Boris Yeltsin

[[File:Boris_Yeltsin_1993.jpg|thumb|right|165px|Norm Peterson, as played by Boris Yeltsin.]]{{politics}}

'''Boris Nikolayevich "Little Caesar"<ref>Crowley, Michael, [http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/russia-putin-hack-dnc-clinton-election-2016-cold-war-214532 "Putin's Revenge"], Politico 12.16.16.</ref>"Catastroika" 
Vodka Drunkenski
 Yeltsin''' {{lived|1931|2007}} was the first President of [[Russia]] (1991–1999) and the last one to be [[democratic]]ally chosen in a free and fair election.<ref name=unfreedom>''The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America'' by Timothy Snyder (2018) Tim Duggan Books. ISBN 0525574468.</ref>{{rp|44}} When Yeltsin fell ill, his entourage tried to find a successor by first taking a popular opinion poll of fictional heroes; the winner of the poll was the character Max Otto von Stierlitz of the TV serial ''Seventeen Moments in Spring''.<ref name=unfreedom/>{{rp|44-45}} Known for [[Alcohol|hard-drinking]], Yeltsin is perhaps best remembered as the guy who did the Twist in 1996. Yeltsin also accomplished a breathtaking goal, being more hated than the [[United States]] in Russia.<ref>[http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/boris-yeltsin-rip-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-drunken-czar-a-479096-2.html 2% approval rating.] It's actually surprising that he managed to die from natural causes.</ref> 

In 1991, when the [[Soviet Union]] fell, Yeltsin called for an end to state [[communism]]. Yeltsin's period is best remembered as Russia's first try at democracy<ref group=note>With the exception of {{wpl|Russian Provisional Government|a brief period}} in 1917.</ref> during which it became a ''de jure'' semi-presidential constitutional [[republic]] with Western-style institutions. By the end of the 1990s, his popularity had rapidly declined due to his alcoholism, inefficient [[economic]] policies, and deteriorating relationship with [[NATO]];<ref group=note>The 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia largely contributed to this: many Russians took this personally because they consider Serbs a kindred nation. Besides, it renewed the [[Cold War]]-era [[paranoia]] of possible NATO invasion.</ref> [[Vladimir Putin|his successor]], who formally preserved the democratic institutions, nonetheless made a sharp turn for the strongman type of leadership. However, considering how long it took for [[Italy|many]] [[Germany|other]] [[Spain|European]] [[Portugal|countries]] to overcome [[authoritarian]] tendencies once they started moving towards democracy,<ref group=note>[[Hungary|Some]] [[Belarus|still]] [[Poland|have]] problems with this.</ref> it would have been very surprising if Russia ''instantly'' did it perfectly.

==Yeltsin's term==
It was pretty much [[chaos]]. Instead of introducing gradual [[privatization]],<ref group=note>Compared to, say, {{wpl|Shock therapy (economics)#Post-Soviet|Poland}}…</ref> Yeltsin handed the country over to "[[laissez-faire|shock therapy]]" economics, which allowed the country to be looted by oligarchs-to-be while people starved.<ref>[http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/constellations/article/view/16287/13075 One Step Forward, Two Steps Back]</ref>{{efn|When even ''[[The Economist]]'' calls your shift to [[capitalism]] "badly practiced",<ref>[http://www.economist.com/node/9079824 Yeltsin's moment: It was messy, but he gave Russia a future that Vladimir Putin is now putting in jeopardy] (Apr 28<sup>th</sup> 2007) ''The Economist''.</ref> you probably fucked something up.}} This especially upset communists in [[Siberia]], who felt betrayed by Yeltsin despite their having been demanding he leave office long before he took office. Still, Yeltsin's drinking provided Russians who could still afford to steal a television set nonstop entertainment.

In a 1995 summit with President [[Bill Clinton]], Yeltsin said [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI2SKRk8SNs "you are the disaster"], and they both laughed hard despite nobody knowing what was so funny.<ref group=note>Must be a political thing.</ref> Overall, American-Russian relations hit a high point in peaceful relations during the Yeltsin-Clinton years, even if Yeltsin did stumble out of where he was staying in Washington for an official state visit, barely-clothed and drunk, trying to find a taxi so he could get a pizza.{{efn|And then attempted the same thing the next night.}}<ref>https://www.history.com/.amp/news/bill-clinton-boris-yeltsin-drunk-1994-russian-state-visit</ref>

Yeltsin had a great [[human rights]] record, if you exclude the war in [[Chechnya]] and dissolving Parliament in 1993 for voting against his bills.

Eventually, Yeltsin was more-or-less universally despised by Russians,<ref group="note">Yeltsin eventually achieved a lofty approval rating of 2%, which meant he was probably less popular than having cigarettes snuffed out on your genitalia</ref> and he caved in to their cries to resign on [[Y2K|December 31, 1999]]; this was perhaps the single greatest New Year's present ''and'' the single greatest way to begin the new millennium for all of Russia. While nobody will go quite far enough to ask Yeltsin back, they're not exactly happy with [[Putin]]'s very existence.<ref> Triesman, Daniel. [http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/faculty/treisman/Papers/Pres%20pop.pdf "Presidential Popularity in a Young Democracy: Russia under Yeltsin and Putin."] UCLA Division of Social Sciences, Nov. 2009. Web. 6 June 2013</ref>

==Legacy==
Communists have become grateful toward Yeltsin for re-dismantling their country enough to give them a mandate to return to power. Bitter commies still dislike him, though, and the word "Yeltsin" has replaced the word "American" as the king of Russian swear words.{{fact}}

Total incompetence of Yeltsin's reforms made most Russians dissapointed in a democratic government, to the point that the word 'democrat' became a swear word (frequently changed to 'dermokrat' (shitocrat))<ref>[https://www.postcommunistregimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/2021.09.10.-Magyar-Madlovics-The-Anatomy-of-Post-Communist-Regimes.pdf The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes] (PDF, see 6.4.2.1)</ref>, which made it easy for strongman [[Putin]] to estabilish a [[dictatorship]].

==External links==
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-z9wfueMAw The description says it all.]

==Sources==
*Freeland, Chrystia. ''Sale of the Century: Russia's Wild Ride from Communism to Capitalism''. 2000, Crown Business. ISBN 0-812-93215-3

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note|2}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yeltsin, Boris}}
[[Category:Christians]]
<!-- classical liberalists / Russian political standards. -->
<!-- Boris Yeltsin was a centre-right politician. -->
[[Category:Classical liberalism]]
[[Category:Coups]]
[[Category:Government incompetence]]
[[Category:History of communism]]
[[Category:Leftists who turned right with age]]
[[Category:Liberals]]
[[Category:Russian politicians]]
[[Category:Booze]]

Categories: Christians, Classical liberalism, Coups, Government incompetence, History of communism, Leftists who turned right with age, Liberals, Russian politicians, Booze