2022 World Affairs Council of the Year
Network of Independent World Affairs Councils of America
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.
The only rule is to use the ‘honor system.’ No answer Googling!
Click on image for Quiz
Keep up with global current events by following the World Affairs Council on Twitter @TNWAC. #TNWACquiz
QUIZ WINNERS FROM LAST WEEK
Drew Lorelli, Washington, DC
Mike Bush, Nashville, TN
Pat Miletich, Nashville, TN
David Hillinck, Huntsville, TN
Charles Bowers, Nashville, TN
Anthony Campanella, Avola, Italy
(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 )
APRIL 2018 MONTHLY PRIZE WINNER
Congratulations
Mike Bush of Nashville, Tennessee
From Cold War to Hot Peace
MAY 2018 MONTHLY PRIZE
War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence
By Ronan Farrow
ABOUT THE BOOK
A harrowing exploration of the collapse of American diplomacy and the abdication of global leadership, by the winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in Public Service.
US foreign policy is undergoing a dire transformation, forever changing America’s place in the world. Institutions of diplomacy and development are bleeding out after deep budget cuts; the diplomats who make America’s deals and protect its citizens around the world are walking out in droves. Offices across the State Department sit empty, while abroad the military-industrial complex has assumed the work once undertaken by peacemakers. We’re becoming a nation that shoots first and asks questions later.
In an astonishing journey from the corridors of power in Washington, DC, to some of the most remote and dangerous places on earth―Afghanistan, Somalia, and North Korea among them―acclaimed investigative journalist Ronan Farrow illuminates one of the most consequential and poorly understood changes in American history. His firsthand experience as a former State Department official affords a personal look at some of the last standard bearers of traditional statecraft, including Richard Holbrooke, who made peace in Bosnia and died while trying to do so in Afghanistan.
Drawing on newly unearthed documents, and richly informed by rare interviews with warlords, whistle-blowers, and policymakers―including every living former secretary of state from Henry Kissinger to Hillary Clinton to Rex Tillerson―War on Peace makes a powerful case for an endangered profession. Diplomacy, Farrow argues, has declined after decades of political cowardice, shortsightedness, and outright malice―but it may just offer America a way out of a world at war.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ronan Farrow is an investigative journalist who writes for The New Yorker and makes documentaries for HBO. He has been an anchor and reporter at MSNBC and NBC News, and his writing has appeared in publications including The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. A series of stories he wrote in 2017 exposed the first allegations of sexual assault against the movie producer Harvey Weinstein. Prior to his work as a journalist, he served as a State Department official in Afghanistan and Pakistan and reported to the Secretary of State as a senior official focused on youth uprisings. He is a Yale Law School-educated attorney and studied at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He is a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, the George Polk Award, and the National Magazine Award, among other commendations, and has been named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People (and also one of People’s Sexiest Men Alive, which doesn’t have anything to do with his career, but he still brings it up a lot).
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 April 22-28, 2018
1. International inspectors visited a site in Douma on Saturday to determine what chemical agents, if any, were used in an attack two weeks ago that killed more than 40 people and led the United States, United Kingdom and France to punish Syria with air strikes against CW-related targets. The inspectors were dispatched by THIS international organization charged through the Chemical Weapons Convention.
A. United Nations Chemical Weapons Inspection Agency (UNCWIA)
B. Organization of the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)
C. International Agency for Prevention of Chemical Warfare (IAPCW)
D. Chemical Warfare Convention Inspection Agency (CWCIA)
Correct Response: B. Organization of the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)
http://time.com/5249401/chemical-weapons-inspectors-syria/
2. Kim Jung-un announced on Saturday that North Korea had satisfactorily completed nuclear weapon and ICBM testing which some observers claimed was a suspension of testing and a sign that pressure on Pyongyang was working. The NEXT expected development in the Korean crisis is a meeting between Supreme Leader Kim Jung-un and:
A. Vladimir Putin
B. Donald Trump
C. Xi Jinping
D. Moon Jae-in
Correct Response: D. Moon Jae-in
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/20/asia/north-korea-closes-nuclear-site/index.html
3. Mexico signed a major update to a free trade agreement with WHO on Saturday, giving it enhanced access to an advanced consumer market allowing almost all goods, including agricultural products to flow across their borders. The agreement is seen as part of Mexico’s reaction to pressure by Washington on trade and an uncertain outcome of NAFTA modernization talks.
A. ASEAN
B. APEC
C. EU
D. None of the above
Correct Response: C. EU
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/21/us/politics/mexico-european-union-trade-trump.html
4. President Trump briefly considered rejoining the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact last week before tweeting on Tuesday that, “Bilateral deals are far more efficient, profitable and better for OUR workers.” Following Trump’s withdrawal from the TPP in January 2017 THIS action resulted.
A. China opened discussions with the ASEAN nations plus Japan and South Korea for a TPP replacement called the Pacific Trade Union Pact (PTUP).
B. The remaining 11 countries renegotiated parts of the TPP, and in March, they signed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) – also known as TPP-11.
C. The United States reaffirmed the World Trade Organization as the guiding authority for trans-Pacific trade and asked the WTO to open a new global round of talks known as the Jakarta Round.
D. President Trump directed the US Trade Representative (USTR) to open bilateral talks with the 20 other member nations of the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum (APEC).
Correct Response: B. The remaining 11 countries renegotiated parts of the TPP, and in March, they signed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) – also known as TPP-11.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-tpp/trump-says-on-twitter-he-does-not-like-tpp-for-u-s-too-many-contingencies-idUSKBN1HP0BZ
5. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif told reporters this week that it was unlikely his country would remain in the “nuclear agreement” if President Trump, as threatened, refused to waive sanctions as required by the agreement at the May 12th deadline. Zarif said, “The situation is creating an impression globally that agreements don’t matter,” and he threatened unspecified “consequences” but could return to uranium enrichment. The agreement between Iran and the P5+1 which was signed to prevent Iran from being able to build a nuclear weapons is called THIS:
A. Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
B. Iranian Nuclear Threat Reduction Agreement
C. Perm 5 Plus 1-Iran Enrichment Reduction Plan
D. UN Security Council Resolution 859
Correct Response: A. Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/apr/22/it-will-not-be-very-pleasant-iran-warns-if-trump-scraps-nuclear-deal
6. Police identified the suspects in a March assassination attempt on a former Russian spy that dramatically increased the strain in relations between Moscow and the West. The suspects were identified by scanning images from the scene and passengers boarding flights. The attack occurred in THIS country.
A. Canada
B. Sweden
C. England
D. France
Correct Response: C. England
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/20/world/europe/britain-russia-skripal-attack.html
7. Which of these DID NOT happen in Saudi Arabia last week?
A. Gunmen attacked a security checkpoint in the southwest province of Asir killing four policemen.
B. Screening of the movie “Black Panther” marked the end of a ban on public cinemas.
C. Saudi women took to the roads as a generations-old ban on driving ended.
D. Security forces shot down a “toy drone” flying near a royal palace.
Correct Response: C. Saudi women took to the roads as a generations-old ban on driving ended.
https://www.apnews.com/237d475c258641338c615ea0f5195bc0/Saudi-ministry:-Gunmen-attack,-kill-4-policemen-in-the-south
8. Amidst talks of a Sino-American trade war China has signaled it would welcome a high level visit from Washington. The Trump Administrations proposed tariffs of up to $150 billion dollars and China’s counterattack has international markets and U.S. exporters worried. THIS US official who offered to go to Beijing for trade talks was:
A. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross
B. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin
C. US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer
D. Secretary of State Nominee Mike Pompeo
Correct Response: B. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin
http://money.cnn.com/2018/04/22/news/economy/china-us-trade-beijing/index.html
9. The first president in Cuba not to have the name Castro was inaugurated on Thursday. HE is:
A. Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez
B. Daniel Ortega
C. Nicolas Maduro
D. Juan Manuel Santos
Correct Response: A. Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/21/world/cuba-castro-diaz-canel.html
10. The U.S. could be drawn into a conflict with Beijing over THIS contentious territory, which was highlighted last week by China’s military exercises. President Xi-Jinping was guest of honor for a naval parade including 48 warships, 10,000 servicemen and the PLA Navy’s aircraft carrier – the largest such display in the history of the PRC. That coincided with maneuvers interpreted as threatening THIS place:
A. Philippines claimed Spratley Islands
B. Taiwan
C. Senkaku Islands
D. Vietnam claimed islands in the South China Sea
Correct Response: B. Taiwan
http://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2142674/are-us-and-china-headed-war-over-taiwan
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