Monday 23 April 2007

On the Day of Yeltsin's Death

St G's Day or not I can't help feeling a touch of sadness at the death of Boris Yeltsin. He may have been whatever he was, but the image of him climbing onto the tanks was iconic for can't-be-arsed 90s teenagers like myself and galvanised some, perhaps many, of us here in the UK to believe that the world was changing and could change. Of course, we've since turned back to cynicism (let's face it, I'd learned everything I would ever know by 14, more or less), but Boris Yeltsin was, to quite a few young democrats in Europe in the early 90s, the very image of humanistic change and the promise of far brighter dawns. With the Wall coming down...we thought the march of democracy was unstoppable. Oh, the folly of youth.

By the way, James has a wonderful guest post up at Ellee's about life in Russia.

1 comment:

Ian Appleby said...

I'm raising a glass (or two), despite his mixed legacy for a country that means much to me. It's what he would have wanted...