As a symptom of our dicey times, a hitherto unknown (to us) Russian “Doctor of Political Sciences” named Igor Panarin has made the top of the Drudge Report this morning with the screaming headline:

RUSSIAN ANALYST PREDICTS DECLINE AND BREAKUP OF USA. ^[1]

Does he really?

I made the usual ten-second Google search and came up with this short bio of Igor ^[2]. It was fascinating (though not surprising).  It seems our Russian friend is the author of the following books: “Infowar and power”, “Infowar and world” and the ever popular  “Infowar and election.”  Infowar, eh?  You don’t have to be the proverbial rocket scientist to know where that comes from ^[3]. Well, he certainly earned his keep today and scored a big victory getting his risible comments about an imminent US break up on Drudge. Must be a slow news day:

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.

Well, come to think of it, maybe that’s not such a bad idea.  We all have some distant relatives we wish lived in another country.  And my daughter could attend Yale on a foreign exchange scholarship.  Easy to get in and easier still on my pocketbook.  And think of the bonanza to Fodor’s – all those new guidebook serieses. I’m already getting my visa to San Diego.