This book has completely changed the way I view politics, world affairs, world wars, and governments. I signed up for the weekly email alerts from Stratfor (the company the author founded), a global intelligence services company. Needless to say, I found the analysis and commentary to be far more insightful and spot on than any other editorial I've ever read on the Net.

Read the Amazon reviews:

Amazon.com: The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century (978038551705: George Friedman: Books

I found it completely refreshing and eye opening. Now it may seem ambitious and foolish to actually try to predict what will happen in the 21st century, but he gives a strong disclaimer that he may get the facts and details wrong. He simply relies on close study and analysis of geopolitics and country history to make his predictions. What's best is that he does away with discussion of ethics/morals/partisan politics, and focuses on the fact that humans in general follow their general instincts: survival, resources, etc. Here are an outline of his predictions:

- The USA will continue to be the dominant world power for the rest of the century.
- China will fragment by 2020 due to unsustainable economic development and following civil unrest
- Turkey will emerge as the dominant hegemonic power in the Middle East
- The European Union will be as fragmented as ever, however Poland will emerge to head a coalition against Russian hegemony
- A renewed (but brief) Cold War with Russia, followed by its decline by mid 2010's

I got this for a whopping price of around Php 1200 in Powerbooks SM, but it was well worth the read. I strongly recommend getting a copy if you are into politics and discussion of politics. Truly eye opening.