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| DECLINE AND BREAKUP OF USA? |
| 2008-11-26 |
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. Developing... |
| Posted by:SR-71 |
| #7 BTW, foreigners hold $3 trillion of US T-bills. Think they will be eager to roll over or buy more when when they need cash at home and at the same time US debt skyrockets several trillion $ in a year. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-11-26 21:12 |
| #6 Nope. We is broke and getting broker. US foreign debt is $14 trillion US Public debt is $10.6 trillion. Unfunded future federal obligations is another $50 trillion. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-11-26 21:04 |
| #5 Our national debt is about 17% of GDP, Russia's is about 35%. Who's going to go broke first? |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-11-26 20:56 |
| #4 To quote Mark Twain, "The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated." Same for the U.S. of A. We have survived many crises in the past; the Civil War was a traumatic as anything in our history or Russian history and we survived. We survived the Great Depression. We survived WWII. We survived Korea and Viet Nam. We have survived many other crises. I guess we will survive a bit longer. |
| Posted by: Lonzo Thomolet8930 2008-11-26 20:35 |
| #3 You forget they get their 'info' from the MSM and Hollyweird. So, why shouldn't they come up with that impression. I recall the CIA was reading internal papers they got from the Soviet Union. They just didn't understand that the low and mid level bureaucrats were lying up the line telling the boss man what he wanted to hear. Soviet Union collapses and no one at the big intel op had any idea. Same here. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-11-26 20:35 |
| #2 I predict one half of Russia will be speaking Chinese and the other half bowing to Mecca before any Russian fantasy come true. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-11-26 19:47 |
| #1 Seems the Russian experts don't really understand the US. If we didnt break up prior to WW2 it seems unlikely we would now. Wishful thinking or just intended for an internal Russian audience. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2008-11-26 19:42 |