Ode nam Boris

[crippled_avenger]

Former Russian President Yeltsin dies By JIM HEINTZ, Associated Press Writer
17 minutes ago



MOSCOW - Former President Boris Yeltsin, who engineered the final collapse of the Soviet Union and pushed Russia to embrace democracy and a market economy, has died, a Kremlin official said Monday. He was 76.

Kremlin spokesman Alexander Smirnov confirmed Yeltsin's death, but gave no cause or further information. The Interfax news agency cited an unidentified medical source as saying he had died of heart failure.

Although Yeltsin pushed Russia to embrace democracy and a market economy, many of its citizens will remember him mostly for presiding over the country's steep decline.

He was a contradictory figure, rocketing to popularity in the Communist era on pledges to fight corruption — but proving unable, or unwilling, to prevent the looting of state industry as it moved into private hands during his nine years as Russia's first freely elected president.

He steadfastly defended freedom of the press, but was a master at manipulating the media.

He amassed as much power as possible in his office — then gave it all up in a dramatic New Year's address at the end of 1999.

Yeltsin's greatest moments came in bursts. He stood atop a tank to resist an attempted coup in August 1991, and spearheaded the peaceful end of the Soviet state on Dec. 25 of that year. Ill with heart problems, and facing possible defeat by a Communist challenger in his 1996 re-election bid, he marshaled his energy and sprinted through the final weeks of the campaign. The challenge transformed the shaky convalescent into the spry, dancing candidate.

But Yeltsin was an inconsistent reformer who never took much interest in the mundane tasks of day-to-day government and nearly always blamed Russia's myriad problems on subordinates.

Yeltsin damaged his democratic credentials by using force to solve political disputes, though he claimed his actions were necessary to keep the country together.

He sent tanks and troops in October 1993 to flush armed, hard-line supporters out of a hostile Russian parliament after they had sparked violence in the streets of Moscow. And in December 1994, Yeltsin launched a war against separatists in the southern republic of        Chechnya.

Tens of thousands of people were killed in the Chechnya conflict, and a defeated and humiliated Russian army withdrew at the end of 1996. The war solved nothing — and Russian troops resumed fighting in the breakaway region in fall 1999.

In the final years of his leadership, Yeltsin was dogged by health problems and often seemed out of touch. He retreated regularly to his country residence outside Moscow and stayed away from the Kremlin for days, even weeks at a time. As the country lurched from crisis to crisis, its leader appeared increasingly absent.

Yet Yeltsin had made a stunning debut as Russian president. He introduced many basics of democracy, guaranteeing the rights to free speech, private property and multiparty elections, and opening the borders to trade and travel. Though full of bluster, he revealed more of his personal life and private doubts than any previous Russian leader had.

"The debilitating bouts of depression, the grave second thoughts, the insomnia and headaches in the middle of the night, the tears and despair ... the hurt from people close to me who did not support me at the last minute, who didn't hold up, who deceived me — I have had to bear all of this," he wrote in his 1994 memoir, "The Struggle for Russia."

Yeltsin pushed through free-market reforms, creating a private sector and allowing foreign investment. In foreign policy, he assured independence for Russia's Soviet-era satellites, oversaw troop and arms reductions, and developed warm relations with Western leaders.

That was the democratic Yeltsin, who in August 1991 rallied tens of thousands of Russians to face down a hard-line Soviet coup attempt. Throughout his nearly decade-long leadership, he remained Russia's strongest bulwark against Communism.

But there was another Yeltsin.

He was hesitant to act against crime and corruption — beginning in his own administration — while they sapped public faith and stunted democracy. His government's wrenching economic reforms impoverished millions of Russians — poor people whose wages and pensions Yeltsin's government often went months without paying.

In the course of the Yeltsin era, per capita income fell about 75 percent, and the nation's population fell by more than 2 million, due largely to the steep decline in public health.

Yeltsin was a master of Kremlin intrigues, and preferred the chess game of politics to the detail work of solving economic and social problems. He played top advisers off against each other, and never let any of them accumulate much power, lest they challenge him.

He fired the entire government four times in 1998 and 1999. The economy sank into a deep recession in summer 1998, but Yeltsin rarely commented on the troubles and never offered a plan to combat them.

He was quick to act if anyone threatened his hold on power, standing fast even when his traditional allies called on him to step down. He easily faced down an impeachment attempt by the Communist-dominated lower chamber of parliament in May 1999.

In foreign affairs, he struggled to preserve a role for his former superpower. He called for a "multipolar world" as a way to counterbalance what Russia perceived as excessive U.S. global clout, and in spring 1999 he sent Russian troops rushing to        Kosovo — ahead of        NATO peacekeepers — to underline that Moscow would not be elbowed out of European affairs.

He wrangled with the West in disputes over NATO expansion and Russia's relatively warm relations with        Iran and        Iraq. But as Russia's political and economic might withered, Yeltsin had little to offer other nations.

Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was born Feb. 1, 1931, into a peasant family in the Ural Mountains' Sverdlovsk region. When he was 3, his father was imprisoned in dictator Josef Stalin's purges. His alleged crime was owning property before the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.

Yeltsin was, by his own account, a garrulous, scrappy boy who loved pranks and was quick to fight. And from the start, he bucked authority.

He was expelled from elementary school for criticizing a teacher at a school assembly. Early in his career as a construction engineer, he was given written reprimands 17 times in one year — "a new record," he would later recall proudly. And his long career as a Communist Party official was rife with battles with higher party officials.

He was educated as an engineer and married a fellow student, Naina Girina. They had two daughters.

At age 30, Yeltsin joined the Communist Party after a brief career in construction in Sverdlovsk city, now Yekaterinburg. He became a full-time party official in construction in 1969, and seven years later was named the region's party boss.

In 1985, the new Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, intent on his own reforms, brought Yeltsin to Moscow, where he shook up the city's party hierarchy. The strapping, silver-haired Yeltsin cut a popular figure in the capital, making a point of riding city buses instead of a limousine, standing in long lines in grocery stores and loudly demanding why managers were stashing away food for favored customers instead of selling it to ordinary consumers.

A bitter rivalry soon grew between him and the more cautious Gorbachev. When Yeltsin criticized Gorbachev at a party meeting in November 1987, accusing him of a sluggish approach to reform, Gorbachev fired him.

In the old days, that would have ended Yeltsin's career. But he stormed back to power in 1989, winning a Soviet parliament seat in the first real election in 70 years. The following year, Yeltsin dramatically quit the Communist Party, walking out of its final convention.

His popularity grew. Yeltsin was a natural with crowds, shaking hands and bantering in a booming voice. For many Russians, he had the unpolished charm of a "muzhik" — a tough peasant with common sense and a fondness for vodka.

Even then, Yeltsin's career was punctuated by bouts of bizarre behavior that the public chalked up to alcohol. Red-faced pranks, missed appointments, inarticulate and contradictory public statements continued into his presidency, blamed by aides on jet lag, medication or illness.

Yeltsin won Russia's first popular presidential election in a landslide in June 1991. Russia still was part of the Soviet Union, but the central government had started ceding power to the 15 republics.

Kremlin hard-liners trying to stop that process launched the failed coup in August, putting Gorbachev under house arrest. But Yeltsin took control of mass protests in Moscow, leading the democratic opposition to victory.

Yeltsin banned the Communist Party and confiscated its vast property. The ban was lifted in court about a year later, but by then Yeltsin had dealt the death blow to the tottering Soviet state. He and the leaders of Ukraine and Belarus formed the Commonwealth of Independent States in December 1991, declaring the Soviet Union extinct. Gorbachev resigned within the month.

Impatient to lead Russia into a new, prosperous era, Yeltsin quickly launched an economic-reform program that freed prices but sent them soaring, wiping out many people's savings. Inflation skyrocketed and production plummeted.

Years later, he expressed regret over the rush, and said he'd been "naive."

"I ask forgiveness for not justifying some hopes of those people who believed that at one stroke, in one spurt, we could leap from the gray, stagnant, totalitarian past into the light, rich civilized future," he told the nation in a televised speech to announce his resignation on Dec. 31, 1999.

"I myself believed in this, that we could overcome everything in one spurt."

Tension grew between him and the Soviet-era parliament, climaxing in fall 1993 when Yeltsin disbanded the legislature. An armed standoff and street riots followed, and Yeltsin finally turned tanks against the parliament building. Scores of people were killed in the fighting.

Afterward, Yeltsin pushed through a constitution that guaranteed a strong presidency and allowed him to brush off any serious parliamentary challenges.

But growing hard-line influence led him to dump key reformers from his Cabinet, which alienated democratic forces. Their disillusionment grew after the start of the first Chechnya war and more hard-line gains in parliamentary elections in December 1995.

By early 1996, Yeltsin was deeply unpopular and presidential elections loomed in June. But true to form, Yeltsin rallied when things looked bleakest, manipulating the media, enlisting the aid of the so-called oligarchs who had enriched themselves on the spoils of the Soviet economy in a grueling campaign.

The campaign trips to Russian regions and exertion took a heavy physical toll, and by election day Yeltsin could not even make it to his scheduled polling station. Doctors later said he had suffered another mild heart attack during the campaign.

He underwent quintuple heart bypass surgery in November 1996, but continued to suffer from a series of other ailments. He also had long-running back trouble, and seemed increasingly shaky, both physically and mentally.

Russians questioned who was running the country — the doddering Yeltsin, or the aides and tycoons whom critics accused of exercising undue influence over Kremlin policy.

Yeltsin's increasing frailty seemed to reflect the declining fortunes of the country he led. During public appearances, he would often stumble, and his speeches were punctuated by long, inexplicable pauses — even when he had the text in front of him.

Russians expected another halting speech on New Year's Eve 1999, but he stunned the nation and the world with his resignation — having given no hint that he would ever give in to calls that he step down before his second term was up in spring 2000. He named his last prime minister, former KGB agent        Vladimir Putin, acting president — giving him a huge incumbent's advantage over any would-be challengers.

"Russia must enter the new millennium with new politicians, with new faces, with new, smart, strong, energetic people," Yeltsin said.

"And we who have been in power for many years already, we must go."

After his dramatic exit, Yeltsin appeared rarely in public — popping up now and again at an official ceremony, holiday reception or tennis tournament. He traveled several times to China for what were described as health-boosting trips, and he looked fitter in retirement than he had in years.

Yeltsin met about once a month with Putin, usually at his dacha in Barvikha outside Moscow, he told an interviewer with Russian state television on the second anniversary of his resignation. He said he felt stronger than during the presidency, less weighed down by stress, and never regretted his abrupt departure. He felt certain that the reforms he championed would continue under Putin, he said.

"If I had doubts that the reforms might be reversed, I would not have resigned," Yeltsin said.

[Rile]

Sa zakašnjenjem od 9 godina, što se mene tiče...

[The Force]

"nam"?  
Jeb$%/(#$=konj....      što ga nisu strefili prije 15ak godina...

[Cornelius]

Bio je dobar u pocetku kada je razjebavao komunizam i na kraju kada je predao vlast Putinu. Izmedju te dve akcije on je bio pijan i samoljubiv.

[Demo(n)lisher]

O ruskim jevrejima, tj HAZARIMA koji su celo covecanstvo hteli da porobe i da sve redom tehnikom zavadi pa vladaj jebavaju, imam izuzetno respectovanje. Narocito o velikom pijanduri, koga su svaki dan savetnici budili i saopstavali mu uz par dobrih samara i ladne vode da je precednik Rusije.
Kolaps ekonomije, apsolutno odsustvo u svetskoj politici (setimo se Kosova, gde nije ulozen veto) je samo doprinelo destrukciji Rusije koja je mnogo propatila posle SSSR i sav teret preuzela na svoja ledja (kao i mi teret SFRJ).
Putin je druga stvar, karakterna osoba, covek za primer.
On nece dozvoliti da gospoda Ameri zajebu Ruse kao sto su ih prcali u zdrav mozak zadnjih 50 godina.
Dakle, drago mi je da je matora drtina ili malteski vitez (da budem precizniji) platila svoj dug.

[Джон Рейнольдс]

Ja sam jedno vreme, u poslednjim mesecima Jeljcinovog precednikovanja, imao teoriju da je on umro i da njegov leš kontrolišu daljinskim upravljačima, nekom tehnologijom koju su razvili Sovjeti i koja je dugo i ljubomorno bila čuvana u vojnim bazama ispod Urala. Čudno se Boris kretao tih dana, nekako mehanički. Neki su to objašnjavali njegovom bolešću, neki pijanstvima, neki pijanstvima bolesnog čoveka, ali ja sam bio uveren da je umro i samo sam čekao da Putin, posle jedno dve nedelje sedenja u fotelji, izjavi saučešće. Al', jebiga, požive mrcina.

[Demo(n)lisher]

Jel ko od vas gledao prenos Jeljcinove sarane?
Delegacija na nivou.
Tu su Bush stariji i Klinton. Cini mi se da sam ih video obojicu kako ljube triput u obraz Borisovu zenu.
Prividjenje ili realnost, pitanje je sad.

[Alex]

O ruskim jevrejima, tj HAZARIMA koji su celo covecanstvo hteli da porobe i da sve redom tehnikom zavadi pa vladaj jebavaju, imam izuzetno respectovanje.

Aaa, sad se vidi ko te učio istoriji - onaj Lučić.

[Cornelius]

O ruskim jevrejima, tj HAZARIMA koji su celo covecanstvo hteli da porobe i da sve redom tehnikom zavadi pa vladaj jebavaju...

Ti Hazari su stigli do Srbije, a onda su ih Srbi uništili kriptonitom. Koj bre može da vlada svetom osim Srba?

[mrkoye]

Bush stariji, Klinton i Jochic

[Demo(n)lisher]

O ruskim jevrejima, tj HAZARIMA koji su celo covecanstvo hteli da porobe i da sve redom tehnikom zavadi pa vladaj jebavaju, imam izuzetno respectovanje.

Aaa, sad se vidi ko te učio istoriji - onaj Lučić.

A ko je tebi pametnjakovicu bijo mentor? Kladim se na Sabana Saulica i Ljubu Alicica.
Mudar si i vispren koliko i oni. Nekakva aura gluposti, smrada, i neslanih i prostackih sala sve vreme bdi iznad tebe.

[Meho Krljic]

Alaha mu, čemu sad ovolike uvrede kad je čovek napravio sasvim prirodnu opservaciju?

[---]

od prirodne opservacije do prirodne selekcije - put je kratak.

[Cornelius]

E, i meni je Šaban Šaulić bio mentor. Jedna od prvih lekcija je bila jelcinovska:

Od rakije caj

I mi ljudi meraklije
zavolesmo kazandzije
kada oni sljivu peku
popijemo i mi neku.

Ta rakija vruca
lepo greje pluca
bas je pravi raj
od rakije caj.

Pod kazanom vatra gori
deda leg'o da odmori
a ja nisam nikad pio
pored njega naucio.

Sneg je pao, sve je belo
odmara se celo selo
vetar duva, topla kuca
rakija se pije vruca.

[---]

prve lekcije iz teskog zivota i propasti sela naucio sam od sabana...

Ti motiku, a ja plug

Pogledaj, sestro, ponoc otkucava
nad nasim selom sad mesec strazari
otac i majka jos budni sede
a macak im stari umiljato prede

Ti motiku uzmi od majke
a ja cu od oca plug
jer to nam je, sejo mila
najveci dug

Mozda nam otac sad pismo pise
na sat pogleda da lampu ugasi
jer sutra rano u polje krecu
sudba im je takvu dodelila srecu

Njive je nase prekrila trava
livade otac ne moze da kosi
na njima tudja sad pasu stada
a njemu ce srce da pukne od jada

[Cornelius]

Majstor-Žiko, sve što je ikada trebalo da se kaže, sve istine i prosvetljenja, izrečena su u sabranim delima Šabana Šaulića i Tome Zdravkovića. Zato me i ne čudi da si od Šabana čuo o problemima industrijalizacije zemlje, o osiromašenju seoskog stanovništva i o njihovoj migraciji ka većim ekonomskim i privrednim centrima. Pročavajući fenomene degradacije ruralnog sveta, Šaban je u jednom od svojih dela takodje obradio i aspekt migracije radne snage ka razvijenim evropskim zemljama.

Zemljo moja

Imao sam sestnaest leta
kad izabrah stranu sveta
bio sam naivan

Ostavio prijatelje
prvu ljubav, roditelje
bio sam naivan

Trazio sam bolje sutra
ziveo za lepsa jutra
bio sam naivan

Samo jedno srce imam
i u njemu jedan dom
u tudjini tebe snivam
zemljo moja, zemljo moja

Samo jedno srce imam
i u njemu jedan dom
u tudjini tebe snivam
zemljo moja, tamo daleko

Nije zlato sve sto sija
shvatio sam ovde i ja
bio sam naivan

Da vratim vremena stara
platio bih nema para
bio sam naivan

Zar je ovo bolje sutra
zar su ovo lepsa jutra
bio sam naivan

Aj kol'ko dana
jos je vise rana, jos je vise rana

[---]

o, kornelijuse, u dušu me dirnu. ta kako ne bih znao tu legendarnu pjesmu!
da, šaban šaulić i toma zdravković naučili su me svemu što znam o životu. istoriju ex yu ratova sam doučio iz pesama baje malog knindže, marka perkovića thompsona i esa bestije.
ali da ne odlutamo daleko od teme, i ti si, sigurno, iz legendarne pesme "S namerom dođoh u veliki grad", naučio koliko je veliki problem odlazaka mladih iz sela u velike aždaje, gradove:

S namerom dodjoh u veliki grad

S namerom dodjoh u veliki grad
ostade zamnom moje rodno mesto
na rastanku majka grlila me dugo
cuvaj se sine i pisi nam cesto

Ref.
A ja sam poceo da lutam
ni ja vise ne znam s kim
vencavo sam se i razvodio
s kafanama velegradskim

Stanovo sam negde na kraju grada
trosio oceve poslednje pare
gledao sam raskos i srecne ljude
setio se majke i kuce stare

Mozda i takav postao ne bih
da mi je ona pruzila radost
razocaran u zivot i najvecu ljubav
rasipao svoju nesrecnu mladost

A ja sam poceo da lutam
ni ja vise ne znam s kim
vencavo sam se i razvodio
s kafanama velegradskim

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJpNVoCzaJs

[Cornelius]

Jaoj, Žiko, upropasti me onim snimkom. A sećanja samo naviru...

[crippled_avenger]

>> Yeltsinomics <<
       Russian premier makes joke

   Following on from Boris Yeltsin's funeral,
   our favourite story from a British journalist
   who interviewed him:

   Journalist: "So, President Yeltsin, how would
   you describe the state of the Russian
   economy in one word?"

   Yeltsin: "Good".

   Journalist: "Okay then Mr President, perhaps
   you would describe it in more than one word?"

   Yeltsin: "Ah, in that case - not good."