He will be greeted in hell by millions of elderly Russians who died of malnutrition, cold, and terrible diseases while he was getting kickbacks from crooks who were allowed to 'privatize' (i.e. steal) natural resources and infrastructure. Hopefully, they will continuously claw his eyes out for eternity.

You let a great country slide into oblivion. Burn in hell, motherfucker.

Wait, and Stalinish Communism was better?

Um, I think Gorbachev's reforms, if completed, would have been better. Fuking Yeltsin let things slide _all_ the way into the shithole.

Also, was Russia under Stalinist Communism better than Russia in the 90's? A nearly identical question: was Iraq better under Saddam then it is now, when there's electricity for 1 hour per day, no running water, a very real possibility of a violent death for every person every single day, no education, few legal means of getting a salary, and widespread poverty and hunger?

[quote] electricity for 1 hour per day, no running water, a very real possibility of a violent death for every person every single day, no education, few legal means of getting a salary, and widespread poverty and hunger?[/quote]

you make it sound like germany near the end of WW2... http://www.defensetech.org/archives/003382.html try that for a more realistic view, ieds yes, but life aint over for iraqis

Goodnight, funny man.

Well, Crackalackin, under Stalin, I believe that he insituted the Gulags and Progroms. I think life has been shitty in Russia, well, basically forever.

Going from Communism to capitalism basically overnight (relatively) probably isn't a good idea regardless of who is in power.

The downfall of the Soviet Union was established in 1917.

^ Awesome, considering the Soviet Union didn't exist until 1922.


MEEP

Boris Yeltsin had his problems (alcohol, women), but he was a hero to the Russian people. Before the fall of the Soviet Union he was one of the few liberals within the party, the leader of the liberals in Russia, and a focal point for dissent. When the tanks rolled into Moscow during the military coup in 1991, Yeltsin led the resistance, taking a stand in front of the White House, where he read a warrant for the arrest of the people involved in the coup, including the arrest of the soldiers putting machine guns, sniper rifles, and tank barrels at him as he read it. He was a great man.

I disagree.

Boris Yeltsin was a piece of dogshit. The greatest thing he ever did was stand on top of the tank after the coup was over. What the world does not know is that he only stood on the tank after the reactionary forces (special purpose police called in from the Ural regions) swept the Kremlin clean of the supporters of the coup.

And, Silver_Raven, the description of the conditions in Iraq are not my words. I'm repeating, verbatim, the words from the interviews of Iraqis living in Baghdad which I have heard on PBS the night before.

^ Awesome, considering the Soviet Union didn't exist until 1922.
The start of the Russian Revolution was the start of the downfall of the Soviet Union. Particularly in October when Lenin overthrew the Provisional Government, which led to the formation of the USSR following the civil war.