A Russian professor says the United States of America will disintegrate within the next year due to a fiscal meltdown. For ex KGB and Russian national security advisor, Igor Panarin, this claim is nothing new as he first made it in 1998 when the US economy was doing well. But now, due to the world economic crisis and the possibility of Japan transferring their monetary reserves from US dollars into another currency, his prediction has garnered new attention (surprisingly enough, even from the Wall Street Journal).

Panarin says that the US is in such great debt, that it will, by 2010, no longer be able to remain sovereign. His map indicates which parts of the US will be absorbed into which countries. Thank goodness the Midwest becomes Canadian! Now we won’t have to drive over the border to get our prescriptions filled!

Call it karma for being home to one of the most disturbing corporate conspiracies of the 20th century, but it seems Detroit is getting hit hard by a wave of economic depression. Sadly, scores of residents have left since the 1960s, residential and commercial real estate prices are soon to be counted in pennies and the over-filled prison system is taxing an already over-burdened local government.

Though major campaigns are underway to improve Detroit’s image and local economy with waterfront condos (that few can afford) and tourism-related projects, much of Detroit’s beautiful art deco architecture is left vacant and begging for people to poke around inside. Which is exactly what our urban exploring Detroitians are doing daily over at Forgotten Detroit, an amazing collection of photographs, videos and information on some of Detroit’s absolutely stunning pre-depression architecture. Absolute treasures are sitting vacant, waiting to be torn down as “progress” sweeps the city, meaning they would be replaced with the city’s 100th Best Buy or Wal-Mart.

Seeing such beautiful landmarks as the United Artists Theater of Detroit above, sitting vacant, vandalized and abused is almost painful. But the beauty of seeing this once shining, mighty example of better times and certainly better architecture, sitting abandoned is awe-inspiring. If only all modern cities could still carry such class in their architecture, life would be a dream.

Explore: Forgotten Detroit