Mother Russia despoiled
by Anne Williamson
Boris Yeltsin, who died on April 23, was a man of huge appetite, and he dined well at the richest table the Lord Almighty ever set before mankind – Mother Russia. But before taking his seat, he shattered the centerpiece of the Soviet Union, the final manifestation of the 400 year-old Great Russian Empire, and in an alcoholic stupor ordered a sizable chunk of the dining table lobbed off.
The shattered crystal shards and carpentry work were necessary. So long as there was a Soviet Union, there would be a Gorbachev. If there were no Soviet Union, there would be no Gorbachev, which would then allow Yeltsin, elected president of the Russian Federation in June 1991, to take his seat at the head of the table. It is this episode of brutal realpolitik which the West has spun into the legend of Boris the Democrat, the Great Liberator of the Chained Republics, which annoys the Russian people to this day.When Yeltsin scrambled atop the tank in August 1991, it was not the great moment of liberation so widely advertised, but rather the conclusion of Yeltsin’s own and separate political intrigue to usurp Gorbachev. On that August day Yeltsin’s plot preempted the CPSU’s Emergency Committee’s coup. (The bad blood between Yeltsin and Gorbachev was a consequence of Yeltsin’s 1988 loss of his job overseeing Moscow and his resignation from the Politburo in protest, and the CPSU several years later.)
Like a cunning thug who’d once been fingered for trying to take over the mob, he suddenly found himself with a second chance to do just that. (After Aleksandr Korzhakov, Yeltsin’s longtime bodyguard, and Yeltsin had a falling out, Korzhakov reported that they were in direct contact with the military that day and knew they would not be attacked.)
With a gambler’s eye for the main chance, Yeltsin rolled the dice – and won. Immediately, the West claimed victory and hailed the conquering hero, who promptly became so intoxicated four men were needed to cope with him.
The consequences of that day proved immensely painful for Russia.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/williamson3.html
http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=444