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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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1990-09-22
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WORLD, Page 60World Notes
LEBANON
Pipe Down In the Back
Could Lebanon actually be nearing a peace accord? Under the
auspices of the Arab League, Lebanon's parliament last week agreed
on the outlines of a new national charter revising the distribution
of political power, the issue at the root of the country's
14-year-old civil war. The plan, worked out in the Saudi city of
Taif, won the endorsement of 58 of the 62 legislators present.
Whereas Christians previously held 54 of parliament's 99 seats, an
enlarged, 108-member legislature would be evenly divided between
Muslims and Christians.
General Michel Aoun, the Lebanese Christian leader, rejected
the agreement promptly because it provides no timetable for the
withdrawal of occupying Syrian forces. Also opposed were militia
commanders of Lebanon's large Shi`ite Muslim community, who want
to abolish rather than readjust sectarian quotas. Yet the latest
eight-month round of fighting has wearied most of the beleaguered
country, and there were some signs that both Aoun and Shi`ite
leaders would eventually be persuaded to fall into line.
LIBYA
After All This Time, Scruples
In terms of shock value, asserting that Libya has supported
the cause of international terrorism ranks right up there with
calling the Pope Catholic. Except in this case, the asserter was
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi himself. To hear the Libyan leader tell it,
in an interview with the Egyptian weekly al-Musawwar, he went to
the aid of unspecified terrorist groups in the conviction that they
were practicing revolutionary violence for the Arab cause, which
is good stuff. Imagine Gaddafi's horror, then, when he discovered
that his hijacking, trigger-happy clients actually meant to
exercise "terrorism for the sake of terrorism." That is a no-no.
Avowed the newly scrupulous Gaddafi: "We have withdrawn our support
to such groups."
BRITAIN
Killed with Faint Praise
Her praise was terminally faint. During a question period in
Parliament last week, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher expressed
confidence in Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson, who was
feuding with her chief economic adviser, Sir Alan Walters. But her
endorsement was embarrassingly tepid. Lawson, 57, promptly
resigned. His successor: Foreign Minister John Major, 46, who
headed the Foreign Office for less than four months but served as
Chief Secretary to the Treasury for two years. Rumor has it that
he is Thatcher's new favorite to be her successor. Major's
replacement: Home Secretary Douglas Hurd, 59, who presumably brings
to his new job a mastery of foreign intrigue. In his spare time
Hurd has written nine mystery thrillers since 1967.
SOUTH AFRICA
An A-Bomb For Pretoria?
For years it has been an open secret that Israel and South
Africa share information on military technology. In 1987 the
Israeli Cabinet banned "new" defense contracts with Pretoria. But
the "old" ones appear to have included missile development.
Last week U.S. officials confirmed that the launching of a
booster rocket July 5 at South Africa's De Hoop testing range was
the successful first firing of a new long-distance missile
developed with Israeli help. The missile has a 900-mile range,
similar to that of Israel's nuclear-capable Shavit.
South Africa and Israel denied all the charges. Officials in
Jerusalem claimed that Washington leaked the story as punishment
for Israel's foot dragging in the stalled peace process. There
could be another explanation. The U.S. is currently debating
whether to let Jerusalem purchase U.S.-built supercomputers for
Technion, an Israeli scientific institute. The application is
opposed by the Defense Department and the CIA on the grounds that
Technion scientists participate in Israel's sub-rosa nuclear and
missile programs.
NORTH KOREA
. . . And One For Kim?
More nuclear proliferation to worry the West: the prospect of
the unpredictable Kim Il Sung with an A-bomb. Fears that North
Korea might build one have escalated recently since U.S. spy
satellites detected construction of what may be a nuclear
reprocessing plant in Yongbyon, 56 miles north of the capital,
Pyongyang. Such a unit would enable North Korea to produce
plutonium, the raw ingredient for nuclear weapons.
Pyongyang has signed the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, but
so far Kim's government has refused to fulfill its obligation to
allow inspections. Washington has repeatedly asked Moscow to use
its relationship with Kim to bring him around; U.S. officials say
the Soviets promise to keep pushing Pyongyang to comply but
reportedly add that their influence over the eccentric Kim is
strictly limited.