MrHola
Banned
That heading says it all; one of Gorbachev's greatest 20/20 hindsight regrets is that he picked Boris Yeltsin as his successor. Although pleased that Yeltsin continued the process of Perestroika, he still considers old Boris to be one of his greatest "personnel failures," that Yeltsin was an embarrassment, too destructive in his capacity as Russian President, and not much of a builder.
Were there any suitable alternatives? What if Yeltsin was to die of an alcohol-related illnesss, say, in 1989. Was there anyone who could have avoided the violent clash with the Russian Parliament, pushed capitalist reforms far more effectively, or handled the Chechen crisis in a less disastrous manner? Any way of avoiding (or at least easing) the humiliating stigma of Russia no longer being a world power, and the anti-Western attitudes on the street, which came about under OTL's Yeltsin?
Is Russia's post-Cold War low standard of living doomed to take a nosedive, no matter who's in charge?
Were there any suitable alternatives? What if Yeltsin was to die of an alcohol-related illnesss, say, in 1989. Was there anyone who could have avoided the violent clash with the Russian Parliament, pushed capitalist reforms far more effectively, or handled the Chechen crisis in a less disastrous manner? Any way of avoiding (or at least easing) the humiliating stigma of Russia no longer being a world power, and the anti-Western attitudes on the street, which came about under OTL's Yeltsin?
Is Russia's post-Cold War low standard of living doomed to take a nosedive, no matter who's in charge?