George Friedman, Chairman of STRATFOR
Author of “Flash Points: The Emerging Crisis in Europe”
Join the World Affairs Council of Charlotte as we host George Friedman, Chairman of STRATFOR and author of “Flash Points: The Emerging Crisis in Europe” as he shares his insights on “flashpoints,” with unique geopolitical hot spots where tensions have erupted throughout history, and where conflict is due to emerge again.
With remarkable accuracy, George Friedman has forecasted coming trends in global politics, technology, population, and culture. In Flashpoints, Friedman focuses on Europe-the world’s cultural and power nexus for the past five hundred years . . . until now. Analyzing the most unstable, unexpected, and fascinating borderlands of Europe and Russia-and the fault lines that have existed for centuries and have been ground zero for multiple catastrophic wars-Friedman highlights, in an unprecedentedly personal way, the flashpoints that are smoldering once again.
The modern-day European Union was crafted in large part to minimize built-in geopolitical tensions that historically have torn it apart. As Friedman demonstrates, with a mix of rich history and cultural analysis, that design is failing. Flashpoints narrates a living history of Europe and explains, with great clarity, its most volatile regions: the turbulent and ever-shifting land dividing the West from Russia (a vast area that currently includes Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania); the ancient borderland between France and Germany; and the Mediterranean, which gave rise to Judaism and Christianity and became a center of Islamic life.
Through Friedman’s seamless narrative of townspeople and rivers and villages, a clear picture of regions and countries and history begins to emerge. Flashpoints is an engrossing analysis of modern-day Europe, its remarkable past, and the simmering fault lines that have awakened and will be pivotal in the near future. This is George Friedman’s most timely and, ultimately, riveting book.
Date: March 26, 2015
Location: Charlotte City Club (121 W. Trade St.) – Directions
Lunch, Presentation & Q&A: 12:00 – 1:30 p.m.
Cost:
$30 (WACC student/educator/TMS members)
You must be an individual WACC educator/student/TMS member to qualify for the $30 rate
$50 (WACC members)
$65 (non-Members)
Become a member of the WACC to attend this program at the discounted member rate
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Biography
George Friedman is the Chairman of Stratfor, a company he founded in 1996 that is now a leader in the field of global intelligence. Friedman guides Stratfor’s strategic vision and oversees the development and training of the company’s intelligence unit. His forthcoming book Flashpoints: The Emerging Crisis in Europe was released on Jan. 27.
Dr. Friedman is the author of The New York Times best-seller The Next Decade, which forecasts the major events and challenges that will test America and its presidents over the course of the next decade. Dr. Friedman’s previous book, The Next 100 Years, was also a New York Times best-seller and was published in over 20 languages. His other books on warfare and intelligence include America’s Secret War, The Future of War and The Intelligence Edge.
A very popular keynote speaker, Dr. Friedman is in high demand at numerous conferences and industry-specific events for major financial firms such as J.P. Morgan, Citibank, Ernst & Young and many Fortune 500 companies. In addition, he has briefed the Australian Command and Staff College, Eglin Air Force Research Laboratory, U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College and many other military and government organizations. Dr. Friedman is frequently invited to speak internationally, including in Turkey, Germany, Poland, Azerbaijan, Australia and New Zealand.
The world’s top media organizations regularly ask Dr. Friedman to appear as an international affairs expert. He has been featured in TIME, The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Fortune, Newsweek, The Financial Times and many other domestic and international publications, as well as broadcast media ranging from NPR to CNN to CNBC. He and Stratfor were also featured in cover stories in Barron’s and the New Statesman.
He received his Bachelor’s degree from the City College of the City University of New York and holds a Ph.D. in Government from Cornell University.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
- Global Geopolitics
- Intelligence Gathering and Analysis
- International Affairs
- Geopolitical Forecasting
- Modern and Historical Warfare
- U.S. Foreign Policy
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