Tuesday, May 14, 2013

The Next 100 Years by George Friedman


George Friedman's book The Next 100 Years covers primarily the political, economic and military conflicts that he predicts will occur from now until the year 2100. 

Far from heading into the twilight he sees America's ascendancy during the next century primarily based on geography.  One of three large countries with sea ports on the Atlantic and the Pacific gives the US a big advantage with respect to shipping material goods.  The dominance of the US Navy also allows for unfettered control of trade on the ocean. 

Conflict between Mexico and the US over the boarder region between the two countries is predicted to escalate.  Because the Mexican community in the US is not a diaspora he argues that the loyalty of Mexican/American citizens is in question at least in the boarder regions. 

The mastery of space and the development of space based energy production and space based weaponry will also be a large source of conflict and prosperity in the latter half of the 21st century. 

He predicts that Russia will attempt to reestablish some of the USSR first through dependency on energy production.  Poland will again be caught in the middle with the US and UK needing to make a decision if the country is worth defending.

 
George Friedman - America's strength: destroy the old and let it go.
 
 
Turkey will dominate the Islamic world in the future

The book, The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century, is available from Amazon.com.

Monday, May 6, 2013

One from the Hart by Stephanie Powers


One from the Hart by Stephanie Powers covers her life starting from birth through the present.  She grew up in Hollywood and worked through several marriages.  Her marriage to William Holden provided the strongest emotional bond.  His troubles with alcohol, rehab and relapses made the times when he was sober more special to her.  He was at his best working on a Kenyan game reserve with Stephanie. 

Stephanie strongly bonded with her mother who served as her adviser while she was getting started in Hollywood.   She did not take her mother's advice and married Gary Lockwood a relationship that did not go well. 

With in two weeks she and her Hart to Hart costar Robert Wagner lost their spouses.  Natalie in a drowning accident and Willaim to alcohol related issues.  She also had to deal with her smoking related lung cancer. 

This account of her life provided a woman's perspective of an age in Hollywood covered with different vantage points by James Garner, Robert Wagner, Tony Curtis and Roger Moore.  They started out towards the end of the contract system and made it on their own.

 
Connie Martinson interviews Stephanie Powers part 1 - Why she wrote the book
 
 
Connie Martinson interviews Stephanie Powers part 2 - Traveling with Bill