in recent russian history few personalities remain a spoiler rising as boris yeltsin twenty years after the fall of the soviet union yeltsin is still seen in the west as the politician who ended communism and ushered in a new area of personal freedoms and western style capitalism but sure the anything you learn just better perceived from a distance especially history i think we still need more time for the emotions and troubles to give way to serious analysis of what to take tannic figures used in really was in a moment that later became one of russia's most iconic yeltsin with genuine popular support helped to stare down an attempted coup in one thousand nine hundred ninety one yes we declare illegal all of the craze decisions by the state emergency committee in the us and in the western world yeltsin was seen as a reformer and a leader who could compromise he was embraced as a friend and told he was treated as a peer and when he died in two thousand and seven some of the warmest eulogies came from western leaders he stood up for freedom and democracy and openness he really believes th

some control of the russian parliament building the committee ordered tanks to roll into moscow boris yeltsin then considered a political maverick and reformist led russian parliamentarians in opposition to the coup and that's what it clearly illegal all the decisions and decreased by the state of emergency committee. shortly most of the troops either decided to return to their barracks or join the resistance and just like that the committee's actions found parliament surrounded by armed and unarmed civilians the plotters of the coup found little support either within the political elite or the constituent republics that made up the soviet union as a result the kuku lapsed with minor loss of life on august twenty first. was freed and returned to moscow but the soviet union would never be to see all of the. state committee for the state of emergency people all they knew they wanted to do was stop whatever was happening in its tracks but they didn't have an alternative vision they didn't have really anything else to propose in its place other than status quo ante let's go back to we had before

up next people of these guests of boris yeltsin was a key history maker or just in the right place at the right time crosstalk is next on our team. if you. want to play. polo in welcome to cross talk i'm peter lavelle boris yeltsin was he a great man who made history or was he merely a product of his time opinions differ widely don't know one denies the important role he played in creating our present crosstalk continues that series on the collapse of the soviet union twenty years ago. played keep.

polo in welcome to cross talk i'm peter lavelle boris yeltsin was he a great man who made history or was he merely a product of his time opinions differ widely don't know one denies the important role he played in creating our present crosstalk continues that series from the collapse of the soviet union twenty years ago. place to. sleep.

party had the calm and of course just the significantly it launched the political fortunes of boris yeltsin. ok jeffrey i mean would you agree with that i mean one of the interesting things is is that you know i think all of us when we study in the soviet union is that the communist party being all powerful very very powerful security forces a very powerful army the plotters had all the tools they needed to pull it off but it was an utter utter failure how do you account for that i mean it wasn't because they lacked resources. no it wasn't i would say the absolutely decisive factor was that the generals were reluctant to fire on peaceful civilians they'd been through that experience in georgia a couple of years previously and got into serious trouble they wanted to be absolutely certain that if they did fire on civilians the order to do so was legal definitely legal whereas now we had two powers confronting each other the soviet union in the person of the emergency committee and russia and the person of yeltsin with gorbachev somewhere in between so the generals didn't know how to react arc

who came quite cool to the presidency in one thousand nine to six but having children lost to boris yeltsin defied the eccentric leader of the liberal democratic party. and sergei mironov the leader of the fair russia party who headed the upper house of the russian parliament ten years other participants of the election race one of russia's most well known politicians a gringo you ski. trail broker of and the governor dmitri measurements of the political debate is most listened to the round the december protests this week to action race favorite word dinner putin published his manifesto which is considered to be in part he's response to those who took to the streets last month. oh hello welcome to the show thank you very much for being with us here on the show first of all this article of let me put that we're discussing today it's called russia is concentrate he put in he's promising a brighter future for the middle class in fact it seems he is addressing mainly the middle class in this article but is it his reaction to the december protests which were which were mostly supported by the ur

follow in welcome to cross talk i'm peter lavelle boris yeltsin was he a great man who made history or was he merely a product of his time and opinions differ widely don't know when denies the.

those were the headlines up next artie's peter lavelle asks his guests if a boris yeltsin was a great man who made history or was merely a product of his time that's in our debate crosstalk.

. >> even russian president boris yeltsin seems comfortable on the dance floor. >> kick it. >> not allians are quite so musically inclined however. just ask karl rove. ♪ tell me what is your name ♪ m.c. roaf >> i saw this one live, i'm afraid. it was even scarier to watch karl rove rapping in person than on the tv. he's got some of the movements that only dick cheney could manage. >> emcee rove. ♪ it's fun it to come to the dnc ♪ >> colin powell is equally musically challenged. here he is singing at a security meeting in indonesia. and bad boy blagojevich is caught on camera taking on elvis. ♪ >> yikes. don't quit your day jobs, fellows. oh, wait, never mind. perhaps they should have made a speedy escape like president bush tried to do after this press conference. >> this was one of the famous episodes with george bush looking like he didn't know what he was doing because he didn't even know where the door was. >> i was trying to escape. >> and talk about wanting to escape, who can forget vice president dan quayle exercising his spelling expertise in front of the cameras. >> add one li

. >> look at boris yell -- yeltsin. >> he is dead. >> he is drinking in alcohol. >> julie, are you wasted right now. >> totally. >> the stench from your party dress -- bill is getting high off of it. >> how much was your weekly intake before you cut back this. >> i think you know. i think we have done that a few times. let's just say the whole having one glass a night or having a glass of beer a night because it helps you was not really my mo. i went for a little more than that like triple or quadruple that. so i think this is a smart thing. what they are trying to do is say, look, you have to tone it down. so tone it down. just aspire to something. >> they all settle on a number right now. >> what do you think is reasonable right now? how about one at lunch -- >> i have a minute hard right now. >> sorry. >> go ahead. >> once a week. >> how about one for one night a week and wasted the rest of the week. >> it is called life, you have to get through it somehow. it is awful out there. >> okay! >> you go wednesday, thursday, friday, saturday and then sunday, monday, tuesday. >>> coming up, w

. >> reporter: he chronicled boris yeltsin's fall from power. >> cbs news has learned that yeltsin'snother day turned a ride on the subway into a jurn rethrough history and art. >> the metro was a monument to hopes and dreams of a soviet utopia, the dream is gone now. but the artifacts remain perfectly preserved at every metro station. >> reporter: he retired from cbs new in 1998, returning one last time for our 25th anniversary broadcast. >> charlie, thanks. >> osgood: we could always count on richard threlkeld. >> richard threlkeld cbs news. >> osgood: after retiring, dick threlkeld and his wife betsy, herself a retired news correspondent, traveled the world and lived and loved life to the fullest. besides betsy he leaves behind his daughter susan and julia and two grandchildren. our thoughts and prayers go out to them all. and now we go to bob schieffer in washington for a look at what's ahead on face the nation. examine morning, bob. >> schieffer: good morning, charles. the storm clouds are forming over south carolina as the campaign gets nasty. we'll hear from newt gingrich and