Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Historic Events 1968-1989 Νεο
Historic Events 1968-1989 Νεο
(1968- 1989)
It was September 5th, 1972 and the Olympic Games in Munich were already in
progress when members of the Israeli mission were kidnapped by the Palestinian
terrorist organization named "Black September." Among the requests of the
kidnappers were the release of hundreds of Palestinians from the Israeli jails, the
release of German terrorists Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof, as well as their
own safe escape from West Germany.
The kidnapping ended with the unsuccessful intervention of the German police,
during which nine athletes, one policeman and five terrorists were killed.
Three days after the Massacre of Munich, on September 8th, the Israelis, in
retaliation, bombed the Palestinian camps in Lebanon and Syria, causing the death
of more than 100 people. Those of the terrorists who survived found refuge in Libya,
but not for long. They were exterminated by the Israeli intelligence service, Mossad,
as part of the operation "Wrath of God".
On October 17th, 1973, the world was shocked by the first oil crisis in history. The
members of OAPEC (Organization of Arab Countries - Exporters Petroleum)
announced that they would stop the oil supply for all the countries that supported
Israel in its conflict with Syria and Egypt, after the war of Yom Kippur.
The USA, their allies in Western Europe and Japan were included in these counties.
The result of this development was the dramatic rise in oil prices and, of course, a
direct impact on the prices of other products.
The new situation put an end in the era of price stability and introduced the first time,
the meaning of stagflation, namely the state of an economy in stagnation, which is at
the same time characterized by severe inflation and often by unemployment (such as
we happen to experience today due to the crisis).
This national tragedy had, as a direct consequence, the collapse of the dictatorship
regime in Greece. The leaders of the army, having lost control of the situation,
decided, in a meeting held on July 23th, 1974, to hand over the administration of the
country to the politicians.
The Helsinki Accords were primarily an effort to reduce tension between the Soviet
and Western blocs by securing their common acceptance of the post-World War II
status quo in Europe. The agreement pledged the 35 signatory nations to respect
human rights and fundamental liberties and co-operate in economic, scientific,
humanitarian, and other areas. It was also a kind of code of conduct of the states to
their citizens, because "it specifies that the participating countries will respect human
rights and fundamental liberties and lays the foundation for further development of
the process for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
The Helsinki Accords served as the groundwork for the later Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), established under the Paris Charter.
More than any other political leader, Thatcher (along perhaps with her political love
Ronald Reagan) was the personification of the capitalist juggernaut that swept the
whole planet during the decades of 80 and 90. Today, however, this economic model
collapses with noise and negative feelings about the iron Lady remain still strong not
only in England but throughout the world.