Jaw-dropping apolitical analysis

Friedman's analysis in this book is neither left nor right, neither liberal nor conservative. As a conservative myself, his cynical view of the American "empire" and practical Machiavellian insights into sound foreign policy contradict my idealistic higher moral calling toward "liberty and justice for all mankind". In fact, now that I think of it, it could be argued that Obama's soft call towards the Middle East may be just what we need to restore stalemate-stability in a region that would be devastating to US prosperity and security were it to unite under a common banner. This and other cold, hard insights on the unintended American hegemony make this the must-read book of the year, if not the decade. I have not read his previous books, so those of who know Friedman may be like, "yeah, we know he's good", but this is my first (and definitely not last) read from this author. You high-minded Tea-Party moralists and Left-wing ivy league idealogues would be foolish not to get a second opinion on how the world really operates from an internationally recognized expert on geopolitical analysis. Get it, read it, let your jaws hit the floor. Mine did.

17 people found this helpful

Very Practical Geo-Political Orientation

I am a fan of George Friedman and he has provided a great service to readers who are interested in the geo-political furture faced by the US over the next decade. This is a terribly informative and stimulating analysis and outline of the broad issues that will confront the country. While his previous book, "The Next 100 Years" is interesting, this volume is of a shorter time horizon and, therefore, less conjecture is involved. For that reason, I enjoyed this one a great deal more than the prior. He opens the book with a discussion of the role that the POSTUS will need to play internationally. This discussion was at once disturbing to me and really enlightening about the nature of powerful leaders and leadership. He follows by discussing blancing various actors on the world stage (India/Paskistan; Russia/German and so on). He also has some thought provoking insights into the future of Asia in general and China in particular. In a particularly forceful portion of the book, Friedman defines "deep power" and explains why the US is the only super power and will probably remain so - assuming that the POTUS assumes the appropriate leadership stance that Friedman presents. The writing is very good and the reading of Bruce Turk is excellent. This is a book that everyone interested in the future of the country and votes should read.

14 people found this helpful

off by key

George Friedman, I think has a delusional outlook on foreign policy. To say that certain conditions would benefit a nation is one thing, to advocate that a nation should or could engineer those conditions is pure folly. Certainly that was what the war in iraq was, and its consequences are still unfolding. Although america may be in a position of leverage right now, coalitions can be formed to undermine that position. Noone sees the dragon coming, thats what makes it the dragon.

5 people found this helpful

Challenges Ahead for America's Leadership

The book's main premise and Friedman's concern, at least how he states it in the introduction is that America has become an empire because it is now the sole major power in the world. Friedman builds a solid argument here and then moves on to describe his concern that the US is immature and our republic may not survive managing the empire. In his view, the Presidency is the major institution of government that can manage the empire and the republic. He makes a good case for how President Bush lost his balance in responding so strongly to the attacks of 09/11 and initiating a war on terror that can not be won, and has shifted America's focus from other major threats such as a resurgent Russia.

Friedman does a good job of laying out the foreign policy challenges the US faces in the next decade and offers prescriptions of what should be done to manage our long-term interests. Some of these are very counter intuitive to general thinking, but they make sense within the general framework he advocates to maintain America's interests. The chapters on what policy actions to take are the books strength.

The book's weakness, however, is the limited prescriptions as to what the President must do to manage the Republic while responding to these challenges. He cites Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Reagan as three astute role models, while acknowledging they each pursued duplicitous strategies in some cases to achieve a moral objective. He notes the flaws in an idealistic or realistic approach to foreign policy and how a more nuanced view is needed. And while he describes how the President must communicate to citizens, he does not offer any solid definition of how the President must interact with Congress or the Judiciary. He does suggest that we need a more rationalized administration developing foreign policy. I think this book could have been much better if it was co-written with a political governance expert.

3 people found this helpful

Second thought pleasure

This is my second book by George Friedman and I'm a strong advocate for his books. I encourage my friends to read this book, though make their opinion on Mr.s Friedman's logic.

3 people found this helpful

What a compelling assimilation of complex history

I think I have found a new "significant" author. Neither I nor he are interested Ouija board like predictions, and he did not give us that.

I have one very big concern: His acceptance that a great leader LIES. As a child, I remember the horror expressed by my local community when one of JFKs advisors publicly, unashamedly INFORMED us that a government had a RIGHT to lie.

I don't remember the issue now, but I never forgot the assertion. I will likely read other books by this author. Maybe even re read parts of this one.

I think nothing I can do or say can stop this huge groundswell of our culture. This is a sociological situation, which did not happen quickly. THIS is related undoubtedly to our current dilemmas. I know that leadership likely HAS been perpetually dishonest, but, NOW, it's being promulgated openly as a tool available to statesman?

2 people found this helpful

Excellent book, awful narration

This book is excellent. Unfortunately, I found it very hard to maintain my attention on what the narrator was saying. He sounds like one of those computer programs that read text. I listened to samples of other books narrated by Bruce Turk, and they all sounded the same, as if they were read by robots.

2 people found this helpful

AMERICAN EMPIRE

“The Next Decade” is a provocative book. Political Science is an oxymoron but George Friedman, a Political Science Ph.D., rivals Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) in his cynical assessment of world politics in the 21stcentury. Friedman suggests that this is the age of American empire. He believes America is on the precipice of decline without a re-evaluation of its role in the world.

America is an aircraft carrier in a sea of agile boats. The boats are less substantial vessels (smaller political factions) but they can maneuver faster and have equal or greater effect on public opinion. The obvious example is al-Qaida’s New York terrorist attack that killed 3,000 innocents. That single act changed worldwide transportation security, instigated America’s invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, and opened the door to a new balance of power in the Middle East.

America may be a third Empire in history but one may doubt its ability to rule in “The Next Decade” based on 21st century’ events and actions.

1 person found this helpful

You'll end up smarter just by reading it.

Any additional comments?

I first read The Next One Hundred Years; I thought that the exercise of trying to look so much into the future was too speculative. The Next Decade is, in my opinion, a much better book and given that some of the predictions of the author are already happening, the Russian annexation of Crimea as an example, this book is becoming scarily accurate. More than a futurist book, the author really understands geopolitics and his premise of recognizing that the US is, for all intended purposes, an empire is dead on. He explains the appropriate strategies the US would be wise to follow and gives us a glimpse of what past administrations have done to manipulate other countries into rivalries and alliances with the objective of maintaining balance, the book is not about right and wrong but about what works for maintaining a strong position in the world.

1 person found this helpful

This should be required reading for all Americans.

I originally rented this from Cracker Barrel. I liked it so much I bought it here and listened to it 2 more times. There is a slight liberal lean to it, but that is palatable. I learned so much, I can not even describe. The mistake of Iraq is so painfully obvious when you listen to this book.

1 person found this helpful