Former Russian president Boris Yeltsin dead

[RedHot25]

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/0...t.html?ref=rss

Former Russian president Boris Yeltsin has died, according to the Kremlin.

....

Yeltsin was the first popularly-elected president of the Russian Federation, taking office in June 1991 on a wave of high expectations as the country moved from communism to democracy.

Yeltsin's popularity declined as he implemented radical economic reforms, a policy that became known as "shock therapy." The moves devastated the living standards of much of Russia's population

[Cowperson]

Under the table one last time . . . . .

One of those quirks of history, the right guy to stand on the right tank at the right moment . . . . but otherwise . . . . .



Cowperson

[Slava]

"
In 1992, he played the spoons, a popular musical instrument in Russia, on the head of Askar Akayev, the president of ex-Soviet Kyrgyzstan.
In 1994, Mr. Yeltsin shocked officials during a picnic on a boat steaming down the Volga by suddenly ordering his border guards to toss his spokesman Vyacheslav Kostikov into the cold river.
Officials marking the departure of the last Russian troops from Germany the same year looked on aghast as he stumbled after a champagne lunch, seized the baton from the leader of a military band and insisted on doing the conducting himself.
Later the same day, he grabbed a microphone at a reception and sang tunelessly.
In perhaps the most celebrated incident, Mr. Yeltsin failed to emerge from his plane for talks with Ireland’s prime minister during a stopover at Shannon airport in 1994, leaving his hosts stunned on the tarmac."

They just don't make them like they used to I guess...

[habernac]

I'm surprised he lived this long. They won't need embalming fluid, he's already well preserved.

[longsuffering]

I always thought that Yeltsin and Klein would have been tremendous pals had they ever met. Imagine the possibilities!