The Week That Shook The World: The Soviet Coup - ABC News (1991)

An ABC News documentary covering the military coup attempt in the Soviet Union from August 19 to August 25, 1991.

[@93Jubilee]

By pure chance, I happened to be visiting Moscow in late August of 1991 after a summer of research in Prague. When we landed in Moscow, my husband and I had no inkling that there was a massive upheaval taking place. But when I realized what was happening -- with tanks churning up the asphalt on the streets, Russian women weeping on street corners, barricades on the bridges leading to the Parliament Building, we quickly caught on. The lack of information was incredible; all tv channels were filled with the same entertainment (I want to say it was a famous ballet, but I'd have to look it up, didn't spend much time watching the aimless but significant show that was on every single channel, indicating that something was vastly wrong). We went straight to the Parliament Building, surrounded by Russian tanks (turrets then challenging the Russian "White House" and by Russian protestors). My husband was frightened but I had my camera and couldn't stop taking photographs and attempting to talk to the protestors. Thank god, after a few days, it ended in peace. (So interesting, many years later, in 2016, I was visiting a friend in Nairobi after the terrorist attack on the mall took place. The news covered every detail, criticizing the Kenyan government harshly)

[@metameta1427]

Your memory about what was on Soviet TV during the coup is correct: "On August 19, 1991, Russians awoke to looping videos of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake on Soviet state TV - a sure sign something seismic was up." I was just a young kid in grade school in the USA in '91. At the start of the school year, each kid chose a foreign country to do a project on throughout the year. I had chosen the USSR and got to follow this craziness and write about it, giving kid-style presentations to the class. Because of that project, I've always been a Soviet-phile, interested in anything of that period from the revolution until the disolution. To this day (as evidence of my presence in the comments of a news vid from 1991) I get lost in anything to do with the USSR. It's sad what has occurred in Russia after Yeltsin selfishly chose an unknown KGB officer as his successor. Russia could be a great, thriving country given a Scandinavian type system of government.

[@brinjoness3386]

Please try and digitise any photos you have from that trip and post online somewhere. Historians of the future will appreciate it. 👍🇦🇺🇱🇸🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@youdontseeanoldmanhavinatw4904]

Post your photos online please, those would be very valuable to history

[@petrsovicka]

@@metameta1427 A typical Western view... I must oppose this idea. Taking into account the geography and history given Russia could hardly become a Scandinavian type democracy. I also cannot agree in the question of succession. The choice of Putin was quite a lot deliberated not by Yeltsin but by Yevgheny Primakov. Yeltsin got an immunity from prosecution in the deal made and to be frank that was the thing he and his circle cared the most.

[@metameta1427]

@@petrsovicka agree to disagree. Have a good day.

[@claytondusauzay6745]

That '90-'91 period was absolutely nuts. Between the Gulf war and this. Crazy times.

[@Cooe.]

True, but it still ain't got shit on 2020-2022 🤷.

[@skymaster4743]

Those were monumental years as the world formally transitioned from the bipolarity of the Cold War into a Post Cold War era with the US as the pre-eminent superpower.

[@ReveredDead]

And here we are. 2020-2023 have been the most chaotic and unstable years I have ever witnessed. Especially now with Israel and Gaza. We are on the brink of something really bad. Too say we aren't in a new cold war with China and Russia is to deny the complete state of the world today October 22th 2023.

[@me-jv8ji]

the everything since 1900s was crazy with everything that has happened

[@sarahnewton2550]

@@Cooe.yeah you could have kept 2023 in that! 😂

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

Boris Yeltsin would attack that same Congress building a couple years later in 1993.

[@K.Marx48]

Exactly and with lots of deads, but that's democracy apparently, how sweet

[@NPCorangebad]

@@K.Marx48 He was probably working with the Americans for money.

[@stephenmarcus9601]

Yeltsin was power hungry. He killed the Union that lead to Oligarchs & the edge of WW3 today.

[@anemoiatrippin]

Yeh and he would be hailed as the "democratic one" for firing and then firing ON his own parliament smh

[@Ickie71]

ah i stuck this on today thinking this was the Tank attack that took place i forgot it happened twice!

[@FireMarshallStev]

Peter Jennings had an incredible skill in delivering straight facts while at the same time unapologetically calling it like he saw it.

[@KamsPoliticalPredictions]

KZbin picked one hell of a day to recommend this to me

[@jenniferclark9842]

That is one definition of irony.

[@jamesmiller113]

22:05 - good to see Borat kept his eye in as things fell apart

[@rabbitramen]

I was 30 with a family and beginning Army basic training in South Carolina when our drill sargeants announced that the Soviet Union has fallen and that President Gorbachev was overthrown and under arrest. They also told us that no matter what our MOS was, if we were going to war we were all riflemen first and will be sent into the infantry. We didn't realize that there were plenty of already trained soldiers ready to deploy and that our specialty training would continue, if only abbreviated.

[@YNL-vy4iy]

Are you was born in 1961？

[@jnpohjoinen9827]

Secretary Gorbachev was not a president.

[@CrossbowManD]

Welcome, new viewers.

[@tiadaid]

1991 was crazy. The Gulf War, and then the fall of the Soviet Union. I wish I was old enough to appreciate seeing history in the making.

[@jebbroham1776]

Yeah, when I was born we were just beginning to drive deep into Iraqi lines during Operation Desert Storm, and then when I was 8 months old this unfolded in Moscow. I do remember the Russian invasion of Kosovo and Chechnya, followed by Russia's invasion of Georgia and Ossetia in 2008 but those were mild by comparison.

[@RedWing88]

Your living in historic times right now.

[@nizloc4118]

This is crazy nostalgia. As an American (kid at the time). I remember this. And in like the previous 5 years it went from "soviets bad, want to kill us". To "soviets are alright, we're not gonna go to war". To "soviets are cool! We're friends now!" When this happened it was "hope those soviets are ok, theyre cool" Lasted for awhile at least.... hope someday the old politics will go away for good

[@nizloc4118]

@Harvey Smith and vice versa. Perhaps if Russia would stop doing the same to its neighbors.

[@Ingens_Scherz]

Well, that's not quite how I remember it. I was 19 at the time and having had two years of elation (Berlin wall coming down and all that good stuff), 1991 brought the Gulf War and this. That optimism quickly turned to the kind of fear I felt as a child in the early 80s: that hard line Soviet communists were about to use their vast armed forces to reset their revolution by any means they decided were necessary, including nuclear weapons. This coup was a nightmare, albeit a brief one.

[@nizloc4118]

@@Ingens_Scherz out of curiosity, what nationality are you? And I dont mean it to accuse anything, just curious as to what perspective this is coming from

[@nizloc4118]

@Harvey Smith define "opposed". If you mean direct conflict, sure. And from their perspective, it looks like self defense. What was Ukraines provocation, though? And why do you think so many of its neighbors are cozying up with NATO?

[@nizloc4118]

@Harvey Smith so Russia intervenes in a civil war, and claims part of a sovereign country for itself. This isnt "opposing"? And like I asked last time, why exactly is it that Russias neighbors prefer siding with NATO in the first place?

[@brucetharpe762]

1:45 August 19 15:29 August 20 26:13 August 21 45:25 August 22 54:16 August 23 56:27 August 24 59:20 August 25

[@93Jubilee]

Thank you.

[@spkanava]

91

[@isaacshaver6218]

I was 12 when this happened, my parents always made me watch the news. I realize now the Berlin wall , The fall of Russia, and the Persian gulf war are historic events that I witnessed. Fukk I'm getting old.

[@abdelgaderalfallah]

Same here bro 😢

[@fuckcensorship69]

what about the murders of the children at Waco?

[@ChairmanMeow1]

Parts of history are so wild its hard to believe they actually happened sometimes

[@mrcapybara3579]

meow

[@ThirdPedalMetal]

woof@@mrcapybara3579

[@livethefuture2492]

News was different back then...feels like i am really watching history change before my eyes.

[@stevecooper7883]

Exactly 32 years ago today

[@ThirdPedalMetal]

Not a cell phone in sight. Just living in the moment. Everyone looks so happy.

[@josephhoward4697]

“History repeats itself; try and you’ll succeed.”

[@tmp197]

oh so close........keep trying liberators!!!

[@jenniferclark9842]

No, but to quote Mark Twain, it often rhymes.

[@yaboyed5779]

Damn… the blue balls must hurt 😂

[@josephhoward4697]

@@yaboyed5779 Yeah, it was a real kick in the groin. I was looking forward to watching some kind of “Battle of Moscow” ultimate showdown. The worst part is that both Prigozhin and Putin are still alive and well.

[@yaboyed5779]

@@josephhoward4697 yup.

[@adamantlyadam5201]

Crazy. I remember watching the evening news with my mom every day as a kid. I was 7 at this time, I remember watching footage of the Persian Gulf War, but I have NO memory of watching these events on the news. It must have been so routine to my young mind, I didn’t understand then how monumental this was.

[@andreworiez8920]

I did... I was 10 and my father was active duty US Navy. I watched in rapt attention as the USSR fell apart.

[@Horrormaster13]

This aged pretty well.

[@Nikowalker007]

Hell yeah, to bad it was unsuccessful this time 😄

[@HaohmaruTachibana]

@@Nikowalker007 lol keep dreaming not really gonna happened 😂

[@Nikowalker007]

@@HaohmaruTachibana who knows 😄

[@skibididopyesdop]

@@HaohmaruTachibanaeventually it will, with a tyrant like that in power

[@Unknown-vk9oe]

this happened because of the cia

[@literaturesim]

it's pretty neat to live at a time where I can watch events unfold that happened before I was born

[@Ickie71]

its always been like this!

[@marcuswatersbonner7394]

@@Ickie71 there didn't use to be the technology to capture moving images

[@spkanava]

91

[@sid2112]

I was 16. Dad was worried the nuclear balloon was going to go up. He had me gas up the truck and check the axle.

[@MrGrace]

​@@sid2112sure. Of course you can outrun a mushroom cloud by truck 😂

[@Marco-fn6kg]

I loved when news was news

[@SydneyHumanismGroup]

This ABC News documentary delves into the military coup attempt in the Soviet Union between August 19 and August 25, 1991. It provides a detailed account of these events that unfolded during that fateful week.

[@claudettes9697]

This is so great. Thank you for posting.

[@SoultyBoiBeats]

While this is happening, Sergei is stuck in space with USSR passport

[@Nmax]

Poor Sergei 😅

[@jesselivermore2291]

the soviet union was such a distant place to me when i was kid that when i heard Gorbachev is in Crimea under house arrest back then in the news i remember thinking "what the hell is a Crimea" Putin was near the stasi kgb office that was torched down.

[@tea_and_crumpets6919]

Ah s***, here we go again.

[@ThisHandleFeatureIsStupid]

Shiatap. You probably don't even know what you're referencing.

[@tea_and_crumpets6919]

@@ThisHandleFeatureIsStupid Like GTA San Andreas, if you talking about the meme, and Wagner mutiny 2023 if you talking about ruzkiez?

[@gianniformica8235]

Sad to think where the country has gone since this...

[@zekeyeager1458]

Well at least it’s there. If the Soviet Union was still around today well, we wouldn’t. Or them. And let me tell you, them LGM-30 Minuteman missles travel pretty darn fast….

[@User_J9000]

@@zekeyeager1458 So does Sarmat nuke, we most likely would still be here because Gorbachev was cooling down the cold war, US and USSR were making peace.

[@zekeyeager1458]

@@User_J9000 what I’m saying is that without Gorbachev, there STILL would be a Soviet Union today. Albeit a very irradiated and sparsely populated place at that, as well as the US. Basically just saying that if the USSR was still around, nobody would be…catch my drift?

[@zekeyeager1458]

@@User_J9000 by the way, the SARMAT is not a nuke. It’s just a missile. Missiles are just delivery devices, like how a gun is to a bullet. A missile can be used in various ways. Over in America, NASA has used the Minutemen missile platform to launch things into orbital space. What you’re probably thinking of and referring to is the warhead. There are various types of warheads that can pack anywhere from a conventional explosion to an earth shaking nuclear detonation.

[@pauliewalnuts4672]

@@zekeyeager1458 when the Soviet Unione fell and Released data on nato the Soviet Unione never had not even one plan to attack it was all jus defensive plans if nato attacked

[@goughrmp]

Mmm I wonder why this appeared in my feed

[@Mors_Atra_]

The US has no exit strategy in losing its war in ukraine, so the offer this propaganda to infect the feeble minds.

[@eq1373]

And then Metallica played Moscow a month later.

[@93Jubilee]

Great! There is a book with the very interesting theory that Bruce Springsteen's concert in then-East Berlin helped to free the citizens of that country only four or so months later. In a beautiful spontaneous movement, East Berliners fled their side of the city, hanging their keys on trees and finding homes in the free world. Bruce's concert drew hundreds of thousands and inspired many! Wonderful!

[@bananaempijama]

And Pantera

[@michaeloneill7276]

@@bananaempijama p

[@PASTPRESENTVideo]

Sad but True 😆

[@spanky9676]

@@bananaempijama and Skid Row

[@MarKhan111]

4:04 that's one fast tank.

[@user-iy9uq4rv6w]

T-80U of course it's fast

[@spkanava]

91

[@SirHellNaja]

I bet you've never seen a modern MBT before this

[@dougs4944]

T-80 is what we would have faced in the Gap... Thank God that war didn't (yet) occur.😬

[@VictorPhnom]

Это была последняя разработка советского Союза, танки работающие на русской водке 😂

[@ackinson]

Thank You

[@daddy_1453]

You really appreciate how Gorbachev lost power after this. Whilst he was locked up in Crimea, Yeltsin was fighting and had created a sort of fortress within Moscow itself, the heart of Russian power. Yeltsin was the face seen by the international community and media. He was the man of action, whilst Gorbachev was totally absent. Naturally the Russian people would find one man more reliable a leader than the other. And Gorbachev lost all political respect. The world had overnight moved on from Gorbachev during that week.

[@vitamc1213]

Yes, and I find that a very sad fact. Considering how much of a man he was to be admired for what he did. How principled he was.

[@faultboy]

Yeltsin choose the alcohol over the people shortly after

[@anemoiatrippin]

Yeltsin was ready to just give up the morning they found out Gorbachev was "sick" too. He had to be corralled into fighting. Khasbulatov wrote that speech Yeltsin read on the tank. Yeltsin wanted to stay in bed.

[@d40boundyahoo18]

@@faultboyYes, which opened the door to Putin and soft fascism to thrive in Russia.

[@tongobong1]

@@d40boundyahoo18 Putolini is very different from Yeltsin.

[@radix133]

I was living in Ireland when this happened...I remember feeling really tense and exhilarated when this was going on.

[@lucaspham5238]

cant wait for part 2

[@greeneast]

same thing happened in Afghanistan a year prior, the hardliners returned trying to take the country back. Both the Soviet Union and Afghanistan would eventually fall by 1992.

[@starsjosephfrost]

i know it’s serious but, that T-80U sure is racing cause he’s going fast hahahaha

[@iggvec5769]

Interesting, I was too young to remember anything, thank you 👍

[@concernedcitizen2766]

Little did anyone back then know of a guy named Vladimir Putin…

[@counsellor3474]

An interesting end to a most dramatic, perhaps most deceptive & most detestable (to some) revolution. Good narrative, kudos to the producers et am.

[@chukchee]

Anyone know when the 2nd coup will be? Thank you.

[@crazydinosaur8945]

06:25 the news backgrounds looks like old movie set paintings.

[@CountCristianWaters]

The hardliners almost returned back into power. I have a few ideas to add into Gorbachev's viewpoint. 1. Togetherness principle to prevent balkanization of Russian Federation, 2. The American-Chinese political model of 1-2 party system for the Russian Federation.

[@alexanderkingtickle]

interesting how this showed up in my suggested videos on 8/18/2022…the day before the 31st anniversary of the coup attempt

[@ryanB74]

Back time, I was visiting Hungary, in Budapest.. In apartment with my family and their old friends (they were over 70' yrs), watching TV.. they said.. 'God, we hope they don't invade us again'.. I was only 16, didn't understood all, but now, I say: we do not let them cross, with every costs we have to endure! (and now, Hungary-Orban.. I don't understand)..

[@nfamus540]

History does indeed repeat itself.

[@alexreznov45]

“History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme.” - Mark Twain

[@vyhozshu]

there is very little similar other than some troops having have moved toward moscow

[@ZiggyMercury]

I like it that they invited Boris Yeltsin to go with them to where they've arrested Mikhail Gorbachev. So kind of them!

[@thiccsmoke2354]

30 years...

[@russellst.martin4255]

This reminds me of the old adage "Don't bother learning history because nothing ever happens twice".

[@tsetenkhampa]

@26:40 u r fox news anchor same?

[@FunnyFallGuy]

It's crazy that Diane Sawyer was allowed in to speak with Yeltsin and his associates!

[@RogueSabre]

Tedd somehow doesn't open his mouth to speak. Absolutely amazing how a human can produce information without the use of his mouth

[@NewGrow-kb1bg]

“Right wing agents in the shadows”. Very interesting given today’s circumstances

[@ClassPresidentAlejandro1999]

what month did this aire?

[@Sam-ik8dd]

it never did. wake up.

[@theduchessofkitty4107]

They would have aired it in the same month of August, and even perhaps at the time the Soviet Union went into the ash heap of history (December 25, 1991).

[@ClassPresidentAlejandro1999]

@@theduchessofkitty4107 thanks for the info

[@spkanava]

91

[@mojewjewjew4420]

@@Sam-ik8dd wtf?

[@bivianocazares6919]

I REMEMBER THIS

[@alisharifian535]

22:05 Borat used to play a role there, I didn't know that.

[@bambimbam8962]

Who else is watching this after the Russian rebellion

[@Itailan-Geography]

:) me

[@Lian_PH]

Had the same thought

[@vyhozshu]

a mercenary mutiny is hardly a 'russ1an rebellion'

[@namenameson9065]

@@vyhozshu A failed coup doesn't mean it wasn't an attempted coup. Wagner was trying to capture Shoigu and Garasimov who were scheduled to be in Rostov when they took the city. Their schedules were changed at the last minute. They also had co-conspirators in the Russian government. It was by all means a coup attempt.

[@madzen112]

Getting briefings from CIA in a situation like this must be such a relief

[@alfredawomi2340]

By the way, is it really Good for any Country in The World for its Secret Policing Police to take over The Goverment?!

[@daddy_1453]

Gorbachev lost power in August. Gorbachev died in August.

[@killerfrank8974]

Good observation, and I have to say it's very curious, too.

[@spkanava]

91

[@BigBoiTurboslav]

COINCIDENCE!?!?!?!? I THINK NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@7offman]

The day the whole world was never the same

[@skeletonwguitar4383]

The deaths of thoze three ordinary, yet brave and powerful souls died in vein, at least for this decade

[@ptrekboxbreaks5198]

Ugh that "interview" with Yeltsen by Sawyer was cringey.... 1st question "arent you guys afraid?" 😂 awesome question lmao 2nd question "what are you going to do when the tanks start shooting" I guess that's a bit better than the 1st question lol....overall this piece is nostalgia at its best for me...I'm obsessed with old news broadcasts

[@keatonlacretin9781]

"WE WILL FIGHT TO BRING BACK THE SOVIET UNION!....oh shit we made it worse"

[@martinbodnar4981]

No way 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦

[@INDYANDY4C]

6 months after Desert Storm, the USSR became defunct. 5 million soldiers in the Soviet Army and every Republic was declared independent with Russia being the biggest; their willingness to stand up for “freedom” stopped the coup, but today the reforms are gone and jail or gulag for speaking up are back!

[@domenikopalecek1101]

S.Surovikin than low oficer ordered shoting on civilians from tanks. Later finish in prison. Today famouse general " Armagedon" 🙈

[@animatorandgtagamer137]

Everyone gangsta until the tank open fire

[@douglasrobson3875]

I remember my parents made me sit down and watch this news cast. I was 21 and didn’t have a care in the world but my mother explained in detail what was going on and what this could mean for the world. It was scary.

[@JohnMoore-jz7be]

I don't like how Prigozhin is in asylum in Belarus sitting along side Putin nuclear weapons station in Belarus now they have Prigozhin there with his troops

[@namenameson9065]

lol don't worry, he seems to have missed his flight..

[@vyhozshu]

44:42 "they would be happy when he will occupy his place which really belongs to him" he does now 🤣

[@DaLavenderhillNobz]

The good old days

[@martinbitter4162]

The map at 3:37 still shows the GDR.

[@darwinqpenaflorida3797]

Yeah in 1990 when Germany reunited thanks to falling the wall

[@VinnyOrzechowski]

Preghozin could have had his own documentary

[@thatdognotthepuppy5809]

Time for an encore.

[@secretsquirrel6718]

Dig that giant wooden tape dispenser on Yeltsins deak whwn hes talking to the reporter

[@christiansimon3749]

I remember this like it was yesterday. So much hope for a people who have suffered so much because of their horrible leaders. 😮

[@dieglhix]

Hi from Jun 24th 2023. Coup in Russia is on course as I write this.

[@millsyinnz]

Only the 1991 lot didnt chicken out.

[@simonyip5978]

I thought that this happened in late 1993. I am sure that I remember tanks firing at buildings in Moscow. Maybe they were different events?

[@Infernal460]

1991 was the last year of the Soviet Union.

[@lapieuvre30]

Yes that was a different event. That time it was Yeltsin who ordered tanks to fire on the building he himself defended two years before

[@somedudeonline1936]

@@lapieuvre30 really do you know what the incident is called I would like to learn more?

[@GrandmasterDinnerRoll]

@@somedudeonline1936 the one in 1993 was the 1993 Russian Constitutional Crisis or the “October Coup.”

[@somedudeonline1936]

@@GrandmasterDinnerRoll thanks never knew that before so who was trying to start the coup remnants of the soviets?

[@andysorensen1737]

And what a Winter that would be for the Soviet people.

[@ClassPresidentAlejandro1999]

What month did this aire?

[@ErickGainesSanders]

@@ClassPresidentAlejandro1999 August 19-25, 1991

[@gnas1897]

The worst one

[@spkanava]

91

[@thomasdeturk5142]

30+ years ago today

[@rschloch]

22:40 what are you doing?!?

[@lani6647]

Yeltsin - How to drink your way through a decade.

[@lizardkingwalking]

On this day, Putin grew horns on his head and did a Mister Burns laugh

[@hueyfreeman1983]

I bet all the Yeltsin supporters are not celebrating now

[@Alberto-mc6yk]

Im worried something like this could happen in the US sooner rather then later. Albeit for "different" reasons. But this is a real concern. I was a pre-schooler when this happened, so i remember little, but what i do remember is my fathers concern. We moved back to Puerto Rico that year. Wa came bavk a year later. I remember in second grade that our globe and maps in school still had USSR still stamped in them. As an early millennial, i remeber much if the changes in my world.

[@daddy_1453]

Gorbachev is like a scholar coming to power, like Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. Steeped in theory, but doesn't fully understand the hard politics of power.

[@spkanava]

91

[@matthewskudzienski888]

It was the free different countries from the U.S. Alliance Victory by the end of the Cold War and the end of the Persian Gulf war and brought peace

[@sarahnewton2550]

It’s funny how looking back we’re like ‘I miss Boris Yeltsin and even both Bushes - upstanding statesmen compared to what we’ve got today’

[@mrtrek64]

back when presidents were leaders to be heard and listened to, whether you agree with them or not. Not the side show, clown school we have running our country now.

[@alexmoore432]

Right on

[@vitamc1213]

And not just your country. These days, most countries have soulless and characterless leaders.

[@secretsquirrel6718]

George Bush the neocon former CIA man was the last person who should have been President. Geeze. He was as crooked as a mule trail. That being said. Who dis the Democrats run Dukakis? Yikes.

[@ZuluGamingSeries]

There all sold out to corporations

[@jackmason4320]

Gorbachev's Perestroika and Glasnost policies released an energy Gorbachev couldn't control nor foresee due to him being so naive and weak.

[@vyhozshu]

now he's breaking up and collapsing heII

[@thedoctor0496]

I came for cold war Russia, not modern day Russia

[@madzen112]

Crazy days

[@andrewburns7400]

This should be titled 'The Rise of the Oligarch'

[@Sabotage_Labs]

I remember as a 20 year old man, one that was even then very interested in politics and the ideological difference between capitalism and socialism. I sat a watched dumbfounded the events in Russia, after the fall of the wall, still wondering if what I was watching was real or a dream. Growing up in the 80s, the threats of Nuclear annihilation between East and West. To see the collapse of Soviet socialism/Communism... it's still one of the greatest events in history I believe I may ever witness. Today, I look at America and what is being taught in our universities. Our political leaders spewing socialist ideals. How so many can be so ignorant of not just the horrors of socialism in the last century but, the failure to understand why socialism itself is a wildly failed ideology. It's beyond disappointing. It's disgusting. Capitalism is and never will be perfect. Any large and complex system consisting of human beings will be flawed because human beings are flawed. The failures of capitalism, pale in comparison to socialism, isn't due to the structural foundation of capitalism. It's because some humans lack morals, ethics and anything resembling character. For example, the leaders of our current govt and of BOTH political parties. Egotistical narcissists with a blood lust for power. That is the modern Democrat party. Willing to say or do anything, destroy anyone that dares challenge them and using the weakest and most vulnerable groups in our society as political weapons. The GOP leadership, although not as pure evil as the Democrats, are feckless cowards that have abandoned all principles so they can cling to power. At some point, we the people must realize that when our politicians spend decades in the same office and become multimillionaires in the process...we have a money problem in DC. They have lost their right to serve. They can no longer be trusted. We MUST pass and amendment for term limits!!! Otherwise, nothing will ever change and they will continue to represent the only group they really care about. The elite ruling class. The rest of us...are just here to dig their holes, clean their toilets and serve them food in restaurants. Buy more consumer crap and pretend to be happy and free with our mortgage, 2 car garage and two weeks a year at Disneyland. They will ensure we remain asleep while forgetting every founding principle when this nation was not only founded, by fought for.

[@CrossOfBayonne]

May the horrors of Communism not repeat itself, We have seen that happen in Korea and Vietnam which millions suffered under it's rule

[@PopulismIsForBottomFeeders]

May the horrors of autocracy not find a new home in the nations that stood firm against and helped topple communism. Places like the US, UK France, etc...

[@minhng7208]

Yeltsin was applying the shock therapy recommended by well known Harvard professors and Russian liberal economists. Russian average living standard has just got to the level of 1990. The price of ‘freedom” and “democracy”. 30 years lost. Vietnam has the same government and improved its average living standards by 20 times, over the same 3 decades.

[@amyhogarten5038]

This was the last crisis of this magnitude in the world before the Towers fell down in 2001. Oh well, we had at least (more or less) 10 good years before everything went to hell.

[@theangryleftist]

The towers don’t compare to this in any way. They will be remembered as a mere footnote in history.

[@yauheniheartland8091]

Sure...all were happy and there were no wars or conflicts on the territories of the former USSR

[@amyhogarten5038]

@@theangryleftist It was not the towers themselves, but the machinery and mechanisms that those fallen towers enabled. I think that the over 1 million Iraqi and Afghani civilians that were killed as “collateral damage” in those wars would agree. Perhaps a democratically reformed and still intact USSR could have kept those who imitated these conflicts more restrained. At this point it’s all speculation and down stream.

[@PabloPopova]

@@yauheniheartland8091 judging by oneself - typical idealistyczne selfish approach

[@alexm566]

@@theangryleftist The destabilization of the middle east was very directly because of the attack on the towers

[@goldenmoontheyoungest8389]

i'm old getting old

[@oldspicey6001]

Diane Sawyer trying to be the main character in that interview was super cringe.

[@Mors_Atra_]

Adults using language like "cringe" is cringe.

[@Marjana954]

Russie avait bonne chance a tourner vers democratie... Mais tout cesseait, quand Poutine eskt arrive a purvoir ...

[@viktorkasatkin9996]

I was there and was living in Russia after that. That was terrible, what happened Gorbachov sold the country to the western world. That chose broke out shortly after. And struggle that people had to go through is indescribable. You all have no clue what was life like trough the 90s