The possibility of taking the “Tren al Sur”

The conspiracy theorists who believe the tall-tale of an Aztlan mass movement will surely be alarmed by the thoughts of Russian analyst, Igor Panarin.

Recently there has been uproar over Panarin’s prognostication that the U.S. will break up due to the financial crisis. "The country's foreign debt has grown like an avalanche; this is a pyramid, which has to collapse" said the analyst in an interview published on Monday in a Russian publication.

How does the wild Aztlan theory fall into Panarin’s research? To paraphrase the famous song by Los Prisioneros, we might have to take a “Tren al Sur”:

In an interview with the Russian newspaper Izvestia, he outlined how the US would divide along ethnic and cultural lines.

They are: the Pacific coast with its growing Chinese population; the increasingly Hispanic South; independence-minded Texas; the Atlantic Coast; a central state with a large Native American population; and the northern states where – he maintains – Canadian influence is strong.

Alaska could be claimed by Russia, he said, claiming that the region was "only granted on lease, after all". – [ed. emphasis added]

If Panarin’s thoughts due come true, would that make Miami the capital of el Nuevo Sur? What would replace the confederate flag? Could there by a civil war based on racial divides?

In the end, those questions make as much sense as the notion of an Aztlan "invasion". Please feel free to go ahead and loosen your tin foil caps.

(Hat tip: Metafilter).

Image- Monsters & Critics
Sources- Fox News, Common Dreams, Huffington Post, The Telegraph, Metafilter

Report: CIA lied over downed Peruvian plane

According to several sources, a top secret report alleged that the CIA covered-up the downing of a 2001 missionary plane in Peru.

Veronica Bowers and her 7-month-old daughter were killed after their plane was shot down by a Peruvian air force jet. The missionaries' plane was first spotted by a U.S. reconnaissance flight who claimed to have tried to stop the Peruvian jet from shooting down Bowers’ plane. Peruvian officials disputed that version and insisted that the Bowers’ plane accidently flew into Peruvian air space from Brazil. Both governments were contradicted by the Bowers’ missionary church who said that the plane was shot down despite being in constant contact with Peruvian air traffic control.

U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra released a report by the CIA inspector general that alleges of a massive cover-up. According to the report, CIA officials possibly lied to Congress and withheld information to the Justice Department over what really happened in the Bowers incident.

Hoekstra was chair of the House Intelligence Committee during the investigation of the tragedy though he now believes that the CIA deliberately misled him:

"What's most disturbing is what led up to the Bowers incident," Hoekstra told reporters. "If there had been accountability in the program, if there had been respect for procedures and adherence to the law, the Bowers (family) never would have been shot down.

"It was the senseless killing of a family, done by an agency that wasn't following the rules."

Image- New York Times
Sources- New York Times, CNN, BBC News, MSNBC, Fox News, mlive.com