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QUIZ WINNERS FROM LAST WEEK
Pat Miletich, Nashville, Tennessee
Deb Monroe, Croxton, Cambridgeshire, UK
Allan Ramsaur, Nashville, TN
Charles Bowers, Nashville, TN
Yezzie Dospil, Nashville, TN
Jason Hicks, Cookeville, TN
Brandon Darr, Bangkok, Thailand
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
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 22-28, 2018
1. After weeks of claiming that he left its embassy in Turkey alive, Saudi Arabia has finally acknowledged that journalist Jamal Khashoggi died there, due to THIS:
A. A pre-existing heart condition, exacerbated by interrogation
B. A brawl
C. Falling and hitting his head on a restroom sink
D. Being shot by an over-zealous interrogator
Correct Response: B. A brawl
https://www.npr.org/2018/10/20/659132171/world-reacts-with-skepticism-to-saudi-confirmation-of-jamal-khashoggis-death
2. Although the White House has not formally condemned the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, THIS cabinet member did cancel plans to attend a high-level summit in Saudi Arabia:
A. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
B. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin
C. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis
D. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross
Correct Response: B. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/10/18/mnuchin-tweet-saudi-arabia-investment-summit-vpx.cnn
3. Recreational marijuana became legal in Canada this week. How many other nations in the world have legalized it for recreational use?
A. One: Uruguay
B. Two: Sweden and France
C. Three: Finland, Denmark, Colombia
D. Four: Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Monaco
Correct Response: A. One: Uruguay
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/17/world/canada/marijuana-pot-cannabis-legalization.html
4. The Afghan Independent Election Commission delayed parliamentary elections in Kandahar province for a week, citing THIS event:
A. A larger-than-usual presence of U.S. troops
B. Widespread bomb threats against polling stations
C. The theft of ballots from the Commission’s main office
D. A Taliban attack that killed the province’s chief of police
Correct Response: D. A Taliban attack that killed the province’s chief of police
https://www.npr.org/2018/10/19/658760206/afghanistan-delays-election-in-kandahar-due-to-attack-that-killed-police-chief
5. THIS nation drew strong criticism from the White House for violating the terms of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which prohibits the development of short to mid-range nuclear missiles; the Trump Administration announced that the U.S. would withdraw from the treaty:
A. Russia
B. Iran
C. Syria
D. North Korea
Correct Response: A. Russia
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/20/politics/donald-trump-us-arms-agreement-russia/index.html
6. Mexican officials began engaging with Hondurans in a migrant caravan as it arrived on the country’s southern border. The U.S. has put increasing pressure on Mexico’s government to stop the hundreds of men, women, and children fleeing violence and poverty in their own country by threatening to do THIS:
A. Cut off aid to Mexico
B. Close the U.S. border with Mexico
C. Deploy U.S. troops to the border with Mexico
D. All of the above
Correct Response: D. All of the above
https://www.france24.com/en/20181019-trump-threatens-shut-mexico-border-send-military-over-migrant-caravan
7. The U.N. called for an end to air strikes in THIS country, where an on-going civil war could lead to the worst famine the world has seen in 100 years, with 13 million people at risk of starvation:
A. Syria
B. Yemen
C. South Sudan
D. Sri Lanka
Correct Response: B. Yemen
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/oct/15/yemen-on-brink-worst-famine-100-years-un
8. Military officials in Myanmar posed as pop stars and national heroes on THIS social media platform to spread anti-Rohingya propaganda among the larger population, resulting in ethnically motivated murders, rapes, and the largest human migration in recent history:
A. Twitter
B. Instagram
C. Facebook
D. Snapchat
Correct Response: C. Facebook
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/technology/myanmar-facebook-genocide.html
9. Unusually warm weather has caused THIS normally springtime natural spectacle to occur in fall:
A. The swallows’ return to Capistrano, California
B. Cherry blossoms blooming in Japan
C. Tulips blooming in The Netherlands
D. The annual zebra migration across the Serengeti
Correct Response: B. Cherry blossoms blooming in Japan
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-are-japans-cherry-blossom-trees-blooming-fall-180970590/
10. In what it called a “training error,” the U.S. embassy in Australia apologized for a widely circulated email inviting recipients to THIS event:
A. A teddy-bear tea party
B. A cat pajama party
C. A dog choir concert
D. A hamster race
Correct Response: B. A cat pajama party
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/oct/15/us-embassy-apologises-after-mistakenly-sending-cookie-monster-cat-invitation
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