A picture is worth 1000 words ...
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(snip)"MOSCOW -- For a decade, Russian academic Igor Panarin has been predicting the U.S. will fall apart in 2010. For most of that time, he admits, few took his argument -- that an economic and moral collapse will trigger a civil war and the eventual breakup of the U.S. -- very seriously. Now he's found an eager audience: Russian state media.
In recent weeks, he's been interviewed as much as twice a day about his predictions. "It's a record," says Prof. Panarin. "But I think the attention is going to grow even stronger."
Prof. Panarin, 50 years old, is not a fringe figure. A former KGB analyst, he is dean of the Russian Foreign Ministry's academy for future diplomats. He is invited to Kremlin receptions, lectures students, publishes books, and appears in the media as an expert on U.S.-Russia relations.
But it's his bleak forecast for the U.S. that is music to the ears of the Kremlin, which in recent years has blamed Washington for everything from instability in the Middle East to the global financial crisis. Mr. Panarin's views also fit neatly with the Kremlin's narrative that Russia is returning to its rightful place on the world stage after the weakness of the 1990s, when many feared that the country would go economically and politically bankrupt and break into separate territories."(snip)
(snip)"Mr. Panarin posits, in brief, that mass immigration, economic decline, and moral degradation will trigger a civil war next fall and the collapse of the dollar. Around the end of June 2010, or early July, he says, the U.S. will break into six pieces -- with Alaska reverting to Russian control.
In addition to increasing coverage in state media, which are tightly controlled by the Kremlin, Mr. Panarin's ideas are now being widely discussed among local experts. He presented his theory at a recent roundtable discussion at the Foreign Ministry. The country's top international relations school has hosted him as a keynote speaker. During an appearance on the state TV channel Rossiya, the station cut between his comments and TV footage of lines at soup kitchens and crowds of homeless people in the U.S. The professor has also been featured on the Kremlin's English-language propaganda channel, Russia Today.
Mr. Panarin's apocalyptic vision "reflects a very pronounced degree of anti-Americanism in Russia today," says Vladimir Pozner, a prominent TV journalist in Russia. "It's much stronger than it was in the Soviet Union."(snip)
(snip)"He based the forecast on classified data supplied to him by FAPSI analysts, he says. He predicts that economic, financial and demographic trends will provoke a political and social crisis in the U.S. When the going gets tough, he says, wealthier states will withhold funds from the federal government and effectively secede from the union. Social unrest up to and including a civil war will follow. The U.S. will then split along ethnic lines, and foreign powers will move in.
California will form the nucleus of what he calls "The Californian Republic," and will be part of China or under Chinese influence. Texas will be the heart of "The Texas Republic," a cluster of states that will go to Mexico or fall under Mexican influence. Washington, D.C., and New York will be part of an "Atlantic America" that may join the European Union. Canada will grab a group of Northern states Prof. Panarin calls "The Central North American Republic." Hawaii, he suggests, will be a protectorate of Japan or China, and Alaska will be subsumed into Russia.
"It would be reasonable for Russia to lay claim to Alaska; it was part of the Russian Empire for a long time." A framed satellite image of the Bering Strait that separates Alaska from Russia like a thread hangs from his office wall. "It's not there for no reason," he says with a sly grin.
Interest in his forecast revived this fall when he published an article in Izvestia, one of Russia's biggest national dailies. In it, he reiterated his theory, called U.S. foreign debt "a pyramid scheme," and predicted China and Russia would usurp Washington's role as a global financial regulator.
Americans hope President-elect Barack Obama "can work miracles," he wrote. "But when spring comes, it will be clear that there are no miracles.""(snip)
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Re: A picture is worth 1000 words ...
Could happen that the USA breaks up, no damn way that is how the states will align or even as States. Idaho for sure, Southern Oregon and Northern California would cast off their major urban centers. Arizona would go to Mexifornia. Reno and Las Vegas to maybe. The rest of Nevada would happily cast them off. Mormons would probably secede into their own State Taking most of Utah with them. Hard to say what would happen in Texas. Would it become a Republic again? Would be the strongest if it did. With oil refining and most of the US armies Armor units.
That map is to simplistic, draw neatly on existing boundaries, without a fair consideration of the people and places in them.
Re: A picture is worth 1000 words ...
Personally I like the red state vs. blue states maps we saw before the election. I mean, c'mom! As if Arizona would go to China and not Mexico? Ditto with Nevada. Oh, and Colorado and Montana are very purple these days, too.
I figure that Nebraska would rather be associated with Texas and not Canada. oh, and southern California would be part of Mexico as well.
Appearently that professor has never been to the US or at least not much of the US. San Francisco might be okay with being part of China and Hawaii might enjoy being part of Japan, but Washington state totally identifies with Canada (they even have their own Vancouver).
Re: A picture is worth 1000 words ...
Consider the larger point that is actually being raised by the recent publicity given to professor Panarin's predictions ... that the Russian gov't is now making no bones about their wish to see the USA 'fail'.
Re: A picture is worth 1000 words ...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I guess OP proves that misery is eager for some company. Didn't the USSR break up into several smaller states over a decade ago. USSR didn't make it to half a century, USA for over 2 centuries. Though, I'll admit that USA looks more like a series of foreign enclaves with each passing year........
Re: A picture is worth 1000 words ...
Yes, the US is definitely starting to balkanize. It doesn't take much effort to find stories of this group of people being chased out by that group of people. Not to mention stories of "if you want to converse with me - you will speak MY language not yours" as well peculiar cultural customs.
In the end, all this is good for the guys though - as most of these changes have been around "women knowing their places." LOL
Re: A picture is worth 1000 words ...
That is the stupidest goddam map/prediction I have ever seen.
Re: A picture is worth 1000 words ...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mr Hyde
That is the stupidest goddam map/prediction I have ever seen.
I think my suggestion that every state break into liberal, conservative and libertarian sectors has more chance of becoming reality.
Quote:
Now he's found an eager audience: Russian state media.
Well there you go. That explains what audience this lunacy was meant for. Insert your favorite Yakov Smirnoff punchline here.
Re: A picture is worth 1000 words ...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Melonie
Consider the larger point that is actually being raised by the recent publicity given to professor Panarin's predictions ... that the Russian gov't is now making no bones about their wish to see the USA 'fail'.
I doubt very much the Russian government wishes for the USA to fail. Their economy is very dependent on the USA and other western countries. If the USA fails, it would have serious consequences for the Russian economy. They're already hurting from our recession, which is a significant factor in the fall of oil prices.
Re: A picture is worth 1000 words ...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Melonie
A picture is worth 1000 words ...
But, are they the right words.
Re: A picture is worth 1000 words ...
I'd guess the most important thing to get out of this is just how are we so strongly divided. If anything it could be along the line of haves and have-nots. This is the fastest direction our country has been going for a few decades People resist a too fast change and what they see as unfair financial exploitation.
How that divides into georgraphic regions I completely fail to see. I believe he sees it as a more proximity thing, but with a whole bunch of over-rationalization to cover the obvious. Of course all this is hypothetical and fantasy.
Re: A picture is worth 1000 words ...
If the shit really does hit the fan, you're all invited to join Canada.