2022 World Affairs Council of the Year
Network of Independent World Affairs Councils of America
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Don’t forget to sign up as a World Affairs Council member (TNWAC.org/join) to be eligible to win the monthly quiz prize.
Check your global affairs awareness with these ten questions taken from the week’s news reports provided via @TNWAC #TNWACquiz.
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Keep up with global current events by following the World Affairs Council on Twitter @TNWAC. #TNWACquiz
QUIZ WINNERS FROM LAST WEEK
Pat Miletich, Nashville, TN
Kathy Ingleson, Brentwood, TN
Charles Bowers, Nashville, TN
Brett Kmiec, Nashville, TN
William Ryan, Nashville, TN
Julia Lydonj, Nashville, TN
Yezzie Dospil, Nashville, TN
Mary Raffety, Nashville, TN
Pratik Yedla, Huntsville, AL
David Hillinck, Huntsville, AL
If you’re a weekly winner you’ll be entered for the monthly prize drawing but you must be a TNWAC member to win. TNWAC.org/join
MARCH 2019 MONTH QUIZ PRIZE
“Messing with the Enemy: Surviving in a Social Media World of Hackers, Terrorists, Russians, and Fake News”
by Clint Watts
A former FBI Special Agent, U.S. Army officer and leading cyber-security expert offers a devastating and essential look at the misinformation campaigns, fake news, and electronic espionage operations that have become the cutting edge of modern warfare—and how we can protect ourselves and our country against them.
Clint Watts electrified the nation when he testified in front of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election. In Messing with the Enemy, the counterterrorism, cybersecurity and homeland security expert introduces us to a frightening world in which terrorists and cyber criminals don’t hack your computer, they hack your mind. Watts reveals how these malefactors use your social media information and that of your family, friends and colleagues to map your social networks, identify your vulnerabilities, master your fears and harness your preferences.
Thanks to the schemes engineered by social media manipulators using you and your information, business executives have coughed up millions in fraudulent wire transfers, seemingly good kids have joined the Islamic State, and staunch anti-communist Reagan Republicans have cheered the Russian government’s hacking of a Democratic presidential candidate’s e-mails. Watts knows how they do it because he’s mirrored their methods to understand their intentions, combat their actions, and coopt their efforts.
Watts examines a range of social media platforms—from the first Internet forums to the current titans of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn—and nefarious actors—from al Qaeda to the Islamic State to the Russian social media troll farm—to illuminate exactly how they use Western social media for their nefarious purposes. He explains how he’s learned, through his successes and his failures, to engage with hackers, terrorists, and even the Russians—and how these interactions have generated methods for fighting back against those that seek to harm people on the Internet. He concludes with a snapshot of how advances in artificial intelligence will make future influence even more effective and dangerous to social media users and democratic governments worldwide. Shocking, funny, and eye-opening, Messing with the Enemy is a deeply urgent guide for living safe and smart in a super-connected world.
About Clint Watts
Clint Watts is a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and a Senior Fellow at the Center For Cyber and Homeland Security at The George Washington University and a national security contributor for NBC News and MSNBC. He’s the author of the book Messing With The Enemy: Surviving in a Social Media World of Hackers, Terrorists, Russians and Fake News.
His research and writing focuses on terrorism, counterterrorism, social media influence and Russian disinformation. Clint’s tracking of terrorist foreign fighters allowed him to predict the rise of the Islamic State over al Qaeda in 2014. From 2014 – 2016, Clint led a team of researchers who tracked and modeled the rise of Russian influence operations via social media leading up to the U.S. Presidential election of 2016. This research led Clint to testify before four different U.S. Senate committees in 2017 and 2018 regarding Russia’s information warfare campaign against the U.S. and the West.
Clint’s writing has appeared in a range of publications to include the New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Daily Beast, Politico, Lawfare, War On The Rocks, World Politics Review and the Huffington Post.
Before becoming a consultant, Clint served as a U.S. Army infantry officer, a FBI Special Agent, as the Executive Officer of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point (CTC), as a consultant to the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division (CTD) and National Security Branch (NSB), and as a counterterrorism analyst on a range of programs supporting the U.S. Intelligence Community and U.S. Special Operations Command.
You can follow him on Twitter @selectedwisdom
To get in on the quiz make sure you’re getting TNWAC emails (here’s the free subscription link: http://eepurl.com/gt6dn) and make sure you’re following @TNWAC on Twitter.
We’ll post the answers and the names of the winner(s) in next week’s quiz.
Here’s last week’s questions and answers:
WHAT IN THE WORLD? QUIZ
WEEK OF March 4-10, 2019
1. Tensions are in check between India and Pakistan following a week in which each side launched air strikes on the other nuclear-armed rival. The government of THIS Indian Prime Minister, in the face of May general elections, has cracked down on militants and activists especially in the disputed Kashmir region. The Prime Minister of India is:
A. Imran Khan
B. Neandra Modi
C. Arun Jaitley
D. Ram Nath Kovid
Correct Response: B. Neandra Modi
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-kashmir-pakistan/india-pakistan-border-quiet-but-kashmir-tense-amid-militancy-crackdown-idUSKCN1QK093
2. President Emmanuel Macron called for THIS country and France to set aside the recent diplomatic spat for the good of Europe while warning about the dangers of nationalism. Macron who had recalled his ambassador from THIS country said, “There was a misunderstanding. The most recent upset is not serious as far as I am concerned and we must get over it.”
A. Spain
B. Belgium
C. Italy
D. Greece
Correct Response: C. Italy
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-france/frances-macron-looks-to-overcome-italy-row-warns-against-nationalism-idUSKCN1QK0OY
3. Although the President Trump-Chairman Kim summit in Hanoi failed to achieve progress on eliminating or reducing North Korean nuclear weapons the United States announced THIS.
A. Withdrawal of heavy bomber aircraft from South Korea.
B. Reduction of non-UN Security Council sanctions on North Korea.
C. Opening a north-south rail route across the 38th parallel.
D. Ending joint US-ROK large scale spring military training.
Correct Response: D. Ending joint US-ROK large scale spring military training.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-politics-conseratives-trump-north/north-korea-has-no-economic-future-if-it-has-nuclear-weapons-trump-idUSKCN1QJ0K7
4. The Chief Financial Officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei, Meng Wanzhou, is being held in THIS country awaiting extradition to the United States. This week she sued THIS government for damages based on the manner of her arrest.
A. Canada
B. Japan
C. Taiwan
D. France
Correct Response: A. Canada
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47436497
5. U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton defended Trump Administration actions against the Maduro government in Venezuela by invoking this 19th century American principle, saying, “This is a country in our hemisphere,” adding, “It’s been the objective of American presidents going back to Ronald Reagan to have a completely democratic hemisphere.”
A. Jackson Amendment
B. Pact of the Americas
C. Monroe Doctrine
D. None of the above
Correct Response: C. Monroe Doctrine
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/03/john-bolton-venezuela-monroe-doctrine
6. This pilgrimage is the largest in the world attracting hundreds of millions to the confluence of three rivers, one considered divine.
A. Kumano Kodo
B. El Camino de Santiago
C. The Hajj
D. Kumbh Mela
Correct Response: D. Kumbh Mela
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/25/world/asia/india-kumbh-mela.html
7. THIS Middle East leader will be indicted on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust but remained defiant calling the case a “witch hunt.” The hearing on the charges is expected to come after the April 9 elections there.
A. Benjamin Netanyahu
B. Saad Hariri
C. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
D. Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Correct Response: A. Benjamin Netanyahu
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/02/israeli-tv-prime-minister-indicted-bribery-fraud-190228155936467.html
8. The United States is expected to offer THIS concession in talks with Taliban leaders.
A. Cut American troop numbers in half from 14,000 and total withdrawal over three to five years.
B. Shift the Afghan military training mission to the 8,600 European and international troops.
C. Assign American military forces to a counter terrorism mission.
D. All of the above.
Correct Response: D. All of the above.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/28/us/politics/afghanistan-military-withdrawal.html
9. The son of a woman killed in a nerve agent attack a year ago said to be the work of the Russian Military Intelligence Service, or GRU, is urging President Vladimir Putin to hand over two suspects to police in his country for questioning. The attack targeted ex-Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal, but apparently fatally poisoned bystander Dawn Sturgess in THIS city.
A. Salisbury, England
B. Bourdeaux, France
C. Ghent, Belgium
D. Hamburg, Germany
Correct Response: A. Salisbury, England
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/03/uk/salisbury-novichok-son-putin-suspects-gbr-intl/index.html
10. Progress has been reported on a trade deal with China that could see the U.S. dropping all or most of its tariffs on Chinese goods in exchange for a number of concessions on the Chinese side. A deal would likely open the door for a late-March summit meeting between President Trump and THIS leader.
A. President Xi Jinping
B. Chairman Kim Jong-un
C. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
D. President Tsai Ing-wen
Correct Response: A. President Xi Jinping
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-03/u-s-and-china-in-final-stages-of-completing-trade-deal-wsj
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