DRL, it looks like Ismail on the revleft forum has done some tinkering with the RESULTS.DAT file and found that it controls when events take place (and controls the consequences of the choices you make). People have commented that there are events mentioned in the various DAT files that never seem to take place, and they appear to be effectively turned off in RESULTS.DAT. See
Ismael's entry on RESULTS.DAT for information about how to modify it.
He's also created a mod (linked to from there) that re-enables events for 1989-91. I tried it out last night, but didn't see anything new. But then, I played a bunch of short games 'cause I kept getting bounced out of office, so I'm not sure if I ever actually reached 1989.
At some point I might have to experiment and create a mod that enables all the events, if I can ever really decipher and understand how the file works. Or maybe someone with more time on his hands can look into it?
The hardest part might be figuring out how to enable some of the "R + 9999" items, since that seems to indicate they're triggered by specific events--and we might not be able to do much without access to the source code to see what could trigger them. Also, "R + 400" seems to have special meaning as well, since numerous lines in there are set to that--and at least one of them, the miners' strike, I've seen occur just a few turns into the game...so R+400 can't mean it goes off on turn 400.
In the meantime I'm working on my own mod, changing other .DAT files to correct spelling errors and typos (like misspelling commissar, for instance), and fixing other boo-boos like the hardliner's inaugural speech where he says that "any who would cast us down in these troubled times must remember that a people who can survive the siege of Stalingrad will surrender." (from GORMSG1.DAT)