From the Desk of George Friedman

The missing piece is where Germany is going to find productivity gains.

Disagreements over immigration threaten the ruling coalition.

It’s all about creating illusions and convincing others that they’re real.

Even though Spain’s economy has recovered, its politics are in crisis.

The U.S. is a country like any other, and it can be trusted to act in its interests at all times.

Japan’s post-war reliance on the U.S. may be obsolete if Korea talks succeed.

Even the most powerful ones are constrained by impersonal forces.

Reconciling a nation to a past greater than the present is both hard and dangerous.

The U.S. is still the pre-eminent global power, whether the world likes it or not.

In the next two weeks, I will be visiting and writing about Portugal and Italy.

The United States is a global power in a world filled with asymmetric interests.

The core issue is not one of marketing but of citizenry.