The Great Purge was a series of mass murders of people considered by Joseph Stalin to be threats to his power. The purges eliminated much of the leadership of the Communist Party, as well as many leading military figures. Nikolai Bukharin, a Politburo opponent of Stalin's prior to Stalin's rise to power, was executed in 1938.  Mikhail Tukhachevsky was the Marshall General of the Soviet Army until his imprisonment and execution in 1937. Gregory Zinoviev was another member of the Politburo who was executed in 1936.

The Congress of Vienna was held in 1815, shortly after the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The primary goals of the Congress of Vienna were to restore the balance of power in Europe; and to limit the growth of nationalism and republicanism. The French Revolution was viewed as particularly troublesome by the conservative factions in attendance at the Congress of Vienna. The Bourbon monarchy was restored to the throne in France in one of many attempts to prevent the spread of republicanism and nationalism around the autocratic empires of Europe.

The Congress of Vienna was held in 1815, shortly after the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The purpose of the Congress of Vienna was to try and establish a post-war order in Europe that would preserve peace and address the issues of liberalism and republicanism raised by the French Revolution.

The following delegates were present at the Congress of Vienna: Prince Metternich, representing Austria; Tsar Alexander I, representing Russia; French foreign minister Charles Talleyrand; Prince Karl von Hardenberg, representing Prussia; and British foreign secretary Viscount Castlereagh.

The UN was formed as a result of WWII in an effort for international powers to cooperate and maintain international standards of peace and human rights, and to replace the ineffective League of Nations (which was founded after World War I). It was chartered in 1945. The Red Cross began in the late 19th century, NATO was formed in 1948 as a reaction to the growth of the USSR, and NAFTA was not negotiated until 1994.

Mao did not want China to be a satellite state under Moscow's tutelage; the Sino-Soviet split ensured Chinese independence.

Titoism was the Communist ideology named after Josip Tito, the leader of Yugoslavia, who broke away from Moscow's suzerainty, setting the example for Chinese independence, but not directly part of the process.

Watergate was a political scandal that resulted in President Richard Nixon leaving office. Nixon's administration opened relations with mainland China, but Watergate was an internal American issue that had nothing to do Chinese-Soviet relations.

The Great Leap Forward was a massive reorganizing of the Chinese economy that attempted to industrialize China. It had an effect on China's ability to be independent of the Soviet Union, but was more of an internal policy than external rebalancing of power.

The Cultural Revolution was a Maoist attempt at destroying Mao's perceived enemies within China; it was an internal Chinese policy and was not the process by which China attained independence from the Soviet Union.

Qatar has a ratio of men to women that is higher than 2-to-1. The number one reason for this is business—particularly, the oil industry that brings in migrant workers from all over, mostly male. Between 2011 and 2012, about 75% of the population consisted of migrants from other Middle Eastern countries.

The Federal Supreme Council is the United Arab Emirate's highest governing authority. The Federal Supreme Council deals mostly with foreign affairs, while each of the seven emirates deals with its own internal affairs individually. The UAE has a Constitution that is a little more than four decades old, but the distribution of powers between the federation and each emirate is not clearly defined.  

The Federal Supreme Council can not only create but also impose laws. All three branches of government—judiciary, legislative, and executive—are headed by the Federal Supreme Council.

Saudi Arabia is an authoritarian, absolute monarchy. The king in Saudi Arabia is the source of all legislative, executive, and judicial power. He is the ultimate decision maker; the royal family is vested with power.  

Political parties are outlawed due to the monarchy's control of government. The throne is not granted by election, but ascension (a prince becoming king).  

The Ottoman Empire collapsed in 1922 after World War I, and Turkey was recognized as a republic a year later. The Ottomans are regarded as one of the great empires, arguably peaking in the 1400s with the capturing of the Byzantine empire's capital Constantinople. Turkey established a new Constitution in 1924 and several steps towards secularizing the country were taken.