Browsing: Politics

A Brief History On August 26, 1968, the Democratic Party began their National Convention in Chicago at a time of great unrest in the United States.  Between national angst over the course of changes regarding Civil Rights, race relations and women’s liberation, the divisive nature of the war in Vietnam, and a general activist and non-conformist wave that had swept the young people of America, the situation was ripe for problems, and problems they had! Digging Deeper A couple of other Democratic National Conventions likewise rank as embarrassments to the Democratic Party, and here we tell you a bit about…

A Brief History On August 19, 1953, United States and British covert spy agencies CIA and MI-6 overthrew the government of Iran led by democratically elected Mohammad Mossaddegh and reinstated the Shah (King), Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Digging Deeper Pahlavi had first taken power when his father abdicated during World War II.  The impetus for overthrowing the elected government by the US and Britain was not only to gain an important ally on the borders of the Soviet Union during the Cold War, but also because Iran was attempting to nationalize their oil industry to the detriment of American and British…

A Brief History On August 18, 1945, Indonesia, now the world’s 4th most populous country (and the largest island nation) inaugurated Sukarno as the nation’s first president.  Indonesia had just received their independence the day before this historic event. Digging Deeper Indonesia had been a colony of the Netherlands since 1800, after a two hundred year period of gradual hegemony.  A source of natural resources such as oil, nutmeg, cloves, tin, copper and gold, Indonesia was a prize highly valued by industrialized nations, a fact that led the Japanese to invade and conquer the islands during World War II.  The…

A Brief History On August 16, 1945, the last Emperor in China, Puyi of Manchuria, was captured by the Soviet Army.  Puyi, also known as Henry Puyi, was the last Qing Emperor of China from 1908 to 1912, deposed while still a child (born 1906) by the Xinhai Revolution of 1912.  The former Xuantong Emperor lived quietly until the Japanese occupation of Manchuria (Manchukuo) in 1932. Digging Deeper The Japanese made Puyi their puppet ruler of Manchukuo, and in 1934 declared him Emperor Datong, the Kangde Emperor of Manchukuo.  This regime lasted only until the end of Japanese occupation in…

A Brief History On August 14, 1947, the independent country of Pakistan came about, a mostly Muslim country consisting of the Northeast and Northwest portions of the Indian sub-continent carved out of the British colony of India.  The next day, India also gained her long awaited independence, a fitting thing for the world’s second most populous country. Digging Deeper India had been the target of British colonialism since the 1600’s, and by 1820 the entire subcontinent was basically under British rule.  Indians chafed under this rule, a situation not helped by religious and ethnic differences in a giant country of…