George Friedman

George Friedman was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1949 to Jewish parents who survived the Holocaust. His family later immigrated to the United States, and he grew up in New York City. He pursued his higher education at the City College of New York, where he earned a B.A. in political science. Furthering his academic career, he obtained a Ph.D. in government from Cornell University. Friedman spent nearly two decades in academia, teaching political science at Dickinson College.

In 1991, Friedman co-authored ‘The Coming War With Japan’ with his wife, Meredith LeBard. This work explored the potential for a Japan-U.S. conflict following the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 1996, he founded Stratfor, a private intelligence and forecasting company, serving as its CEO and later chairman for almost 20 years before his resignation in May 2015. During his tenure at Stratfor, he oversaw the publication of recurring Decade Forecasts, which analyzed global trends based on structural factors leading up to 2015. In 2015, Friedman founded Geopolitical Futures, where he continues to provide geopolitical analysis and forecasting.

Friedman is a New York Times bestselling author, recognized for his contributions to geopolitical literature. His publications include ‘The Next 100 Years’ (2009), which speculates on 21st-century global geopolitics, and ‘The Next Decade’ (2010), which discusses the United States’ role as a global superpower. His book ‘Flashpoints: The Emerging Crisis in Europe’ (2015) addressed geopolitical tensions within Europe. His most recent book, ‘The Storm Before the Calm: America’s Discord, the Coming Crisis of the 2020s, and the Triumph Beyond,’ published in 2020, examines cycles of crisis and reinvention in American history. Friedman has briefed numerous military and government organizations in the United States and abroad and is a regular expert commentator on international affairs in major media.