Of all world leaders this century, he had probably one of the greatest, most challenging tasks imaginable. He had to, from *nothing* create a stable nation-state and a government. At the same time, he had to create a successful economic system! Can you even imagine the intense pressure and stress.
Of course he made mistakes. If you had to create *everything* with very little support from neither the people nor fellow statesmen, while at the same time trying to sustain a *shred* of national dignity... well... mistakes are bound to be made.
This isn't like the task the American founding fathers undertook -- they had to build everything that Yeltsin is building; however, they only had a few colonies/states to deal with at the time. Yeltsin has the weight of hundreds of millions of Russian people on his shoulders.
Not an easy job.
Thank you Mr. Yeltsin. You had every opportunity to become a dictator. You had every reason to slip backwards into communism. You could have been emperor of one of the largest nations on the planet. But you chose the honorable thing... the good thing. So few people would have done the same. You have earned my respect.
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I have always respected Yeltsin.
Of all world leaders this century, he had probably one of the greatest, most challenging tasks imaginable. He had to, from *nothing* create a stable nation-state and a government. At the same time, he had to create a successful economic system! Can you even imagine the intense pressure and stress.
Of course he made mistakes. If you had to create *everything* with very little support from neither the people nor fellow statesmen, while at the same time trying to sustain a *shred* of national dignity... well... mistakes are bound to be made.
This isn't like the task the American founding fathers undertook -- they had to build everything that Yeltsin is building; however, they only had a few colonies/states to deal with at the time. Yeltsin has the weight of hundreds of millions of Russian people on his shoulders.
Not an easy job.
Thank you Mr. Yeltsin. You had every opportunity to become a dictator. You had every reason to slip backwards into communism. You could have been emperor of one of the largest nations on the planet. But you chose the honorable thing... the good thing. So few people would have done the same. You have earned my respect.
David