In 1991, seventy-year old former New Zealand premier Sir Robert David Muldoon announces his intention to resign from parliament and retire from public life.

Australia and New Zealand participate in the broad-based US-led international military coalition that prosecutes the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq on Kuwait’s behalf.

In 1991, seventy-year old former New Zealand premier Sir Robert David Muldoon announces his intention to resign from parliament and retire from public life.

Australia and New Zealand participate in the broad-based US-led international military coalition that prosecutes the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq on Kuwait’s behalf.

In 1991, seventy-year old former New Zealand premier Sir Robert David Muldoon announces his intention to resign from parliament and retire from public life.

Australia and New Zealand participate in the broad-based US-led international military coalition that prosecutes the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq on Kuwait’s behalf.

The US military’s Nurrungar ground station, which the Australian government has always claimed existed for “verification” purposes, is used, in conjunction with its DSR series satellite stationed over the Indian Ocean, to observe and report on Iraqi SCUD missile launches.

Hawke, unable to revitalize Australia’s sagging economy, loses an internal ALP power struggle and is replaced in December, 1991 by longtime deputy prime minister and former treasurer Paul Keating.

Australian Governor-General Bill Hayden quietly signs the UN-sponsored International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on December 25, 1991.

In the unexpected public outcry that ensues, tens of thousands of citizens reportedly phone and write to politicians complaining that the bill is a de facto Bill of Rights imposed on all Australians by a faceless foreign committee.

Mount Pinatubo on Luzon erupts in June, 1991, The volcano’s talc-like gray ash affects global weather for at least a year.

Two years after the Soviets withdraw, defeated, from Afghanistan, the disintegration of the Soviet Union leads the Tadzhik S.S.R.

to declare, somewhat reluctantly, full independence on Sept. 9, 1991.

Dushanbe becomes the capital of an independent Tajikistan.

Former communist strongman Rahman Nabiyev wins the November presidential election.

However, political chaos and endemic turmoil plague the new nation, as communists fight to retain power in the face of opposition from an alliance of Islamic and anticommunist forces.

During the Soviet period, the Turkmen S.S.R.

benefits from educational and health care modernization but experiences political repression.

After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the republic declares independence on Oct. 27, 1991, and adopts the name Turkmenistan.

The UAE provides facilities for Western military forces and contributes troops to the liberation of Kuwait in early 1991.

Later that year, the emirates also join both the United Nations and the Arab League.

Sheikh Zayid ibn Sultan al-Nahyan of Abu Dhabi is elected president of the United Arab Emirates for a fifth successive five-year term.

Abu Dhabi town, whose status as the provisional UAE capital has been extended several times, is made the permanent national capital.

Saddam Hussein ignores appeals to withdraw his forces from Kuwait, despite the buildup of a large US-led military force in Saudi Arabia and the passage of United Nations resolutions condemning the occupation and authorizing the use of force to end it.

In a six-week-long war that begins on January 16, 1991, the US-led coalition defeats Iraq in the Persian Gulf War.

The US retains a large military presence in the region, specifically in Saudi Arabia.

The Gulf region remains dependent largely on the protection of the Western powers, although the GCC takes steps to increase the military capabilities of various members.

When the Iran-Iraq War makes the gulf unsafe for oil tankers in the late 1980s, ships from Europe and the United States protect shipping and clear the area of mines.

The UAE participates militarily in the 1991 Persian Gulf War.