FSOT Flashcards
Who is the Supreme Leader of Iran?
Ali Khamenei.
Who is the Foreign Minister of Iran?
Javad Zarif.
The Trump administration ordered new sanctions against Iran in June of 2019 as a response to what?
Oil-tanker attacks, rocket launches, and the downing of a $130 million U.S. military drone.
What is the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps?
Iran’s elite militia - designated by the U.S. as a terror group.
Who is the Iranian Ambassador to the UN?
Majid Ravanchi.
What is the founding legislation for the Foreign Service?
The Foreign Service Act of 1980 (the current iteration of the 1924 law creating the U.S. Foreign Service) - which says the “career foreign service, characterized by excellence and professionalism, is essential in the national interest to assist the President and the Secretary of State in conducting the foreign affairs of the United States.”
What is the proposed 10% cap at State?
A proposal made by the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) that calls for capping the percentage of high-level positions filled by political appointees at 10% to help ensure the Foreign Service operates above the partisan fray.
What are some British concerns regarding a trade deal with the U.S. post-Brexit?
Such an agreement could take years to materialize and would face multiple political hurdles in the U.K. and the U.S.; negotiating such a deal would require the U.K. to ditch many EU regulations and pull out of the bloc’s customs arrangements, threatening existing trade with the 27 remaining member states; British farmers worry the U.K. will be flooded by cheap U.S. imports; and voters don’t want to see the state-run National Health Service opened to American corporate involvement in any trade pact.
What does ALDAC stand for?
All Diplomatic and Consular Posts.
What is stated in cable 18 STATE 112364, “Boosting Commercial Diplomacy Around the World?”
Secretary Pompeo makes commercial diplomacy a foreign policy priority and provides practical tips to strengthen our ability as a country to support U.S. business interests. It states, “Promoting broad-based, responsible, and sustainable economic growth helps to stabilize regions and creates new and growing markets for U.S. companies. A transparent and level playing field for U.S. investment in these countries counters real and growing challenges such as China’s Belt and Road Initiative.”
What is China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)?
Also known as the New Silk Road, the BRI is one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects ever conceived. Announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, Xi’s vision includes creating a vast network of railways, energy pipelines, highways, and streamlined border crossings both westward - through the mountainous former Soviet republics - and southward to Pakistan, India, and the rest of Southeast Asia. Such a network would expand the international use of Chinese currency while new infrastructure could “break the bottleneck in Asian connectivity,” according to Xi. In addition to physical infrastructure, China plans to build fifty special economic zones - modeled after the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone - which China launched in 1980 during its economic reforms under leader Deng Xiaoping.
What was the Silk Road?
The Silk Road came into being during the westward expansion of China’s Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) - which forged trade networks throughout what are today the Central Asian countries of Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan - as well as modern-day India and Pakistan to the south. Those routes extended more than four thousand miles to Europe. Use of the route peaked during the first millennium under the leadership of first the Roman and then Byzantine Empires and the Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE) in China.
What is the official currency of the People’s Republic of China?
The renminbi. The yuan is the basic unit of the renminbi but is also used to refer to the Chinese currency generally - especially in international contexts where “Chinese yuan” is widely used to refer to the renminbi.
What does ASEAN stand for?
Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
What is the BRI’s largest project so far?
The $68 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor - a collection of projects connecting China to Pakistan’s Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea.
