“What in the World? Weekly Quiz” | November 13, 2023

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Thanks to our quiz question writers this week: Sam Waitt, Lucy Love Haman, Breck Walker, Tim Douglas, Celeste Wilson, and Jim Shepherd.

Last Week’s Quiz Winners

Steve Freidberg, Boston, MA
Dondre Hess, Knoxville, TN
Basil G. Smith, Jacksonville Beach, FL
Sara O., Boston, MA
Tim Stewart, Nashville, TN
Heike Heinzelmann Kranz, Heidelberg, Germany
Hannah Osborne, Chapel Hill, TN
Seth Osborne, Chapel Hill, TN

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Of the scores of weekly winners eligible for the end of the month prize, only five candidates are TNWAC members, eligible for the prize. Join today to be eligible for next month’s prize.

NOVEMBER QUIZ PRIZE

“Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine”

Gen. David Petraeus and Andrew Roberts

“Conflict: The Evolution of History from 1945 to Ukraine” is here — and so is this great review in the “The Wall Street Journal,” with particularly notable final sentences. Excerpts:

‘Conflict’
Review: How Wars Are Fought and Won
By Jonathan W. Jordan

As Europe’s first big cross-border land war since World War II grinds through its second year and a mass terror raid sparks memories of the Yom Kippur War, a top-to-bottom look at how wars are fought in the era of Pax Atomica has become grimly relevant.

“Conflict” brings together one of America’s top military thinkers and Britain’s pre-eminent military historian… Retired Gen. David Petraeus, who co-authored the U.S. Army’s field manual on counterinsurgency warfare and oversaw the troop surge in Iraq in 2007, brings a professional eye to politico-military strategy. Andrew Roberts, who has been writing on military leadership since the early 1990s, offers an “arc of history” approach to the subject of mass destruction. The pair’s ambitious goals: to provide some context to the tapestry of modern conflict and a glimpse of wars to come.

Invoking the Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz, the authors argue that the first job of a strategic leader is to get the big ideas right. Those who have succeeded include Gerald Templer… whose reference to winning “the hearts and minds of the people,” we are told, “remains the most succinct explanation for how to win a counter-insurgency.” By contrast, the nationalist forces in China, the French in Algeria and the Americans in Vietnam got the big ideas wrong and paid a steep price.

The longest chapters, narrated in the first person by Mr. Petraeus, cover Iraq and Afghanistan, where political dysfunction swamped military success. On the 2021 collapse of Afghanistan’s government troops, Mr. Petraeus remarks that “the troops were brave enough—the 66,000 dead Afghan soldiers killed during the war attest to that. But they fought for an often corrupt and incompetent government that never gained the trust and confidence of local communities…

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 serves as the book’s case study on how badly Goliath can stumble against David…

The final chapter teases out the contours of future conflicts…

For all its technical erudition, “Conflict” is remarkably readable. Mr. Roberts’s engaging prose softens the edges of Mr. Petraeus’s straight-shooting analysis…

The book was written before the recent outbreak of war on Israel’s southern border… As gunmen ride to massacre scenes in pickup trucks and precision missiles take to the air in response, the authors’ introductory caveat snaps into focus: “Warfare evolves; it does not ossify. Yet it is clearly also capable of being suddenly and shockingly thrown into reverse.”..

Timely, engaging and instructive, “Conflict” is the best one-volume study of conventional warfare in the nuclear age. It sets a new benchmark in understanding modern war.

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1. President Vladimir Putin signed a law revoking Russia’s ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty leaving only THIS suspended nuclear weapons pact between Russia and the U.S. in place.

A. INF Treaty
B. New START Treaty
C. Start I Treaty
D. Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty

Correct Response: B. New START Treaty
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/02/world/euro699pe/russia-nuclear-test-ban-treaty.html

2. The House of Representatives passed a $14.0 billion aid package for Israel with funding offset by cuts to the IRS. A Senate version, expected to pass, includes funding for THIS country as well as support for Taiwan and humanitarian aid to Gazans.

A. South Korea
B Ukraine
C. Haiti
D. Poland

Correct response: B Ukraine
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4294264-graham-expects-senate-to-pass-israel-ukraine-aid-package-despite-house-bill/

3. Israeli forces intercepted a drone and missile attack on the port of Eilat launched by THIS Iranian-proxy group in Yemen. They have been fighting a civil war in Yemen against a Saudi-backed coalition since 2014.

A. Hezbollah
B. Houthis
C. Haqqani network
D. Mujahideen

Correct response: A. Houthis
https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-yemen-houthis-iran-34eab8bc1d3cf3606d874166fef2f018

4. Turkey’s parliament is taking up Sweden’s NATO membership application leaving just THIS nation to consider adding the alliance’s 32nd member. President Victor Orban’s government has claimed Swedish politicians have told “blatant lies” about their commitment to democracy.

A. Poland
B. Germany
C. Greece
D. Hungary

Correct response: D. Hungary
Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/turkeys-erdogan-submits-swedens-nato-bid-parliament-ratification-presidency-2023-10-23/

5. Americans, other third country nationals and wounded Palestinians have been evacuated from Gaza to Egypt by way of THIS departure point.

A. Rafah
B. Allenby
C. Golan
D. Khan Yunis

Correct response: A. Rafah
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/11/04/gaza-american-citizens-rafah-hamas/

6. Attacks by THIS insurgent group seeking to establish Sharia law in northern Nigeria killed 37 villagers. The group shot 17 people and then using a landmine to kill 20 more who were heading to a burial.

A. The Taliban
B. Boko Haram
C. Hezbollah
D. Hamas

Correct response: B. Boko Haram
https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20231102-boko-haram-attack-on-northeast-nigerian-village-leaves-37-dead

7. Secretary of State Blinken asked THIS country that owns the widely viewed Al Jazeera satellite media network to tone down the rhetoric in coverage of the Israel-Gaza war. The Doha government is intermediary and host to the political office of Hamas, designated a terrorist group by many Western nations.

A. Iran
B. Qatar
C. Bahrain
D. Saudi Arabia

Correct response: B. Qatar
https://www.axios.com/2023/10/25/tony-blinken-qatar-israel-hamas

8. Trade ministers from THIS group of advanced democracies called for an end to unnecessary trade restrictions in a statement at the end of their meeting in Osaka. The group made specific reference to Chinese restrictions on Japanese food exports, in response to the release of water from the stricken Fukushima nuclear reactor.

A. UNESCO
B. IMF
C. ASEAN
D. Group of Seven

Correct response: D. Group of Seven
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20231029_12/

9. In a highly publicized trip THIS American politician met Chinese President Xi Jinping to promote cooperation on climate change.

A. California Governor Gavin Newsom
B. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer
C. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken
D. New York City Mayor Eric Adams

Correct response: A. California Governor Gavin Newsom
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/25/world/asia/gavin-newsom-china-xi.html

10. The Beatles released THIS new song 61 years after their first single. AI audio restoration technology was credited with improving the quality of a John Lennon demo from the 1990s to produce the new song.

A. Now and Then
B. Love Always
C. John’s Song
D. Old Bailey

Correct response: A. Now and Then
https://news.sky.com/story/the-beatles-last-song-now-and-then-becomes-their-18th-number-one-single-13001532

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