NewsTracker Answers for week of June 23, 2025

Q: Finland’s parliament voted last week to pull out of a major international treaty banning antipersonnel land mines in a move to boost its defenses against any aggression by Russia. It is among four NATO members bordering and formerly occupied by Russia that are leaving the treaty. Where is the Nordic nation of Finland?

Circle the area on this map

Q: Besides Finland, Poland and the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have announced their intention to withdraw from a 1997 treaty banning antipersonnel weapons. Those countries were among 165 parties to the agreement. Which major power did not agree to the treaty?

A. China

B. Russia

C. United States

D. All of the above

D. The top powers, along with nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan, did not sign the Ottawa Treaty. After invading Ukraine, Russia deployed thousands of antipersonnel mines in the country. Under President Joe Biden, the United States armed Ukraine with land mines to use against the Russians.

Q: Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 worried many European leaders. Finland and which other long-neutral country joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military alliance after the invasion??

A. Denmark

B. Norway

C. Sweden

D. Ukraine

C. Finland and its western neighbor, Sweden, remained neutral throughout the Cold War. They announced their intentions to join NATO about three months after Russia’s invasion. Denmark and Norway have been members of NATO since it was formed in 1949. Russia blamed its invasion on Ukraine’s expressed desire to join NATO.

Q: Antipersonnel land mines kill and injure thousands of people both during and after warfare. Which war-torn nation suffered the most casualties from those weapons in 2023?

A.Afghanistan

B. Myanmar

C. Syria

D. Ukraine

B. Myanmar suffered the highest number of casualties in 2023, according to the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor group. There also were significant deaths and injuries in Syria, Afghanistan, and Ukraine.. At least 1,983 people were killed and 3,663 were injured across 53 countries in 2023, and 84 percent of the victims were civilians.

Q: Which Southeast Asian nation has more than 40,000 amputees from land mine explosions and is still finding mines planted long ago?

A. Cambodia

B. Indonesia

C. Malaysia

D. Thailand

A. Cambodia mine hunters estimate there may be as many as four to six million mines and other pieces of unexploded ordnance in the country left over from decades of warfare. The mine hunters have used trained dogs and African giant pouched rats to help search for the mostly Chinese-made explosives.