Within the next hundred years...nationhood as we know it will be obsolete; all states will recognize a single, global authority... National sovereignty wasn't such a great idea after all. Strobe Talbott More Quotes by Strobe Talbott More Quotes From Strobe Talbott Here is one optimists reason for believing unity will prevail ... within the next hundred years ... nationhood as we know it will be obsolete; all states will recognize a single, global authority. A phrase briefly fashionable in the mid-20th century -- citizen of the world -- will have assumed real meaning by the end of the 21st. All countries are basically social arrangements, accommodations to changing circumstances. No matter how permanent and even sacred they may seem at any one time, in fact they are all artificial and temporary. Strobe Talbott real believe country All countries are basically social arrangements, accommodations to changing circumstances. No matter how permanent and even sacred they may seem at any one time, in fact they are all artificial and temporary. Strobe Talbott matter country facts In 2015, Vladimir Putin may witness his empire's death knell Strobe Talbott putin empires may Putin is not a good strategist. He is stirring up a hornet's nest of Sunni Muslims who will hold a grudge against him, he already had an internal problem with Islamist extremism and he now has an external problem since ISIS was responsible for the Sinai plane bombing. Strobe Talbott world Faced with a choice between keeping Assad in power and destroying ISIS, Putin is caught in a vice of his own making, he has pushed Assad's exit off into the future at great cost to Russia, because ISIS is going to be stronger. Strobe Talbott world