Russian presidents beloved throughout the whole world. Except in Russia

People of the entire world are still interested in the personalities of first presidents of Russia. Foreigners try to unriddle the Putin mystery by studying the experiences of his predecessors: Gorbachev and Yeltsin.

Of course, Americans try to do it in an American way, without giving a reduction to the myth of the mysterious Russian soul. However, they are not right to neglecting it. In the US, a film about ex-Russian President Boris Yeltsin is being shot. This is a feature film, a kind of Mare’s Nest about “the Kremlin mysteries.” This time, Americans decided to glorify “the powerful hand of Washington.”

According to the plot, a group of influential Russian businessmen decided to reelect Yeltsin in 1996. To accomplish this, they brought three political technologists: George Gorton, Dick Dresner, and Joe Shumeit, who were to direct Yeltsin's reelection. The political technologists used the US system of public opinion appraisal to influence the Russian electorate. As a result, Yeltsin obtains superiority over his main competitor, Gennady Zyuganov, and wins in the second round of the election.

Everything looks easy, except that the US political technologists do not know what Russian totalitarianism, GULAG camps, and standing in a queue for tea, soap,and sausage are.

More to the point, we Russians did not want these queues, while the Americans decided that it was they who did not want them. However, it is clear we did not want them much more.

What is especially remarkable is that the scenario was written by our former compatriot, native of Odessa, Yury Zeltser in cooperation with Cary Bickley. It is not known who will play the Russian president, though the names of actors who will play the three political advisers have been already released: Jeff Goldblum, Anthony LaPalia, and Lev Schreiber.

Americans try to understand what the Yeltsin election was. They hardly will shoot this film soon: for, even we cannot understand how we have elected Putin. Yesterday, we did not know it, while today we have already elected him. An attractive man. Political technologists Goton, Dresner, and Shumeit could have a rest: we have such specialists that Americans even cannot imagine.

Now, about the history. About Gorbachev. Nation-wide hatred was gained by Mikhail Gorbachev mainly through two things: through his fight against hard drinking (it is well known that, in Russia, merriment means drinking) and through the collapse of the USSR, to which we have now become accustomed. He ruined the Soviet Union – Thanks Heavens! Europeans are still glad and award the Karl V Prize to him for his services to European building. Such a paradox. The prize is a sign of acknowledgement of Gorbachev as a prominent statesman who made a great contribution to European building and started to realize positive political changes in Russia and East Europe.

Russian men and rigid old Russian women who have been through the mill will see the report about the prize on TV and remember the odd cardigan the Soviet president had on while abdicating and will mutter: “What a country he ruined.”

Such an odd nation we, Russians, are. Yelena Kiseleva PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Vera Solovieva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/culture/2002/06/03/42125.html