except legalised abuses like that contaminate the whole system, and begin to poison the body politic, as we now see.

 

I really wish the US would close down Guantanamo Bay. :sad:

 

Compared with the thought of a resurgent imperialist Russia capitalising on a probably isolationist United States, Gitmo strikes me as about of as much consequence as a mimed fart.