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’.