What in the World?" Weekly Quiz -- April 29-May 5, 2019

Two U.S. Navy warships sailed through THIS 112-mile-wide waterway on April 28^thto demonstrate “freedom of navigation” in international waters as part of U.S. policy of keeping sea lanes open. THIS route separates China from what Beijing calls a renegade province with which the U.S. does not have formal ties but does support through arms sales.

THIS candidate was elected President of Ukraine in a landslide victory. In addition to being the first Jewish leader in this former Soviet republic besieged by Russian-backed insurgents in the East, he is an actor and comedian who played a fictional Ukrainian teacher who improbably becomes president.

Global military spending is up 2.6 percent, topping $1.8 trillion, the highest level since 1988 according to SIPRI, the respected Stockholm International Peace Research Institute due PRIMARILY TO THIS. United States’ spending rose 4.6 percent in 2017, over $649 billion, and putting the country at the top of global spending with 36 percent of the total, equal to the next eight highest spenders combined.

THIS nation in the United Kingdom, led by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, may take advantage of the chaos of Brexit to relaunch an independence referendum.

THIS EU country held elections over the weekend that saw the ruling Socialist party increase to 123 its seats in Parliament up from 84 but not enough to hold a majority, forcing it to forge a new coalition to rule. Of note was the rise of the Vox party, benefiting from anti-immigration and separatist concerns, the first far-right party in THIS country to make substantial electoral gains since dictator Francisco Franco died in 1988.

U.S. military planners are scrambling to cope with THIS disparity in capability between America and China after decades of advances in Beijing’s force structure. Mindful of defending its coasts against U.S. naval forces in the Western Pacific, and given advantage by America’s compliance with the US-Russian Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, China has benefited from emphasis of THIS.