BORIS. Boris Yeltsin has shuffled off his mortal coil. In addition to providing some outstanding drunken buffoon stories, Yeltsin deserves mild credit for being the most liberal leader that Russia has had since, well, ever. He took real risks in an effort to liberalize both Russia's economy and political system, and while he might have done much more, I'm not sure what else we could have expected. --Robert Farley
