On a clear day you can see Russia from Alaska . . . or not.

I'll preface this by saying that I could be wrong. . . but. . .

I took a look at a map. The westernmost point in the North American land mass is Wales, Alaska, population 152. It appears that about 50 miles across the Bering Strait is the Chukot region of Russia, and the settlement nearest to Wales appears to be a place called Naukan, population who the hell cares (around 350 in 1990).

Of course, there's also Big Diomede (theirs) and Little Diomede Islands (ours). There seem to be a couple of settlements on Little Diomede. No one lives on Big Diomede.

I would suggest that Wales, Alaska is about as representative of America as the Land of Oz is to anything on the planet Earth, and I'm guessing there is a comparable analogy for Naukan and the rest of Russia. My guess is that the people of Naukan aren't yet aware that the Cold War (or, for that matter, WWII) is over. You get the idea.

To hear Mrs. P say it, you would think she can look out her office in Juneau and wave to the friendly Russians across the pond. In fact, Juneau is more than 1,100 miles from Nome, and then you're still nowhere near Wales, and from Wales you get a chance to see Naukan, Russia on a clear day. By the way, someone might want to ask Mrs. P what the ethic group in Naukan is called. Psst. They're the Yupik.

All in all, maybe someone should point this out to our intrepid media.

You can't see Russia from Alaska.

Not unless you're standing on an ice shelf, which really isn't part of Alaska per se.

Although the thought of Palin being near, or in, Siberia is somewhat comforting.

She takes that and turns that into what you heard. Technically true, but it's not the mainlands.

First of all, nobody lives on the Russian island, and I'd like to know how often she has visited the American island so that she can peer over at the Russian one where no one lives.

I'd bet that the distance from the north-eastern-most tip of the US to Moscow is somewhat comparable to the distance from Moscow to Juneau - possibly even to Wales.

It would be like the Mayor of New York claiming to be a Cuba expert. After all, from his office in Gracie Mansion, it's about the same distance as from Juneau to Naukan, Russia. You know, this shouldn't even be an issue, but this clown of a nominee keeps bringing it up. Well, since she does, someone might as well call her on it and ask some questions about Alaska-Chukot relations. Surely there's a sister-state relationship between the Chukot region of Russia and the State of Alaska. Maybe their Chambers of Commerce exchange visitors. Or is there a scholarship exchange? Surely at least one Alaskan official and one Chukot official have exchanged visits since the end of the cold war. As in the original post, you get the idea.

think you were talking about the Wales in the UK.

If she's such a fine governor, surely she knows about her state right?

Be a good place for her.

All this "we know Russia because we're next door" crap is ludicrous.

I'm still in shock that Rove picked someone so inadequate. 'course, that seems to be his specialty.. picking a total fuckup and making a "winner" out of them come election time.

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Of course I trust her to solve the housing crisis.

I bet one of her kids told her about the Diomede Islands over dinner a couple weeks ago, she thought that was really interesting, and now she wants everyone else to know just how close her state is to Russia.