How Not to Fall into the Chinese Occupation Zone: On the Plans to Partition the Country

It has become scary to live here. On the Internet, the feeling that the country is being sawn up has already begun; all around we come across maps in which the Chinese have taken one slice, the EU another and the third has gone to those dark-skinned Southerners. Separatist movements are sprouting up all around us like mushrooms, even in those places where they have never been seen before. A number of small groups of indigenous people are declaring their independence. And everybody wants to steal their own little piece from the powers that be. Christ, how terrifying it is to live in America.

That’s right, I said “in America.” What, were you thinking of a Chinese Siberia, Finnish St. Petersburg, Turkish Rostov-on-Don and American everything else?

Russians often show me maps in which Russia has been divided into pieces. Yes, I agree, this is frightening and disgusting. But for me, personally, this is nothing new because I have seen these demotivational posters in America since the very dawn of the Internet. In these cases, I always remember this headline from the 1990s: “A secret agreement has been disclosed between Canadians and Mexicans regarding the partition of the United States among themselves!”* Fortunately for America, this plan has not yet come into force.

Why am I, personally, raising this topic? I was sent an article which said that immediately after the election, 15 states began petitions to leave the U.S. Those who sent it to me were awaiting my emotional reaction.

Well, there will be no emotional reaction. These petitions are also nothing new to me. I remember that the Lakota Indians even proclaimed their declaration of independence from America. But just imagine, the kind democracy had not yet given them their freedom. The huge, Lakota territory remains part of the U.S.

Incidentally, it is not just the Indians who want their freedom. Full-blooded white Americans also want it. People like Tom Palin, for example, husband of the vice-presidential candidate in 2008, who actively participated in the Alaskan Independence Party. The state of Vermont has LONG wished to form a liberal utopia, see http://vermontrepublic.org. By the way, they have had some kind of success. For example, the state of Vermont is the only one in which there is always one independent senator, Bernie Sanders. You have to be American to understand just how “different” Vermont is: Imagine, even the two-party system doesn’t work for them!

Of course, at one point in U.S. history one group almost managed to achieve separation. This event is now known in the history books as the Civil War. When the legally elected government of the Southern states announced that they planned to politely leave the union, they received a direct answer about just who was in charge. The number of victims of the incident exceeded half a million.

I am not giving you these facts just to discredit my faraway homeland. And I am definitely not doing this to persuade Russians that they are in no danger of separatism (it would be strange to try to convince anyone of this after the fall of communism). No, I am writing in order to stress: Propagandist demotivators can be found in any place and any time. Separatists spring up anywhere and at any time. Any country is always under threat. This is definitely not a uniquely Russian situation.

The difference between the U.S. and Russia in this regard is only that the U.S. media can turn foreign **** and murderers into “freedom fighters against tyrannical regimes,” while the Russian press cannot yet do this to U.S. separatists. I will even go so far as to say that only the Russian media will generally mention American separatists such as the Lakota Indians. In other countries, this is a taboo topic.

But if the U.S. starts to crumble tomorrow, then I have a feeling that a huge number of separatist movements will unexpectedly appear. With foreign financing and propaganda.

This is just one of the everyday threats — one of the threats with which all great powers have lived for centuries. The difference between weak and strong countries is only whether or not they have enough strength to counteract this eternal threat.

*Editor’s note: This quote, accurately translated, could not be sourced.