“What in the World? Weekly Quiz" | Oct 10-16, 2022

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Last Week’s Quiz Winners

Steve Freidberg, Boston, MA
Jim Shepherd, Nashville, TN
Basil G. Smith, Jacksonville, FL
Tim Stewart, Nashville, TN
Hannah Osborne, Chapel Hill, TN
Seth Osborne, Chapen Hill, TN
Adam Leff, Bethel, ME
Nancy Williams, Rochester, NY
Martha Trammell, Nashville, TN
Charles Bowers, Nashville, TN
Barbara Cleland, Weston, CT
Peter Sharadin, Reading, PA
Donna Heffner, Ponte Vedrà Beach, FL
Keeton Chesnutt, Houston, TX
Catherine Kelly, Nashville, TN
Elliott Carroll, Balclutha, New Zealand

Hey! Are you on the list of last week winners? If you become a member of TNWAC you could be the end of the month prize winner.

MONTHLY QUIZ PRIZES ARE AWARDED TO DUES PAYING MEMBERS OF THE TNWAC WHO ARE MONG THE WEEKLY WINNERS FOR THAT MONTH.

SEPTEMBER QUIZ PRIZE WINNER

CHRISTINE LAEMMAR, BROOKFIELD, WI

Mohammed bin Salman: The Icarus of Saudi Arabia

by David Ottaway

OCTOBER QUIZ PRIZE

For decades, China’s rise to power was characterized by its reassurance that this rise would be peaceful. Then, as Susan L. Shirk, shows in this sobering, clear-eyed account of China today, something changed.

For three decades after Mao’s death in 1976, China’s leaders adopted a restrained approach to foreign policy. They determined that any threat to their power, and that of the Chinese Communist Party, came not from abroad but from within―a conclusion cemented by the 1989 Tiananmen crisis. To facilitate the country’s inexorable economic ascendence, and to prevent a backlash, they reassured the outside world of China’s peaceful intentions.

Then, as Susan Shirk shows in this illuminating, disturbing, and utterly persuasive new book, something changed. China went from fragile superpower to global heavyweight, threatening Taiwan as well as its neighbors in the South China Sea, tightening its grip on Hong Kong, and openly challenging the United States for preeminence not just economically and technologically but militarily. China began to overreach. Combining her decades of research and experience, Shirk, one of the world’s most respected experts on Chinese politics, argues that we are now fully embroiled in a new cold war.

To explain what happened, Shirk pries open the “black box” of China’s political system and looks at what derailed its peaceful rise. As she shows, the shift toward confrontation began in the mid-2000s under the mild-mannered Hu Jintao, first among equals in a collective leadership. As China’s economy boomed, especially after the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, Hu and the other leaders lost restraint, abetting aggression toward the outside world and unchecked domestic social control. When Xi Jinping took power in 2012, he capitalized on widespread official corruption and open splits in the leadership to make the case for more concentrated power at the top. In the decade following, and to the present day―the eve of the 20th CCP Congress when he intends to claim a third term―he has accumulated greater power than any leader since Mao. Those who implement Xi’s directives compete to outdo one another, provoking an even greater global backlash and stoking jingoism within China on a scale not
seen since the Cultural Revolution.

Here is a devastatingly lucid portrait of China today. Shirk’s extensive interviews and meticulous analysis reveal the dynamics driving overreach. To counter it, she argues, the worst mistake the rest of the world, and the United States in particular, can make is to overreact. Understanding the domestic roots of China’s actions will enable us to avoid the mistakes that could lead to war.

LAST WEEK’S QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

What in the World? Quiz – Week of October 3-9, 2022

1. The incumbent Brazilian president did better than expected in Sunday’s elections but fell short of challenger, THIS former president who led with 48 percent, two points shy of victory. The two will meet in a runoff vote later this month as worries mount the incumbent might not recognize the election as legal.

A. Jair Bolsonaro
B. Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva
C. Nicolas Maduro
D. Juan Guaido

Correct Response: B. Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-63112509

2. Moscow annexed four provinces in Ukraine including THIS area where Russian forces were pushed back from the strategic hub of Lyman.

A. Lviv
B. Donetsk
C. Odesa
D. Chernihiv

Correct Response: B. Donetsk
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/30/world/europe/putin-speech-ukraine-russia.html

3. British Prime Minister Liz Truss is under fire for a botched “mini-budget” and tax cut plan as her party conference – THIS party called the Tories — opens this week.

A. Labour
B. Christian Democrats
C. Conservatives
D. Liberal Democrats

Correct Response: C. Conservatives
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/live-blog/2022-10-03/uk-s-kwarteng-speaks-at-tory-conference

4. A stampede to the exits at a soccer stadium in THIS archipelagic nation was caused by police firing tear gas at fans who rushed the pitch after a home-team loss, resulted in 125 deaths and hundreds injured.

A. Indonesia
B. Philippines
C. Malaysia
D. Papua New Guinea

Correct Response: A. Indonesia
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63105945

5. U.S. military forces began two weeks of exercises with THIS Pacific nation as tensions continue over China’s claims to control areas of the South China Sea. THIS country, once an American territory, hosted a major naval and air base during the Cold War.

A. Japan
B. Korea
C. Philippines
D. Singapore

Correct Response: C. Philippines
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/us-philippine-forces-hold-combat-drills-brace-crisis-90903304

6. The Nord Stream pipelines ruptured in likely sabotage have stopped leaking. Nord Stream provides gas from Russia to Western Europe through THIS body of water.

A. Black Sea
B. Sea of Okhotsk
C. Baltic Sea
D. Sea of Azov

Correct Response: C. Baltic Sea
https://news.yahoo.com/nord-stream-pipeline-sabotage-beneficial-081400800.html

7. October 3rd is Germany Unity Day which celebrates THIS.

A. Reunification of West and East Germany in 1990
B. End of World War II in Europe in 1945
C. End of the Berlin blockade in 1949
D. Founding of West Germany in 1949

Correct Response: A. Reunification of West and East Germany in 1990
https://www.state.gov/day-of-german-unity-2/

8. Somalia’s government announced the death of a co-founder of THIS militant off-shoot of Al Qaeda that has terrorized the country and other parts of East Africa in a joint international operation.

A. Al Shabaab
B. AQAP
C. Hezbollah
D. ISIS

Correct Response: A. Al Shabaab
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/somalia-says-it-killed-al-shabaab-co-founder-2022-10-03/

9. Violent protests continued in Iran as security forces crack down on demonstrations sparked by THIS incident last month.

A. The spiraling national inflation rate resulting from energy and food shortages.
B. The death of a young woman in police custody for a head covering violation.
C. The government’s rejection of the “nuclear deal” that would loosen sanctions.
D. The new restrictions on travel abroad for dual Iranian nationals.

Correct Response: B. The death of a young woman in police custody for a head covering violation.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-63111767

10. Tensions remain high on the Korean peninsula with a twin test fire of ballistic missiles in the North and the end of military exercises among the U.S., Japan and South Korea and visit of VP Kamala Harris to the DMZ. THIS South Korean president warned the North of a “resolute and overwhelming response” to any use of nuclear weapons.

A. Moon Jae-in
B. Park Geun-hye
C. Kim Dae-jung
D. Yoon Suk-yeol

Correct Response: D. Yoon Suk-yeol
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/skorea-us-japan-stage-anti-submarine-drills-amid-nkorea-tension-2022-09-30/

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THE MISSION of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Tennessee World Affairs Council is to promote international awareness, understanding and connections to enhance the region’s global stature and to prepare Tennesseans to thrive in our increasingly complex and connected world.

THE VISION of the Tennessee World Affairs Council is a well-informed community that thinks critically about the world and the impact of global events.