Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Will 2010 be Annus Horribilis for the USA?

It's traditional for astrologers to make predictions at the start of a new year, but now we have a Russian academic, a Professor Igor Panarin, getting in on the act.

In a Wall Street Journal article by Andrew Osborn (read it HERE) we are told that the good professor expects that in mid-2010 the United States will disintegrate, eventually becoming four separate countries. He puts a 55%-45% likelihood on his prediction - which is, if you think about it no prediction at all. I could say "I predict that in April 2010 alien beings from another galaxy will make contact with Earth, it's a 55% to 45% chance!" That would be just as valid as the prof's visions.

I've borrowed the professor's USA map. Passing readers can see what the future, Panarin-style might hold for them.



"There's a 55-45% chance right now that disintegration will occur," he says. "One could rejoice in that process," he adds, poker-faced. "But if we're talking reasonably, it's not the best scenario -- for Russia." Though Russia would become more powerful on the global stage, he says, its economy would suffer because it currently depends heavily on the dollar and on trade with the U.S.

Mr. Panarin posits, in brief, that mass immigration, economic decline, and moral degradation will trigger a civil war next fall and the collapse of the dollar. Around the end of June 2010, or early July, he says, the U.S. will break into six pieces -- with Alaska reverting to Russian control.


The Professor doesn't detail exactly how he comes to this conclusion. I wonder if he's a closet astrologer. 2010 has been pinpointed by several astrologers as a "bad year", but hardly bad enough for the complete disintegration of the USA. The professor might have carried more credibility had he stated that his prediction could occur, say, "within the next 50 years" - but 2010? No. Too soon.

Do Russians do irony? I suspect they do.

Professor Panarin is looking for some quick, cheap publicity, in my opinion. Many in Russia would gloat over the thought of his prediction coming true, it will stir up interest, enough perhaps for a soon to be written book?

Here's an astrologer's take on the 2010 situation from Astrobarry at his blog dated 25 November 2008, HERE :

Extract

Meanwhile, by the middle of 2010, Uranus finds his way to the Pisces-Aries cusp… crossing over it while under the sway of his square with Pluto, a mega-astro-affair that stays within 5-degree orb through 2017. And as if that weren't enough, Jupiter also ends up in Aries by mid-2010—just in time to add extra electrifying energy to the Saturn-Uranus-Pluto t-square.

The exaggerated effect of Jupiter conjunct Uranus near the Aries Point (the first degree of Aries, and the beginning of a new zodiac cycle) is like the turbo-charged icing on the cake that ensures 2010 will be a memorable year. The addition of Jupiter, an expansive presence, to Uranus's side of the delicate Saturn-Uranus balance can't help but tip the scales away from Saturn-in-Libra's steady moderating influence…and toward the sudden, irrational, explosive 'power to the people' movement birthed by Uranus in Aries. Jupiter also boosts Uranus's liberating ferocity in his square-off with Pluto, fueling the fire of its 'war of independence' against the overlords of global capitalism that seek to keep the underclasses in their place.

2010 might well manifest as Annus Horribilis for some - especially for the USA's Fat Cats Inc., but for the rank and file of us, it'll likely pass much like any other year. There'll a few lightning strikes, a lot of hot air, both natural and man-made, the Sun will continue to rise and the Moon make her monthly cycles. To borrow from T.S. Eliot, who borrowed from English 14th century female mystic Julian of Norwich: "All will be well, and all manner of things will be well".

(Note: Annus Horribilis = Horrible Year. It is derived from the Latin phrase 'annus mirabilis' - year of wonders (or miracles). Recorded since the mid 1980's but brought into popular use after Queen Elizabeth II used it to describe 1992 - the year that the marriages of her two sons Charles and Andrew broke down and Windsor Castle caught fire.)

10 comments:

  1. This year will certainly be different for the US - just don't know how yet.
    I tend to agree that - eventually - the US will break up. I think it's inevitable.

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  2. AN ~~ Eventually, yes, I agree, but
    I don't think it will be as a result of civil war, more a deliberate administrative decision, and with some kind of uniting body overall - a bit like the European Union.

    I've said ever since I first arrived here that to me it appears the land mass is just too vast, and diverse, to be administered efficiently, even allowing for the state authorities' powers.

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  3. If TN and SC join the EU I'll eat my hat.

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  4. Jilly ~~ Not a good match is it? lol! They would seem a better fit with the group colored blue, with us Okies. One good thing - Mexican food might improve around here!
    :-D

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  5. I agree with Twilight - a bit like the European Union - and I'm sure that this will be good for the Americans and for the Planet too.

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  6. Sounds like sour grapes from the Russians - due to their resentment of America's role in the breakup of the Soviet Union.

    The professor could well be a closet astrologer, but that doesn't add much weight to his predictions.
    Every astrologer and his dog is predicting 'revolution' for the uranus in aries square pluto era, but seeing as not a single one of them predicted either Obama or the financial meltdown for this year, I'm betting that 2010 will be a complete surprise to them all.

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  7. Anonymous (1)

    Yes, agreed, I think, done the right way (which is a tall order in itself!) it would be good for all. :-)

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  8. Anonymous (2)

    I think you're correct about the sour grapes.

    Astrologers don't usually try to predict exact events, they nowadays seem to go for trends.
    There are so many variables and tangled nets of different charts, that it'd be both crazy and impossible to extract clear details with any hope of accuracy.
    With Uranus in Aries it'll be even more impossible than usual too!

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  9. I don't see the US breaking up, now or in the near future. The 'State' system is ludicrous, of course, and needs scrapping, but a central government will, I believe, continue for the foreseeable future. Ideally, I would envisage states amalgamating to become 'areas', each with an administration subordinate to central government but enforcing its laws and regulations.
    Americans are indoctrinated in the ideal of small government. Size is not the issue; honesty and transparency are the key factors.
    Sadly, I can't see that happening either, and most likely the status quo will rumble on until climate change causes the rich and powerful to take to their well-prepared bunkers, leaving the rest of us to fight each other for survival on the surface.

    Happy New Year! ;-)

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  10. Hi RJ ~~~ Agreed - certainly not within the next few years. I'd guess something like 20 or 30 years from now, and roughly along the lines you suggest... subtly different from the EU, because there is a common language here.

    A division along the time-zone lines would seem sensible - but sensible isn't usually the way things turn out! ;-)

    Happy New Year back atcha, RJ !

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