Speaking of political gossip, Bill Clinton dropped a bomb on writer Taylor Branch:
He also relayed how Boris Yeltsin's late-night drinking during a visit to Washington in 1995 nearly created an international incident. The Russian president was staying at Blair House, the government guest quarters. Late at night, Clinton told Branch, Secret Service agents found Yeltsin clad only in his underwear, standing alone on Pennsylvania Avenue and trying to hail a cab. He wanted a pizza, he told them, his words slurring.The next night, Yeltsin eluded security forces again when he climbed down back stairs to the Blair House basement. A building guard took Yeltsin for a drunken intruder until Russian and U.S. agents arrived on the scene and rescued him.
Can you imagine? And some Americans wonder why the Russians appreciate Putin.
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Re: Russia converted back in the 10th century, shortly before the Catholic-Orthodox schism. So there was no Catholic Church at that time.
Well, not officially, but Rome and Constantonople were already competing for converts. It wasn't just "one big happy church". Back in the 800s the Pope's legates tossed the Byzantine missionaries out of Moravia (modern Czech Republic) because they considered the area Rome's. The Bulgarian tsars in the same era played Rome and Constantinople off against one another to firm up their nation's independence and ultimately chose the East when the Byzantines allowed them their own patriarch.
Uh, this is Bill Clinton we're talking about here, people. Bill Clinton, notorious liar and narcissist. I would like to know if other, credible sources exist for the story.
BTW, Rod, the Germans liked Hitler after the Reichstag's confusion and von Hindenburg's senility. Just showing where your logic takes you.
Joseph -
It is well known that Boris was competing for the title of 20th Centuries most drunk leader. While I can't say for sure those stories were true, it wouldn't surprise me. I'll relate a story I saw. I was in Russia from 94-96 and I cannot forget this event because it shocked everyone in the room. Ol' Drunk Boris (aka Red Nose) was at the White House doing a press event with Clinton. He was clearly drunk, slurred his words, and seemed to barely care that there was anyone else there at all. The interesting part came when Boris was supposed to speak about the topic of their meeting. What he said in his drunken stupor was changed by his translator on live television, because what Boris said was barely repeatable in public or in polite conversation.
Repeat, he was so drunk that his translator had to change the words he was saying in order to make them appropriate. And you doubt that these events happened just because Clinton said they did? This once, he might have been telling the truth.
Re: Yeltsin was brave, impulsive, heroic (also drunken),
If Yeltsin was a hero, then Bill Clinton is a model of sexual rectitude. Russian life expectancy, standards of living, and social fabric collapsed on his watch, and still haven't recovered. The West bears a lot of blame, of course, but Yeltsin most of all; I've talked to ex-Soviet citizens who hate the man's guts.
May the soul of Boris Yeltsin rest in peace. Hopefully there is vodka and pizza in Heaven.
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