This day in 1991: Soviet Coup

[Lobster Martini]

(LM: Today is the anniversary of the 1991 Soviet coup attempt. Remember Boris Yeltsin climbing a tank in front of the parliament building defying the coup? Contrast that to George W. Bush standing on an aircraft carrier with a banner stating “Mission Accomplished.” Yeltsin may have been less popular than cheap vodka when he left office, but at that time in 1991, he was about as cool as you get. It is worth remembering.)

From BBC News.

1991: Hardliners stage coup against Gorbachev

Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev has been overthrown after a coup by Communist hardliners.

Mr Gorbachev is reported to be under house arrest at his holiday home in the Crimea.

News of the coup was broken in an announcement on state radio earlier on Monday.

It said Mr Gorbachev was "unable to perform his presidential duty for health reasons". <snip>

Tanks are now patrolling the streets of Moscow but in spite of their presence thousands of people have come out to demonstrate against the takeover.

They included the president of the Russian Federation, Boris Yeltsin.

Mr Yeltsin climbed on to a tank outside the Russian parliament building to confront the troops and appeal to the army not to turn against the people.

He said the coup was a "new reign of terror" and called for civil resistance. <snip>

US President George Bush has called the coup a "disturbing development" and cut short his holiday to return to the White House.

(LM: Anyone want to bet that his son wouldn’t have left the ranch?)

(Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/19/newsid_2499000/2499453.stm)

[NoPasaran]

1. Three Days That Shook The World

I remember following just about every minute.

[Lobster Martini]

2. Yep, did the same.

Cut a lot of classes during those three days. When you realize that something historically important is happening, you can blow off the statistics class with a clear conscience.