What did Boris Yeltsin have to lose by responding to the many calls from Dzhokhar Dudayev to meet and negotiate? Would it have been a violation of the old protocol when a local boss could never just call for a meeting with the General Secretary? The Big President refused to see the Little President, sending instead soldiers and tanks: Let them die, but I have nothing to say to Dudayev!
The president could not "renounce the use of violence to settle social problems no matter what form they may take." Instead, he is provoking violence. The president pledged himself "to make individual rights and liberty and the rights of the nationalities a priority." But the rights of nationalities cannot be affirmed with tanks. This is not compatible with "the development of our multi-national society within the context of dialogue and the peaceful resolution of conflicts."
All of these quotations are obligations the authorities took on when it signed the Agreement on Civil Accord. Recent events have shown what those promises were worth.
No one warned those of us who signed that document that the promises were optional: In Tatarstan, for instance, we will act within the framework of democracy and find political solutions, but we will answer the Chechens with tanks and air strikes.
Boris Nikolayevich, Moskovskiye Novosti always supported you during the most crucial moments of recent years, but we have no intention of supporting the civil war that is now unfolding. The North Caucasus campaign wipes away the government's signatures from the Agreement on Civil Accord. Under those conditions, I -- in the name of my newspaper -- withdraw my signature as well.
Moskovskiye Novosti, Dec. 21
Inside Yeltsin's Nose
One paper decided to look into the reason why Yeltsin has not been seen since the latest Chechen crisis began.
The director of the State Ear, Nose and Throat Institute, Dmitry Tarasov, lucidly explained to our correspondent what a deviated septum is and how dangerous the routine resection procedure can be.
"The operation is almost always performed on an out-patient basis with local anesthetic. The patient does not even lie down. For a couple of days, the patient wears a bandage and speaks as if he or she had a cold."
There is one other possible problem one might have with one's septum. As Tarasov explained: "By picking one's nose, one might cause an infection." In this case, a doctor simply scrapes the sore. There should be no swelling or visible abscess.
Komsomolskaya Pravda, Dec. 14
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