Diplomacy majors: Read the State dept daily briefing this week

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/index.htm At least skim the overview of topics to see what could come up in Comps, or watch the briefing while doing other things, like cooking breakfast, which you should be eating.

Things-to-Write-in-Your-Comps Game!

Supposedly, Every year for the GRE and  SAT there is a facebook group that dares test-takers to include certain phrases or words in their essays. Welcome to the Comps game where this year we will take nominations for the best and then encourage everyone to participate.

Nominations:
"Harvey Dent, can he be trusted?"
"Hand-turkey"
"jing bang"
"That's what she said."
any dead baby joke

Please comment with further nominations.

Lance on traitors

"House arrest isn't so bad if you got a water slide."

Know your leaders

Wiki list of world rulers

Wins for hottest?

AFRICOM

What happened when the DoD created AFRICOM?
How did they handle it poorly?

How could public diplomacy be considered essential to national security?

I got nothing. Iran? NATO?

Lisbon Treaty

Why is it significant that the EU now has a permanent president?
Prime Minister of Belgium Herman Van Rompuy is chosen as the first permanent President of the European Council.

Presidency (Wikipage)

For Africa questions: the answer is Nigeria

Briefing from the 11/14 Economist:
Nigeria.mp3

Crisis Watch for November

Not a bad idea to read:
Crisis watch 75 (pdf)

In what ways does this administration differ from the Bush administration?

Consider: national security, diplomatic efforts, economic policy, gardening, pet choice, etc.

Post Practice Questions!

As study time winds down, let's start bringing together the elements of the separate majors. Post questions you think are akin to those found either in the written or oral exams. Then we can comment with answers, how to form answers or where to find them.

Am I a little overly optimistic that you guys may actually do this? Yes. But I promise to take pictures at graduation!

Know about US wars (length and casualties)

This came up in McGinty's class today. Just look it over.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_casualties_of_war

Good fact to know:
4328 US deaths currently in Iraq
3393 US deaths on D-Day

Added a countdown clock

Remember remember the 4th of November,
when the Shah's deposal was sought.
The embassy capture and what happened after
should never be forgot...