Clinton knows his democracy. He stood firmly behind Yeltsin in 1993, when the latter sent tanks to shell Russia's elected parliament, killing hundreds of protesters. Now Yeltsin cannot be prosecuted for that crime. U.S. investors seem to agree with Clinton. U.S. funds that invest in Russia and Russian stocks traded in the U.S. rose on the New York Stock Exchange.
Class war goes on Now let's look at reality.
The eight years since the overthrow of Soviet power have been marked by unrelenting class warfare against labor in the former Soviet Union. This war has been waged by Western corporate interests and Russia's new capitalist class with the viciousness of Washington's wars against the people of Iraq and Yugoslavia. Plant closings and privatizations dictated by imperialist lenders like the International Monetary Fund, along with nonpayment of wages, have reduced workers' life expectancy by 10 years and forced millions to try and survive on potatoes they grow in their backyards. This class war shows no signs of abating. In the past year, Russia's population has fallen by 1 million.