“What In The World?” Quiz – Nov 5-11, 2018

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NOVEMBER 2018 MONTHLY QUIZ WINNERS’ PRIZE

The Hell of Good Intentions: America’s Foreign Policy Elite and the Decline of U.S. Primacy by Stephen M. Walt

From the New York Times–bestselling author Stephen M. Walt, The Hell of Good Intentions dissects the faults and foibles of recent American foreign policy―explaining why it has been plagued by disasters like the “forever wars” in Iraq and Afghanistan and outlining what can be done to fix it.

In 1992, the United States stood at the pinnacle of world power and Americans were confident that a new era of peace and prosperity was at hand. Twenty-five years later, those hopes have been dashed. Relations with Russia and China have soured, the European Union is wobbling, nationalism and populism are on the rise, and the United States is stuck in costly and pointless wars that have squandered trillions of dollars and undermined its influence around the world.

The root of this dismal record, Walt argues, is the American foreign policy establishment’s stubborn commitment to a strategy of “liberal hegemony.” Since the end of the Cold War, Republicans and Democrats alike have tried to use U.S. power to spread democracy, open markets, and other liberal values into every nook and cranny of the planet. This strategy was doomed to fail, but its proponents in the foreign policy elite were never held accountable and kept repeating the same mistakes.

Donald Trump won the presidency promising to end the misguided policies of the foreign policy “Blob” and to pursue a wiser approach. But his erratic and impulsive style of governing, combined with a deeply flawed understanding of world politics, are making a bad situation worse. The best alternative, Walt argues, is a return to the realist strategy of “offshore balancing,” which eschews regime change, nation-building, and other forms of global social engineering. The American people would surely welcome a more restrained foreign policy, one that allowed greater attention to problems here at home. This long-overdue shift will require abandoning the futile quest for liberal hegemony and building a foreign policy establishment with a more realistic view of American power.

Clear-eyed, candid, and elegantly written, Stephen M. Walt’s The Hell of Good Intentions offers both a compelling diagnosis of America’s recent foreign policy follies and a proven formula for renewed success.

Source: Amazon

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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

OCTOBER 29-NOVEMBER 4, 2018

1. National Security Advisor John Bolton announced an invitation for Vladimir Putin to visit Washington in early 2019 on Friday. The prospects for a White House visit were discussed after the last Trump-Putin summit but were put on hold due to the investigation into Russian election meddling. The last Trump-Putin summit, a controversial affair, was held in what city?

A. St Petersburg
B. Helsinki
C. London
D. Singapore

Correct Response: B. Helsinki
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/10/26/donald-trump-invites-russian-president-vladimir-putin-washington/1781611002/

2. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu was hosted in THIS country last week by its ruler Sultan Qaboos following a visit by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. It has fueled speculation about political moves afoot such as Arab-Israeli peace, Israeli-Iranian relations, Israeli rapprochement with Arab Gulf states. What country was host to Netanyahu and Abbas?

A. Bahrain
B. Qatar
C. Oman
D. United Arab Emirates

Correct Response: C. Oman
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-oman/israels-netanyahu-made-unpublicized-visit-to-oman-pms-office-idUSKCN1N01WN

3. A third wave of migrants has left their country’s capital on Sunday bound for the United States as two “caravans” are already heading north through Mexico. The latest organized group of Central American migrants are mainly from this source:

A. Honduras
B. Guatemala
C. El Salvador
D. Nicaragua

Correct Response: C. El Salvador
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-caravan/new-u-s-bound-group-of-migrants-leaves-in-san-salvador-idUSKCN1N20JN

4. THIS east African country’s parliament appointed career diplomat Sahle-Work Zewde as its first female president. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who also cut the list of ministers to 20 and gave half of the positions including defense minister to women, was recently highlighted for honoring an agreement with neighboring Eritrea ending a 20-year border war.

A. Ethiopia
B. South Sudan
C. Djibouti
D. Somalia

Correct Response: A. Ethiopia
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/25/africa/ethiopia-first-female-president-intl/index.html

5. THIS far-right populist candidate headed into Sunday elections in Brazil with a ten-point lead in an election that worried democratic voices in the world’s fourth-largest democracy. The supreme court chief justice was moved to comment after he voted, ““The future president must respect institutions, must respect democracy, the rule of law, the judiciary branch, the national Congress and the legislative branch.”

A. Jose Dias Toffoli
B. Jair Bolsonaro
C. Dilma Rousseff
D. Fernando Haddad

Correct Response: B. Jair Bolsonaro
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-election/brazils-right-wing-bolsonaro-poised-to-win-presidency-as-voting-begins-idUSKCN1N203K

6. All of these developments concerning China EXCEPT THIS one were in the news last week.

A. China is building an airfield in Antarctica to support scientific expeditions and tourist groups.
B. A proxy political battle for influence between India and China has resulted in a leadership crisis in Sri Lanka.
C. China expelled Canadian diplomats and closed their embassy in response to Ottawa’s recognition of Taiwan.
D. China’s first private enterprise effort at launching a space probe failed.

Correct Response: C. China expelled Canadian diplomats and closed their embassy in response to Ottawa’s recognition of Taiwan.
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201810281069299729-china-antarctic-airfield/

7. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosted leaders from three other countries to discuss a political resolution of the conflict in Syria on Saturday. Which of these countries was NOT invited?

A. Russia
B. United States
C. France
D. Germany

Correct Response: B. United States
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/10/26/turkey-syria-summit-political-resolution/1776448002/

8. The Duchess of Sussex – Meghan Markle – and Prince Harry were in New Zealand last week where she praised the country for being first in the world, 125 years ago, to give women the right to vote in parliamentary elections. The Royal couple were visiting a collection of countries, mostly former territories of the British Empire, known as THIS collective:

A. Organisation of the United Kingdom
B. Commonwealth of Independent States
C. Reunited Nations of the British Empire
D. Commonwealth of Nations

Correct Response: D. Commonwealth of Nations
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/28/world/harry-meghan-new-zealand-intl/index.html

9. International attention remains fixed on Saudi Arabia which promised a transparent, thorough investigation into the murder of American-resident, journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Officials in Riyadh have offered all of these explanations about the case EXCEPT:

A. Khashoggi left the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on the day he was reported missing.
B. Khashoggi was in the consulate at the instigation of Turkish intelligence.
C. Khashoggi died when a fight broke out inside the consulate.
D. Khashoggi’s murder in the consulate was premeditated.

Correct Response: B. Khashoggi was in the consulate at the instigation of Turkish intelligence.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1037378/Khashoggi-murder-news-saudi-arabia-chemical-weapons-use

10. North and South Korea have moved to deescalate tension along the DMZ by removing weapons, ammunition and minefields around the Joint Security Area. This area, which was called the “scariest place on earth” by former President Clinton, is better known as this truce village.

A. Pyongyang
B. Inchon
C. Panmunjon
D. Kaesong

Correct Response: C. Panmunjon
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/25/asia/north-south-korea-dmz-intl/index.html

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