Stratfor

[Doug Henwood]

A couple of people asked me to summarize my interview with Mr 
Stratfor, George Friedman, last night. Like Merrill Lynch, Friedman 
is bullish on America. He thinks our economy & empire are mighty. I 
asked him if he thought the American Century was going to last into 
the 21st, and he said that it'd be the beginning of the American 
millennium. He also thinks:

*Latin America is where Asia was in the early 70s - poised for a takeoff.

*Asia's got serious problems - overaccumulation of capital with a 
profitability crisis (he didn't use that phrase, but that's what he 
meant). They used to laugh at us for being so short-termist, while 
they were investing for the long term, but it hasn't worked out so 
well for them.

*The euro will break apart on the first recession, since you can't 
have one monetary policy for 11 countries.

*Some strong hands will take control of Russia, shoot Berezovsky & 
the oligarchs, and things could get ugly.

*South Africa will become a regional imperialist power.

*China and Russia will try to put together some alliance as a check 
on the U.S., but it ain't going to be easy.

*90% of their info comes from public sources. They get lots of info 
by email now that the world is well aware of them - about 20% of 
which is worthwhile, and about 80% of which is of "the Martians have 
landed" variety.

Doug