HomeFrom the Desk of George Friedman

From the Desk of George Friedman

The 20-Year War

On Sept. 11, 2001, a special operations team created by al-Qaida attacked the United States, hijacking commercial airplanes to target psychologically significant structures. I call it a special operations team because that’s exactly what it was, not the primitive cabal it was mistakenly made out to be. Its members were fanatical, but they understood their […]

China’s Search for a Negotiated Settlement

Last week, China celebrated the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party. The celebration included a plan for the invasion of Taiwan,...

Children, Grandchildren and the Future of all Things

Editor’s Note: As the Fourth of July holiday weekend approaches, we are reminded that many Americans will be traveling to see friends and family,...

China, Russia and the Strategy of Indirection

Europe was the primary battleground of the Cold War. NATO adopted a defensive strategy because it saw no value in conquering Eastern Europe and...

Critical Theory

I entered graduate school in 1970, determined to study two things. One was political philosophy, the consideration of the nature of justice, particularly as...

US Withdrawal From the Middle East

The United States is withdrawing air defense capabilities from several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait and Jordan, with most of the withdrawals...

Summits and the Personal Understanding They Foster

As the week of meetings in Europe ends, many wonder what the varied personalities have brought us. In particular, we wonder whether U.S. President...

What Does It Mean to Rejoin Europe?

U.S. President Joe Biden’s trip to Europe has thus far pivoted around the single issue on which almost the entire world agrees: Biden is...

Russia as a Developing Nation

Richard Moore, who heads Britain’s foreign intelligence service, or MI6, was quoted in the Sunday Times as saying that “Russia is an objectively weakening...

An Obituary for My Friend

In 2003, I received a call from someone named Jim Hornfischer, a literary agent whom I had never heard of or met, but who...

A Russian Move in Europe

Russia and the European Union held a conference last week, during which Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a speech: “The situation remains...

COVID-19: Made in China?

In a recent interview, Dr. Anthony Fauci was asked whether he was confident that COVID-19 developed naturally. He has long maintained that though it...

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