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Dealing with a Reunified Germany
With the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, the long-awaited reunification between East and West Germany began. A mere two weeks after the fall, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl announced a...
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The Achille Lauro Hijacking —“These sons of bitches must be prosecuted”
On October 7, 1985, four men, including mastermind Muhammad Zaidan, aka Mohammed Abul al-Abbas, from the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) hijacked the Italian MS Achille Lauro liner off the coast of...
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“Vive Le Québec Libre!”— When Canada’s Separatist Movement Turned Violent
Scotland, Catalonia, Northern Ireland, Quebec –Western regions with distinct histories and linguistic identities, which have at times also experienced violent episodes of nationalism. For Quebec, the...
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Yeltsin Under Siege — The October 1993 Constitutional Crisis
For Russians, it was yet another dramatic confrontation which played out in the streets of Moscow, one which marked the growing frustration many people had with their elected President. The...
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KAL 007: A Targeted Assassination?
On September 1, 1983, Korean Air Lines Flight 007 en route on its second leg from Anchorage, Alaska to Seoul, South Korea was shot down by a Soviet interceptor aircraft into the Sea of Japan when it...
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The U.S. Invades “A Little Island Called Grenada,” Part I
In one of the smallest proxies of the Cold War, the United States, with the support of troops from other Caribbean governments, invaded the island nation of Grenada to depose its military dictator and...
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The U.S. Invades “A Little Island Called Grenada,” Part II
Planned in secret and executed quickly, the U.S. intervention garnered a mixed and fervent reaction. For the most part, the American public and Congress supported the invasion, mainly due to the need...
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Escape from the Nazis via the Kindertransport
Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, November 9-10, 1938 — SA forces vandalize Jewish-owned stores and synagogues. Five days later, a delegation of British Jewish and Quaker leaders appeal in...
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Halt! We Want to Surrender!
May 1945 — the end of World War II. Time to drink a beer, have fun, and enjoy the countryside. But hold on — what’s that on the horizon? A Nazi Panzer division? George Jaeger was born in Vienna,...
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Ethiopian Flight 961 — The Worst Hijacking in History Before 9/11
On November 23, 1996, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 was flying from Addis Ababa to Nairobi when the plane was hijacked by three Ethiopians. One report later described them as “young (mid-twenties),...
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The Iran Hostage Crisis —“I had very little faith in my government protecting...
On November 4, 1979, some 3000 radical Iranian students protested at the U.S. embassy. The embassy had been taken over earlier in the year but the problem was resolved quickly leading most to believe...
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The Birth of NATO
After the devastation of World War II and the ensuing Cold War with the Soviet Union, nations across the globe sought out alliances to protect themselves and to avoid a possible World War III. The...
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Secretary Ron Brown’s Plane Crashes in Croatia
On April 3rd, 1996, just before the Easter holiday, Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown was killed in a plane crash in Croatia. He was 54 years old. He was on a trip to Dubrovnik, flying from Zagreb to...
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Chile’s 1988 Plebiscite and the End of Pinochet’s Dictatorship
The 1970s and 1980s were a long, dark time for Chile. The September 11, 1973 coup against Socialist president Salvador Allende led to the brutal dictatorship under Commander-in-Chief Augusto Pinochet,...
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Negotiating the Dayton Peace Accords
During the 1990s, the world witnessed the worst conflict since the end of World War II. The violence, bloodshed and ethnic cleansing within the Former Yugoslavia was unthinkable. The conflict began...
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The Bhopal Chemical Disaster
On December 3, 1984, a gas leak began at a pesticide plant owned by Union Carbide located in Bhopal, India. Due to the leak of more than thirty tons of chemicals and the highly toxic gas, methyl...
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The Bizarre North Korean Axe Murders
The United States and North Korea have not had the best relations, to put it mildly. Even in a place like Cuba, which Washington does not recognize diplomatically, the U.S. has an Interests Section...
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The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan — December 1979
It was to last nearly a decade and would plant the seeds for the rise of the Taliban and Islamic terrorism and the subsequent invasion by the U.S. more than 20 years later. On December 24, 1979, the...
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A Crown for Hungary
For centuries, it was the national symbol of a nation. For decades, it was kept in Fort Knox for safekeeping. The Crown of Saint Stephen dates back to the year 1000, when Stephen, a devout Christian...
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Dark Times in the City of Lights
Paris is one of the most beautiful and glamorous places in the world. But like most urban centers, it also has a dark side, as shown yet again by the horrifying assault on the satire magazine Charlie...
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