Word: yeltsin
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...testament to Zhirinovsky's perverse appeal, however, that these public-relations debacles had almost no effect on his stature at home, where media coverage of his blundering antics was virtually nonexistent. Abroad, however, his bullying and bigotry have prompted Western governments to consider easing their pressure on President Boris Yeltsin to push through his economic reforms or risk a backlash by the likes of Mr. Z. All of which is a fairly impressive accomplishment for a man who, up to last month when his spectacularly misnamed Liberal Democrats won 23% of the popular vote, was universally dismissed as a clown...
Running short on both patience and options, he returned to Moscow, where vote tallies revealed that his Liberal Democrats will control nearly 15% of the seats in the lower house of the new parliament, enough to make them a constant thorn in the side of Yeltsin's democratic supporters. While the international rebuffs may be a sign that Zhirinovsky may find it difficult to use other countries as soapboxes for airing his incendiary views, the most his trip seems to have provoked at home is a hilarious set of lampoons by Moscow's most popular comedian, Gennadi Khazanov, who draws...
...thinking behind exclusion has a distinct cold war slant, reflecting the 40-year period during which U.S. geostrategy ignored events and concerns outside the life-and-death struggle between the West and Moscow. In the past it was Russia's strength that drove U.S. policy; today it is Boris Yeltsin's weakness. The primary reason offered by U.S. officials for keeping the East Europeans out of NATO is the fear of provoking Russia's nationalists at Yeltsin's expense. Yeltsin endorsed NATO expansion last August, but Russia's military, to which he is clearly beholden, forced a retreat...
...defend against a Russian attack," explains former Polish Defense Minister Janusz Onyszkiewicz. "We see that as a virtual impossibility. The key reason we want to be in NATO is to secure our own democracies. We need to keep down in our country the very same kind of nationalists Yeltsin's contending with, the same kind that have destroyed Yugoslavia." It is this point, repeated by more than a dozen Cabinet-level officials from East European countries at a recent security conference in Budapest, that warrants more attention in the debate over NATO expansion...
Perhaps most worrisome to Westerners is how military loyalties will divide if Yeltsin and Zhirinovsky bump heads. "Until now, the army has proved itself to be very mature," says German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel. "But after the latest events, we can only hope it stays that way." Strange as it may seem, Zhirinovsky's elevation to a Duma seat may be the best thing for Yeltsin: better to have "Vladimir the Terrible" spouting off in the parliament than rabble rousing in the streets. Then again, Zhirinovsky is now well poised to use his seat in parliament as a launching...