Outside the Beltway

Yegor Gaidar’s Ireland Mystery Illness

James Joyner · Wednesday, November 29, 2006 · 2 comments

Yegor Gaidar is seriously ill after contracting some mystery ailment in Ireland.

Yegor Gaidar, architect of Russia’s market reforms, was being treated in a Moscow hospital on Wednesday after coming close to death with a mystery ailment during a visit to Ireland, friends and family said. Former acting prime minister Gaidar, 50, who unleashed economic shock therapy before the dust had settled on the ruins of the Soviet Union, fell unconscious with unexplained symptoms on November 24 during a visit to Dublin to present his new book, “Death of the Empire.”

There’s so small irony in that coincidence. And what’s with these Russians and their mystery illnesses, anyway?

via IM from Jeff Quinton

FILED UNDER: Uncategorized, counterinsurgency, European Union, Ireland, Jeff Quinton, Russia, Soviet Union

About James Joyner

James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

dws says:

Wednesday, 29 November 2006 at 15:47

All those stories about FSB training in Ireland. Maybe that’s where the poison came from?
Dave Schuler says:

Wednesday, 29 November 2006 at 15:55

Not to make light of what’s obviously a very serious situation but let’s see. Suppose I’m a Russian (noteworthy for their abstemiousness) visiting Ireland (noteworthy for spiritus frumenti) and I lost consciousness for several hours. What conclusion might one reasonably draw?

Foul play need not be involved. Consider the generally lousy state of health of Russians these days.