No end to conflicts and potential hot spots, this February 23rd in 1975. Southeast Asia eruptions were continuing with the Mekon river blockade now effectively cutting off Phnom Penh and rebel fighting throughout Cambodia. Likewise in South Vietnam where terrorist attacks were inching closer to Saigon. All this activity triggered calls from President Ford to send military aid to the region. Congress wasn't thrilled. We'd been there. We'd done that. We got the bloodstains to prove it. Still, there were some such as Strom Thurmond who thought we should pour nothing but money into the region in exchange for their oil, if and when they found some.

Elsewhere in the Lovely Neighborhood - Secretary of State Henry Kissinger returned from a tour of the Middle East, saying he was "optimistic" that talks-about-talks-about-talks were looking up. Senator Ted Kennedy introduced legislation asking for a cut-off of military aid to the oil producing Persian Gulf nations, saying instability in the region begged for a hold-off on ordinance for at least six months. His crystal ball, it appears, was in much better shape than a lot of his colleagues.

Ethiopia was asking the U.S. for arms in the wake of increased tensions coming from the northern province of Eritrea and the separatist movement gathering steam there. New tensions in Cyprus between Greek and Turkish elements were springing up. Spain, despite a law prohibiting strikes handed down by the somewhat creaky Franco regime, went on strike over dissatisfaction with the decades-old authoritarian rule.

And back home - Judge Sirica handed down sentences for convicted Watergate figures. It went like this: Mitchell, Haldeman and Ehrlichman all got 2 1/2 years in jail and Robert Mardian got 10 months.

All that and a lot more for news ending the week of February 23rd, 1973 as reported on CBS Radio's The World This Week.

Feel better about your day now?

An interesting week in history, starting with a Democratic sweep of the midterm elections. Making gains in the Senate and achieving a 2/3 majority in the House, the election was characterized as a mandate and a repudiation of the Nixon years and resulting Watergate scandal. Republicans moaned otherwise. On the one hand saying it signified the end of the Republican Party (again) and on the other hand saying it was the Republicans being blamed for the economy (again). Yes, well . . .Nixon who?

The rest of the world was going through the usual upheaval. With Secretary of State Henry Kissinger returning from an 18 day tour of diplomatic hot-spots, not the least being the Middle East where Peace negotiations were lumbering along while the PLO were getting ready to make a debut at the United Nations. The Conference on World Hunger opened in Rome and the OAS met in Quito Ecuador to discuss ending diplomatic and economic embargo's of Castro's Cuba.

On the domestic side - Lt. William Calley, who put My Lai on the map was released from prison after receiving a Presidential Pardon for his role in the massacre. And an Ohio Federal Judge acquitted 8 National Guardsmen accused to shooting students at Kent State in 1970.

Another week where the world seemed destined to fall off it axis, but somehow didn't. As reported by CBS News and The World This Week for the week ending November 8, 1974.

A novel idea by any time standard - reviewing the worlds press and not only how it depicted their own domestic news but also news of other countries in their press. Since the world was much larger in 1969 and since news traveled slower (without the aid of Satellites and only marginally had portable video tape recorders in favor of film), you would think our access to it at the time would be pretty nonexistent. Well . . .no.

In the 1960's, fledgling Public Television network N.E.T. (pre-cursor to PBS) ran a weekly series called World Press In Review, which basically consisted of a bunch of Foreign press representatives sitting around a conference table, discussing how the world viewed America via the news and how the rest of the world looked at each other in terms of news.

A fascinating hour (yes, it was an hour). This segment is from February 16, 1969 and among the topics were the Santa Barbara Oil spill and how the British Press viewed it. The conflict between Red China and Russia. The ongoing situation in Northern Ireland. The recent hangings of Jews in Iraq and how it affected tensions in the Middle East. Israeli views of the new U.S. President Nixon. Two different interpretations of the same interview with Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser, one from Newsweek and the other identical interview as translated by a leading Egyptian paper. Europe and Nixon. Europe and The Soviet Union. Europe and The European Union. India and Pakistan. India and the Soviet Union. India and Nixon.

We don't get that kind of dialogue anymore. And since the world has become substantially smaller, you would imagine a program of that sort would be a natch for Cable. Well . . . no.

Strange.