1992 Miracle Yearbook

Coup in the Soviet Union Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachevandhisfamilywereplaced under house arrest in the Crimea on August 19, 1991, as an eight-man emergency committee led by Vice President Gennady Yanayev took powerin acoup attemptin the Soviet Union. Convoys of Soviet tanks moved into Moscow, less than two miles from the Kremlin. Yeltsin called on Russians to resist the takeover, and resist they did. Constructing a pro- tective human wall around Yeltsin's headquarters, his supporters de- manded Gorbachev's return. As a former Gorbachev adviser i spoke to the crowds,denouncing the coup,hands were raised in applause. On Wednesday, as the Commu- nistPartydenouncedthetakeover, Yanayev and the othercoup lead- ers fled Moscow. Latvia and Es- toniadeclaredimmediateindepen- dence from the Soviet Union. The coup had failed, and be- fore the day wasthrough,allcoup leaders were arrested except for Interior MinisterBorisPugo,who reportedly killed himself. RussianPresidentBorisYeltsin waved the white-blue-and-red Russian tricolor flag from the Russian Federation building be- fore a crowd of about 100,000 jubilantsupporterscelebratingthe endofthethree-daycoupattempt. Freedom has come to the So- viet Union. Associated Press .41:1:/eNNANyteititility itAIWItt t 'Still WI .11$1 Photos by Associated Press New York,NY RUSSIAN PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN waved the white-blue-and-red Russian tricolor flag from the Russian Federation building before a crowd of about 100,000 jubilant supporters celebrating the end ofthe three-day coup attempt. Kuwait Oil Well Fires Firefighters were unpre- pared for the sight they were metwithin Kuwait-- scoresof oil wellssending plumesofred and orangeflames thirty yards into the air. Oil lakes and soot blackened the sand. During the seven-month Iraqi occupation of Kuwait, more than 730 oil wells were damaged or set ablaze. Firefighting crews have been able to extinguish 584 wells incethe effortbeganin March 1991. When the effort to combat the blazes began in March, it took an average offour days to putoutone well fire. Now the teams are averaging 8.5 wells each day. Teams from the United States, Canada, China, Iran, Kuwait, Hungary and France are all workingtogethertoclean upthisenvironmental disaster. Student Life 104