1976

Jimmy Carter wins the Presidential elections; Chou en-Lai and Mao Tse Tung, Chinese leaders died.; The US bicentennial; Viking landing on Mars; Washington sex scandals; Patty Hearst trial; Israeli Entebbe raid; The Chowchilla kidnapping; and less well publicised: torture school in Uruguay; CIA undermining the Shah of Iran after he contracted cancer
US economy still reeling from 1973 – 79 oil crisis. The US had been responding to the oil crisis by raising taxes on gasoline to reduce consumption .

Angola
Angola became independent from Portugal on November 11th 1975, the Angolan Civil War broke out almost immediately (check)– important as a test case for the new understanding between USA and USSR. There was a power vacuum in Angola after the Caetano dictatorship in Portugal was overthrown in 74. The three factions (the MPLA, the FNLA and UNITA) in Angola came to be supported by various countries with differing agendas, and the conflict escalated out of all proportion.
Henry Kissinger, now drunk with personal power, launched a CIA backed war in Angola. Kissinger claimed Angola was strategically important and threatened by communists. The CIA backed UNITA and UNITA’s leader Jonas Savimbi.
This polarises Angolan politics and drives his opponents into the arms of Cuba and the Soviet Union for survival. Congress would cut off funds in 1976, but the CIA is able to continue the war off the books until 1984, when funding is legalised again. 300,000 Angolans were to die in a pointless war.
Havana acted in Africa without seeking authority from the USSR, and probably against Moscow’s wishes. The Soviet Union was pursuing moderate policies in Africa in order to foster improved relations with the USA. They had been supporting the MPLA, but now cut off the aid. Cuba, however continued with their policy of aid.
China began to supply to FNLA, but the CIA had maintain contacts with FNLA since days of Kennedy. The USA began to supply FNLA using same route as China, which in October 1974 drove the USSR to begin supplying the MPLA again.
In January Ford awarded $300,000 to FNLA. Ford and Kissinger encouraged Roberto tp launch an attack on the MPLA in March 1975.
Elections were established for October 1975. The Alvor Agreement. USSR supported this but Cuba didn’t want to accept any kind of compromise. Civil war escalated in spring of 1975 and elections looked less likely.
The Soviets pushed for a diplomatic solution in summer 1975, but Ford ignored overtures. They wanted to completely exclude the MPLA from any future government. USSR increased its arms to Neto. Cuba sent the first load of personnel.
Cuba and USSR are still acting independently, Cuba with their North South philosophy and USSR with an East-West philosophy; a convergence of policy.
By July the MPLA looked set to win the elections. USA increased its involvement to stop this. The CIA controlled recruitment of mercenaries and direct involvement of CIA personnel. – Shearman “USSR and Cuba”
In August the MPLA requested more help – Moscow declined but Cuba sent more troops in September.
October – South Africa invaded Angola from south and Zairean troops invaded from the north. The US was aware of South Africa’s plans beforehand. To what extend were they colluding with or directing South Africa’s military?
In November Cuba sent more troops to fight with MPLA against invasion. Again, not checking with USSR first.
The odd thing is China is acting on the USA’s side. But only odd if you believe the propaganda. Nixon had spent a lot of energy on building an alliance with China in order to take advantage of the split between USSR and China.
The USA put pressure on Barbados and other countries to deny Cuba refuelling rights – USSR began to supply transport aircraft to the Cubans from January 1976.
20,000 Cubans made decisive difference in eventual MPLA victory in mid-March 1976.
The Senate passed the Clark Amendment designed to cut off US funding for military factions in December 75. A ban on CIA operations in Angola became law on Feb 9th 1976.
A ban on CIA operations in Angola became law on February 9th [YEAR] due to the Clark Amendment. John Stockwell, Chief of CIA Angola taskforce, later wrote that CIA continued to send weapons by plane from Zaire to UNITA forces in Angola.
The CIA began making large cash payoffs “to anyone who had been associated with our side of the Angolan War”. President Mobutu of Zaire got $2m for funding pro western guerrilla factions, but he kept the money himself.
When congress found out, it subjected George Bush to a series of hostile committee hearings in which full disclosure was demanded. The House Appropriations Committee placed a team of auditors in the CIA headquarters to review accounting on the Angola program, codenamed IAFEATURE. March 12 Bush ordered that no funds be spent on IAFEATURE. One day later an uninsured cargo plane was shot down inside Angola – Bush Biog.
In 1976, the USA involved with South Africa in its plans to undermine popular government in Angola. Cuba had intervened and successfully helped MPLA to fight off invasion. See 1975. After MPLA victory in mid March the Soviets called for a diplomatic solution. Ford failed to respond and sent Kissinger to Beijing – which increased Soviet suspicions. When congress learned of US covert operations, congress was about to block any further aid to Angola – Ford made proposal to USSR on mutual withdrawal.
Dec 9th USSR paused the airlift of Cuban troops for a fortnight to show willing. The Clark amendment passed by congress on Dec 19th. 1975.
The Clark amendment became law on February 9th 1976. The chief of the CIA Angola task force, John Stockwell, later wrote that after February 9th, the CIA kept sending planeloads of weapons from Zaire to UNITA forces in Angola, depsite the fact that this was now illegal.
There were at least 22 of such flights. Also, in February, the Bush CIA began making large cash pay offs “to anyone who had been associated with our side of the Angolan War”. This meant that president Mobutu of Zaire got $2m which he was supposed to give to pro-western guerilla factions; Mobutu simply kept the money, and the CIA’s guerrillas “were left starving”, said Stockwell.
Congress found out about Bush’s illegal largesse and subjected him to a series of hostile committee hearings in which full disclosure was demanded.
The House Appropriations Committee placed a team of auditors in CIA HQ to review accounting on the Angola program, which was code-named IAFEATURE. On March 12th Bush sent a cable to all CIA stations ordering that no funds be spent on IAFEATURE. One day later, an uninsured Cargo plane was shot down inside Angola. Despite this, Bush ordered awards and commendations for the 100 CIA personnel who worked on this project.

Franco had died. In February the Spanish Sahara was handed over by Spain to be carved up and incorporated into Morrocco, and Mauritania.
Semi-nomadic tribes which lived in Spanish Sahara protested for self determination from 1970, and formed a political movement, founded in 1973, called POLISARIO.
“a few hundred thousand people in all for hundreds of years migrated back and forth from the cold Atlas foothills of Morrocco south up to the salt mines of Mauritania, and further south into Senegal.”
POLISARIO believed independence was near. But the international court of justice in the hague reviewing their case for self-determination made a political decision, and “had given a judgement which seemed deliberately vague. More to the point neither the Parisian bankers nor the Spanish Foreign Ministry were willing to concede the income from at least 10 million tons of phosphate a year  – enough to challenge control of the world market – to a bunch of nomads of uncertain political pedigree.” Page 42.
A line was drawn – the southern sector went to Mauritania, a weak country. The northern sector, complete with mine, went to King Hussein, and within days Hussein began to bomb the nomads as they fled to safety in Algeria. Nomads blew up the conveyer belt and began fighting back.
Morrocco was the US’s natural ally in the region – controlled shores of southern med, straits of Gibraltar, US air bases used in Yom Kippur war and Portugal had gone tits up. “There was no room for desert tribesmen and their national liberation movement on the state department’s geopolitical map. UK held that the refugees didn’t exist – “propaganda” pp 45/46

CIA “reforms”
Early in the year Ford needed to pre-empt proposals for reform of intelligence coming out of the Pike and Church Committees. Feb 17th Ford touted his bureaucratic reshuffle of the intelligence agencies as the most sweeping reform and reorganisation of the US intelligence agencies since the passage of the National Security Act 1947. “I will not be a party to the dismantling of the CIA or other intelligence agencies,” said Ford.
He repeated that the intelligence community had to function under the direction of the National Security Council as if that was something earth-shattering and new; considering in a few years what North and Poindexter got up to under Reagan we can see that this guaranteed nothing. A new NSC committee chaired by Bush was entrusted with the task of giving greater central coordination to the intelligence community as a whole. This committee was to consist of Bush, Kissinger clone William Hyland of the National Security Council staff, and Robert Ellsworth the assistant secretary of defense for intelligence. This committee was jointly to formulate the budget of the intelligence community and allocate its resources to the various tasks.

The US Senate passed the Clark Amendment designed to cut off US funding for military actions. The Clark Amendment passed the House and a ban on CIA operation in Angola became law on February 9th 1976.

Bicentennial Celebrations?
200 years in – the establishment take the chance to make America feel better about itself.
1976 - Bicentennial celebrations in Boston – “protesters dumped into the harbour packages marked “Gulf oil” and “Exxon” and hauled a Nixon effigy about the bay”. Tom Shane.
“When official re-enactors cried ‘down with King George!’ the shout came back ‘down with King Richard!’. An official report into the incident concluded, “we entered the bicentennial year having survived some of the bitterest times in our brief history. We cried out for something to draw us together again.” But how? How could the nation celebrate its beginnings as a scrappy rebel republic when all around it sat all the signs – Vietnam, Exxon, Nixon, that it had transformed into the very empire it once opposed.” Tom Shane.

Minor Sex Scandal 1976
US Rep Wayne L Hays (Dem, Ohio) admitted to a “personal relationship” with Elizabeth Ray, a committee staff member who claimed she’d received her job in order to be Hays’ mistress  (May 25th ).

Missing Plutonium
Ambiguities concerning accountability of nuclear material pose a real but little known threat to safety of American public. The government cannot account for 150,000 pounds of nuclear materials, 11,600 pounds of which is weapon grade quality. 4.4 pounds of plutonium is enough for a bomb large enough to level a city of 100,000 people. In recent years this loss of nuclear materials has fuelled fears over “dirty bombs”.

Politicisation of the CIA
Most of the real power, especially in foreign affairs, was in hands of Kissinger. (Bush was willing to play along with Kissinger’s agenda) Kissinger, then Secretary of State for Ford, colluded with the CIA to produce fake figures for use in the SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) negotiations. He directed the CIA to alter range estimates for the USSR’s Tupolev Backfire bomber . Kissinger wanted to exclude the bomber from the heavy bomber category set in the Ford-Brezhnev Vladivostock agreement. He’d made a separate agreement with the Russians and his request to the CIA was an attempt to fulfil this category. Aviation Week who broke the story stood by it despite threats from Kissinger, and refused to retract or apologise.
 “The worst instances of politicisation of the CIA occurred under Nixon ” who shifted much of the intelligence-estimating authority from the CIA to Kissinger so assessments could be reached that justified White House policies. Nixon and Kissinger disregarded  the CIA’s scepticism about US ability to verify treaty compliance in an effort to attain an arms limitation agreement with Moscow
On 29th November 1978 Tony Benn wrote the following into his diary: Jim Schlesinger US Sec of State for Defence and sacked by Ford due to disagreement with Kissinger. He  also headed the CIA. “He said the CIA got up to some funny things but at least they tried to maintain some standards and co-operate up to a point with the White House. But Nixon had just expected them to do anything he wanted and that wasn’t on.”

David Horowitz and Peter Collier published “The Rockefellers: an American Dynasty”. The book airs the fourth generation’s grievances causing a split in the family. The book only gave a hint of the early corruption of the Rockefellers – taking a mostly pro-Rockefeller line. “Babs” died aged 72. Ky Kuit, the Rockefeller estate, is designated a National Historic landmark and opened to the public in 1994.

Corporate Crime
1976 - America likes to sell its poison to other countries. The US, despite having reasonably strict regulations regarding chemicals and drugs allowed to be used in the USA, was actually trading in banned drugs and chemicals with countries that have less strict guidelines, especially in the 3rd World. W.H.O. estimates that 500,000 people  are poisoned by pesticides and drugs banned in the US [annually? In total?]. This trade continues to the present day.
Natural gas companies were caught swindling their customers. The regulatory bodies failed to prevent this, mainly because they had been taken over by industry figures, or officals had been bought off .

Rhodesia
The US more or less alone over its support for Rhodesia. “Singlehandedly, US’s 5th largest corporation is keeping alive a regime that has been not only embargoed, but condemned by virtually every nation on earth.”
Mobil Oil, as in a story released by the People’s Bicentennial Commission (PBC) in Washington on June 21st 1976.  They also provided the documentary proof. No news network or major newspaper covered the story until 6 weeks later when NYTimes finally wrote up the story. The corporate media didn’t want anyone know about this. Mobil developed a string of dummy companies, post office addresses and phoney order sheets and invoices was able to set up a circuitous “paper-chase” to disguise the fact that Mobil was selling Rhodesia as much as $20m a year in oil products, including specialised aviation fuel for its airforce.

You might say that it was a corporation not the government that was doing this – and it’s just business. Three objections –
1. Isn’t it convenient that the companies support regimes that Washington would quite like to see supported and government consistently support corporations’ rights to do whatever business with whomever they want to regardless of moral principle?
2. When you look at names of people involved – not letting yourself be deceived by the organisations – the same names crop up in government and Wall Street. You’re expected to believe that when Fred Bloggs is in the white House he isn’t thinking about his oil industry interests, or when he’s on some government committee he considers his colleagues’ crimes in a neutral manner, possibly knowing that he’d comitted similar offenses. We all know that this is impossible. The revolving door policy has ensured that corporations have a massive presence inside the US government – any government, Democrat or Republican. Can these people really separate their roles in government from their roles in business?
3. The government made no effort to prevent this abuse, tantamount to active support. It has meant over the past century gradually wittling away and twisting the meaning of the US constitution.

Latin America & Caribbean
Cuba
Suchlicki 1997: “the electoral failure of the Popular Front in Uruguay and more importantly the overthrow of the Allende regime in Chile in 1973, however, marked a turning point for the Cuban-inspired revolutionary struggle in Latin America.
The Cuban leadership examined its strategy and tactics in the area and concluded that the way to power in Latin America was not through ballots but through bullets. Beginning in mid 70s Castro increased his support to select groups particularly in Central America, providing them with propaganda material, training, advisers, financial help, and ultimately weapons. An acceleration of the revolutionary armed struggle in the area followed.” Is this an outcome that the US wanted – they certain seemed to have been doing everything to bring this situation about.
October 6th 1976 bombs destroyed a Cubana DC-8 from Kingston, Jamaica to Havana, killing 73 including the Cuban national fencing team. Anonymous callers claimed responsibility for CORU and operation condor, while Castro blamed the CIA. Venezuelan police arrested CORU leaders Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Cariles.


Chile’s road to short sharp shock
General Bonilla was killed in an air crash. Friedman and Harberger visit Chile to support ‘shock treatment’ to reduce inflation; cabinet reshuffle , consolidating “Chicago” hold on government. From 1974 to 1976 a few dozen young graduate were allowed to gut the Chilean economy in line with “Chicago Boys” monetarist ideas. Finance minister announces introduction of ‘shock treatment’. Arrest of trade unionists form El Salvador copper mine. Pinochet’s ministry of interior takes control of trade union affairs from General Diaz. And air force. Academy for National Security created. Assassination attempt on left-wing Christian Democrat exile Bernardo Leighton in Rome. Vicaria de Solidaridad created. British doctor Sheila Cassidy was tortured and Brit Ambassador was withdrawn in protest.
DINA was focussing on the MIR, usually arresting people at home and at night. Families could be arrested too, including children. Threats were made against families of the arrested . There was plenty of torture going on, punching kicking and electric shocks. Broken dissidents were deliberately released to act as walking adverts for the power of the police. Once released victims were followed on foot, in cars, on trains, their phones were tapped, etc. More than 2,000 Chilean refugees settled in Britain in the mid 1970s.
US State Dept officials, in Chile, during 1975 protested the Pinochet regime’s record of killing and torture, filing dissents to American foreign policy with their superiors in Washington.
The Church Committee in Washington took a “closer look” at Chile.
In 1976, the new booming business in Santiago alone, 200 soup kitchens. Early in 1976 workers at Rolls Royce in East Kilbride refused to work on a set of aircraft engines that had been sent from Chile for maintenance. They were for Hawker Hunters – aircraft used to bomb Allende in the presidential palace during the coup. The boycott had been going on for years. Chile, keen to foster a benign image abroad and maintain an anxious population at home.
Cabinet reshuffle, General Diaz was replaced by Sergio Fernandez (Chicago). Ten right wing Christian Democrat trade union leaders emerge into the open. CNS made up of Marxist left wing Christian Democrats, makes first public appearance – pro government union Confed. – UNTRACH formed. Chile withdraws form Andean Pact.
Ed Koch – “Condor” threat against former New York congressman/ mayor. The CIA delayed responding to intelligence on possible terrorist plot by allied Latin American military officials. – contact jdinges@aol.com.
Operation Condor was carried out by military officials of Uruguay. Koch was in congress.
“The Condor Years: How Pinochet and his allies brought terrorism to the three continents (The New Press 2004), by investigative journo John Dinges. The CIA intercepted the threat but failed to take action or warn Koch for over two months according to FOI documents. See www.nsarchive.org.

From Wiki
Portuguese Colonization
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to colonize South-East Asia when they arrived in the sixteenth century. They established outposts in Timor as well as in several of the surrounding islands. However, during the House of Habsburg's rule over Portugal (1580-1640), all the surrounding outposts were lost and eventually came under Dutch control by the mid seventeenth century. The area became a colony in 1702 with the arrival of the first governor from Lisbon. In the eighteenth century, the Netherlands gained a foothold on the Western half of the island, and was formally given West Timor in 1859 through the Treaty of Lisbon. The definitive border was established by the Hague Treaty of 1916, and it remains the international boundary between the successor states East Timor and Indonesia.
In late 1941, Portuguese Timor was briefly occupied by Dutch and Australian troops in an attempt to pre-empt a Japanese invasion of the island. The Portuguese Governor protested the invasion, and the Dutch forces returned to the Dutch side of the island. When the Japanese landed and drove the small Australian force out of Dili, the mountainous interior became the scene of a guerrilla campaign, known as the Battle of Timor, waged by Allied forces and Timorese volunteers against the Japanese. The struggle resulted in the deaths of between 40,000 and 70,000 Timorese. Following the end of the war, Portuguese control was reinstated.
The process of decolonisation in Portuguese Timor began in 1974, following the change of government in Portugal in the wake of the Carnation Revolution. Owing to political instability and more pressing concerns over the decolonisation of Angola and Mozambique, Portugal effectively abandoned East Timor and it unilaterally declared itself independent on November 28, 1975. Nine days later, it was invaded and occupied by Indonesian forces before the declaration could be internationally recognised.

Indonesian occupation
Indonesia alleged that the East Timorese FRETILIN party, which received some vocal support from the People's Republic of China, was communist. Fearing a Communist domino effect in Southeast Asia – and in the wake of its failed South Vietnam campaign– the United States, along with its ally Australia, supported the pro-Western Indonesian government's actions despite Portugal being a founding member of NATO.
An Indonesian invasion was launched over the western border on 7 December 1975. Two days before the invasion of Dili and subsequent annexation, U.S. President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger met President Suharto in Jakarta where Ford made it clear that "We will understand and will not press you on the issue. We understand the problem and the intentions you have." Kissinger added: "It is important that whatever you do succeeds quickly [because] the use of US-made arms could create problems."[4] U.S. arms sales to Indonesia continued under subsequent U.S administrations including that of Bill Clinton, although it did eventually discontinue U.S. support of Suharto's regime. As "Timor Timur", the territory was declared the twenty-seventh province of Indonesia in July 1976. Its nominal status in the UN remained that of a "non-self-governing territory under Portuguese administration."
The East Timorese guerrilla force, Falintil, fought a campaign against the Indonesian forces from 1975 to 1999, some members being trained in Portugal by Portuguese special forces.[citation needed]
Demonstration for independence from Indonesia.Indonesian rule in East Timor was often marked by extreme violence and brutality, such as the Dili massacre and the Liquiçá Church Massacre. From 1975 until 1993, attacks on civilian populations were only nominally reported in the Western press. Death tolls reported during the occupation varied from 60,000 to 200,000[5]. A detailed statistical report prepared for the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor cited a lower range of 102,800 conflict-related deaths in the period 1974-1999, namely, approximately 18,600 killings and 84,200 'excess' deaths from hunger and illness.[6] Since each data source used under-reports actual deaths, this is considered a minimum. Amnesty International estimated deaths at 200,000[7].
Ben Kiernan has written in War, Genocide, and Resistance in East Timor, 1975–99: Comparative Reflections on Cambodia that "the crimes committed ... in East Timor, with a toll of 150,000 in a population of 650,000, clearly meet a range of sociological definitions of genocide used by most scholars of the phenomenon, who see both political and ethnic groups as possible victims of genocide. The victims in East Timor included not only that substantial 'part' of the Timorese 'national group' targeted for destruction because of their resistance to Indonesian annexation—along with their relatives, as we shall see—but also most members of the twenty-thousand strong ethnic Chinese minority prominent in the towns of East Timor, whom Indonesian forces singled out for destruction, apparently because of their ethnicity 'as such.'"[8][9]

Articles by chomsky
http://www.chomsky.info/articles/19990910.htm
http://www.chomsky.info/articles/199910--.htm

dispelling the myths
http://www.asianlang.mq.edu.au/INL/timormyths.html

election
Jimmy Carter had had to sue to use the name “Jimmy Carter” on his ballot – his real name being James Earl Carter, Junior. He was born on Oct 1st 1924, and had just become the 39th president of the USA. From Georgia, ex-peanut farmer and Naval officer and engineer. He’d been a senator in the 1960s, governor of Georgia from 1971 – 75. Outspoken against racial segregation and discrimination  in 1970.

Jimmy Carter              50.1% of popular vote   297 electoral votes
Gerald Ford               48.0%                             240


Britain 1976
IMF crisis from December 1976. Eventually forced the Labour Party out of power.

In 1977 – chapman Pincher – and claims that Harold Wilson was bugged.

Margaret thatcher

Far East
China
April 10th1974 Deng Xiaoping vice premier announced to the UN GA a more moderate Chinese Foreign policy.
George Bush was the new head of liaison office – arrived in China for talks with Deng Xiaoping. Nixon went back to China for talks with Chen en Lai, Xiaoping and foreign minister Qiao Guanhua.

Democracy Wall Movement in China – 1975
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0004-4687(198107)21%3A7%3C747%3ATDMIC1%3E2.0.CO%3B2-5

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=Democracy+Wall+Movement+in+China+-+1975&btnG=Search

From Wikipedia entry:
1976: the Cultural Revolution's end
On January 8, the premier of China, Zhou Enlai [who was?] died of cancer. As he was popular  events went on across China to commemorate his death. The Gang of Four (GOF), were concerned by this & banned the "wearing of black sashes and white flowers" & other ‘mourning activities’.
In February, the GOF laid into its final serious political opponent, Vice-Premier Deng Xiaoping. Deng was stripped of all positions. But Mao did not select a member of the GOF to become premier, instead choosing the relatively unknown Hua Guofeng.
April 5 was the date of China's Qingming Festival, a traditional day of mourning for those who have died. People had gathered since late March in Tiananmen Square, mourning the death of Zhou Enlai. At the same time, people were also signalling their anger towards the GOF. Gradually, more and more people began writing and posting messages of hatred against the Gang of Four. On the day around 2 million people gathered in and around Tiananmen Square. The GOF sent police in to disperse the crowds. They pointed to Deng Xiaoping as the planner of this expression of public dissatisfaction. This incident was later "politically rehabilitated" in the winter of 1978, and became known as the Qingming Tiananmen Square incident.
On September 9, 1976, Mao Zedong died. To the common people, Mao's death symbolized the loss of the socialist foundation of China, and when his death was announced on September 9, the entire nation descended into a massive state of spontaneous grief and mourning,
Before dying, Mao had written a message stating "With you in charge, I'm at ease", to Hua Guofeng. Hence, Hua became the Party's Chairman. Before this event, Hua had been widely considered to be lacking in political skill and ambitions, and as posing no threat to the GOF in the power succession. But under the influence of prominent generals like Ye Jianying, and partly under influence of Deng Xiaoping, and with the support of the Army, Hua ordered the arrest of the GOF following Mao's death. By October 10, the 8341 Special Regiment had all members of the GOF arrested. Thus ended the Cultural Revolution.

After the Revolution
Even though Hua Guofeng publicly denounced and arrested the Gang of Four in 1976, he continued to invoke Mao's name to justify his policies. Hua's goal was to reverse the damage of the Cultural Revolution; but unlike Deng, who was not against new economic models for China, Hua intended to move the Chinese economic and political system towards Soviet-style planning of the early 1950s.
Soon afterwards, Hua found that without Deng Xiaoping it was hard for him to continue daily affairs of the state. On October 10, Deng Xiaoping personally wrote a letter to Hua asking to be transferred back to state and party affairs. Unconfirmed information allegedly stated that Politburo Standing Committee member Ye Jianying would resign if Deng was not allowed back into the Central Government. With increasing pressure from all sides, Hua decided to bring Deng back into regular state affairs, first naming him Vice-Premier of the State Council in July 1977, and to various other positions. In actuality, Deng had already become China's number two figure. In August, the Party's Eleventh Congress was held in Beijing, officially naming (in ranking order) Hua Guofeng, Ye Jianying, Deng Xiaoping, Li Xiannian, and Wang Dongxing as the latest members of the Politburo Standing Committee.[14]
In May, 1978, Deng seized the opportunity for his protégé, Hu Yaobang, to be further elevated to power. Hu published an article in the Bright Daily Newspaper making clever use of Mao's quotations while expanding Deng's power base. After reading this widely publicized article, almost everyone supported Hu and thus Deng. On July 1, Deng publicized Mao's self-criticism report of 1962 regarding the Great Leap Forward. With an expanding power base, in September 1978, Deng had already started to openly attack Hua Guofeng's "Two Whatevers".[13]
On December 18, 1978, the Third Plenum of the Eleventh CCP Congress was held. Deng stated that "a liberation of thoughts" and "an accurate view leading to accurate results" was needed within the party. Hua Guofeng engaged in self-criticisms, stating that his own "Two Whatevers" was wrong. Wang Dongxing, formerly Mao's trusted supporter, was also criticized. At the Plenum, the Qingming Tiananmen Square incident was also politically rehabilitated. Liu Shaoqi was allowed a belated state funeral.[15]
In the Fifth Plenum of the Eleventh CCP Congress, held in 1980, Peng Zhen and many others who had been purged during the Cultural Revolution were politically rehabilitated. Hu Yaobang was named General-Secretary and Zhao Ziyang, another of Deng's protégés, was named into the Central governing apparatus. In September, Hua Guofeng resigned, with Zhao Ziyang being named the new Premier. Deng was the Chairman of the Central Military Commission.

Effect
Muslims persecuted including an infamous massacre of Hui Muslim people at the hands of the People's Liberation Army, called the "Shadian Incident", claimed over 1,600 lives in 1975.

Estimates of the death toll, civilians and Red Guards, from various Western and Eastern sources[5] are about 500,000 in the true years of chaos of 1966—1969. In the trial of the so-called Gang of Four, a Chinese court stated that 729,511 people had been persecuted of which 34,800 were said to have died.[19] However, the true figure may never be known since many deaths went unreported or were actively covered up by the police or local authorities. Other reasons are the state of Chinese demographics at the time, as well as the reluctance of the PRC to allow serious research into the period.[20] One recent scholarly account asserts that in rural China alone some 36 million people were persecuted, of whom between 750,000 and 1.5 million were killed, with roughly the same number permanently injured.[21] In Mao: The Unknown Story, Jung Chang and Jon Halliday claim that as many as 3 million people died in the violence of the Cultural Revolution.[22]

World reaction
The reaction abroad was mixed, and inevitably, tied to political movements of the time. Opposition to the Vietnam War fostered sympathy for communist revolutions and some Western observers, predominantly on the Left of the political spectrum, sympathized with the Cultural Revolution. Reports of violence and excess were often excused or dismissed as 'rightwing propaganda'. A significant re-evaluation of the events of the Cultural Revolution occurred amongst the Left, particularly in the West, once the full extent of the destruction became known, thus tarnishing China's image in the West.[23] Hong Kong also launched a strike such as the Hong Kong 1967 riots and its eventual excessiveness damaged the credibility of pro-Communist activists in the eyes of Hong Kong residents for more than a generation.[24] In the Republic of China, Chiang Kai-shek initiated the Chinese Culture Renaissance Movement to counter what he regarded as destruction of traditional Chinese values by the Communists on the mainland.

Greece
Regime of the Colonels (1967-1974)
Further information: Greek military junta of 1967-1974
In 1965, a period of political turbulence and uncertainty began which led to a coup d’etat against the elected government and King Constantine II on April 21, 1967. In their place, a US-supported military junta, known as the Regime of the Colonels, was established. In the ensuing years, a number of sympathisers of the left, as well as a number of politicians and communists, were arrested and brutally tortured by the members of the regime. Many politicians evaded capture and found political refuge elsewhere in Europe, such as France and Sweden. The then head of state, King Constantine, had officially acknowledged the new regime, which was then duly recognized by the international community, so diplomatic relations continued. However, the King subsequently attempted a failed counter-coup in December 1967, after which the former head of state went into exile in Rome. In November 1973 the Athens Polytechnic Uprising sent shockwaves across the regime, but the junta was not suppressed until July 20, 1974. On that day, Turkey invaded the predominately Greek island of Cyprus, allegedly to protect the island's Turkish minority from a junta-sponsored coup d'etat. The developing crisis led to the collapse of the Regime of the Colonels on July 23, 1974.

Ex-Premier Constantine Karamanlis was immediately invited back from Paris, where he had resided since 1963. Marking the beginning of the Metapolitefsi era of modern Greek history, the plane carrying Constantine Karamanlis landed in Athens in the early hours of July 24, amidst massive celebrations and enormous crowds, extending from the capital's Ellinikon International Airport to Syntagma Square; Karamanlis was immediately appointed as the interim prime minister under President Gizikis and founded the conservative New Democracy party, going on to win the ensuing elections by a large margin. Democratic rule was finally restored in its birthplace and a democratic republican constitution activated in 1975. The monarchy was abolished by a referendum held that same year, denying King Constantine II and his family any access to the country until 2004. Meanwhile, another prominent figure of the past, Andreas Papandreou, had also returned from the United States and had already founded the Panhellenic Socialist Party, or PASOK.

Games.Karamanlis won the 1977 parliamentary elections but resigned in 1980 giving way to George Rallis. Papandreou, however, won the elections held on October 18, 1981 by a landslide and formed the first socialist government in Greece's history.Jimmy Carter’s Presidency: disappointing

Cyprus
“The British solution was (for Greeks and Turks) to share Cyprus... In 1960 they tried…In 1963 there was a civil war.” UN Peace Keeping Force came in and in “a974, the Greeks and the Turks separated completely after a civil war and remained that way.” Turks, with 15% of the population took 36% of the land and 60% of agricultural and industrial potential. – some history book or other.

Cyprus at that time was independent of both Greece and turkey. President Makarios was democratically elected leader of the virtually defenceless republic. The Greek military dictatorship and the highly militarised government of Turkey were a threat to the independence of Cyprus. Both governments sponsored right wing “gangster organisations”, and both harboured plans to annex the greater or lesser part of Cyprus.
Kissinger had advanced knowledge of the Greek plan to depose Makarios, which he admitted by stating that Greek Dictator Dimitrios Ioannides, head of the secret police, was determined to mount a coup in Cyprus.
Brigadier Ioannides was dependent on US military aid and political sympathy. His police state had been expelled from the council of Europe and blocked from joining the EEC. His agreement to "home-port" the US sixth fleet and US air and intelligence bases was what kept him in power. It was a policy that was highly controversial in congress.

In May 1974 Kissinger received a memo from he head of his state department Cyprus desk, Thomas Boycott. A Greek junta attack on Cyprus was imminent. This was two months before the coup that Kissinger later claimed was a shock to him. The Greek government, in the absence of a warning from the US, would more than likely assume that the US was indifferent or supported the coup. Kissinger admits he saw such a document while travelling between Syria and Israel, and yet he made no such warming to the Greek government. He knew such an invasion would be likely to incite a Turkish invasion.
Senator J.William Fulbright, chairman of the Senate Foreign relations committee was briefed by Greek dissident Elias P. Demetracopoulos about a coup. He recommended action. Kissinger again failed to heed a any warning and claimed he couldn’t intervene in Greek “internal affairs” at a time when “Nixon was resisting pressure from Senator Henry Jackson to link US-Soviet trade to the free emigration of Russian Jewry”. What the connection is was not clear, this does seem an odd justification for not acting.
Kissinger tried to prevent Boycott appearing at a congressional hearing. His evidence was taken in secret, (“executive session”) cleared of staff, reporters and visitors.
On July 1st three senior officials of the Greek foreign ministry, with moderate views on Cyprus, resigned publicly.
On July 3rd Makarios made accusations of foreign interference an subversion.
July 15th the coup occurred. Kissinger claimed “the information was not lying around in the streets” – but it was on the memo he had read. He knew.
The world saw some obvious facts about the coup including that it was instigated from Athens using regular Greek forces. Therefore it constituted intervention in the internal affairs of one country by another. This was violation of all existing treaties governing the status of Cyprus.
Nicos Sampson a notorious gunman was chosen by Athens as its proxy president. Sampson must have been well known to the chairman of the Forty Committee – he received financial support from the CIA and received money for his fanatical Nicosia newspaper Makhi (combat) from pro junta CIA proxy in Athens, Sauvas Constantopoulos publisher of pro junta “Eleftheros Kosnos” (free world).
In Europe, Sampson became a pariah during the nine days he held power. The only government to give de facto recognition to Sampson was the USA. Makarios’s place had been shelled, and his death had been announced. Actually he had survived and escaped.
A message of approval and support came from Thomas A Pappas an intermediary between Kissinger and the junta.
Then the Turkish invasion came. Kissinger strongly opposed Turkish and British attempts to undo the coup and vetoed at least one UK military action to pre-empt a Turkish landing according to Sir Tom McNally Chief political advisor to Jim Callaghan.
Turkey conducted two brutal invasions and occupied almost 40% of the island. Kissinger asserted himself to protect Ankara for violation of international law. He became pro-Turkish and supported the partitionist policy.
An EC report from July 1976 said that Turkish army had killed civilians, executed prisoners, tortured, ill treatment of detainees, arbitrary punishment and detention of civilians, rape , torture and looting.
October 2nd 1974, New  York high level meeting with Qiao Guanhua, PRC China claimed Kissinger helped engineer coup. Kissinger lied and claimed he was in Moscow. Then “we knew the Soviets had told the Turks to invade”.

The Montejurra Incidents

Star Wars
The space-weapons connections became all too obvious – nuke weapons and anti-nuke technology.
See under cold war
US Department of Defense began the development of satellites that can fire on enemy satellites if one comes too close. 1976.

Spy Satellites
At one time, the very "fact of" satellite reconnaissance was classified. Despite the acknowledgment of a satellite reconnaissance effort in 1978 and the existence of the National Reconnaissance Office in 1992, it was not until 1995 that the U.S. first released imagery obtained by the CORONA satellites that operated during the 1960-1972 period as well as images obtained by the ARGON and LANYARD systems that operated in the early 1960s.

Mars exploration began – Viking I launched 20th August 1975, Viking II on 9th of September. Both went into orbit round Mars on 19th June 1976. Viking space craft landed on Mars in summer – 20th July 1976. Vikiing II originally planned to land in region of Cydonia but was redirected and sent to a different location. Touched down on September 3rd. The Cydonia, monkey face conspiracy theory was born.

Mars
Mars exploration began – Viking I launched 20th August 1975, Viking II on 9th of September. Both went into orbit round Mars on 19th June 1976. Viking space craft landed on Mars in summer – 20th July 1976. Vikiing II originally planned to land in region of Cydonia but was redirected and sent to a different location. Touched down on September 3rd. The Cydonia, monkey face conspiracy theory was born.

The final Lunar probe was soil-sampling Luna 24. ??

Stealth technology – William Perry.

F-16 bomber/fighter. (Lt Col Paul Strickland around 09/11/01) Regarding rules of engagement against civilian aircraft, “remember that noise is the sound of freedom” – they still operate in 2003. – Lt Glenn Reedy.

Israel
Sharon served as Special Advisor to PM Yitzhak Rabin from June 1975 to March 1976.
Jackson-Vanik amendment October 19th 1974. – Henry Jackson.
The Jackson amendment linked to the Trade Reform Act to allow Soviet Jews to emigrate to Israel. Soviets gained ‘most favoured nation’ trade and tariff benefits from the US. Kissinger on 18th October sent letter to Jackson announcing assurances from the USSR. When Yitzhak Rabin wrote a letter of appreciation to Jackson he began with “Dear Scoop”. Senator Javits? Senator Ribicoff?
www.US-israel.org  Jewish Virtual Library.

Israel by now had between 10 and 20 nuclear bombs – the leaking of a CIA report led to article by Arthur Kranish, the editor of science Trends Magazine, March 1976.

27th June 1976 – hijack by Palestinians and the Baader Meinhof. 3rd July – Entebbe Raid in Uganda. Air France A300B airbus from Telaviv to Paris, forced to land at Entebbe. Hijackers wanted release of 53 prisoners from jails in Israel, Kenya, West Germany, Switzerland, France.
200 Israeli commanders made a surprise assault and rescued 106 hostages and an Israeli officer Lt. Col. Nethanyahu.