Tag: 1967

Americans say they are worse off today than 50 years ago

Via Marketwatch

What a difference half a century makes. If, that is, you’re not living in the U.S.

Are you doing better than the previous generation? The Pew Research Center, a nonprofit think tank in Washington, D.C., asked nearly 43,000 people in 38 countries around the globe that question this past spring. Residents in 20 countries said people like them were better off than they were 50 years ago. In Vietnam, 88% felt better off, followed by India (69%), South Korea (68%), Japan (65%), Germany (65%), Turkey (65%), the Netherlands (64%), Sweden (64%), Poland (62%) and Spain (60%). Overall, 43% of people in those countries said they were better off.

All told, a majority of respondents in these 20 countries said they were better off.

However, the U.S. wasn’t one of them.

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Remembering USS Liberty: When Israel attacked America

Guest post by Alan Fisher

Thirty-four died and over 170 were injured in Israeli attack on US warship during 1967 Arab-Israeli Six-Day War.

Richard Brooks still remembers when the alert came.

With klaxons sounding and people yelling, the tannoy system warned everyone “Standby to receive torpedo hit”.

“I thought I’ll never get out of this mess alive. Weird things were running through your minds, because I’d chalked myself off.”

He felt the torpedoes hit and the ship pitch to one side but realised he was still alive.

And then the priority became survival. As chief engineer, he could tell the engines were still working. “My machinery was still intact and I was still making headway. I yelled through the voice tube ‘Give me all the steam pressure you’ve got, let’s get the hell out of this area’”.

Eventually his ship, The USS Liberty made its way to safer waters and managed to take stock of the sustained attack. Thirty-four were lying dead, more than 171 were injured.

The victims of the day Israel attacked America.

The Liberty had been sitting in international waters off the Sinai Peninsula. A spy ship, it had been gathering information as the 1967 Arab-Israeli Six-Day War raged on land.

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