Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin has died at the age of 76: http://www.comcast.net/news/index.jsp?cat=GENERAL&fn=/2007/04/23/644437.html. Leaving aside the fact that I'm surprised that he made that long, Yeltsin was a seminal figure in the history of the late 20th century. Arguably, he finished off the old Soviet Communism. Did he really, though? The rampant corruption which permeated virtually every level of the Russian government he led resulted to a large degree in the rise to power of current Russian President Vladimir Putin, a former KGB chief who harbors the ill-concealed goal of reviving, at least in part, the old Soviet Empire.
Update: More on the same issue from David Satter of the Wall Street Journal: http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110009983
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