This weekend, twenty-five years ago, it was all about The Persian Gulf and the U.S. decision to re-flag Kuwaiti Oil Tankers within the next ten days. Amid reports that Iran was mining the Gulf and the U.S. was inching closer to a shooting war. With the Iraqi bombing of the USS Stark, which claimed 37 crewmen, it would seem a showdown was inevitable.

Despite all that, there was no concrete Policy in place, with reference to our position on The Persian Gulf. This episode of Face The Nation was titled "Persian Gulf Policy: A Sea Of Confusion", and it reflected just how off the charts we were in handling crises overseas.

Joining Moderator Leslie Stahl were Under-Secretary of State Michael Armacost and Chairman of The House Armed Services Committe, Les Aspin, discussing what was becoming a fractured and and confusing policy and whether or not the re-flagging of Kuwaiti ships should be postponed.

Here is that broadcast. You get to decide.

In some cases, February 16, 1987 isn't all that much different than February 16, 2012 and the similarities are eerie.

With the recent summit at Rejkjavik a memory, all eyes were on Mikhail Gorbachev and the Reagan White House over issues of Missile defense and the proposed Star Wars program of the Reagan Administration. The Cold War was at the wait-and-see stage.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Itzhak Shamir arrived at the White House for talks admit gloomy bumps in U.S.-Israel relations, the Pollard Affair Spy scandal and Iran-Contra being among them.

Speaking of Israel, this day began the Trial of alleged Nazi Death Camp Commandant John "Ivan The Terrible" Demjanjuk. The second such trial since Adolf Eichmann some 25 years earlier, the proceedings were to take place in a converted Movie Theater in Tel-Aviv and defense for Demjanjuk claiming they had the wrong guy. Witnesses for the Prosecution got started and it promised to drag up a lot of ugly past.

Whereabouts of jailed Soviet dissident Iosef Begun where conflicting with some reports saying he was already released and still others saying he was still languishing in a Gulag. Answers were being pressed.

And, in a deja-vu sort of way, protests and civil unrest were bubbling up in Athens over proposed Greek austerity measures, in place since 1985. With massive cuts in wages, along with widespread unemployment and a virtual eradication of the Middle Class, people were taking to the streets to assail the moves of the Papandreou government.

And who says history doesn't repeat itself?

All this and more via The CBS World News Roundup with Christopher Glenn for February 16, 1987.

The latest in the seemingly endless (going into year 7 without a letup) war between Iraq and Iran hit a new milestone on this day with Iran poised to capture the Iraqi town of Basra. The fortunes of war weren't going well for Iraq and the German press were circulating rumors the U.S. was standing by to jump in. The State Department vehemently denied the report, even though U.S. warships were cruising around the Persian Gulf.

In other news this rather haywire day in 1987; a suspect in the terrorist hijacking of TWA Flight 847 in 1985 which resulted in the shooting death of a Navy Seal was being held in a cell in Bonn West Germany. With threats of extradition to the U.S. also came the threat of reprisals from terrorists and the citizenry of Bonn were understandably nervous.

On the Domestic front - the Long Island Railroad strike was heading into its second day with commuters forced to take alternate transportation. And even though it was a holiday, snarls were bad enough in Manhattan to force a run on Valium for the next day. Meanwhile, talks lumbered on.

22,000 Steelworkers were urged by their union today to accept the new contract from USX.

The U.S. entry in the Americas Cup Race won this day's round against New Zealand. They got to face Australia shortly.

The dollar sank to a new post-War low against the Yen in Tokyo. At last count, 150 Yen to the dollar and Japan was worried exports would suddenly slow to a crawl.

And 37 states celebrated Martin Luther King's Birthday today for the first time.

All this and a lot more via the CBS World News roundup for (Monday), January 19, 1987.

Only 9 days into a new year of a new decade and all this was happening.

On January 9, 1980 the news was anything but cheery. In Afghanistan, fighting was raging between Soviet troops and Afghan rebels, with rebels seizing important roads, forcing Russian troops to be airlifted into fighting zones. Riots were breaking out in the Iranian towns of Qom and Tabriz, partly over the warring Ayatollah's but mostly over the U.S. and the continuing hostage drama at the Embassy in Tehran.

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was a hot topic - with the UN Security Council getting ready to hear about sanctions. The Grain Futures Market in a complete panic over our embargo of trade with Russia and the Longshoreman's Union boycotting Soviet shipping. Saudi Arabia was calling on other Arab nations to Boycott the upcoming Olympics and casual mention was made of possibly trying to move the Summer Olympics to Canada. rather than Moscow.

Somewhere in the shuffle, bare notice was made over the proposed selling of U.S. arms to China.

Meanwhile, a hostage drama was unfolding on the island of Corsica. Saudi Arabia went on a rampage and beheaded 63 convicted terrorists who had attempted to seize the Mosque in Mecca in November.

The Supreme Court was hearing arguments about worker safety and employers firing of workers who refused to do unsafe jobs, even though employers knew the hazardous conditions.

And Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas was in Intensive Care.

And the world walked away just a bit messier this day in 1980, as reported on The CBS World News Roundup and the 9:00 am (PST) hourly news.