Space Shuttles Aren't the Only Things That Disintegrate: U.S. Next?

Having just read the final NASA report of the disintegration upon re-entry of Space Shuttle Columbia (definitely not for the squeamish) there are some interesting parallels to Dr. Igor "the Saw" Panarin's theory of the disintegration of the US into six separate countries. (see map) by 2010 that is catching fire like a snowball in punditry-land.

Normally, this type of Russo-propaganda gibberish would appear in the National Enquirer or People Magazine however it just made it onto the front page of the Wall Street Journal on December 29th (a mere five weeks after the Drudge Report reported the story). What concerns me is that if the WSJ spent five weeks analyzing the story and finally concluded it was important enough to run with it, (a) they were asleep at the switch; (b) wanted to run it when everyone was away on vacation (c) they took it really seriously (note they included a beautiful multi-color map!) or it was intended as a humor piece (which I find dark, tasteless Shuttle humor less anxiety provoking at this point of the econolipse"). If you buy Dr. Saw 's analysis: the new state anthem for Alaska will become "We're Back in the USSR") and Sarah Palin's "I look at Russia every day from my back porch" have new meaning.

Cine-moment Flashback: To cheer you up you might want to watch the original trailer from John Carpenter's "Escape from New York"

As if Things Weren't Bad Enough, Russian Professor Predicts End of U.S.

By Andrew Osborn

December 29, 2008

In Moscow, Igor Panarin's Forecasts Are All the Rage; America 'Disintegrates' in 2010. 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.

In recent weeks, he's been interviewed as much as twice a day about his predictions. "It's a record," says Prof. Panarin. "But I think the attention is going to grow even stronger."

Read Full Article at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123051100709638419.html