By Hal Jacobson on 1/6/2010 1:53 PM

The following blog was published by Stratfor and contains a summary of events - political and social - that will take place in 2010.  Each geographic region and some specific countries have been given individual predictions.

This article is extremely interesting and will make you think.  Please view the beginning paragraph below or click "Read More" for the entire article.

ANNUAL FORECAST 2010

The dominant theme of 2009 was the global recession. A series of financial developments in the United States damaged the U.S. banking system and spread from there to the rest of the global economy. Everyone -- whether purchasers of high-tech goods or sellers of raw commodities -- was deeply affected. As the year turns anew, that recession has ended. The recovery in place is unsteady, but appears to have put down sufficient roots to hold.

Two major evolutions will dominate 2010. The first is a continuation of a trend STRATFOR has been following for years: Russia's resurgence as a major power. In the 1990s the United States became very comfortable with the idea of Russian weakness, and in the 2000s the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have utterly consumed U.S. military capacity. With the recent decision to send even more forces into Afghanistan, the U.S. preoccupation with the Islamic world will become all-consuming, allowing Russia to do as it pleases in its near abroad.

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