Aleksandr Lebed Quotes
He who shoots first laughs last.
Specter, Michael. "The Wars of Aleksandr Ivanovich Lebed." The New York Times, 13 Oct. 1996, p. 46.
Sherman, one of the most gifted generals of the Civil War. He hated the cruelty of war and the Civil War in particular as he had specifically warned his Southern friends ahead of time about what war would bring. See {585882}. Sherman was one of the first American military men to look at war without any of the romantic, patriotic, noble attributes that most others did.
In modern politics, knowledge of the wisdom of this proverb, tries to spin situations, and intimidate others from overt criticism. When a President is attacked by many, it encourages even more attacks.
The nation was in the midst of a major steel strike and the President felt that the steel companies had reneged on their promises:
Lieutenant General Alexander Ivanovich Lebed was a Soviet and Russian military officer and politician who held senior positions in the Airborne Troops before running for president in the 1996 Russian presidential election. He did not win, but placed third behind incumbent Boris Yeltsin and the Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, with roughly 14% of the vote nation-wide. Lebed later served as the Secretary of the Security Council in the Yeltsin administration, and eventually became the governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai, the second largest Russian region. He served four years in the latter position, until his death following a Mi-8 helicopter crash.
