Elephants in the room

Today is the Twenty-ninth of December. I can feel the days getting longer, already. On this day in 1852, Emma Snodgrass was arrested in Boston for wearing pants.

And in 1936, Mary Tyler Moore was born.

Interesting idea here. Not entirely sure I agree, but by the same token, I'm not entirely convinced that it couldn't (or won't) happen. After all, no one took seriously the possibility that the USSR could collapse, in 1988. The part I really don't agree with, is Panarin's assertion of foreign control over what's left. Cute, maybe even quaint, but Canada's history hardly suggests a future as a colonial power, and Mexican control of Texas is -well, at this point, laughable. Mexico can't even control Tijuana, not to mention Chihuahua, or Chiapas.

Still, how might this come to pass? Panarin offers some theories, but one thing he doesn't consider is the impending water crisis. The entire southwest quarter of the United States is problematic in this sense: it is a desert by any standard, populated relatively densely by people who are very fond of green lawns (which need a lot of water) and swimming pools. Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix... all of these major urban centers get their water from the Colorado River. At one time the largest river west of the Rockies, the Colorado River is now so diverted for agricultural, industrial and personal use that it no longer reaches the sea. In some sense, we have reached its limit -our limit. Any further growth in the region now is tentative and completely reliant on borrowed time. We're looking at a future water bubble, and the inevitable crash is not going to be strictly financial. There will be blood. Right here in river city.

But it's a big world, and we don't exist in a vacuum. What happens in Africa, Iceland, the Caucasus, the Carribbean, and the Hindu Kush, is going to have a big effect on what happens in the U.S. over the next couple of years. China is already heavily invested in Africa, and is increasing its presence in South- and Central America- oil and agriculture weigh heavy on Chinese minds these days as its population begins to exceed its ability to provide for itself (nascent colonialism). Canada is building multiple new naval bases on their Arctic coastline. An independent Greenland (with reserves of both petroleum and fresh water) would change the political dynamic of the Arctic, Europe, and NATO alike.

It may be a big world, but resources are limited. Populations are generally not inclined to limit themselves passively, and we all need the same things, so heightened conflict is coming. The only question is, when?

If it's possible to avert this scenario, it will be through slow and natural population reduction. Homosexuality is the answer: we don't make babies. And yes, I'm a recruiter. Sign up now!