On Wednesday, WikiLeaks added more than half a million U.S. diplomatic cables from 1978 to its Public Library of U.S. Diplomacy database. The documents include diplomatic cables and other diplomatic communications from and to U.S. embassies and missions in nearly every country.

"1978 actually set in progress many of the geopolitical elements that are playing out today," WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said. "1978 was the beginning of the Iranian revolution...the Sandinista movement started in its popular form...the war period in Afghanistan began in 1978 and hasn't stopped since."

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