Boston is closer to Moscow than Alaska

[Ichingcarpenter]

And we wonder why people doubt our credibility...

It continues to amuse me that they keep using this ridiculous "Russia is close to Alaska" thing. And the press keeps kinda taking it seriously! And the "serious" media wonder why so many people get their news from Jon Stewart?

"Russia," as a political entity, isn't a bunch of rocks in Siberia. It's Moscow. We don't dispute that, right? Right.

So let's do a little experiment. How close is Juneau, Alaska's capital, to Moscow? It's 4,559.6 miles. Meanwhile, how close is, say, Boston, the capital of Massachusetts, to Moscow? It's 4,498.8 miles. (Distances calculated using this site.)

So there you have it. Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick is more geographically qualified to speak of matters Russian than Palin is. I wish someone would make this into a commercial. They'd never trot this argument out again.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2008/sep/12/sarahpalin.russia

[margotb822]

1. I can see Mexico from here

and even though I don't speak Spanish, I'm apparently qualified. yay!

This "proximity to Russia" argument is one of the most absurd things I've ever heard. Good info about Boston, I can't wait to use it.

[dailykoff]

3. I can see the moon right now!

Let's see if they'll let me run NASA!

[margotb822]

13. Hahaha, good one

What do you think will happen if you can see Mars?

[CTyankee]

2. Somebody's using their noodle! And I do mean brain...

what a great find: MA, the liberal capital of the United States, closer to Moscow than Juneau! I love it! I hope Ted Kennedy heard that one, he'd love it! Somebody should send it to his Senate office (somebody who is a constituent).

[nichomachus]

8. Actually, I posted this same fact yesterday

without benefit of The Guardian, I might add.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=7043975&mesg_id=7043975

It just shows the abysmal ignorance of whoever invented this idiocy.

It's ridiculous of the face of it, but the first thing you need to know about Russia is that it is fucking huge -- 12 times zones, I believe.

However, even though the distances from Boston and Juneau are about the same, flying time is another story. It's about 11.5 hours from Boston to Moscow and about 20 hours from Juneau to Moscow.

[CTyankee]

11. Did you somehow know this or just surmise it? Whatever it was,

it was brilliant thinking. I would not have thought of it, because I don't think of Boston as being as far east as Alaska, but I guess I would if I looked at a map.

Now THAT is creative thinking!

[nichomachus]

15. I kind of just knew it.

Russia is freaking huge -- and the part that is close to Alaska is a vast wasteland with some fishing going on. Moscow is almost in Europe -- just a few-hours by train from the border. Moscow to Vladivostok by train can take up to five or six days.

So, I figured there was a good chance that there were places in the eastern US that were closer to Moscow than Juneau.

People don't comprehend just how massive Russia is. Often, when the sun is rising in eastern Russia, it's setting in western Russia.

This is why it's such an impossible country to govern.

[CTyankee]

16. Yes, I remember looking at the map of Western Europe during the Napoleonic era.

It was quite impressive. Napoleon had all of Europe except Russia and the British Isles.

What we don't realize here is that there was a real FEAR of Napoleon in the US at the time. Of course, we were a very young country, but there were some really serious voices raised about radicalism, etc.

It's interesting...

[BlueIdaho]

4. Excellent!

You know I had an idea this would be true but I couldn't find a site to calculate distance! So how abut Washington DC or New York? Still closer?

[BadgerKid]

7. Check out GoogleEarth

I think it's using the same standards for distances as that web site. I find:

Moscow-Boston: 4,495.56 miles
Moscow-Juneau: 4,550.51
Moscow-NYC: 4,671.22
Moscos-White House: 4,867.81

[swishyfeet]

5. LOL. But you can't deny the strategic importance of Kamchatka.

Gateway to the east...

[TomInTib]

6. What does vodka have to do with it? nt

[LiberalAndProud]

9. 'geographically qualified'

I love the prase-eology.

:rofl:

[Oak2004]

10. What just shocked me

about her parochialism is that she has made exactly one trip to Canada.

I've lived most of my adult life in the northern tier of US states. I've been to Canada I don't know how many times. I used to have a Canadian national parks yearly pass on my windshield, back when I was an able-bodied hiker with a car. I've gone to Canada to shop, to go out to eat, to do all those things people do locally. I've never even considered it, really, as going to a "foreign country" ... it's more like visiting a neighbor. And I'd be hard pressed to give a number on the countless times I've watched CBC TV or CTV or a Canadian radio station. I speak curling and hockey and know perfectly well who Don Cherry is. And Tim Hortons, well... I don't have a count for those visits, either. Canada is as much a part of a northern tier citizen's experience as is their neighboring state.

Now I know it's harder to get around in Alaska. But I've also known Alaskans, and they too have told unselfconscious stories of visiting Canada, much as my fellow northern tier lower 48 residents do.

Sarah Palin didn't set foot in Canada but once, a couple of years ago??!?

I really didn't think she and McCain could shock me anymore. But they have, yet again.

[nomorewhopper]

12. Russia is about 1300 miles to the CLOSEST point in Alaska....

[chascarrillo]

14. Uh... no. AK is 2.5 miles from Russia.

Little Diomede Island (in Alaska) is 2.5 miles from Big Diomede Island (in Russia). Find another avenue of attack. Being oblivious about geography won't cut it.

[mcg]

17. What information can be gotten by seeing Big Diomede Island?

Parts of Alaska being close to parts of Russia (this island and the east coast of Siberia) does not refute the OP's argument.

Or are you responding to "Russia is about 1300 miles to the CLOSEST point in Alaska....",
which is false?

One see also see this view from parts of Alaska:

That's according to a freeper.

So what?

The issue here isn't whether one can see Big Diomede Island or the east coast of Siberia from Alaska.
The issue is that it is idiotic of Palin to attempt to support her claim of having expertise
in Russian affairs by citing this trivia.

[chascarrillo]

18. It certainly is trivia. WA state has deeper relations with China than AK/Russia.

I do think that our two countries' closeness in the Bering Strait is strategically important - just look at the military installations (past and present) on both sides there - but that's on a Federal level. The Governor of AK has f'all to say in the matter. I just think that using a Boston-Moscow comparison is rather sketchy.

[NotThisTime]

19. I love the UK sites... they come up with the best material & are dead on

[Ichingcarpenter]

20. I have two voters for Obama that live closer to Moscow

and one of them speaks Russian, chinese, Danish, Japanese and english
who was born in texas.

The other one only speaks 3 languages.


Russia is Moscow......... just ask any Russian and look at the history.