“What in the World? Weekly Quiz” | Dec 28, 2020-Jan 3, 2021

A global affairs awareness service provided by the
Tennessee World Affairs Council

CLICK IMAGE FOR QUIZ

Thanks to quiz master Matthew Jackson, for this week’s quiz.

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LAST WEEK’S QUIZ WINNERS

Barbara Gubbin, Jacksonville, FL
Steve Freidberg, Boston, MA
Peter Sharadin, Blandon, PA
Allison Hodgkins, Yarmouth, ME
Herb Marsh, Lincoln, NM
Charles Bowers, Nashville, TN
Buddy Teaster, Nashville, TN
Martin Shofner, Nashville, TN
David Hillinck, Huntsville, AL

December 2020 – Quiz Prize

The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for Its Renewal

Ambassador William Burns

“The Back Channel shows how diplomacy works, why it matters, and why its recent demise is so tragic.”—Walter Isaacson, author of Leonardo da Vinci

Over the course of more than three decades as an American diplomat, William J. Burns played a central role in the most consequential diplomatic episodes of his time—from the bloodless end of the Cold War to the collapse of post–Cold War relations with Putin’s Russia, from post–9/11 tumult in the Middle East to the secret nuclear talks with Iran.

In The Back Channel, Burns recounts, with novelistic detail and incisive analysis, some of the seminal moments of his career. Drawing on a trove of newly declassified cables and memos, he gives readers a rare inside look at American diplomacy in action. His dispatches from war-torn Chechnya and Qaddafi’s bizarre camp in the Libyan desert and his warnings of the “Perfect Storm” that would be unleashed by the Iraq War will reshape our understanding of history—and inform the policy debates of the future. Burns sketches the contours of effective American leadership in a world that resembles neither the zero-sum Cold War contest of his early years as a diplomat nor the “unipolar moment” of American primacy that followed.

Ultimately, The Back Channel is an eloquent, deeply informed, and timely story of a life spent in service of American interests abroad. It is also a powerful reminder, in a time of great turmoil, of the enduring importance of diplomacy.

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1. A hack of computer systems including numerous U.S. government agencies was called, “a grave risk” to America’s cyber infrastructure by the agency organized to protect it. The hack, believed to be the work of Russia, was perpetrated over nine months ago when malicious code was injected into system maintenance software at a company called THIS.

A. SolarWinds
B. Netscape
C. Microsoft
D. Pandora

Correct Response: A. SolarWinds
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/dec/18/us-russia-hack-cyber-attack-federal-agencies-congress

2. If Britain and the European Union (EU) cannot strike a post-Brexit trade deal before Britain leaves the EU on the December 31 deadline, the trading arrangements would revert to the World Trade Organization’s rules, ultimately affecting trade on both sides of WHAT body of water?

A. Bristol Channel
B. English Channel
C. Strait of Dover
D. St. George’s Channel

Correct Response: B. English Channel
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/18/world/europe/no-deal-brexit.html

3. This week, the FDA has approved a second company for a Covid-19 vaccine and has purchased 200 million doses. With this vaccine, you have to take it in two doses, four weeks apart. What is the name of THIS drug company?

A. AstraZeneca
B. Pfizer
C. Janssen
D. Moderna

Correct Response: D. Moderna
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/531067-first-shipments-of-moderna-vaccine-roll-out-after-fda-approval

4. Ten years ago this month a Tunisian fruit and vegetable vendor self-immolated after being harassed by police. This act touched off protests, which eventually led to the dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fleeing the country. It was the start of THIS. [“Daily Chatter,” Members’ Newsletter Question of the Week]

A. The “Topaz Revolution”
B. The Arab Spring
C. The Maghreb Spring
D. The Tunisian Awakening

Correct Response: B. The Arab Spring
“Daily Chatter,” Members’ Newsletter, December 17, 2020

5. China is heavily invested in THIS south Asian nation and the two are said to have a strategic “axis,” including heavy investments by Beijing in an Economic Corridor that a recent USIP report called “the potential crown jewel of the BRI [Belt and Road Initiative] and an overland transit route to the Indian Ocean. [USIP Question of the Week]

A. Bangladesh
B. Myanmar
C. India
D. Pakistan

Correct Response: D. Pakistan
https://www.usip.org/publications/2020/12/chinas-influence-conflict-dynamics-south-asia

6. President Sebastián Piñera was fined $3,500 on Friday when he was caught in public taking a selfie with a bystander. This president was not wearing a mask. Pinera, known for his gaffes was photographed last year at a pizza party on the night protests over inequality broke out in Santiago. The latest incident broke the strict mask rule of THIS country?

A. Colombia
B. Argentina
C. Chile
D. Ecuador

Correct Response: C. Chile
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-chile-idUSKBN28S34A

7. Last month THIS EU country’s Justice Minister said children must be raised “in accordance with the values based on our homeland’s constitutional identity and Christian culture,” when submitted legislation to Parliament. Last week THIS country passed the provision effectively banning gay couples from adopting. Other measures make it harder for the opposition to challenge President Viktor Orban.

A. Poland
B. Belarus
C. Slovakia
D. Hungary

Correct Response: D. Hungary
https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/pandemic-rages-hungary-ramps-anti-lgbtq-legislation-n1248659

8. The U.S. State Department announced last week THIS country was no longer on the “state sponsors of terrorism list.” Removing it from the list, where it has been since 1993, was called by some “transactional diplomacy” as a reward for becoming the latest member of the Abraham Accord, normalizing relations between Arab states and Israel.

A. Sudan
B. Morocco
C. Syria
D. Iraq

Correct Response: A. Sudan
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/sudan-remove-state-terror-list/2020/12/14/7f119482-3d10-11eb-aad9-8959227280c4_story.html

9. Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo said, “I am happy to announce we have been fined.” The €90,000 ($109,000) fine on the French capital by the public service ministry was levied due to THIS infraction.

A. The Paris metro was not shut down as dictated by COVID measures
B. Too many women were hired for senior posts
C. Not enough women were hired for senior posts
D. Paris authorities were not enforcing mask mandates

Correct Response: B. Too many women were hired for senior posts
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55330297

10. The highest court in THIS autonomous region of China ruled against pro-democracy demonstrators who sought to overturn an anti-mask law. The ruling is the latest effort following Beijing’s passage of a tough security law, to break the back of unrest in the territory.

A. Taiwan
B. Tibet
C. Macau
D. Hong Kong

Correct Response: D. Hong Kong
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/hongkong-mask-ban-ruling/2020/12/20/f2722af0-4340-11eb-a277-49a6d1f9dff1_story.html