God Rest Boris Nickolyavich Yeltsin

[kyrie]

Boris Yeltsin has died of heart failure at age 76. May he rest in peace. I'm quite a fan of his, despite his mistakes, and for what it's worth, offer my condolances to his family and country.

Here's what a few people said of him (from CNN):

Your e-mails: 'Yeltsin was my personal hero'

Nolan Craber of Berkeley, California
President Yeltsin will go down in history as the leader of a nation in an age where there was hope. The image that rest is him standing on a tank, rallying the fragile seed of democracy to make its way. Paradoxically, he both opened up the window to a free Russia and closed it, by choosing a KGB-man as his successor. There are obvious similarities between him and [Aleksandr Fedorovic] Kerenskij, the leader in between the last tsar and the Bolshevik revolution. Both represent an orientation towards the West. Sadly, Russia turned authoritarian after their departure.

Victor of Patterson of Marsh Harbour, Bahamas
Boris N. Yeltsin was the man who -- more so than anybody else -- ended the cold war with his bravery. He had many fine moments, but few leaders in history have had one as magnificent as when he got up and stood on that tank, facing down decades of history with just his will. Boris Yeltsin was my personal hero.

Yuliya M. of Chicago, Illinois
I grew up during Yeltsin era -- time of the exciting change that shook up the whole Russia. I was 12 when he was standing on a tank talking to the crowds (in 1991). As a teenager, I was impressed with his charisma, decisiveness and urge for democracy. To me, he will always be the president who was backing up democracy at any cost: on a tank, dancing with the rock band, talking to the youth, pushing for reforms, letting the free press say and write whatever they want... Of course, he had few weaknesses that allowed those under him to use him and to 'steal from the state', but his accomplishments in making Russia a better and freer country overshadow everything else. I am deeply saddened that he is now gone, with him the crazy '90's in Russia are also over. I can only pray for Russia and hope that Yeltsin's legacy will stand up to Putin's lack of democracy.

<http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/04/23/yeltsin.reader.feedback/index.html>