You may think we live in politically uncertain times but pity poor Eduard Shevardnadze who had to run the gauntlet of tanks and coup plotters to speak to Boris Yeltsin the Russian president (the plotters had targeted the Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev).
Having met with President Yeltsin he confidently strode out onto the steps and the waiting reporters and denounced the plotters and stated that President Yeltsin would not capitulate nor give in to their demands.
So eloquent was his impromptu speech to the media that the plotters rapidly lost heart and the coup attempt soon collapsed.
The funny part is that some years later I saw Eduard on a documentary and he told the interviewer that when he went in to see Boris the President was rolling drunk and had pretty much just fallen on the floor. Having therefore discussed nothing he just made up the fiery rhetoric as he faced the world’s media outside.
Thus is history made….
Having met with President Yeltsin he confidently strode out onto the steps and the waiting reporters and denounced the plotters and stated that President Yeltsin would not capitulate nor give in to their demands.
So eloquent was his impromptu speech to the media that the plotters rapidly lost heart and the coup attempt soon collapsed.
The funny part is that some years later I saw Eduard on a documentary and he told the interviewer that when he went in to see Boris the President was rolling drunk and had pretty much just fallen on the floor. Having therefore discussed nothing he just made up the fiery rhetoric as he faced the world’s media outside.
Thus is history made….