this is interesting to read...but i have to say with the way things are going now i'm not suprised if something like this would happen in the next 50-100 years. Americans i think would have too much pride in being an "american" to actually create another massive civil war and have each state succeed from the nation. also i have to say that bernenke is a DAMN IDIOT....i think he is another root cause of the financial meltdown of the US, besides the bad mortagages and many other factors. as a US citizen i don't see why we should be helping people that took ARM with 0 down and can't afford to pay their mortagages and can't refinance their property because the value of their houses has dropped so much. I mean when i get ready to buy a house i won't be seeing any financial help from the government why should i help them
I belive that America are one Nation Under God that has already survived financial collapse, and civil war and that we have brothers and sisters across all state borders.
The Russians have had plenty to gnash their teeth about in the last generation. Notice that all the "predictions" has some form or thread of historic US advantage over Russia. Alaska, or Stewards Folly, which turned out to be one of the best real estate deals in history, has been the source of Russian emotional consternation for nearly a century and a half. Even with Sarah Palin, they would just love to get it back. The balkanization of their republic with the dissolution of the Soviet Union was another political and emotional black eye that they would love to see happen to the US. Further, in the first Iraq war, the Iraqis fought using Russian arms and Russian training and tactics. Thus, in the prewar period, it was widely anticipated to be a proxy simulation of what would happen if the US actually fought against the Soviet Union, as the Iraqis were considered to be on par with their Soviet counterparts. What happened next was an obvious rout or total defeat of Soviet training, doctrine, and equipment on a wide scale. The meaning of which was not lost on Russia, that if Soviet forces had fought US forces, the Soviets would have had their heads handed back to them on a plate. The US had made a laughing stock out of Russia. To make matters worse, or call it bad timing, their country too, fell apart at the end of that year (1991). Continuing in that vein, persistent western backed influence and the recent declaration of Kosovo independence despite Russian and their Serbian proxy rejection had raised the level of political anger against the US. All of this has fostered a sense of Russian emotional victimization by an Imperialist and self aggrandizing America. Hence, anything that gives the US a sample of humble pie, that is, US dishonor or embarrassment, especially at the hand of Russians, is sure to gain emotional favor in the Rodina (or what Russians refer to as Motherland). In this vein, recent Russian political and military ambition in Georgia and Kyrgyzstan is in part, driven by a fervent desire to outmaneuver the United States, or to undermine US regional ambition or interests. Further, after their own poor showing there, they certainly do not want to see the US come out of Afghanistan with a successful mission outcome. :ugh:
