“What in the World? Weekly Quiz" | Oct 17-23, 2022

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Last Week’s Quiz Winners

Kristine LaLonde, Nashville, TN
Sara Cardwell, Charlotte
Charles Bowers, Nashville, TN
Nick McCall, Knoxville, TN
Patricia Paiva, Nashville, TN
Steve Freidberg, Boston, MA
Roger French, Washington, IL
Barbara Gubbin, Jacksonville, FL
Peter Sharadin, Reading, PA
Basil G. Smith, Jacksonville, FL
Nancy Williams, Rochester, NY
Buddy Teaster, Nashville, TN
Mary Young, Rochester, NY
Rich Buck, Peoria, IL
Greg Thompson, Mount Laurel, NJ
Lewis Bellardo, Nashville, TN
Christine Laemmar, Brookfield, WI
Tucker Handley, North Olmsted, OH
Adam Leff, Bethel, ME
Michael Weiss, Rockville, MD
David Nelson, Old Greenwich, CT
P Moloch, Guntersville, AL
Susanne Frensley, Nashville, TN
Barbara Cleland, Weston, CT
Darin Sujjavanich, Holly Springs, NC
Desikan Gandarva, Rocky River, WA
Leanne Drullette, Regina, Saskatchewan
Marilyn Croak, Lagrange, KY
Alfonse Masi, Peoria, IL
Murphy Wilkinson, Streator, IL

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 10-16, 2022

1. Russia launched barrages of missiles against Ukrainian cities on Monday including Kyiv, which had not been attacked in four months, in likely response to THIS action.

A. A car bomb attack on a Russian private military contractor in Moscow
B. A chemical weapon attack on a Russian convoy in Luhansk
C. A bombing of the Kerch Bridge connecting Crimea to the Russian mainland
D. A refusal by President Zelensky to surrender the four annexed eastern regions

Correct Response: C. A bombing of the Kerch Bridge connecting Crimea to the Russian mainland
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63190844

2. OPEC and allied oil producers announced a two percent cut in output that stunned the Biden Administration with Secretary of State Blinken called “disappointing” because of THIS country’s energy alliance with Russia.

A. Venezuela
B. Iran
C. Saudi Arabia
D. Libya

Correct Response: C. Saudi Arabia
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/06/politics/biden-administration-opec-oil/index.html

3. Forty-four leaders from every European nation and others with interests in the community met in Prague to launch THIS new multi-lateral political association.

A. European Union (EU)
B. NATO + Five
C. European Political Community (EPC)
D. Brexit Plus

Correct Response: C. European Political Community (EPC)
https://www.economist.com/europe/2022/10/06/meet-the-brand-new-european-political-community

4. Fears that Russia could use a nuclear weapon in his attacks against Ukraine has reminded the world of THIS 1962 nuclear brinksmanship between the United States and the Soviet Union.

A. The Berlin Airlift
B. The Gulf of Tonkin incident
C. The Cuban Missile Crisis
D. The Prague Spring

Correct Response: C. The Cuban Missile Crisis
https://www.economist.com/international/2022/09/29/could-the-war-in-ukraine-go-nuclear

5. Last week THIS business titan was criticized for his peace proposal via Tweet calling for Ukraine to give up territory to Russia. Now he has started a new controversy over his call for Taiwan to become an administrative zone of China.

A. Jeff Bezos
B. Elon Musk
C. Mark Cuban
D. Mark Zuckerberg

Correct Response: B. Elon Musk
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-63196452

6. The foreign minister of THIS long-suffering Caribbean nation – earthquakes, hurricanes and lawlessness – called for international police support in the face of widespread gang violence causing “great havoc.”

A. Jamaica
B. Puerto Rico
C. Dominican Republic
D. Haiti

Correct Response: D. Haiti
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/7/haiti-to-request-aid-of-foreign-forces-as-violence-rages-reports

7. North Korea’s recent ballistic missile test launches, including an IRBM that passed over Japan, are said to be the “simulation of an actual war” as THIS leader threatened more provocative missile tests and observers said a nuclear test might be in the offing.

A. Xi Jinping
B. Kim Jong Un
C. Kim Il Sung
D. Kim Jong-il

Correct Response: B. Kim Jong Un
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/korea-confirms-nuke-missiles-tests-wipe-enemies-91266526

8. The widespread demonstrations against the Iranian regime continued despite mass arrests by authorities and numerous protestors deaths. The most striking characteristic of the protests has been THIS factor.

A. Rural vice urban
B. Campus based
C. Female led
D. Economic grievances

Correct Response: C. Female led
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/08/are-hijab-protests-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-irans-regime

9. The UK and the European Union started talks on the Northern Ireland Protocol which was a result of the British exit from the EU. The Protocol addresses THIS issue.

A. Fishing rights in the Irish Sea
B. Land border between Northern Ireland and Wales
C. Excessive tariffs for Northern Ireland goods to the EU
D. Northern Ireland-EU trade rules

Correct Response: D. Northern Ireland-EU trade rules
https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-53724381

10. The 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, named for Swedish arms manufacturer Alfred Nobel, was awarded to THESE joint recipients.

A. Nasrin Soutoudeh, a human rights attorney in Iran, who has been defending women’s rights
B. Pope Francis for his advocacy of the rights of impoverished citizens in his native Argentina
C. A Belarus human rights advocate and human rights organizations in Russia and Ukraine
D. Cindy Blackstone for championing the rights of indigenous school children in Canada

Correct Response: C. A Belarus human rights advocate and human rights organizations in Russia and Ukraine
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/07/1127404842/nobel-peace-prize-rights-advocates-russia-ukraine-and-belarus

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A PROUD MEMBER OF THE WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCILS OF AMERICA SINCE 2007

THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS IN GLOBAL AFFAIRS AWARENESS AND EDUCATION OUTREACH

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.