Posted on 12/30/2008 5:51:10 AM PST by Kjirstje
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.
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.
"There's a 55-45% chance right now that disintegration will occur," he says. "One could rejoice in that process," he adds, poker-faced. "But if we're talking reasonably, it's not the best scenario -- for Russia." Though Russia would become more powerful on the global stage, he says, its economy would suffer because it currently depends heavily on the dollar and on trade with the U.S.
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, he says, the U.S. will break into six pieces -- with Alaska reverting to Russian control.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
This country is to homogeneous, with four lane highways crossing every border of every state, it is hard to tell which state you are in at times. There is much more difference between any other country than ever is between states, I just don’t see it.
The Former Soviet Union is the exact opposite, with poor communications and harsh cultural differences within even Russia. The US has many ethnic groups, but really only one culture. Not even comparable and I think that is where his analysis fails.
And another point is that as bad as things are in the US economically, right now 40 dollar oil is running Russia back to economic crisis. Things can get much worse there with all the immigration problems the US has on it’s eastern border.
I almost expect Spetsnaz to have some clandestine ops to blow an oil terminal or a couple tankers to spike oil prices a little. What the OPEC can’t do I expect can be done by ‘other measures’.
I would like to see a United States of North America form in the end of June with Canada and the USA become ONE NATION UNDER GOD and then we just roll Mexicans into South America and turn Mexico into a vacation hot spot. Take all of our combined military to do nothing but patrol and protect our borders and let the Muzzies take over Russia.
“Around the end of June 2010, he says, the U.S. will break into six pieces — with Alaska reverting to Russian control.”
Lol!!! I don’t know where this guy got his academic training, but he needs to request a refund for any tuition he paid for.
Funny, I predicted the same thing back on November 4th.
I predict the end of the Soviet Union, USSR.
Oh, I forgot.
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