Boris calling it quits and turning over power to Prime Minister.

-- Chief (bmc@sealres.com), December 31, 1999

Answers

WHAT???? Can you confirm this?

-- Jess (alisaunde@aol.com), December 31, 1999.

Says who? Gotta link?

-- NokternL (nokternl@anywhereusa.com), December 31, 1999.

Its live on MS-NBC right now. Yelstin has resigned.

-- Darby (DarbyII@AOL.com), December 31, 1999.

www.cnn.com

-- anonymous (anonymous@anonymous.com), December 31, 1999.

CNN 04:22 am

-- George in Ne.Pa. (GRC0702A@AOL.COM), December 31, 1999.

..OH SHIT,,,,,,,,!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-- (RENOSONE@HOTMAIL.COM), December 31, 1999.

Wow! Now I am wacked out. That is scarrrrry.

-- wacko (gonewakie@aol.com), December 31, 1999.

Agree with "oh shit".

Very sinking feeling in my stomach right now. I don't like this at all. If I don't get another chance to say it: it's been real.

Prayer might be (is) a good idea.

-- Me (me@me.me), December 31, 1999.

Uh...lets discuss this, people. WHY did he do this??? What does he know???? I am freaking nervous now!!!

-- Jess (alisaunde@aol.com), December 31, 1999.

from cnn.com

DEVELOPING STORY

Russian President Boris Yeltsin has announced on national television that he is resigning and turning his powers over to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

-- I'll (never@fallasleep.now), December 31, 1999.

It's a no shit.. it happened.. was just getting ready to go to bed, then cnn started on it...

Jeez, how many more changes can we pack into the next few days?

-- Carl (clilly@goentre.com), December 31, 1999.

Link

DECEMBER 31, 04:29 EST

Boris Yeltsin Resigns

MOSCOW (AP)  President Boris Yeltsin announced on national television Friday that he had resigned and that presidential elections would be held within 90 days to replace him.

The announcement caught Russia by surprise, and is likely to throw the country into yet another political crisis as parties scramble to prepare for unexpected presidential elections.

Looking pale and grim in a speech on national television, Yeltsin said he had turned over his powers to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, his preference to succeed him as president.

``Today, on the last day of the outgoing century, I resign,'' Yeltsin said.

The resignation appeared timed to capitalize on the success of pro-Kremlin, centrist parties in recent parliamentary elections. Parties backing Putin scored unexpectedly well, adding to the drive to put him into the Kremlin as Yeltsin's successor.

Under the Russian constitution, presidential elections must be held within 90 days of the president's resignation.

Putin will act as president during the interim, giving him an even bigger advantage in the race for the presidency.

It was yet another unexpected move by Yeltsin, who has presided over Russia through eight tumultuous, often chaotic years. His attempts to build a market economy were deeply flawed by corruption and incompetence, and he became widely disliked by most Russians.

Yeltsin, 68, who has been hit by corruption allegations in recent months, reportedly had been looking for assurances for the safety of himself and his family when he steps down. Putin as president would be able to give Yeltsin the immunity he reportedly wants.

Plagued for years by heart and other health problems, Yeltsin has largely been out of sight during his second term. He spent many weeks sidelined at his country residence outside Moscow and was largely seen as a caretaker president.

But Yeltsin continued to dominate Russian politics, despite his ill health. He easily defeated a Communist-led effort in May to impeach him and had dismissed four prime ministers in the last two years.

-- Deborah (infowars@yahoo.com), December 31, 1999.

Got Potassium Iodate ?

Got Beer ?

I think I'll grab a case of the best Cabernet wev'e got in the store !!

Toooooo Wiiiiild.

-- capnfun (yo7@bellsouth.net), December 31, 1999.

CONFIRMED>>> CNN Live breaking news at 3:45am CDT.

-- Rob (maxovrdrv51@hotmail.com), December 31, 1999.

You heard it here first!

-- jor-el (jor-el@krypton.uni), December 31, 1999.

Yeltsin's just a puppet for the power elite who control him and Clinton and the rest of the clowns. Let the Cyberrevolution begin!

-- Arthur Topham (radical@quesnelbc.com), December 31, 1999.

I knew it! I predicted about a month ago that he would be out of there by January. All the paranoids are going to be hiding in their bunkers for the next few weeks because they think Putin is worse than Yeltsin!

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), December 31, 1999.

Strange day to resign.... Interconnection with Y2K likely. Either Yeltsin doesnt want to take responsibility in case of a false nuclear attack alarm or he was pushed away by people that dont want to see Yeltsin as the person responsible for pushing buttons under a heavy stress situation. Probably Russia expects nasty things to happen in the upcoming hours.

I'm feeling very uncomfortable right now.....

Rob

-- rob (rob@aaaaa.to), December 31, 1999.

This is a military coup, plain and simple. The military has held the reigns for some time now and grows ever bolder. Stratfor had an excellent three part series on just these developments several months ago. (http://www.stratfor.com)

If I am correct, that both Yeltsin's resignation AND the *timing* of said resignation has been dictated by the military, (and I believe I am correct) the conclusions one might draw are particularly ominous; namely:

- That serious consideration is being (or has been) given to the "use it or lose it" strategy (or such strategy has been adopted)

- That Yeltsin did not have the 'stomach' to support the military's plans (as I speculate his acquiescence to use of unlimited force in Chechnya was a requirement for his remaining in office) meaning that something very drastic may be about to go down there.

- That the Russian Generals simply see the looming chaos as their best chance to grab power

Someone please wake Nicoli Kruschev - he is needed here at once!

-- Me (me@me.me), December 31, 1999.

No comment at this time. <...)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), December 31, 1999.

Russia sent up A new Satelite to moniter ICBMs the other day.

-- bailey (glbailey@excite.com), December 31, 1999.

....WE ARE IN FOR AN INTERESTING RIDE...TO SAY THE LEAST ...STRAP IN YOUR SEATBELTS HERE...FOLKS!!!!!

-- (renosone@hotmail.com), December 31, 1999.

"Many Russian politicians and analysts say Yeltsin is too ill to rule Russia and have his finger on the trigger of the world's second largest nuclear power.

In televised comments yesterday, even his wife Naina admitted that he had "never been in such a bad state as he is now" after a bout of pneumonia which followed a succession of health problems, including heart trouble."

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), December 31, 1999.

May God help us all. Putin is a blood thirsty psycho.

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), December 31, 1999.

This does not bode well at all. Even the Russians manning the missile silos realized Yeltsin had lost his mental faculties, and there was a strong possibility they would simply ignore a launch order originating from him. This is not the case with Putin. He is revered by the military for both his increased military spending and his hard line stance a gainst Chechnya. If he pushes that button the nukes will fly. Let us not forget that Putin as ex head of the KGB was one of the masterminds of the artificial collapse of the Soviet Union, and his compatriots were installed as heads of state in all the ex Soviet Republics. Many of them are still in power. I find it particularly Ominous that Yeltsin is going to Bethlehem for rollover, What better place to beg for devine forgiveness on the eve of the most dastardly deed the world has ever seen?

-- Nikoli Krushev (doomsday@y2000.com), December 31, 1999.

REPOSTE

I don't have a definite answer as to whether the Russians and Chinese will choose to attack us or not. I do firmly feel the answer will be determined by the actual Y2K status of those countries. All I can do at this point is review the situation as it stands at this moment in time, and each of you will have to make your own judgements as to the potential risk.

The absolute most critical detail of our current situation is the abolishment of the launch on warning policy by Clinton, and the reductioon of the warhead capacity of our Ohio class submarines to Salt II levels, even though that treaty has never been ratified. These moves, coupled with the abolition of the Strategic Air Command and its complement of nuclear armed bombers and the ten to twelve thousand nuclear tipped Russian ABM's virtually assure that the communist powers will be able to devastate the United States while taking minimal damage in return.

While our government would like for the public to believe that Russia has largely disarmed, the fact is they maintain thousands of ready to launch warheads, and many are in the class of superweapons, capable of devastating huge areas with a single hit. The Russians have also moved many of their tactical nuclear weapons onto ships over the last six months, possibly as a precursor to redeploying them to a forward base, such as Cuba. We dare not forget that 84 russian suitcase nukes are also unacounted for, and even the FBI is admitting many of those may well already be on U.S. soil.

Both Russia and China have been heavily atacking our DOD computer systems for over a year now, and have had huge successes in penetrating our most secure systems. No doubt the main objective of these hacking attacks was and remains to gather vital intel as to the true Y2K status of our defensive systems. Personally I believe that Russia and China have long been planning a joint strike against the U.S., South Korea, Japan, and the Mid East Oilfields for some time, but the kickoff date for the offensive was to be in the time frame of 2003-5. Y2K has introduced a wild card into the equation as the communist are now potentially facing a use it or lose it scenario, with total economic failure post Y2K precluding any possibility of even regaining their current power levels before the United States has deployed a Missile shield and next generation conventional weaponry they will be unable to match.

Barring a communist attack the hostile powers will be forced by a combination of economic and military weakness to be assimilated into the NWO , most likely as fragmented bananna republics. They are not fools and full well realize the repercussions of a bad hit from the Y2K problem, and a collapse of the oil market.

We can't leave the NWO out of the equation either. As Clintons puppet masters I believe they see the potential risk of nuclear war just as clearly as I do, and have positioned the United States to take the full brunt of any attack, while utilizing our forces to correspondingly neutralize the Communis powers. The United States, while seeming to be the headquarters for the NWO, has never been anything other than an economic engine utilized by the NWO to transfer true wealth (gold bullion) to the West European banking families. They are currently sitting on over half the entire worlds gold reserves, and any collapse of the world economy will play right into their hands. As long as the U.S. takes the brunt of the attack. It has been perfectly clear over the last two months that they are signaling the Russians a white flag, with the removal from Europe of all the American Nuclear weapons, the creation of the new European Defense Union, and calls for everyone to turn off their early warning systems through rollover. In a post nuclear exchange world these same old world bankers will be able to easily re-establish monetary control of the entire planet, this time under a one world government and single currency. The Russians would be loathe to attack Western Europe with nuclear weapons anyway, as the immediate fallout would blow right back across them. It really boils down to whether they have , or think they have, the conventional strength to take Europe following a nuclear attack on the United States. I think they do, and I'm sure they do too. The European NATO members pretty well showed what a shambles their forces were in during the Serbian conflict.

You also have to realize that even in the abscense of a nuclear attack at rollover, oil shortages may well escalate into World War shortly into the new year. If the United States is severely crippled by Embedded systems failures China will be looking very hard at retaking Taiwan and cutting off our source of replacement parts, as well as expanding into the mideast to gain direct access to ready supplies of oil. The situation looks very precarious as I see it, but exactly what will happen is anybody's guess.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------

-- Nikoli Krushev (doomsday@y2000.com), December 31, 1999.

Sheeesh, it never fails, I knew this would be coming.

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), December 31, 1999.

After skimming money off the top of our aid donations for so many years its no wonder he's staggering around all the time. Its called astonishment - more money than he can spend in a 100 lifetimes. Its time to quit and spend more time spending money.

-- Guy Daley (guydaley@bwn.net), December 31, 1999.

One thing to consider: the Russian national pastime is chess.

By positioning their "pieces" on "the board", they could very well be preparing to look us in the eye, and say "check".

-- Ron Schwarz (rs@clubvb.com.delete.this), December 31, 1999.