MOSCOW, November 24 (RIA Novosti) – 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 countrys 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 Panarins 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 years 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 worlds 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."

On the fate of the U.S. dollar, he said: "In 2006 a secret agreement
was reached between Canada, Mexico and the U.S. on a common Amero
currency as a new monetary unit. This could signal preparations to
replace the dollar. The one-hundred dollar bills that have flooded the
world could be simply frozen. Under the pretext, lets say, that
terrorists are forging them and they need to be checked."

When asked how Russia should react to his vision of the future, Panarin
said: "Develop the ruble as a regional currency. Create a fully
functioning oil exchange, trading in rubles… We must break the
strings tying us to the financial Titanic, which in my view will soon
sink."

Panarin, 60, is a professor at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and has authored several books on
information warfare.