Please answer the following questions by first doing a “save as.” Then, give this document a name, save it, then close it. Next, reopen this document as a “shell.” Then insert answers to each question into the “shell.” Save your “shell.” This process can be repeated as many times as times as you need. You have two weeks to complete the answers to this mid-term exam. Once you have completed your exam please return your completed exam to me through the course messages function ONLY on Blackboard. The original questions on this exam must be included in your completed exam. Please answer each question in 1-4 sentences. Your answers though short must be exact and complete. Otherwise you will lose valuable points. Late exams will be penalized 40 points.
In answering your questions be sure to also use of the Annotated Contents part of your text, pages ix-xiii.
1.According to your text, what question does Harvard Professor Stephen M. Walt ask regarding
He questioned whether it really matters how and by which means Assad was killing his opponents. The more important fact lies in the murder itself.
2.According to your text, what is the most recent episode of the use of chemical weapons (nerve
gas) in the world?
It happened when President of Syria Bashar al-Assad attacked rebels using sarin nerve gas on Aug. 21 in the suburb of Ghouta near Damascus.
3.According to your text, about how many people were killed from this latest use of chemical
weapons?
Up to 1,400 people were killed.
4.According to your text, how did President Obama react to this most recent episode of the use
of chemical weapons?
He asked Congress for authorization to use a limited military strike on Syria in response to the chemical attack.
5.According to our text, how does a 1975 U.S. resolution characterize Zionism?
The resolution considers Zionism to be a form of racism and racial discrimination.
6.According to your text, how many countries have favorable views toward Israel?
Only two countries (Russia and the USA) have predominantly positive views of Israel.
7.According to your text, is Iraq a mostly Sunni or mostly Shia country?
Iraq is a mostly Shia country.
8.According to your text roughly how many U.S. military personnel have been killed
in Iraq?
Nearly 4,500 people.
9.Has violence in Iraq increased or decreased since 2011? Please explain your answer.
The violence increased during the first year since the withdrawal of the US troops but remained incomparable to its peak in 2006. It happened due to conflicts on ethnic/religious ground between Sunnis and Shiites. However, since 2012 the level of violence has been falling dramatically thanks to some compromise between the groups.
10.What does the widely used expression “boots on the ground” mean and why is it such a
major concern to U.S. government officials at present?
“Boots on the ground” means the deployment of ground troops. U.S. government is now discussing the possibility of sending ground troops to fight ISIS in Syria and Iraq. In such a case, a lot of U.S. troops may be killed since insurgencies in these countries may be maintained for years.
11.How does your text characterize efforts to combat cybersecurity threats to the public?
Few law enforcement officers work on the issue, and the responsibilities of the police are too broad to help in the matter.
12.According to your text, what is the most common form of cybersecurity breach in the U.S.?
Phishing.
13.What obstacles does the Obama administration face in its efforts to combat cybersecurity
threats?
Their resolutions have been stalled due to political stalemate and since many business and private groups oppse the measures proposed by the government.
14.What was the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 and what was its outcome?
It included most of Obama’s recommendations on cybersecurity and would have implemented some cybersecurity standards for businesses,. However, the Act was declined by the Senate.
15.What two words does Scheuer use to describe Osama bin Laden in the YouTube video
“How and how not to fight terrorism”? Many words were used but these two words
were emphasize the most by Scheuer.
History-changer.
16.According to Scheuer, what is the key to understanding and defeating “the al-Qaeda
Enemy”?
Its religion.
17.According to your text what West African country lost large swathes of its territory to
al-Qaeda groups in 2012?
Mali.
18.According to Scheuer, what is the goal of al-Qaeda? What does it seek to do?
Instigating a worldwide Islamic insurgency against America and its allies.
19.Based on the YouTube video presentation by Michael Scheuer titled: “How and how
not to fight terrorism,” do the terrorists hate the US for its way of life as President
Bush and others have stated or to they hate the U.S. for other reasons? What are
the reasons that Scheuer gives for why al-Qaeda hates the U.S.?
It hates U.S. political leaders and foreign policy they conduct, which is perceived by al-Qaeda as attacks on Islam.
20.According to Michael Scheuer, give three reason that terrorists use to create opposition
against the U.S. in the Middle East? (See “How and how not to fight terrorism video.)
The first reason is the personality of Osama bin Laden himself. The second reason only emphasizes the first one due to the fact that the Muslim world is “an utter wasteland in terms of political leadership and heroic figures”. The third reason is in the “opaqueness of America’s political elites and leaders”.
21.According to your text, what three words does the international group, Freedom House,
use to describe the current Arab dictator who recently returned his country to
“autocratic rule”?
New president of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
22.According to your text, what is the name of the Islamist political party that won elections
in Tunisia?
Ennahda.
23.What does your text say about social unrest and the achievement of full democracy and
and individual rights in the Arab world?
Full democracy and individual rights are still to be achieved in most of the countries since only Tunisia is now rated “free” and three other countries (Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco) – “partly free”. Some countries that made progress in political reformed have moved backwards, thus maintaining their social unrest and political uncertainty.
24.According to your text, what Arab country is described as the only “bright spot” in the
Arab world according to a Freedom House report?
Tunisia.
25.According to your text, what event sparked the 2011 political reform movement known as
the Arab Spring and in what country did it occur in, first?
A Tunisian fruit-peddler frustrated by arbitrariness of a local policewoman set himself on fire. Thus, Tunisia was the first country.
26.According to your text, how did Syrian President Bashar al-Assad react to the fact that his
country of Syria has entered its fifth year of civil war?
He expressed pure confidence and a few regrets, emphasizing that his opponents are “rebels” and “terrorists”.
27.What two words describe your textbook’s description of statistics on transnational crime?
In other words how do the authors of your textbook feel about these statistics?
It describes the statistics as notoriously unreliable. That is because countries have different approach to estimation of transnational criminal activity or do not collect such data at all. Therefore, such statistcs cannot be trusted on, and the real scale of the problem may be much bigger.
28.According to your text what was the death toll from the Syrian Civil War as of December
2014 as reported by the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights?
202,000 people.
29.How many dollars have international criminals “raked in” according to the latest report issued
In 2011 by the UNODC cited in your text?
$2.1 trillion.
30.According to your text what modern developments give police and prosecutors
new advantages in the fight against transnational crime?
Instant Internet communication and globalization help trace criminals’ electronic trails.
31.According to your text, in the field of stolen Art and antiques alone, Interpol
estimates what dollar amount in losses per year?
$6-8 billion.
32.What state owned enterprise founded by the Portuguese crown in the early
1400s enriched European colonial powers and shaped the futures (and fortunes)
of the United States of America according to your text?
Atlantic slave trade.
33.According to your text, what words did Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin say
during his visit to energy-dependent Moldova?
“Energy supplies are important in the run-up to winterI hope you won’t freeze”.
