Word: yeltsin
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WITH FOUR MONTHS TO GO until the Russian presidential vote, Boris Yeltsin is in full campaign mode and is harping on the central issue of the election: the future of economic reform. YELTSIN IS REFORMS say his banners. Reform was his theme last Friday, when he appeared before a joint session of the parliament to report on the state of the nation. The pain that the shift to a market economy has inflicted on some Russians, he said, was the fault of incompetent officials who had somehow undone his good intentions. Economic liberalization would continue, he promised, but from...
...Though Yeltsin may personify the post-Soviet era, all the elements of a successful politburo-style road show were in place: the mink-hatted acolytes, the handpicked entourage of veterans, the phalanx of sullen, gray-coated security agents. But as Yeltsin delivered his rambling speech, it was apparent that something had gone awry. One moment he was pledging to save Russia from a new Bolshevik revolution, the next he was suggesting that female employees of a local chocolate factory pair off with single military cadets. When he finally wound down, the lackluster applause demonstrated all too clearly that even...
That complaint, which is echoed all across the country, offers a preview of how far Yeltsin must go to regain the support he once enjoyed; how rough-and-tumble the oncoming campaign will be; and how little clemency he can expect from those determined to unseat him. But for better or worse, the race is on: Yeltsin's speech marked the opening of a contest that over the next few months will decide not only Russia's next President but also the future of its experiment with economic and political reform. To qualify for the ballot, each candidate must collect...
...Yeltsin wins a place in the runoff, he has a reasonable chance of returning to office, but he faces a daunting battle to survive the first cut. His approval ratings barely make it into two digits, his policies are under siege, and his health is shaky. He has succeeded in wrenching his nation from its statist past, but he has failed to shove it into a stable and prosperous capitalist future. Corruption, chaotic change and arbitrary rules are exploited by criminals and a class of well-connected nouveau riche, while ordinary Russians seethe over lost jobs, unpaid wages...
Those unsettled by reform are angry at Yeltsin, but reformers are too. He has dumped most advocates of a market economy from his Cabinet, and he has turned to a hardfisted style of leadership, surrounding himself with ever more authoritarian aides. Last week, after bragging about how much he has done to promote a "genuinely free" media, he fired the head of Russia's state-owned television network. (The station, it seemed, was engaged in too much muckraking.) Vyachelsav Kostikov, who once served Yeltsin as press secretary, said that for the President, "power is his ideology, his friend, his concubine...