As if the recent financial Tsunami wasn't enough, there are these predictions that one Igor Panarin - former KGB analyst and Russian academic - has been making since 1998. He is saying that a civil war in the United States will lead to the eventual fall of the country - in 2010!

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=79878&sectionid=3510203

Sure, the US has its dark side - like all countries in the world. But even though the US has always tilted heavily in favor of India's next-door-neighbor, I would still hate to see it break up like this. Despite its faults it has so many good things that the rest of us might want to learn from. Nope, I don't like what Mr. Panarin is saying. And this is saying a lot - considering that I have always had some inexplicable affinity towards Russia and her people!

Moreover, after seeing the Domino effect of the US subprime mortgage crisis, I shudder to think what such a civil war would do to the rest of the world. :-(

The word "civil war", however, brought with it a sickening fear for my own country with its many states - each with a different local language, culture and food habits. If the US goes down like this, how will it affect India? Would each of my fellow countrymen, too, want to go along with those who speak the same language as he/she does? Or will the friendships that each of us have built over the years with people of other communities be strong enough to weather such an attack? :-(

Will the Indian map as I know it still be there?

On a lighter note though – wonder if anyone in Pakistan has read about this :-)