Drudge has this story developing, but it’s mostly cold war style propaganda. Mostly, American Balkanization is more likely now while we are a country literally split down the middle and some people may even consider this a good idea. I’m not sure how I’d feel about America breaking up; it’d be painful in more ways than one but as we slouch toward a bankrupt socialist third world country, being separated from my former homes of New York and New Jersey sounds better and better:

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.

Clearly he’s off the mark on divisions. Native Americans will not be controlling any part of America, they simply lack the numbers and resources to do so. Now living in the south, I doubt it’ll become the “Spanish section” as large populations of Blacks and Whites are going to be as large an influence as Latin American immigrants. It’s more likely you’ll have political splits where the Northeast and West Coast remain unified while the west and deep south sorts themselves out depending on make up. North and South Carolina are very different so I doubt we’ll be uniting anytime soon.

Privately I’ve said before that our country is divided so bitterly that a civil war is possible, at least there is enough anger on both sides to fuel one. Could a financial collapse leave a vacuum where the Right and Left can resort to prolonged violence and not rely on the government to break things up? Maybe. Could a collapse lead to complete Balkanization? I don’t know.