Beyond Iraq, I am also profoundly worried about the continuing meltdown of Syria, which is a geopolitical Chernobyl. Until it is capped, it is going to continue to spew radioactive instability and extremist ideology over the entire region.
The main task for the Middle East is geopolitical stability. The rest of the world has to help to get this region straight, and once that’s been achieved, the region has a great future.
Hamas and Hezbollah operate within geopolitical norms. They can be negotiated and reasoned with. ISIL is a different animal altogether – a religious cult an order of magnitude more extreme than even the most extreme Islamic groups of the past.
Since 1989, public alarm at the prospect of atomic Armageddon has quietened, but the number of nuclear-armed states has increased, arsenals are being modernized, and powerful states remain convinced that a nuclear security umbrella is vital to national defense, domestic prestige, and geopolitical clout.
Beyond Iraq, I am also profoundly worried about the continuing meltdown of Syria, which is a geopolitical Chernobyl. Until it is capped, it is going to continue to spew radioactive instability and extremist ideology over the entire region.
In the re-creation of combat situations, and this is coming from a director who’s never been in one, being mindful of what these veterans have actually gone through, you find that the biggest concern is that you don’t look at war as a geopolitical endeavor.
Money has always been framed as a public good, one that must be stewarded by governments, when in fact, it is a private enterprise like any other which is fueled by personal agendas, regulation, and the quest for geopolitical hegemony.
New discoveries and production of resources like shale oil and gas are dramatically altering our energy supply outlook and the entire global geopolitical landscape. And the pace of change – particularly in the past few years – continues to accelerate.
I suspect millions of people from my generation probably have comparable stories to tell: if not of sports simulations then of Dungeons & Dragons, or the geopolitical strategy of games like Diplomacy, a kind of chess superimposed onto actual history.
I believe it is still true that conflicts among major powers usually stem from geopolitical rivalries but rarely from economic competition.
The refugee crisis shows we can’t be isolated from the world’s geopolitical troubles.
It is neither feasible nor desirable for Europe to establish itself as a geopolitical equal or competitor of the U.S.
Our leaders do us no service when they fail to recognize that the threat the so-called Islamic State and its allied terrorists represent is a civilizational, not a geopolitical, conflict and can only be understood through that lens.
In the 1950s and 60s, geopolitical intrigues did not much engage masses in Asia and Africa; it was something for elites to sort out.
An intensification of trade or geopolitical tensions – with negative repercussions for global growth and risk appetite – could affect economies that are highly dependent on foreign demand or external financing.
The dramatic rise of Turkey in the councils of world power was one of the main geopolitical developments of 2010.
For me, geopolitical issues are becoming more important, because how can you understand economy if you don’t understand geopolitics? People think economists just deal with spreadsheets and charts. That’s a narrow-minded caricature.
Iraq is a manufactured conflict for the sake of geopolitical dominance in the area.
If you misdiagnose, if you misdiagnose anything, whether it’s a serious disease or a international geopolitical threat, you will never solve it.
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