The Day Frozen Pudding-Pops Destroyed Boris Yeltsin's Faith in Communism

Reaganite Republican ^ | 09 April 2015 | Reaganite Republican

[Reaganite Republican]

After a September 1989 tour of Houston's Johnson Space Center, 

Boris Yeltsin -freshly elected to the new Soviet Politburo- made an impromptu visit to a typical American grocery store -'Randalls'- in Clear Lake, Texas,
to have himself a look around...


And more than anything he'd seen at the advanced NASA facility, what really blew Yeltsin away was the sheer variety of goods at the supermarket. The fact that such stores where to be found in just about any town in America was said to be beyond comprehension for the Soviet politician- the pictures tell a thousand words-

A mesmerized Yeltsin wandered the isles, marveled at price-scanning registers he had no idea even existed -while taking his free in-store samples of cheese, etc and remarking how if ordinary Russians knew about America's horn-of-plenty 'there would be a revolution'. He added that the Soviet Politburo -with their special import shops/privileges- and not even Gorbachev have access to such variety as the average American did.

Later a biographer wrote that subsequent to the grocery store visit, Yeltsin was actually shocked -and depressed- for a while about what he saw at Randall's that day- he just couldn't get the experience off his mind, especially when contrasted with the meagre offerings his 'potentially rich' USSR
-with it's contempt for the retail sector- could manage.

Historians say the experience at Randall's shattered his belief in communism once-and-for-all... two years later, he was the reform-minded president of a non-communist Russia.

As Reagan once said, if he could just have the opportunity meet with the average Ivan (and his family) and show them how Americans truly lived, and our actual standard of living -not what the USSR told them- he felt his point would be made, and perhaps the Cold War resolved.

Idealistic, yes- but when you hear that not even Boris Yeltsin had any clue as to how far behind their decrepit system truly was, it becomes apparent that Ronald Reagan -typically- knew what he was talking about... seems that's how it happened to Yeltsin.

[Reaganite Republican]

***PING***

[Fido969]

I wonder if that guy was turned by our spooks.

[DuncanWaring]

[Vigilanteman]

Historians say the experience at Randall's shattered his belief in communism once-and-for-all...

If we could only arrange to have leading libtards spend six months in North Korea . . . It is the purest form of communism on the planet.

[Alex Murphy]

A mesmerized Yeltsin wandered the isles, marveled at price-scanning registers he had no idea even existed -while taking his free in-store samples of cheese, etc and remarking how if ordinary Russians knew about America's horn-of-plenty 'there would be a revolution'. He added that the Soviet Politburo -with their special import shops/privileges- and not even Gorbachev have access to such variety as the average American did. Later a biographer wrote that subsequent to the grocery store visit, Yeltsin was actually shocked -and depressed- for a while about what he saw at Randall's that day- he just couldn't get the experience off his mind, especially when contrasted with the meagre offerings his 'potentially rich' USSR -with it's contempt for the retail sector- could manage....

....As Reagan once said, if he could just have the opportunity meet with the average Ivan (and his family) and show them how Americans truly lived, and our actual standard of living -not what the USSR told them- he felt his point would be made, and perhaps the Cold War resolved.

And now we have a president who doesn't want America to be exceptional.

[cuban leaf]

"Where eez Coffee line?"

[Jack Hydrazine]

“...and remarking how if ordinary Russians knew about America’s horn-of-plenty ‘there would be a revolution’.”

And if the Leftists in this country get their way we will become the Soviet Union with plenty of shortages/rationing of healthcare, food, electricity, and everything else!

[Lazamataz]

So, the most intelligent thing we could POSSIBLY do is to become just like the Soviet Union.

What could POSSIBLY go wrong.

[Reaganite Republican]

That is great...

[Reaganite Republican]

“What could POSSIBLY go wrong”
__________________________________

Look out yer window... we’re living the nightmare

[Regulator]

If we could only arrange to have leading libtards spend six months in North Korea

They'd love it. Never leave. Their kind of place: everything frozen in time, no choices, bureaucrats dictate all choices.

That's who they are. Twisted control freaks. Free markets terrify them because there are no guarantees, no control. Their own self doubts scare them because they realize that what they sell, people won't buy.

Want a Camaro? They won't build one, they will issue you a 1960 Volvo (um, "box on wheels") because that's what they would drive and can't conceive of anyone wanting anything else.

To them, North Korea is paradise.

[Snickering Hound]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3T_9aMMbws

A good movie that shows the difference between communist East Germany and the changes after the fall of the Berlin Wall, “Goodbye, Lenin”.

[SpeakerToAnimals]

In 1990 I was ski instructor for a Russian VIP. He freaked out at Safeway in Dillon, Colorado. He wanted to know how the government got all this food into a little mountain town.

We saw Medved Chevrolet on I-70. He freaked again when told that this was one of dozens of new car dealerships.

He was from Crimea. He moved to Connecticut last year.

[McGruff]

Got any interns I can take home?

[Little Ray]

That would be okay with them, as long as they, personally, were not impacted by such shortages.

[Star Traveler]

Interesting that he didn’t even know the reality of the situation.

[Reaganite Republican]

That’s a great flick, love it

[Buckeye McFrog]

his 'potentially rich' USSR -with it's contempt for the retail sector-

hmmm....typically one has to have worked in the retail sector in order to have contempt for it.

[M Kehoe]

Old Soviet joke: We pretend to work, and the government pretends to pay us.

5.56mm