What happened in 1982?

We are going to talk about an invasion of a country by another in the Middle-East but also about a huge demographic threshold reached by a a country. And to finish, about the greatest aero-naval battle since the second world war.

Lebanon had been very unstable because of the civil war since 1975.

Attacks and counter attacks between the Palestinian Liberation Organization (the PLO) and the Israeli forces had been ongoing for years in the South Lebanon.

On June 3rd 1982 Israel Ambassador in London was badly injured in an assassination attempt, committed by a member of a Palestinian militant group.

Israel blamed the PLO for the attack and launched on June 6th 1982 Operation Peace in Galilee. Allied with Lebanese Christian Maronites, the Jewish State sent numerous troops with the aim of destroying the PLO’s political infrastructure in Beyrouth, strike its position in south Lebanon and weaken Syrian influence in the country.

En septembre 1982, Bashir Gemayel, un chrétien maronite récemment élu président - et plutôt favorable à Israël - est assassiné. Ce qui va avoir de funestes conséquences.

Simon :Israel allowed their allied christian militias in the Sabra and Chatilapalestinian refugees camps, with the mission to arrest PLO militants. But as a revenge for Gemayel’s assassination, the Christian militias slaughtered hundreds of refugees, under the eyes of the Israeli forces.

Outrage arose and Israel had to gradually withdraw from most of the country.

Un vide de pouvoir va alors être laissé au Sud Liban, et c’est le Hezbollah, soutenu par l’Iran, qui va peu à peu prendre de l’importance.

La guerre civile libanaise a continué jusqu’en 1990.

Avant d’aborder la plus grande bataille navalo-aérienne après la seconde guerre mondiale – qui a eu lieu en cette année 1982 – tu voulais nous parler d’un seuil démographique symbolique c’est ça ?

Simon : Yes. In 1982, the Chinese population reached the symbolicthreshold of 1 billion inhabitants. So let’s talk about China’sdemographicpolicy.

We know the one childpolicy, but it has not always been like that.

During Mao Zedong's first years in power, the Chinesewereencouraged to procreate an "army of smallsoldiers".

In fact, the major decline in fertilityoccuredin the 1970s. A consequence of the demographic transition and awarenesscampaigns, especially for contraception:from 5.75 to 2.75 children per womanbetween 1970 and 1978

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Patrice : En 1979, Deng Xiaoping, dont nous avons parlé dans la video de 79, met en place la politique de l’enfant unique. L’objectif est d’éviter la surpopulation et favoriser le développement économique du pays. Les couples ne peuvent avoir plus d’un enfant, sous peine d’amende, ou de privation de droits à l’éducation ou à la santé pour le ou les enfants supplémentaires.

Passons maintenant au troisième point que nous voulions souligner. A cette fameuse grande bataille. Ou a-t-elle eu lieu ?

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