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For
decades the United States has sat atop a unipolar world, unrivaled in
its influence over the rest of the globe. But now that may be changing
as a new, informal alliance takes shape between China and Russia. The
two great powers have a mutual interest in overturning an international
order that has long advantaged the West at their own expense. And as the
Earth's sole superpower turns inward, they will seek to carve out
bigger backyards for themselves. Will their marriage of convenience once
more give rise to the bipolarity that characterized the Cold War, or
will it unravel in the face of a natural rivalry rooted in geopolitics?
Essential Reading
The Calm After Zimbabwe's Coup Mugabe's departure could happen in a number of ways,
but most likely, he will soon step aside or be pushed out. In a less
likely scenario, he could stay on as a figurehead while the ruling
party, the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF),
looks for a consensus candidate. Regardless of exactly which path is
chosen, the only leader Zimbabwe has known since 1980 will eventually
leave power. Consequently, it should come as no surprise that the
country's leadership has planned for the aging Mugabe's eventual demise.
Saudi Arabia's New City Doesn't Have What It Takes With
all the news coming out of Saudi Arabia over the past few weeks, it
would be easy to overlook the announcement of the country's latest
proposal for a new megacity. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman recently
revealed his plan for a $500 billion project to build a brand-new,
robot-powered metropolis that, according to a promotional video, "will
change the way we live and work, forever." Neom, as the city is to be
named, is in many respects like several other so-called new cities
proposed or underway in Saudi Arabia and around the world. China
unveiled a similar plan this year to turn land 100 kilometers (about 60
miles) south of the capital into a megacity, the Xiongan New Area, that
is intended to serve as the new site of Beijing's nongovernmental
functions.
Stratfor Horizons: Hollywood Heads East China
is now the world's second-largest film market, which means you don't
need to follow geopolitics to know that Hollywood's future is CGI
spectacles and sci-fi sequels, but it helps. Space aliens, superheroes
and giant monsters fighting giant robots for unclear reasons will stick
around for one reason: You can understand and appreciate what is
happening on screen even if you don't speak English. And an increasing
share of the market doesn't.
Watch and Listen
Podcast: Global Risk and Anticipating Black Swan Events Can
you predict transformative world events? In this episode of the podcast
we explore the past, present and future of black swan events and how
geopolitically engaged individuals, investors or organizations can
anticipate, or at least mitigate their exposure to, the next major
geopolitical inflection point.
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In
this short geographic primer, Stratfor explains how Oman's geography
has fostered three core regions and maintaining unity of these regions
poses the countries primary geographic challenge.
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