2022 World Affairs Council of the Year
Network of Independent World Affairs Councils of America
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.’
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
David Hillinck, Huntsville, AL
Yezzie Dospil, Nashville, TN
Charles Bowers, Nashville, TN
MARCH PRIZE FOR THE WHAT IN THE WORLD? QUIZ
How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything: Tales from the Pentagon
by Rosa Brooks
The first serious book to examine what happens when the ancient boundary between war and peace is erased.
Once, war was a temporary state of affairs—a violent but brief interlude between times of peace. Today, America’s wars are everywhere and forever: our enemies change constantly and rarely wear uniforms, and virtually anything can become a weapon. As war expands, so does the role of the US military. Today, military personnel don’t just “kill people and break stuff.” Instead, they analyze computer code, train Afghan judges, build Ebola isolation wards, eavesdrop on electronic communications, develop soap operas, and patrol for pirates. You name it, the military does it.
Rosa Brooks traces this seismic shift in how America wages war from an unconventional perspective—that of a former top Pentagon official who is the daughter of two anti-war protesters and a human rights activist married to an Army Green Beret. Her experiences lead her to an urgent warning: When the boundaries around war disappear, we risk destroying America’s founding values and the laws and institutions we’ve built—and undermining the international rules and organizations that keep our world from sliding towards chaos. If Russia and China have recently grown bolder in their foreign adventures, it’s no accident; US precedents have paved the way for the increasingly unconstrained use of military power by states around the globe. Meanwhile, we continue to pile new tasks onto the military, making it increasingly ill-prepared for the threats America will face in the years to come.
By turns a memoir, a work of journalism, a scholarly exploration into history, anthropology and law, and a rallying cry, How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything transforms the familiar into the alien, showing us that the culture we inhabit is reshaping us in ways we may suspect, but don’t really understand. It’s the kind of book that will leave you moved, astonished, and profoundly disturbed, for the world around us is quietly changing beyond recognition—and time is running out to make things right.
Source: Amazon.com
About the Author
Rosa Brooks is a Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, a columnist for Foreign Policy, and a law professor at Georgetown University. She previously worked at the Pentagon as Counselor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy; in 2011, she was awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service. Brooks has also served as a senior advisor at the US Department of State, a consultant for Human Rights Watch, and a weekly opinion columnist for the Los Angeles Times. Her articles and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post,The Wall Street Journal, and dozens of other newspapers and magazines, and she is a frequent television guest, with appearances on the Charlie Rose Show, the Rachel Maddow Show, the Today show, Meet the Press, and Erin Burnett OutFront. Brooks lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with her husband Joe, her daughters Anna and Clara, and a Brittany spaniel named Scout.
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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
Week of Mar 5-11, 2017
1. The United Nations has made a rare formal declaration of famine in THIS country where a civil war has resulted in rebels and government forces intentionally blocking supplies to the populace. The UN says more than one million people could perish.
A. Democratic Republic of the Congo
B. Syria
C. Nigeria
D. South Sudan
Correct Answer: D. South Sudan
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/04/world/africa/war-south-sudan.html?_r=0&emc=edit_nn_20170306&nl=morning-briefing&nlid=75319720&te=1
2. President Trump is expected to release a revised travel ban this week that will include all of the countries listed in an earlier order [Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Libya and Yemen] that was blocked by a court challenge EXCEPT:
A. Iraq
B. Syria
C. Libya
D. Yemen
Correct Answer: A. Iraq
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/05/us/politics/trump-expected-to-issue-new-travel-ban-excluding-iraq-on-monday.html?emc=edit_nn_20170306&nl=morning-briefing&nlid=75319720&te=1
3. Germany and THIS NATO ally have been in a war of words over permission for campaign rallies on German soil. On March 5th THIS president compared current German policies to the Nazi era, a charge challenged by a spokesman in Berlin, “Such comparisons are always absurd and out of place because they lead to only to one thing: a trivialization of crimes against humanity.”
A. Hungary
B. Turkey
C. Greece
D. Poland
Correct Answer: B. Turkey
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-security-germany-spokesman-idUSKBN16D15Z
4. North Korea (DPRK) continued an “unprecedented” level of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile testing, defying UN Security Council Resolutions, with the launch of four missiles this week. The launch comes as U.S. and Republic of Korea armed forces conduct annual exercises aimed at deterring DPRK aggression. About how many American military personnel are based in the Republic of Korea?
A. 8,000
B. 28,000
C. 58,000
D. 118,000
Correct Answer: B. 28,000
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-idUSKBN16C0YU
5. What is “gender budgeting?”
A. Gender budgeting is a way for governments to promote equality through fiscal policy. It involves analyzing a budget’s differing impacts on men and women and allocating money accordingly.
B. Gender budgeting is a way for governments to balance the male/female population distribution by regulating the immigration quotas by gender.
C. Gender budgeting is a way for governments to determine the impact of lifestyles on labor pools in an effort to structure minimum wage decisions.
D. None of the above.
Correct Answer: A. Gender budgeting is a way for governments to promote equality through fiscal policy. It involves analyzing a budget’s differing impacts on men and women and allocating money accordingly.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2017/03/economist-explains-2?fsrc=scn/tw/twbot/te/bl/ed/
6. The British Foreign Minister accepted an invitation from Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to visit Russia for meetings on differences between the countries. A British spokesperson said, “This is not a return to business as usual and the Foreign Secretary will continue to be robust on those issues where we differ.” The British Foreign Minister is:
A. Sergey Johnson
B. Vladimir Johnson
C. Boris Johnson
D. Pavel Johnson
Correct Answer: C. Boris Johnson
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-russia-visit-idUSKBN16B096
7. President Trump announced a ten percent boost in military spending for his proposed budget and “fairly dramatic reductions” in the international affairs budget. WHICH Trump cabinet official famously said, “If you don’t fund the State Department fully, then I need to buy more ammunition ultimately,” referring to the consequences of diminished American “soft power” resources.
A. General H.R. McMasters
B. General James Mattis
C. General Mike Pompeo
D. General John F. Kelley
Correct Answer: B. General James Mattis
http://www.businessinsider.com/mattis-state-department-funding-need-to-buy-more-ammunition-2017-2
8. The international affairs budget (“foreign aid”) which faces a 37% cut in the budget announced by President Trump has been about WHAT percent of the U.S. Federal Budget.
A. 1%
B. 5%
C. 20%
D. 35%
Correct Answer: A. 1%
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-budget-idUSKBN16B0NC
9. The budget proposal floated by the Trump Administration last week that would cut as much as 37% of funding for international affairs programs, such as foreign aid, was denounced in a letter by more than 120 retired three and four-star generals and admirals to Congressional leaders. They said adequate funding was necessary to “ensure that resources for the International Affairs Budget keep pace with the growing global threats and opportunities we face.” Which of these organizations would not be directly affected by foreign aid cuts.
A. USAID
B. Millennium Challenge Corporation
C. Peace Corps
D. U.S. Africa Command
Correct Answer: D. U.S. Africa Command
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-budget-idUSKBN16B0NC
10. Iran and this neighbor agreed on Sunday to work together on a railway connection that would serve as part of a link between Northern Europe and South Asia.
A. Uzbekistan
B. Kazakhstan
C. Azerbaijan
D. Georgia
Correct Answer: C. Azerbaijan
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-azerbaijan-railways-idUSKBN16C0MW
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