Home / Quotes / Quote by George Friedman

Quote by George Friedman

“Constraint theory defines for you what outcomes are possible and what outcomes are impossible. It also eliminates wishful thinking.”

Author

George Friedman

George Friedman is a renowned political scientist, born on February 1, 1949. He is best known for founding Stratfor, an intelligence analysis company that provides global political, economic, and military trend analysis. more

“Politicians are enormously smart and rational. They don't have the same interests as businessmen ... But a man rises to the top of the United States. He's clawed his way out of 330 million people. OK. He didn't do that because he was dumb, or lucky, or something like that. He understands power. And he understands how to take it. And he understands how to keep it.”

People Men Way States Interest United Millions United States Politician Lucky Smart Rational Dumb Businessman

Author:George Friedman

“Now if you can recognize and memorize a grandmaster's game, and you have the respect to understand [Zimbabwean president Robert] Mugabe who has survived past anyone's expectations, and make the simple assumption it wasn't an accident, and you understand why he did what he did, now you're ready to predict ... The key to forecasting is to understand both the constraints nations are under and the manner in which the struggle for power shapes leaders.”

Ifs Past Games Nations President Simple Leader Struggle Ready Keys Shapes Expectations Accidents Assumption Survived Constraints Forecasting Mugabe

Author:George Friedman

“I'm not a journalist. So I didn't down and let Assad charm me. I didn't walk away and say "my god he's got an Apple computer and he really likes Beyonce so he must be a liberal."”

Walks Computer Down And Likes Journalist Apples Charm Assad Beyonce

Author:George Friedman

“One of the great weaknesses of journalists is they interview people and they think that's important. They think that they are going to show them their true hand. But more to the point, they're trapped.”

People Thinking Important Shows Hands Weakness Journalist Interviews Trapped

Author:George Friedman

“Assad's mother was a terror. He was terrified of her and she kept saying to him, you're not like your father. That's interesting, but it's useless information. It doesn't tell me anything about how the first and second armored brigades are going to operate.”

Firsts Mother Father Interesting Information Like You Terror Useless Terrified Assad Useless Information

Author:George Friedman

“With the decline of American interests in the outcome of this region, there is no glue holding it together. And the countries in this region are invented ... The last guarantor of the region's borders was the United States, and the US has basically said "the hell with it." What you're really having is the collapse of nation-states because they're not nations. They're only states.”

Said Country States Together Lasts Nations Interest United United States Hell Borders Outcomes Regions Decline Collapse Glue

Author:George Friedman

“What is American strategy first of all? So American strategy is to command the seas, right? The foundation of our power is sea control. Nobody can invade us, but we can invade them.”

Firsts Sea Foundation Strategy Command

Author:George Friedman

“What is the great fear of the United States? That an Eastern power will build a navy to challenge us. How do you keep them from doing that? Keep them at each other's throats so they don't have any money to do this. This is why we fought the First World War, the Second World War, and the Cold War.”

World Firsts War States Challenges United United States Cold War Of The Worlds Throat Cold War Eastern Navy Second World War First World War

Author:George Friedman

“The first thing you have to do is understand what success looks like. And to understand what success looks like you have to understand the intent. If you understand that intent is to make sure the sea lines are secure, then suddenly bombing Kosovo makes sense, because you don't want Serbia to reemerge as a major power.”

Ifs Want Firsts Looks Lines Sea Like You Majors Secure Make Sense Bombing Serbia Kosovo

Author:George Friedman

“Well what are our geopolitical objectives? First, that North America be peaceful, prosperous, dominated by the United States. Second, that no nation be able to approach the United States militarily ... Those are the goals. It's very simple. We achieve that by making certain that all conflict takes place in the Eastern Hemisphere so we don't have conflict here.”

Firsts Wells States Able America Certain Nations Goal Simple United United States Achieve Conflict Approach Objectives Peaceful Eastern Prosperous North America Hemisphere Geopolitical

Author:George Friedman

Quote by George Friedman

Author

You May Also Like