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1. GENERAL KNOWLEDGE AND CURRENT EVENTS
2. Concisely define Geopolitics. Geopolitics is the study of political and economic
interactions in the world with a eye to understand the effect of geography,
demographics and culture on those interactions.
3. Name one fungible commodity. Define fungible. Oil (crude). Fungible goods
are those which one unit is the same as any other unit of the same commodity
so they are of equal value.
4. Concisely define terrorism. The use of violence or the threat of violence to
influence politics through fear and intimidation.
5. Concisely define geosynchronous orbit. An orbit of the earth where the
orbiting thing is essentially in a fixed position relative to the earth.
6. Concisely define balance of trade.
It is the total value of your exports minus the total value of your imports.
7. Who is Sergei Ivanov? Russian defense minister
8. Name three of the world’s top natural gas producers. Russia, US, Canada
9. Who are the current leaders of China, Russia, Zimbabwe, Turkey and Mexico?
Hu Jintao, Medvedev, Mugabe, Erdogan, Calderon
10. Who was the first sitting U.S. president to visit the PRC? Nixon
11. Name two major heroin-producing countries. Afghanistan Turkey
12. Name two landlocked countries in South America. Bolivia, Paraguay
13. Name the five former Soviet Central Asian states. Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,
Krygyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan
14. Where are the Spratly Islands? Contested islands in Southeast Asia
15. What countries border Iraq? Iran, Syria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia
16. Expand the following acronyms:

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VBIED
FARC
FSB
IAEA
ASEAN
17. When was the Asian economic crisis? July 1997 until early 2000s.
18. When was the Six Days War? Approximately 1950
19. What year was the Cuban Missile Crisis? 1962
20. Name the last three U.S. Secretaries of State
Rice, Powell, Albright
21. Where is the only permanently forward deployed U.S. aircraft carrier based?
22. Name three naval shipping chokepoints. Suez Canal, Straights of Malacca,
Panama Canal
23. Name three nations with indigenous manned space programs. China, US, Russia
24. Name three undeclared or aspiring nuclear powers. North Korea, Iran,
25. Differentiate briefly between a ballistic missile and a SAM.
26. Name three major non-OPEC oil producers. Venezuela, US, Russia
27. Name the top five countries in terms of GDP, in order from greatest to least. US,
Japan, Germany, China, Russia
28. Name four of the top six oil producers. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia, US
29. Name four of the top six oil importers. US, China, UK, Japan
30. How do governments deal with rising inflation?

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31. If the U.S. president and Vice president are incapacitated, who takes over?
Secretary of State
32. How many seats are there on the United Nations Security Council? 15 (5
permanent)
33. How long do non-permanent members serve on the UNSC? 2 year terms
34. Who currently holds the rotating EU presidency?
Sarkozy - France
35. Briefly define oligarch.
An oligarch is a business magnate, someone with significant wealth, multiple
interests in the business world and influence through a country’s economic and
political landscape.
36. Name the two major branches of Islam.
Sunni Shia’a
37. What is meant by the term “graying population?”
A population who has a demographic trend where the average age of the population
is increasing.
38. What are the Sunni Awakening Councils?
Tribal councils organized with the help of the United States military to fight off
insurgents in localities throughout Iraq.
39. Who is the Supreme Leader of Iran? Khamenei
40. What does the name “Al Qaeda” mean?
The base
41. Who are the MEND?
42. Define GDP. Gross Domestic Product is the value of all services and goods
produced in a country in a given year.
43. What valley lies where Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan meet?
44. With which countries in Latin America does Russia have close ties? Nicaragua,
venezuala
45. Briefly identify two key problems facing Chinese economic planners. Avoiding
unemployment and reducing income inequality.
46. Which countries were most significantly affected by Russia’s Jan. 1, 2005
shutdown of gas supplies to Ukraine?

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47. Who is the current director of the Central Intelligence Agency?
Hayden
48. What is the main problem the United States currently has with the Inter-Services
Intelligence agency?
49. Name the members of the GCC Kuwait, oman, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, qatar
50. Who has recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia? nicaragua