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Page 13 « Tuesday, September 21, 1999
eukemia takes life
f Gorbachev’s wife
erto
iis naicl
n in hiil
ant sp;
aighu-'l
e of I
a Mr.:WvioSCOW (AP) — Deeply scorned in Russia while
was ;he lived, Raisa Gorbachev was inundated with ven-
Mondi iration and praise after she died yesterday of leukemia
ds amicHa sharp, and belated, swing of the nation’s emo-
ar >d ional pendulum.
■The wife of the last Soviet president, Mikhail
wscoi Gorbachev, died at the Muenster University Clinic
3ut hi a Germany at the age of 67. Her
doya Husband and their daughter were
' Bh her when she died, her doc
ent sty ors said.
“HeraiBMrs. Gorbachev had been as re-
lande-Bd at home as she was admired
t “Titc Bhe West. Many Russians derid-
J S. t »d her for her stylish clothes, her
lacarc-ioise, and most of all, for carving
d" - DUia public role for herself.
tingcoBEven the love and support Mrs. Gorbachev so
ossell dearly showed for her husband created resentment
or in Russia.
to RicoBNow, ordinary Russians are speaking out in admi-
ies on latiion of the Gorbachevs’ love and professing admi-
u thi: ration for the ex-president and first lady,
lad saiBlelephones and fax machines at the Gorbachev
if Puer Bundation were flooded with calls yesterday from or-
now diitary people and politicians, foundation spokesper-
Bi Irina Malikova said.
B“It’s a very big tragedy,” one mourner, who gave
on her first name, Irina, said. “I’m just very sorry.”
)se okB President Boris Yeltsin, a bitter rival of Gorbachev in
victor ft
ms mt
s and
ned the
n and'
MRS. GORBACHEV
Puertc
thev I
the twilight years of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s,
sent a telegram expressing grief and condolences.
“With pain I learned about the tragedy that has
struck your family,” Yeltsin and his wife Naina wrote
to Gorbachev. “You have lost the most loyal and de
voted friend. Gone is a wonderful person, a beautiful
woman, a loving wife and mother.”
Yeltsin ordered a government plane to fly to Ger
many to bring Mrs. Gorbachev’s body to Russia today.
The turnaround would be striking anywhere else.
It is less so in Russia, which has been accused in the
past of damning the living and then turning them into
national heroes in death.
Alexander Pushkin, the great 19th-century Russian
poet, wrote in his blank-verse drama “Boris Go
dunov”: “Commoners hate living powers; they can
only love the dead.”
Some prominent examples include Russia’s last
czar Nicholas II, who was denounced as a weak and
tyrannical ruler by his subjects, but elevated to a near
icon — with the Orthodox Church actually consider
ing canonizing him — in recent years.
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was ridiculed by
his contemporaries for a lack of finesse and educa
tion but lauded after his death for exposing dictator
Josef Stalin’s repression. And writer and poet Boris
Pasternak, the author of Dr. Zhivago, saw his books
banned by Soviet authorities and censured by the
public until, they jumped on his bandwagon in the
late 1980s.
Nations lag in exploitation laws
■ BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) —
Commercial sexual exploitation of
children is growing, despite
.promises from more than 120
w countries to halt abuse, pornogra-
1 * phy and sex tourism, according to
UP‘children’s rights workers gathered
Jk' Bangkok yesterday.
‘d^lB While there has been progress
5tuifc 'in recent years, there is still a lack
of political will and concrete ac-
ioc. : * r tion, activist Carol Smolensk! said,
ih- M f “The problem is getting worse as
' Wthe world is shrinking,” Smolenski,
of theU.S. arm of ECPAT, a global
ed • non-governmental organization
not (ig/uingchild exploitation, said.
> "ont'S
i all
see
The activists said the easy avail
ability of sex on the Internet — in
cluding pedophile chat lines and ad
vertisements from companies that
organize sex holidays — is among
the key reasons why sexual ex
ploitation of children is a bigger
global problem than ever before.
Activists from more than 50
countries were attending a confer
ence to review implementation of
the World Congress against Com
mercial Sexual Exploitation of
Children, held in Sweden in 1996.
In all, 122 countries joined the
congress. But so far, only 19 have
come up with national plans to
combat child prostitution and
pornography through legislation,
improved law enforcement and at
tempts to boost public awareness.
At the Stockholm congress, partici
pating countries promised to do so
by the end of 2000.
Smolenski said that up to a quar
ter of foreign child-sex offenders in
countries such as Thailand, Taiwan,
the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Cos
ta Rica were from the United States.
Since legislation to punish U.S.
citizens who commit child-sex of
fenses abroad was adopted five
years ago, only two have been
prosecuted, she said.
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©1999 Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved
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