The gravedigger of the U.S.S.R.

Boris Yeltsin died yesterday and his legacy is controversial. That's about the only thing everybody can agree on. Let's see what CNN has to say: “Former President Boris Yeltsin, who engineered the final collapse of the Soviet Union and pushed Russia to embrace democracy and a market economy,...” (CNN: Former Russian leader Yeltsin dead)

Let's take a moment to rephrase this:

... the final collapse of the Soviet Union ...: He managed to break up the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics into 15 separate states, leaving the world with only one superpower, the U.S.

... pushed Russia to embrace democracy ...: and only the super-rich oligarchs have enough money to get themselves elected.

... and a market economy ...: controlled and exploited by those same oligarchs.

Some also say Yeltsin was the man who beat Communism (The Independent: Yeltsin: The man who beat Communism; He shaped our world, for better or worse) The man who destroyed the socialist character of the Soviet Union was Nikita Krutchev, not Gorbachov or Yeltsin.

The fact that Soviet Social-Imperialism (as Mao characterized the country) disappeared at the end of 1990 is a good thing. It destroyed a superpower, which was – once again according to Mao – worse and more dangerous than the U.S. The Soviet Union collapsed under its own weight, with all the contradictions pushed to the breaking point. Gorbachev had a hand in that. But then what did Yeltsin do? He promoted Russian great-chauvinism to the extent that the Soviet Union broke up in 15 pieces. That is Yeltsin's primary legacy and none of the peoples of the 15 countries, except those of the three Baltic states which joined the E.U., got a good deal. As for democracy, the Western media are saying Putin is already killing it.

One focus of the editorials and comments has been on Yeltsin the drunk. Well, let the guy have his vodka, as long as he doesn't confuse the nuclear button for the cap of the vodka bottle.

Yeltsin also got praise from the Chinese, because indeed, during his term as Russian president, relations with China improved a lot. Nowadays, the Chinese government only evaluates a foreign statesman on one criterion only: did he improve bilateral relations? That is indeed important, but it is not everything.

The West only cares about democracy and free markets, China about bilateral relations. Who gives a damn about the peoples of the former Soviet Union? Ask them if they liked Yeltsin, and they will tell you.