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Boris Yeltsin Resigns 155

Posted by Roblimo from the passing-the-nuclear-briefcase dept.
Anonymous Coward writes "I got up early and was surprised that Boris was trying to trump Y2K! You can read ABC's scoop here."
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Boris Yeltsin Resigns More

Boris Yeltsin Resigns

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  • Re:Putin now has responsibility (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    That's where they used to be before the Union broke up. The Kazakhs have since shipped out all of their nukes to Russia and the States.

  • Re:Respect (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    YIKES! I don't agree with this at all. Yeltsin made more mistakes than--er--non-mistakes. I'm usually not an advocate of violence, but I thought Russia would have been better off if he'd been assassinated several years back. Jeez, can't believe I'm actually saying that in public. Now that he is gone, Russia needs the equivalent of an Elliot Ness. Russia is RUN BY and terrorized by mobsters. Their government has no authority. I'm was a Political Science major in college, so I usually have an idea on how to reform things, but Russia is SOOO far gone I have no idea what they can do. GOOD LUCK RUSSIA! My thoughts and hopes are with ya!

  • Re:What Russian people REALLY want (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I was born in Russia, and even though I live in Israel I am still connected to the Russian world.
    I am the most passionate enemy of Communism that can be found; I also think that the communist leaders are 20th century's greatest criminals, more vicious and cruel than Hitler and his f***ing scums (as a Jew I can tall).
    However, the world is not past that danger. Russia is in worse state than ever from the economical point of view. It is obvious that a small group of fanatics or criminals can utilize Russia's awesome nuclear potential to lay waste to the whole world.
    Puttin's coming is not a relief at all; he is rather a marionette in the hands of the maphia bosses. His coming symbolizes the falling of Russia into corruption and bribery. It is sad that the Russian people have never been free for a whole millenium (look up the history books for more details). It seems that they are not going to be liberated soon, either.
    The only course that would not certainly lead Russia and the rest of the world into oblivion is to be patient and quiet. My heart is with the Russians.

  • Re:What Russian people REALLY want (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Typical response of ignorant westerner!

    Average soldier in Chechnya, at least, knows better what's going on then the average westerner. Most of the people fighting there on both sides are contractors with conscripts supporting their back.

    Now, to break the news to you, they are fighting for oil and for credibility which russian military needs which in turn leads to reestablishment of Russia as a world power.

    The reestablishment of Russia as a world power is of utter importance. Russia was loosing customers all over the world for all sorts of products from arms to space services. This lose came not because the russian products are worse then western but because of POLITICAL GAMES. Why western mass media screaming wild of Chechen war? Nobody wants to see Russia being strong again - let them strugle there indefinetly while west is going to grab Caspian oil and continue subduing world arm markets.

    Speaking of Putin, new head of Russia, basically the guy is saying that only government has the right to steal and be corrupted. As in any "civilized" country this right was established long time ago. The major source of russian trouble is that power is divided between many criminal groups. It looks like Putin is just a right man for the job.

    Again, watch out for west hating Putin for the same reasons which I stated above. Nobody wants to have competitors, nobody wants to see Russia being strong.

    Sorry for the rant.

  • disappointing (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward
    No apparent Y2K issues so far, the Indian hostages have been freed, and now the drunken man with the nuclear briefcase is no more. This New Year is going to be as boring as any we've seen. *sigh*

    AC
  • Pretty weird, i have seen this news the 31st on both news channel here in montreal.(RDI and LCI which are both french channels though, i havent looked at CTV and others for a long time, i had to party :-)

    ---
  • >alcoholic Yeltsin

    For what it's worth, finding a Russian who's NOT alcoholic is about as easy as Diogenes finding his man (grin).

    -E

  • No no, us Americans don't smoke pot all day long. We're usually too busy sitting on our front porches oiling our guns so that we can go gun down people in drive-by shootings.

    Sheesh, you Russians don't know ANYTHING!

    (Note: Since English is not your native language -- there is a concept called "humor" which comes into play here).

    -E

  • Considering his poor health, it's very
    understandable that he wouldn't want to stay his
    full term. It's interesting how this kind of does
    seal his temporary replacement's bid for the
    office though..
  • That Yeltsin will be missed. The only world leader to make Clinton look respectable. I wonder what other announcements people have been holding back for Y2K?
  • How is this News for Nerds?

    Haven't you ever wanted to run your own nation?

    Be the supreme ruler?

    Well, Boris did just that.

    Its a job I could never pull off. Or be president. Or want too. He had an awesome job. Now he will most likely retire to a slightly more private life and play consultant and have a better life.
  • If you think this is scary, look at the background of the guy who is replacing him...

    - Jeff A. Campbell
    - VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com [velocinews.com])
  • True - but this makes it a bit easier for this guy to be elected. He was popular to begin with, but encumbants usually have an easier time at it.

    Of course, his only real rival is a Communist. And you though _we_ had a lack of choices...

    - Jeff A. Campbell
    - VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com [velocinews.com])
  • You think Russia is trying to trump Y2K.

    The terrorists released the passengers from that Indian plane almost during the time the New Year began in New Zealand.

    Maybe the terrorists were afraid of being on a plane during Y2K? ;-)

    Man
  • What he says is quite true, not some psycho viewpoint. Russia is a truly broken country, little better off now than most corrupt african democracies (if not worse off, the mafia is more organized in it). He is not defending the USSR persay you 37734 idiots. Don't try to defend the West; democracy is good, but imperialism is BAD.
    Personally, I blame it all on Reagan, without whom, Russia would've joined the rest of europe as a democracy in less than 50 years, instead of getting shock treatment democracy, and huge scale corruption and poverty.
  • It's a need to know thing. You need to know about the new EMP hazard :-).
  • I'm actually joking, I don't or care enough about politicians to vote B.Y. the man of the century but I was impressed when I heard a translation of his speech on the BBC World Service this morning and he refered to the coming year as the "new century" and not the "new millenium". At least one of these political stucco-heads can count. :-)
  • Thank you Mr. Yeltsin. You had every opportunity to become a dictator.

    Hmm, actually Jeltsin was pretty much a dictator, and now Putin also is.
    1. Using presidential decrees the Russian president can enforce pretty much anything he/she wants.
    2. Jeltsin has had a long history of forcing his officials to resign once they became too popular (Lebed for instance). IMHO a typical dictatorial trait.

    And besides, the way Jeltsin has allowed all members of the Duma to stand above the common law is horrible. No wonder the Russian Mafia is so interested in politics when a seat in the Duma will make them immune to prosecution!

    Sure Jeltsin did some good things, for one thing he stood up against the military and supported Gorbatjov when he was mayor of Moscow, but Russia needs someone better, and first and foremost they need a more democratic system.
  • Erm, this was a joke I hope...

    The information is not even sited by Yahoo, the link just points at a list of links to other sites. If you don't like Yahoo, simply surf on :)
  • Nice resumé!

    Isn't the world a wonderful place as we close the books on the 20th century? :-)

    Chances are things will improve. Putin might be just what Russia needs. Lets hope he decides to deal with the Mafia, and that laws are changed such that foreign investors dare to invest in Russia again. There are just too many cases where the Mafia has robbed foreign firms, or even performed violent takeovers.

    IMHO the Mafia, and the lack of foreign investors are the most important problems Russia, and Putin are facing right now.
  • Not really. Elections are supposed to be held in 3 months. He's just taking control for awhile until the have the election and he gets the rubber stamp. :-)

    He's not that bad, really. Not nearly as bad as Zhironovsky.
  • Oh god,

    it one of those stonking pissups followed by :

    "yyyerr can stufff your job, I can get something betterr aaaannyytime"


    My god, he will be annoyed in the morning.

    Steve
  • Well, he couldn't have done it at any better time. People in Russia apparently combine christmas and new years celebrations to one big festivity on new years. I wouldn't be surprised if this resignation will be on everyones lips tonight. Putin is also at the peak of his popularity now, so unless something happens, chances are pretty big that Putin will be able to reign even after the forthcoming election.
  • Well, Yeltsin has reigned for 9 years now I think, and he did some pretty amazing things in the early years, but those have more or less been clouded by more recent events. So it's not bad at all that Russia gets a new leader. It's definitely time for some new blood to lead Russia in the next few years.
  • Yes and no ... some people are reasonably qualified to discuss this. Example: My degree is in politics, with an emphasis on transitions in post-communist societies --- I spent four years studying the fall of communism and it's aftermath, before going into the computer industry; if anything, i'm _more_ qualified to talk about it than I am technical matters.

  • Re:Scary (Score:1)

    by Kaa ( 21510 )
    Of course, his only real rival is a Communist.

    Of course, ALL of these guys used to be members in good standing of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

    Kaa
  • How is this either "News for Nerds", or "Stuff that matters". What's next? "Canadian MP wins by-election?".
  • I am no american, mon chere.

    As for "News for Nerds", wouldn't all news then be for nerds as any news will affect a nerd, somewhere. Even "Snowball hits nerd in face" should be on /., then. As for stuff that matters, Yeltsin resigning is hardly news worthy of worldy notice. I contend that /. should cover the carnage in Chechnya, and every other genocide being performed in the world today. They have more impact on people then a simple changing of the guard.

  • who cares ?

    he was going to leave soon anyhow.

    it should be more interesting now with ex kgb :)
  • Nazi gold left in Sweden? Who left it there? This is not true. Sweden did some unmoral things during the war, like selling the germans steel so that they could build weapons, and allowing german soldiers to pass through Sweden to go to occupied Norway. This is not anything Swedes are proud of today. It kept Sweden out of war though, and after the war no reconstruction had to be done. Not having to rebuild the country gave Sweden a large competetive advantage, that was used to finance these reforms.
  • Sweden is a democracy. Point. Please make distinction between constitution and party in power.
    What you refer to as "Socialism Democracy" must be social democracy, and that is the largest political party in Sweden. They have been in power in Sweden most of the time since the thirties or something, but for 9 of the past 30 years other more rightwing parties have been in power.

  • Re:Is Slashdot turning into CNN? (Score:3)

    by Plasmic ( 26063 ) on Friday December 31, 1999 @03:06AM (#1429137)
    *NEWSFLASH*

    There are nerds in Russia.

    *Stay tuned for more updates; every hour, on the hour*
  • I've been watching CNN for the last 1 1/2 hours and they haven't even mentioned this. anyone else think this millenium coverage is getting out of hand? CNN's web page has a big picture of fireworks over Sydney harbor and the Yeltsin resignation is relegated to the small print in the corner.
    ^. .^
  • Really? I was not aware of this. From the news report I saw (*sigh* TV News...my bad, I'm sorry), I was under the impression that they had 90 days to hold elections to fill the post.

    I've never liked the idea of having a set, cast in stone date for elections. IMHO, it makes those involved worrry too much about the next one that they see coming on the horizon, and not spending enough time actually, you know, governing. THat isn't to say I want them more involved, and that the governments need to be making laws to the punching of a time-clock. But just spend more time exploring some iussues from every angle.

    Whoops. I think I've used my alloted time. End rant.

  • Yeltsin has been removed from power in all but name for some time now. This has been in the works for a while, and Putin , who is replacing him, is largely viewed as the favorite to win the next elections anyways.

    That being said, Russian law dictates that they have an election within 90 days of resignation, and that date is apparently already set for Mar 26, 2000. So, apparently, they have been expecting this.

  • Re:Remember (Score:3)

    by Foogle ( 35117 ) on Friday December 31, 1999 @03:16AM (#1429141) Homepage
    What the hell does that have to do with anything? I propose a new rule. It will be just like the Adolf Hitler rule (whenever someone in a conversation makes an analogy to Hitler, the thread is over) and it will go like this: Whenever someone tries to explain the fall of communism, the thread is over.

    My reasoning? Much like most /.ers have a I-think-I'm-a-lawyer complex, everyone here seems to feel they are the utmost authority on the world's economic system. Yeah right, c'mon guys let's stick to what we know.

    -----------

    "You can't shake the Devil's hand and say you're only kidding."

  • You said: I'm pretty much sure that most of the Russian soldiers will not fight in a war with the West - they will simply see no reason for it. Communism in Russia is dead. The ideology does not matter any more


    Really? I think the story is a bit simpler: You fight and follow the orders you are given or they throw you in jail for a long time (or just shoot your right away). I don't think the average soldier in Chechenya (spelling??) knows why he's there, risking his life. Yes, idiology doesn't matter but as a solder you are not asked to fight but told to do so. Refusal to follow those orders is usually not taken very kindly.

  • Wonderful ... what comes next? (Score:4)

    by RNG ( 35225 ) on Friday December 31, 1999 @02:35AM (#1429143)
    I really do sympathise with the Russians (along with the other former USSR republics) but the current (political & economic) climate in Russia is scary. In many (rural) areas government has retreated, wages & pensions are not being paid on time (if they're being payed at all), corruption is widespread and much of the former communist oligarchy has transformed itself into the owners of (hastily) privatized businesses and enjoy excellent ties to the organized crime syndicates. Rumors have it that corruption reaches up into the highest levels of government and it's a fact that many crimes along these lines are never investigated earnestly if at all.

    Much of their nuclear fleet is rotting in the harbors because there is no money to either fix/maintain the fleet, much less so to properly dismantle it. Weapons from low to high caliber can be bought if you have the right amount of cash and know the right people. All of this is happening in a country which still is a nuclear power and has lots of other stuff that should be kept under tight control by a powerful/competent government. The safety of nuclear materials, be it in the civilan or military sector, can not be guaranteed anymore; factories and nuclear power plants run for years without proper servicing. Once of the major fears currently seems to be that countries like Irak, Iran, N. Korea and others will be able to use the current climate (ie: breakdown of authority) to appropriate materials and technology for their own nuclear programs; those are countries that I'd rather not see developing nuclear arms; yet this is a real danger.

    Not a pretty place, and from what I have gathered Jetsin's replacement (Putin), who used to be head of the KGB, never really voiced clear political opinions which went farther than the default rethorics of law and order. Jeltsin was (at the time of the coup against Gorbachev) an icon of hope for the democratic forces. Unfortunateley nothing of that idealism remains and Russias future is in doubt. Yet we refinance their bankrupt government/economy (and thus help pay for the current operation in the Caucasus) because we can't really afford to have things get even worse than they are. In the meantime, things don't seem to be evolving towards a better (more stable) state of affairs. We're afraid of making Russia into an Enemy, yet at the current pace of development, there may not be a Russia (or a proper government which does what a government is expected to do) much longer ...

    Isn't the world a wonderful place as we close the books on the 20th century? :-)


  • Yep, Putin has the nuke keys now.

  • Y2K non-compliance: See "Yeltsin, Boris".
  • I lived in Moscow for approximately 1/2 year, and I think that the thing that worried me most was the climate of corruption that surrounded the Kremlin. The truth is, very few Russians actually liked Yeltsin, he was just better than everyone else out there, and everyone knew it. Last I had heard, one of his competitors for presidency was the corrupt mayor of Moscow, who probably had more ties to the mafia than Al Capone.

    Granted, this is actually the first I've heard of Putin, and I'm curious and a little bit anxious to see what he does and can do.

    -Sam Black
  • That's gotta be the reason.
  • I really hope so. Democracy hasn't worked out so well in Russia. There has been too much corruption and too many mistakes made. Although I am American, many of my relatives only two or three generations back come from Russia and Romania. I hope a time comes when Russia can become a prosperous, democratic, free nation. That is a New Year's wish we can all appreciate.
  • Don't blame it on being American. I've found that stupidity knows know race, nationality or sex. :P
  • "Well I am still waiting for the day that stupidity will no longer be a threat to our society." From what I have observed, stupidity is a universal constant around the world. Your location is no different from anywhere else. What I am trying to figure out is why people carry so much prejudice about other countries.
  • General Protection Fault :P
  • I'd rather look at your when you listen from your goverment that it want to protect you from 'the inappropriate information'. Err, not want but will do.

    Putin can do it. It's the guy who knows KGB practices well. And russian traditions - too.

    You may not know but the smartest persons with MBA diplomas can't do anything here at Russia because it's just right another system than the democracy.

    :)

    -/augur

  • A word from Russia (Score:4)

    by Augur ( 62912 ) on Friday December 31, 1999 @04:02AM (#1429153) Homepage
    1. GOOD THING: There is a prognosis this day that this day is a startline for pouring inflated money from USA into Russia (Marshall plan, you know). Else the USA economy (that almost overheated, the Internet stuff?) will blow your smart heads and your fat money pouches.

    2. GOOD THING: Two or three days ago the most active internet community leaders meet with Putin and the Ministers talking about growth of the Internet. It's ok. But...


    3. BAD THING: Before taking presidential rights Putin has some plans to 'regulate russian segment of the Internet'. You know almost nothing about the Duma Elections? Hah, the Internet was used widely as a black propoganda a lot. So, Putin has a plan to licenze domain registration and put under the control the persons, content and have a right to shutdown everything he (or his administration) may think is non-appropriate. You think about having russian servers at .com registeries? You are wrong - you are prohibited to do it. You must be a company with licenzed website (why? just because you could be fined a lot of $$ for not placing a firedistinguisher at the toilet!) and can't have the site registered nowhere else than at .RU domain. Total control.

    Good luck!

    Anyone who want to read (and can read on russian!) can visit respectable russian newssource LENTA.Ru and read the rest. Maybe it's a story for Slashdotting?

    http://www.lenta.ru/internet/1999/12/31/ripn/

    (That's the project I've mentioned)
    http://www.lenta.ru/internet/1999/12/28/domains/ proect.htm

    Anyone care about 0.5% of the Internet (I'm talking about Russia?)

    -/augur

  • fu*k (Score:4)

    by gnarphlager ( 62988 ) on Friday December 31, 1999 @02:40AM (#1429154) Homepage
    okay, now maybe I'm just being paranoid here, but let's look at the situation:
    • the russians are involved in armed conflict.
    • Boris makes a statement at a conference merely weeks ago that President Clinton has "forgotten Russia is a nuclear power"
    • Boris in his "farewell" speech APPOLOGIZES.
    Boris hasn't been a bad leader. Not a great leader, but he's done some pretty good things in his term. Now, I suppose it's just the nice guy ethic to appologize for "dreams not coming true" and "mistakes" in his career. But this is from a man that has held fast to every decision he's made. Hell, that's part of why I've respected him.

    Something's up. I mean, no way to tell until it happens, and I'm not about to go running for the bomb shelter, but this is quite definitely not a good sign. Time to read up on the man with the briefcase I suppose.

  • >Russia is RUN BY and terrorized by mobsters.
    >Their government has no authority.

    There is no question that organized crime has a foothold in Russia, but my question to you is, what were Yeltsin's mistakes? Letting the mobsters gain power?

    Anytime a national government weakens, organized crime takes hold. They had power long before Yeltsin did. How could he have prevented this? Tough laws? Right... with no real enforcement body and no substantial criminal justice system, (or one at the very least needed complete replacement) how could such a thing be prevented?

    Military involvement? That would have worked, but it would have put Yeltsin in an uncomfortable spot - the appearance or tyranny. He was building a stable nation-state. Running the armies up and down the street *may* have worked, but not in the atmosphere Russia was in earlier this decade.

    What were Mr. Yeltsin's huge mistakes?

    >I usually have an idea on how to reform things,
    >but Russia is SOOO far gone I have no idea what
    >they can do.

    Precisely my point. Yeltsin's was not an easy job!! It's perfectly easy to look back and say "Gee, he should have paid more attention to organzied crime." However, at the expense of the country tearing itself apart, forming independent nations? At the expense of the looming communist threat? At the expense of radicals and extremists coming to power? At the expense of the freedom that the Russian people starve for?

    Russia is no more far gone than when Yeltsin took power, except *now* there is a state in place, a base from which future leaders can govern.

    He did a good job under the circumstances.

    Dave

  • Respect (Score:5)

    by Pomme de Terre! ( 69783 ) on Friday December 31, 1999 @02:56AM (#1429156)
    I have always respected Yeltsin.

    Of all world leaders this century, he had probably one of the greatest, most challenging tasks imaginable. He had to, from *nothing* create a stable nation-state and a government. At the same time, he had to create a successful economic system! Can you even imagine the intense pressure and stress.

    Of course he made mistakes. If you had to create *everything* with very little support from neither the people nor fellow statesmen, while at the same time trying to sustain a *shred* of national dignity... well... mistakes are bound to be made.

    This isn't like the task the American founding fathers undertook -- they had to build everything that Yeltsin is building; however, they only had a few colonies/states to deal with at the time. Yeltsin has the weight of hundreds of millions of Russian people on his shoulders.

    Not an easy job.

    Thank you Mr. Yeltsin. You had every opportunity to become a dictator. You had every reason to slip backwards into communism. You could have been emperor of one of the largest nations on the planet. But you chose the honorable thing... the good thing. So few people would have done the same. You have earned my respect.

    David

  • "Here, Vladimir, you say you want to be Prime Minister, eh? Well, you can be sitting at this desk, answering these telephones, at midnight GMT as half of Russia's power reactors shut themselves down automatically and the other half melt and go through the floor..."

    Actually Boris wants to be not just out of office but overseas, Switzerland most likely (cozily close to all Russia's loose cash) at midnight.

    Yours WDK - WKiernan@concentric.net

  • His timing couldn't have been better. His leadership began on that russian tank 9 years ago and in two days (or so) he's going down to Israel to visit the birthplace of Christ. Nice way to round off his career.

    Maybe he should have stepped down earlier, but then again, the world is already filled with "what if:s". We must not forget that in the beginning of his leadership, he was a very strong political figure with a lot of political courage, but in the end his goals were set too high even for him to cope with.

    I'm convinced that his people are happy to get some new leadership, but I'm also sure that they feel great sympathy for Jeltsin.

    - JoJo
  • Your right, this is absolutly rediculous. Exactly why do I care about two morons chatting CTV NewsNet about some party tonight when there are major political events taking shape. Had it not been for the story on slashdot, I may not have noticed this at all.

    What a joke, the mainstream media sucks ass more and more every day.
  • Yes the drunk guy with a briefcase full-o-bombs has dashed the one ray of hope we have for a real Y2K nightmare. Like most Americans, on this new years, old Boris baby is going to sit home with a 5th of Jack.

    I guess we really did win the cold war, eh?
    _________________________

  • *NEWSFLASH UPDATE* There are nerds in Russia. Most of them are on the net! *I'm Peter Jenings, Diane Sawyer poured hot grits down my pants! Stay tuned for more updates; every hour, on the hour*
    _________________________
  • Stop right there, please. I'm willing to somehow take movie reviews, and that type of idiotic crap, because I like slashdot's technology news, but Boris Yeltsin resigning?! That has *nothing* to do with technology or science. Nor does a lot of the stuff that's been posted lately on slashdot. Don't my *geek* newssource into some lame news site..
  • Stop right there, please. I'm willing to somehow take movie reviews, and that type of idiotic crap, because I like slashdot's technology news, but Boris Yeltsin resigning?! That has *nothing* to do with technology or science. Nor does a lot of the stuff that's been posted lately on slashdot. Don't turn my *geek* newssource into some lame news site..
  • just look at this here and you will know:

    http://www.haha.ru/pics/dollar.jpg

    :-]
  • Don't you think, the cause was that Putin said if Yeltsin doesn't resign, he won't get more vodka?
  • I vote for Jesus as the next Russian President. He's due back sometime today.
    The Messiah Cam! [olivetree.org]
    Maybe it's time to purchase stock in Burkenstock.
    I think sandles will be the next big thing.
  • Well, this is news for the entire world, and since nerds are part of that group, this is "news for nerds"... and geeks... and jocks... etc.

    Is this "stuff that matters"? Well, since it is a major political change in a militarily strong nation which has nuclear capacity, I believe it matters to most of us types that care about forign affairs. I think most non-american slashdotters will agree.

    -----
  • oh, ok.

    actually after thinking about it again I agree with you...

    -----
  • yeltsin resigned, there's a new russian prez. God only knows if he'll sink that country into communism.

    Welp, if things go communist again in russia, we can see another coldwar on our hands. Except this time china will be the communist superpower and russia will be in 2nd place.
  • Putin now has responsebility when the Russians attack. I live in Holland, most rockets are sited in the Kaukasus, so we'll be three hours dead even before our millennium begins!!!
  • Nope, most nuclear heads are sited in Kazachstan.
  • 1. There will be a top-defence-conference in Russia This afternoon, Putin doesn't have the keys yet.

    2. The Russian safety blocks for the nukes were cracked by simple electricians using a couple of copper-wires and some tin. The millitary electricians can launch whenever they want to, so lets blame the millennium bug.

    There are enough people who hate the western world.

  • STOP THE PRESSES !! THIS IS A MISTAKE (Score:3)

    by martin-k ( 99343 ) on Friday December 31, 1999 @03:57AM (#1429173) Homepage
    Stop the presses! This is a mistake.

    The taped Yeltsin statement was slated for release December 31, 2099.

    Due to lack of Y2K preparations in Russia, it has been released prematurely.

    SCNR...

  • market was happy :-) (Score:3)

    by _dim_ ( 100610 ) on Friday December 31, 1999 @03:16AM (#1429174) Homepage
    soon after that announcement,
    stocks on Moscow Stock Exchange went
    about 20% up and the trading was halted
    (due to the Exchange trading rules)

    See http://www.polit.ru/documents/159424.html
    (in russian, sorry :-))

  • this website

    http://www.stratfor.com/yeltsin.htm

    has got some info on the situation, I find its pretty good.
  • Just curious: What the heck is a russian dollar!?

    /svenne
  • When a nuclear bomb hits, a human being is almost instantaniously turned to an unrecognizable ooze of fats and oils. Nerds are humans also. They are not immortal. This stuff really matters. If Russia returns to Communism, and nuclear war happens as a result of this, your nerdiness will not save you from a warhead. Neither will your Linux. Now get the hell off my internet.
  • Does this mean that Boris Yeltzen is not Y2K compliant?
  • Will you shut up about the hot grit? It keeps giving me flashbacks... Servant of the grail Not all those who wander are lost,
  • I just got off the phone with my parents, who live in St. Petersburg, and they are unhappy, worried, and disappointed with the Yeltsin resignation. Although Putin is currently very popular, he is also an unknown.
  • It's ok, since he's been clinically dead for about 4 years. Him and Keith Richards both.

    Actually, this is somewhat scary...they go from Nobel winning Gorby to alcoholic Yeltsin to...who knows what next. All before Y2k...maybe he knows something we don't. Probably not...

  • The enemy we know is better than the one we don't...
  • This truly is ludicrous. Right below "Boris Yeltsin resigns" @ CNN.com, you'll see "Hostage Crisis in Afghanistan ends" All of this eclipsed by Skies in Sydney, Auckland ablaze with fireworks. Fireworks are now more important than the president of the Russian Federation resigning, and the ending of a plane hijacking. Rediculous.
    signature smigmature
  • Y2K is when
    Everone see's me
    Leave from
    The political
    Scene and thus
    I become the
    New year's main news
  • I would second your thoughts on Yeltsin. The only thing which concerns me is the void in certain leaderhsip qualities which I think will be created by his departure.

    Like it or not, he had the ability to use strong arm tactics and back room dealing to keep an incredibly unstable situation relatively orderly. When you look at all of the bumps in the road that Yeltsin has navigated either over or around, you have to wonder whether Putin will have that ability. The forces in the Duma and elsewhere will certainly be happy this New Year as the man who always seemed to have the last laugh is finally bowing out.
  • Guess what? Some of us may know a little something about things that are not related to technology. And furthermore, not everyone that reads /. leads a life filled to the brim with computing. I, for one, am a banker, and I think that discussions like this are a great supplement to the standard fare about which we more oftern converse.
  • Its been a while since History class. However, I could have sworn Marx (or perhaps it was Lenin) wrote that the first step towards communism is a police state. The police state's purpose is to rid the country of all the evil capitalists. Therfore, China and Russia sort of were really communist states weren't they?

  • What Russian people REALLY want (Score:4)

    by sluncho ( 129260 ) on Friday December 31, 1999 @03:21AM (#1429188)

    Most of the American public seems surprisingly uneducated about Russia and the current political sutiation there. For most of you, Russia is still the enemy that is going to launch its nuclear missiles any moment. Wake up!

    Russia is a democratic country now, even though it's plagued by dirty politics, the Russian mafia and corruption. These things are inevitable in every society that is expiriencing such a major change in its structure and ideology. Almost everybody in Russia accepts the Western values of democracy and freedom. The young people wear jeans, watch mostly American movies and chat on EFnet. There are some exceptions, but doesn't America have its Neonazis and KKK guys too?

    After being exposed to the Western culture for more than a decade, now it's part of the Russian life. Take a look at some of these links:
    Russian Babylon5 fan club [babylon5.aha.ru]
    Russian X-Files fan site [lipetsk.ru]
    Russian DVD online store [e-shop.ru]

    Almost 90% of the movies sold in Russia are Western movies. Obviously, if all the Russians just hated the West, they wouldn't like these movies. I'm pretty much sure that most of the Russian soldiers will not fight in a war with the West - they will simply see no reason for it. Communism in Russia is dead. The ideology does not matter any more. All that matters is the economy.

    This is were the problem lies. Russia used to be one of the worlds's major economic powers, competing only with the US. This is no longer true. The economic system had to be changed completely. Almost every part of the system broke. Rebuilding the economy will be hard and it will take at least a couple of decades. Till then life for most of the Russians will be miserable and poor.

    Think about this: You are a Russian guy. You never paid much attention to ideology, never really believed in all of this communism/capitalis junk. All that you want is to have a nice house, car, enough money for your chidlren and so on. It's basicly the same stuff that drives most of the people on earth. 10 years ago you had a job, free health care, free education for your childer. You were not rich, but none of your peers was rich, so you didn't feel bad. Than, after 1990 everything changed. Your country, which used to be a super power in the world affairs, is no longer any special. You are poor. You look at all the mafia guys around you, who driver BMWs and live in palaces. You don't like it. Then you look at the USA, and see how good your life can be. Not everybody drives a BMW there, but buying a car is not a problem. You probably need to spend your yearly income just to byu some crappy car from the 80s. The people who clean shit and vomit at McDonalds earn more than you. You might be smart, but it does not matter. You feel that you have less chance of success, just because you are born here and not on the other side of the Atlantic. What about the equal opportunity? This is not fun. You don't like this.

    It's true that pretty much everybody in the developing world. Most of the world population (especially the young people feel really angry about this) - it's not envy, it's just the feeling that thigs are not fair. Things are not right. The difference between Russia/Eastern Europe and the rest of the world is that the people thare USED TO be relatively rich. Poverty didn't exist, at least not to the extent it exist now. Although you had to sacrifice your freedom for it, your economical situation wouldn't be bad at all. You would get free health care, you would send your children to college - for free.

    The ideology is no longer an issue, but being poor is still not fun. Especially when you REMEMBER having a better life.

    I hope this will help some of you to understand Russia better. They are just people - like you and me - who want to enjoy their life. That's all.

    P.S. Disclaimer: I am not Russian. But I still know what I'm talking about.

  • COMMUNIST FAULT? Is that like a page_fault? :^P
  • Who else but nerds would be more concerned with a world leader resigning than with the big odometer rollover.
  • hmmm ... doesn't sound bad at all ... If we get a nuke on our heads , I can stop worrying about the servers here :-)
  • If you were'nt concerned that the Russkies were using fuel vapor bombs to "target" terrorists, now we have the nuclear car keys handed over to the boy who enjoys destroying insects with magnifying glasses on sunny days.

    If I had a choice, America wouldn't be my international policeman of choice ( I think Australia has better sportsmen), but I don't have one, and they're one hell of a lot better than nothing ( so long as you don't know too many of the people they @#$%' for their national interests)... All the best, brothers and sisters who love mankind.
  • Funny how often people are prepared to let their religious beliefs be overpowered by science-based superstition... hmmmm. But I hope all the hostages become well again, and my best wishes are with them . No-one deserves that treatment, even for political reasons. Warring nations, take note. No PERSON deserves it.
  • Boris' resignation is the final confirmation of the fact that the war in Chechnya has simply been
    an instrument in securing Putin's presidency. Even before Boris' resignation, the popularity polls showed that Putin's popularity was on the rise, due to the war. Interest in the war, within Russia, will dwindle.
  • You meen the under paid soldiers and workers of Rusia. Just think in the states when union members don't get paid what they want they get violent. Now give somebody half stewed on bad vodka access to "THE BOMB". Which by the way as of last year are no longer aimed at the US. Now they are aimed at Europe but it only takes 2 minutes to reset the targeting codes. Although most would probably blow in the silo or on the truck because Rusia has not had the budget to properly maintain thier weapons for about a year and a half.
  • Have you heard what Rusia did to thier own natural resorces? Did you know that Rusia has historicly practiced a SCHORCHED EARTH policy in every war that they have fought. When the Germans were pushing into Rusia they the Rusian burned every thing they lost control of. When Rusia pulled out of Chechnia they burned everything (inculing oil refineries!). So do you really think they would not keep the same mindset now?
  • I was stationed in Souda Bay Greece. The Greek Comunist Youth party came to the base to protest ant tell the American to go home. Well these kids were wearing Jordan T-shirts and Nike hats. We thoght what a bunch of hypocrits. Well when they left they left us a small car packed with C4! luckily it did not go off! Moral: just because they like your stuff does not mean they won't kill you becuase of: religion, politics, color, language.
  • Did you know that Swedens socail reforms were financed by Nazi gold left there affter WW2. Switzerland is not the only contry that was used as a funnel. Also did you know that durring the fifties they sterilized people that had certain heretitary illnesess, so their children would not become a burden on the national health care system. Comunism and Marx are wrong because they believe that inteligence is public domain. That the compitent and smart should be enslaved to the incompitent and slow. Charity to those less fortunate is a choice. The Class Slavery that Marx put forth is not. Can you imagine if you were not allowed to create for yourself but for the masses? I mean nerds should totaly understand that mental freedom and individuality is sacred. Don't buy the "We're all equal" crap. We're not! And that is the beauty of humanity!
  • 1. Russia refuse to allow western comanies to buy Russian firm when they were privatised. Russias own zenophobia and racsism stoped western investment! 2 Who bought the privatised firms? Former comunist party bosses. 3 Were did they get the money? they embezled it. 4 Who has been financing Russia for the last 4-5 years? The IMF (most of the money comes from America!) 5 When he tried to push through pro market reforms who blocked it? Comunist and nationallist 6 Russians invested in America. Americans invested in Russia. The stock we hold in Russia are worthless. Gee who won on that exchange? 7 Chechen mafia? I bet you agree with the supression of the Baltic republics, or the crushing of the Pruage spring. 8 Illeagaly destroyed the USSR? It seems to me that Russia is the worst of from the break up. the other republcs are trucking along just fine and thier quality of life is getting better. So who was served by the USSR the Russians. not the rest of the Soviet population. 9 The health system was more available but of a much poorer quality than in America. Welfare have you ever seen the Soviet era orphanages? Those children were not called the forgoten for nothing. 10 Education was free but of very poor quality. You learned a job. The one you were told to learn. In America you have to work for your education (sometimes)but you get to pick what you learn so that your not just a gear in the Soviet industrial war machine. 11 55% of the USSR's industrial output was comited to its millitary. 23% of the USA's was comitted to the millitary. Gee you do the math! 12 The USA entered into open alliances with its European allies. Russia killed the ligitmet goverment of Poland when they returned from exile after WW2. When France left NATO. NATO troops left France. When Chekoslovakia whanted to hold ellections Russia sent in troops and killed the reform goverment and supporters.
  • The level of "coruptness" in America is no higher than in Sweden. Don't get me wrong I love the contry and Swedes are generally lovely people.( except in ULLARED). We tend to have more scandells in the states because the goverment does not control the press. And yes most Americans don't vote but I do. The thing that annoys my about Socalism is that you think because the majority agrees to something that makes it right. The magority of Germans agreed with Hitler.......
  • My grand father was a White Russian who fled the Comunist take over. I am not anti Russian. I am anti communist. What western investment would have done for Russia would have poured money into the Russian economy. The IMF has not been financing the mafia. Why would market reforms not work in Russia? they are working in Poland, Hungury, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Czech Rep., Slovakia, Slovinia. Yes the Latvians do treat the ethnic Russians as second class citizens but they also remember when all those Russians moved in. About 40 years ago in a Soviet plan to make the area more Russian that Latvian. I think they got a right to be pissed off. And I agree that the Russians should ethier cut tie with Russia or go back. If American software engineers are inferior to russian why don't you dominate the software market? Because most don't write software they crack other peoples software. I supose the thief that breacks into the bank is a better man than the one who built it too? I don't hate or fear Russians. In Bosnia we got to know quiet a few but i can tell you thier basic education was no where neer American standards. So you can stick your fingers in your ears and yell "NAA NAA NAA" as loud as you want but the fact still remains that Yeltsin did less to destroy Russia than the Communist have. Comunism does not work we won the cold war accept it. Remember your history lest you be forced to repeat it.

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