The hero of his time
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Yeltsin aimed for the same goal. But he stands out from them in this respect: he understood that empire was incompatible with democracy, and so was willing to abandon the Soviet Union in order to try to build a democratic order at home.
At the height of Yeltsin's career, many Russians identified with his bluntness, impulsiveness, sensitivity to personal slight, even with his weakness for alcohol. And yet in the final years of his rule, his reputation plunged. Only in the last few months of his second presidential term, after he launched the second war in Chechnya in September 1999, did he and his lieutenants regain some legitimacy in the eyes of the Russian public, while causing revulsion among any remaining Western admirers.
Kabo Morwaeng, a senior BDP figure known for always defending the President and also sent to do some shocking stuff in his capacity as a Minister, has defended the former Cabinet against claims it failed to advise ex-president Mokgweetsi Masisi, contributing to the party’s defeat. While he insists Cabinet discussions are “secret” and that the President holds “enormous power,” his defence misses a crucial point: Batswana deserve leaders...