HomeFrom the Desk of George Friedman

From the Desk of George Friedman

Facing Our Past

George Friedman - July 2, 2020

Perhaps the one unmistakable truth of the human condition is that we all live in the past. We are born in a place to inhabitants of that place, and we learn the things we are meant to learn. We may love or hate our past or be indifferent to it, but it never changes, ceaselessly […]

The ‘Spies and Commandos’ of Afghanistan

George Friedman - June 30, 2020

The media exploded late last week with reports that Russia had paid the Taliban bounties to kill U.S. and Afghan troops. The plot was...

Beethoven and Now

George Friedman - June 25, 2020

I know nothing about music. I can’t play an instrument, nor can I read music. My singing appalls even me. Yet music has defined...

Putin’s New History of Europe and the Rehabilitation of Stalin

George Friedman - June 23, 2020

Russian President Vladimir Putin likes to argue that World War II, and much of the suffering wrought by it, was the responsibility not just...

History and Decency

George Friedman - June 18, 2020

When I was a child, I learned that history moves forward, sometimes gently and sometimes brutally, but that I had no control over what...

Recession or Depression

George Friedman - June 16, 2020

In March, we declared our 2020 forecast null and void. The COVID-19 pandemic had essentially rendered it irrelevant. The question we posed in March...

The Redemption of Prediction

George Friedman - June 11, 2020

Foreseeing what will happen is not difficult. It requires only that we face the fact that life always repeats itself if not perfectly, then...

D-Day and Stalin

George Friedman - June 9, 2020

Editor’s Note: The following analysis was published on the anniversary of D-Day in 2019. It has been lightly edited. Over 70 years after it was...

The Beginning of the Cyclic Shift

George Friedman - June 4, 2020

A number of people have asked me if the events this week are what I was predicting in my book, “The Storm Before the...

From China to India

George Friedman - June 2, 2020

U.S.-China relations have been in decline for a long time. The United States had for years provided China with relatively free access to the...

Friedman’s Thoughts In and Around Geopolitics: Why There Won’t Be a War With China

George Friedman - May 28, 2020

Jacek Bartosiak, a close friend and collaborator, wrote a piece earlier in the week that concluded with a discussion of U.S.-China relations. He and...