Where in the World is Cat?

Today the first democratic President of Russia died. At the age of 76, Boris Yeltsin left behind a dramatic legacy of boldness, drama and contradictions.

For those of you who remember the Yeltsin days well, you may not be surprised to learn that his death is receiving little to no coverage by the state-controlled media here in Russia. I learned of his passing from a friend here in Moscow, even though I was watching the evening news at the time. Only CNN, the BBC and other foreign channels are providing extensive coverage of his death. Russian news stations have just added this event to their list of regular news.

The truth is, most Russians want to forget the Yeltsin days. He came to Moscow on the coattails of Mikhail Gorbachev (if not trying to pull Gorbachev by his own coattails), and rose to become a bold leader of democracy in Russia, forever pictured standing atop a tank outside of the Russian parliamentary building pleading Russians to embrace democracy, demonishing an authoritarian group of oligarchs and promising a brighter future for his country. What followed was devastation, violence, corruption and poverty. Russia was lost at the hands of Yeltsin.

In the West, we humored Yeltsin, laughing at his red nose and funny dances. Most of us accepted him like the drunk uncle at family gatherings, except here the drunk uncle was the leader of one of the greatest nations on Earth, and while he traveled the world and made us laugh, the people of his nation were starving and watching their nation fall out of the light of the world.

Yes, Yeltsin brought democracy to Russia, but at the same time his implementation of democracy almost ensured that a democratic government would never be possible in the near future of Russia. People now favor Putin because he provides the one thing Yeltsin continually failed on, stability.

Yeltsin will definitely be remembered in the history books. But the question I pose is, is it that should democracy ever flourish in Russia, will he be remembered as the bumbling failed statesman that most think of him today, or a bold, innovative leader in love with his country, remembered for defending democracy astride a tank?