With Russia Gone to Pot, Diplomat Predicts U.S. Split
Whenever the Russian economy tumbles, predictions of American doom gain new currency. Igor Panarin, a Russian professor, is being trotted out to Putin's state media to make predictions of a U.S. collapse in 2010.
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The Panarin scenario: When times get tough, richer states like California and New York will withhold funds from the federal government, leading to collapse and civl war, with the union dissolving into six parts. Alaska will fall under Russian control — a scenario which will no doubt simultaneously please and discomfit Sarah Palin.
The only problem with this idea: It's actually Russia which has a collapsing economy and a nation riven by ethnic divisions. (Chechnya, anyone?) Once buoyed by oil revenues, the country's industrial production had its biggest slump in a decade in November.
And it was a decade ago that Panarin's theories first became popular, amidst another Russian financial crisis. Which tells you something about why he's once again in demand: A Russian public, hungry for schadenfreude, would rather think about Russia's Cold War foe dissolving than contemplate what's happening to their own country.
So basically the creep assimilates our bodies and then the overmind hijacks our minds.
I think if the American government ever collapsed, we'd split into several hundred territories controlled by corporate warlords. Other countries might pick up one or two of these territories, but Canada isn't really an aggressive nation, and Mexico already controls more land than it can handle. It'd be glorious anarchy in the "Land of the Free."Modern day Feudalism?
The story begins and ends in Los Angeles, which is no longer part of what is left of the United States, during the early 21st century. In this hypothetical future reality the federal government of the United States has ceded most of its power to private organizations and entrepreneurs.[1] Franchising, individual sovereignty and automobiles reign supreme (along with drug trafficking, violent crime, and traffic congestion). Mercenary armies compete for national defense contracts while private security guards preserve the peace in gated, sovereign housing developments. Highway companies compete to attract drivers to their roads rather than the competitors', and all mail delivery is by hired courier. The remnants of government maintain authority only in isolated compounds where they transact business that is, by and large, irrelevant to the booming, dynamic society around them.
Much of the territory ceded by the government has been carved up into sovereign enclaves, each run by its own big business franchise (such as "Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong") or the various residential burbclaves (suburban enclaves). This arrangement resembles anarcho-capitalism, a theme Stephenson carries over to his next novel The Diamond Age. Hyperinflation has devalued the dollar to the extent that trillion dollar bills — Ed Meeses — are nearly disregarded and the quadrillion dollar note — the Gipper — is the standard 'small' bill. For physical transactions people resort to alternative, non-hyperinflated currencies such as yen or "Kongbucks" (the official currency of Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong).
Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
Well I'm reading Pyramids by Terry Pratchet at the moment, so it will have to wait.
Old, cold, stiff & old, warm, corrupt US