Kevin Kelly wrote a quick article about the possible breakup of the United States. As he points out, most Americans would think this impossible but so did the Soviets.

Igor Panarin, a Russian professor, says it will be soon. From the Wall Street Journal:

He predicts that economic, financial and demographic trends will provoke a political and social crisis in the U.S. When the going gets tough, he says, wealthier states will withhold funds from the federal government and effectively secede from the union. Social unrest up to and including a civil war will follow. The U.S. will then split along ethnic lines, and foreign powers will move in.

Fun to think about.