Little Diomede Island (Big Diomede is in the background) 
... these islands are approximately 2.4 miles apart 
... so how geographically close is Russia from America? answer: 2.4 miles
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... well so what? these are just little islands you say...
... what about the coasts? that is REALLY the answer:
Yep... only 50 miles...
... did you know that?
check it out below...
Above image courtesy of http://uk.encarta.msn.com/(Search for Cape Dezhnev, Russia)
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OK, so what is the point?
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If you were governor of Alaska and, oh and let's just pretend Russia was an enemy of the U.S.A., do you think there would be any security concerns, say if Russia wanted to invade? Where would be a closest spot for them to try that?
During WWII, Big Diomede served as a Russian military base. All residents were removed to the mainland, and any Little Diomede inhabitants who strayed across the waters too close to Big Diomede where taken captive by the Russians.
After WWII the two island communities, connected by Eskimo family kinships but separated by American/Russian politics, led parallel lives &endash; pictures of Karl Marx hung in the Russian schools, pictures of Abraham Lincoln in the American. Little Diomede villagers watched Warner Bros. films, Big Diomede watched movies made by Lenfilm.
If you lived on Little Diomede, could you indeed "see Russia" from your window? Duh, look again at the first picture!!!
So next time you hear state run media, comedians or TIME magazine mock Sarah Palin for mentioning Alaskans can SEE Russia from their home, NOW you know it is just an intentional way to try to discredit her even thought she spoke a TRUTH!
As explained by John Zeigler in his recent article"I can see insanity from my newsroom" at bighollywood.breitbart.com:
"First, the now infamous “Russia” statement was clearly made as an aside in Palin’s interview with Charlie Gibson. Palin knew that the vast majority of American’s had no idea of the geographical proximity of Russia to Alaska (which, until after the Civil War, was actually part of Russia) and said it in a “gee, isn’t this an interesting fact?” sort of way.
Second, what she said was 100% factually accurate and relevant. As for the “lampooning” of the remark, that was done inaccurately by a comedy show with an obvious agenda. The Times should be embarrassed (if that’s still possible) even mentioning the episode in this context and to not at least point out the full context, as I just did, is flat out Media Malpractice.
As pathetic as the Times reporting was, the Associated Press was downright juvenile in taking the exact same page out of the anti-Palin playbook. They wrote, “she was ridiculed during the campaign after contending her state’s proximity to Russia gave her foreign policy experience. “You can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska,” she said."
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Is Sarah Palin the leader of the free world? Doctor Zero at Hot Air thinks so.
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In summary, Russia is either 2.4 or 50 miles away from the U.S.A. depending on technical you want to be. Now you know.
Now you can understand any mocking of the distance from Russia to U.S.A. is just a lame tactic to discredit Sarah Palin. Don't fall for it.
Get the facts. Is she perfect and never makes any mistakes? Of course not... but a fact is a fact and geography is geography: can't change just for politics... well... at least for now you can't...
The mocking was not because of the distance between Russia and the U.S. It was the hyperbole of the statement and the nonsequitur answer to the question. Big Diomedes Island is 664 miles from Wasilla (and even further from Juneau). You can check it out for yourself here: http://www.daftlogic.com/projects-google-maps-distance-calculator.htm
ReplyDeleteThis is very close to the distance from Auckland to Dunedin. Do you think it would be completely true and accurate for a person from Auckland to say that they can see Dunedin from their house? If so, your definition of "completely true and accurate" is very different from mine.
As for the Limbaughism "state-run media", this is a tragic misnomer. It's obvious that Mr. Limbaugh has never lived in a country where the media IS run by the state. The very fact that programs like Mr. Limbaugh's are free to broadcast in the U.S. is testimony to the fact that our media is not run by the state.
This kind of hyperbole in labeling things might be swallowed by the gullible, just as "I can see Russia from my house" might be by some, but there are many of us living here in America who find this kind of broadbrush namecalling absurd. It's difficult to decide whether to be embarrassed by it as a reflection on us as a country or laugh at the absurd, circus clown character of it.
Hi James M. Thanks for the comments, but what exactly is your point if you don't mind my asking?
ReplyDeleteWhat does the distance from Big Diomedes to Wasilla have to do with what I discuss in this posting?
Let's clear up something:
Tina Fey on SNL was the one who said "I can see Russia from my house" as a way to mock Sarah Palin?
Since Sarah Palin did not say that, the distance from Big Diomedes to Wasilla is not remotely relevant to this post.
The "media", including Time magazine, apparently didn't know this fact and perhaps you don't either.
Did you read John Zeigler's piece I referenced?
From your tone, I'm gather you don't like Rush Limbaugh. Have ever listened to him?
Did you know the White House has admitted to telling the media exactly what to say? This is what you call "state run media".
I wrote this post after I heard a NZ radio host made a derogatory comment that Sarah Palin needs a geography lesson. The American state-run media's message does get out there even when its fraudulent.
See how this works?
What specific "broadbrush name calling" do you believe is absurd?
I am an American who grew up and lived in Chicago my whole life until 2 years ago. I happen to agree with a lot of what Rush says. He's been on the radio for 20 years with 20,000,000-30,000,000 daily listeners for a reason. What do you think that is?
If anyone are clowns, it is people who assume what the 'media' states as true about Sarah Palin.
They lie!
The more you read about her very transparent record as a public servant and corruption fighter, the more you find she is even more qualified to be POTUS than the current putative POTUS aka the usurper aka Obummers aka Mr. Big Ears McSpendy pants.
have a nice day!