As Editor and Publisher's E&P Pub wryly notes, Sarah Palin really would be able to see Russia from her house if this comes to pass. The most popular academic pundit in Russia (their Doris Kearns Goodwin?) is predicting the sagging United States will be torn asunder by civil war in about....well, according to my watch, 13 months from now?
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.
This makes an enormous amount of sense. Because I've long suspected that Canada secretly has a plan to capture the economic goldmine that is North Dakota.
Granted, I felt that the South's recent snubbery of Detroit in favor of their foreign automotive overlords was a bad omen, but come on.— montani semper liberi
Sounds like the Russian pundit went to prediction school at the esteemed 'Liberal University for Predictions Regarding American Involvement in Iraq'.— jmc
Comment removed.
"He based the forecast on classified data supplied to him by FAPSI analysts" I'll bet those FAPSI analysts spend waaaaay too much time watching cable news thinking that it's giving them great insight into America. They probably think the anger, the resolve to fight, the outrage that they hear from Hannity, Olbermann, or O'Reilly is real not a well paying TV shtick. They may have even expected shooting with live ammunition at the Philly re-enactment of Washington crossing the Delaware as part of the "War on Christmas".— GreyHippie- Comment removed.
- 'Liberal University for Predictions Regarding American Involvement in Iraq' . . . . . Yeah, since they predicted our being greeted as liberators and all (ooops, wrong school).
Well, I for one, will be very happy that I wont have to pony up $700 or more to fly to Europe once this happens! Oh yeah, only 5 more years until free higher eduction, healthcare and five weeks holiday time! Bring it on!!!!- How are the states going to withhold funds from the federal government? It seems to me that the money flows to the federal government and then back to the states... this "academic pundit" seems to be basing his analysis on the Articles of Confederation.— NickEeee
- "How do SC and TN make it out of the South region?" . . . . Not enough immigration from Mexico, I'd venture to guess.
- Comment removed.
- "How are the states going to withhold funds from the federal government?" . . . . . . . Good question. This nut seems to assume a very weakened central government. That could only happen if we had a ultra-conservative party in power which would dismantle the federal government's institutional structures. Wait, come to think of it....
- You sure it isn't April Fool's Day in Russia?— SteveMG
- "You sure it isn't April Fool's Day in Russia?" . . . . . More like propaganda designed to weaken foreign confidence in the US, especially from Russia's pro-western but naive neighbors like Georgia. On the other hand, Russians did witness first-hand the break up of their own Union in the 80s, and wonder why we think it's so far-fetched a concept.
- It's also interesting to note that the French political scientist who once correctly predicted the break up of the USSR (Emmanuel Todd) also has predicted our downfall.
- I agree with Jimbo. Both the Carolinas plus both Tennessee and Kentucky would be Texas Republic. Frankly, in my opinion, they can have them. Imagine the wars we could have! Finally a real need for militias and all those guns the NRA wants us to have.— James TL
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
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