The National and International Perspective The Orwellian vision of a world of brainwashed automatons under the constant surveillance of "Big Brother" loomed large in the minds of thinking students as the countdown to 1984 began. Maybe that postWorld War II English genius miscalculated , since it appears the cycles of li fe and death , victory and defeat, and success and tragedy continue as they have for eons. The superpowers continued to stockpile destructive weapons while talking of peace, and national debts mounted while politicians promised to "cut the fat. " The year was like most every other one that preceded it with its usual thrills and agonies. Pres. Reagan in his 1984 State of the Union Address, proudly announced "America again stands tall in the world." Several geographic sites vied for the television eye for the primary "trouble spots." On October 23 in Beirut, Lebanon, where a multinational peace-keeping force monitored the Palestinian Liberation Organizat ion, a determined Moslem with Iranian ties drove a truckload of TNT th rough a barbed-wire barricade into a dormitory where 350 United States Marines were sleeping. Two-hundred and forty-one lost their lives in the single act of terrorism. Central America continued to demand Pres. Reagan's concern. Joint military maneuvers with the Honduran army, including 120 Green Berets, and a fleet of ships off the coast, served warning to the Cubans that the U.S. would not passively allow another Communist takeover. The U.S. also bolstered the EI Salvadoran government against Marxist guerrillas, leading many to think we might be headed toward another Vietnam. In the meantime, the Reagan administration continued its support of the "Contras" who were trying to overthrow the leftist Nicaraguan government. Pres. Reagan managed to pull off the biggest coup of all when, without letting the press in on it. he sent nearly 2.000 Marines to the tiny island of Grenada before dawn, October 25. and "rescued" 500 Americans. Warehouses of weapons were discovered on the island , and 600 Cubans were taken prisoner and later deported to their native land. The President claimed the mission was at the request of concerned Caribbean _ Wide World Phoros neighbor s to " restore order and democracy. " On September 1, a Russian Sukhoi fighter plane pursued a Korean civilian Boeing 747 airliner across a military installation on Sakhalin and fired on it, causing it to crash in the Sea of Japan. Of the 269 who were killed, 47 were Americans, including U.S. Representative Larry McDona ld (D.-GA). Benigno Aquino , a political opponent of Pres. Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, returned to Manila on August 21. after three years of self-exile in the U,S. He was shot and killed at the airport. Lech Walesa , Polish shipyard worker and leader of Poland's "Solidarite," continued § to be harrassed by the Communist party in f that count ry. He met with the Polish Pope John Paul II who endorsed his brave stand ~ ~ World News 37
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