Wishful thinking?

[Nightshade]

RUSSIAN ANALYST PREDICTS DECLINE AND BREAKUP OF USA
Tue Nov 25 2008 09:04:22 ET

A leading Russian political analyst has said the economic turmoil in the United States has confirmed his long-held view that the country is heading for collapse, and will divide into separate parts.

Professor Igor Panarin said in an interview with the respected daily IZVESTIA published on Monday: \"The dollar is not secured by anything. The country's foreign debt has grown like an avalanche, even though in the early 1980s there was no debt. By 1998, when I first made my prediction, it had exceeded $2 trillion. Now it is more than 11 trillion. This is a pyramid that can only collapse.\"

The paper said Panarin's dire predictions for the U.S. economy, initially made at an international conference in Australia 10 years ago at a time when the economy appeared strong, have been given more credence by this year's events.

When asked when the U.S. economy would collapse, Panarin said: \"It is already collapsing. Due to the financial crisis, three of the largest and oldest five banks on Wall Street have already ceased to exist, and two are barely surviving. Their losses are the biggest in history. Now what we will see is a change in the regulatory system on a global financial scale: America will no longer be the world's financial regulator.\"

When asked who would replace the U.S. in regulating world markets, he said: \"Two countries could assume this role: China, with its vast reserves, and Russia, which could play the role of a regulator in Eurasia.\"

Asked why he expected the U.S. to break up into separate parts, he said: \"A whole range of reasons. Firstly, the financial problems in the U.S. will get worse. Millions of citizens there have lost their savings. Prices and unemployment are on the rise. General Motors and Ford are on the verge of collapse, and this means that whole cities will be left without work. Governors are already insistently demanding money from the federal center. Dissatisfaction is growing, and at the moment it is only being held back by the elections and the hope that Obama can work miracles. But by spring, it will be clear that there are no miracles.\"

He also cited the \"vulnerable political setup\", \"lack of unified national laws\", and \"divisions among the elite, which have become clear in these crisis conditions.\"

He predicted that the U.S. will break up into six parts - the Pacific coast, with its growing Chinese population; the South, with its Hispanics; Texas, where independence movements are on the rise; the Atlantic coast, with its distinct and separate mentality; five of the poorer central states with their large Native American populations; and the northern states, where the influence from Canada is strong.

He even suggested that \"we could claim Alaska - it was only granted on lease, after all.\" Panarin, 60, is a professor at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and has authored several books on information warfare.

-Drudge report

[Spidey]

Anything is possible.

[Top Wop]

Unlikely.

[Foil]

Where do you get this stuff?

[Gooberman]

-Drudge report

[Kiran]

This looks like Professor Panarin has drawn his conclusions from the history of Europe in the 1900's after WWI. His predictions look quite similiar to the financial crisis and the breakup in the aftermath of WWI and then combined that with the influence of foreign ancestory/immigration as well as influences from certain groups in different geographical areas of the U.S. The breakup of the states could lead to more instability among the \"new states\" due to vast differences in so many levels.

I highly doubt this could happen, but we all know how history tends to repeat itself from time to time. I wouldn't quite shrug it off as nonsense. The only nonsense I see from this is 'Dissatisfaction is growing, and at the moment it is only being held back by the elections and the hope that Obama can work miracles. But by spring, it will be clear that there are no miracles.'\" I think it's safe to say against Panarin in that short amount of time it's impossible to tell if Obama can set things in motion fast enough to get the economy back in stable condition. Businesses are quickly crumbling and the positive effect of Obama's plan of action is going to take quite some time before we can see the impact.

[fliptw]

well...

lack of unified national laws...

would suggest to me he's just blowing because he has lungs.

[Spidey]

Yea, really…if it’s one thing we don’t lack in this country, it’s federal laws.

[Will Robinson]

It's good to see were not the only country with analysts that, despite their credentials, don't really know Jack Shiite about the country and people they report about!

[Nightshade]

What I'm pointing out is that people still wish for our demise as a country- and not all of them live outside the US.

[Sirius]

There are always crackpots and foreign nationalists out there. This doesn't exactly come as a surprise.

[MD-1118]

Well, we are in a bind.

I guess maybe Atlas has decided to shrug after all.

We learn from history that we do not learn from history.