[hosepipe]

[ The Bering Strait is 53 miles across, which means you can't see Russia across it because of the curvature of the earth. ]

But you can see it from an airplane.. Palin was giving a metaphor anyway.. In an airplane you can see the Bahamas from FT Lauerdale too.. or with an hour and half boat ride..

[Ilya Mourometz]

For Pete’s sake, if there’s one thing she knows more about than anyone at Kos, it’s Alaska. She also flies her own float-plane, so I’m sure she has seen Russia herself from the air. Anyhoo, I thought it was pretty well known that the Diomede Islands were only a couple miles apart. I remember that from grade school, back when the Soviet threat was still very real, the proximity of the Soviets to the US was pretty well understood.

[VeniVidiVici]

However, there are two islands in the Bering Staight - Big Diomede and Little Diomede. The big island is Russian and the small one American. They are 1.5 miles from each other. Interestingly, the International Date Line separates the two, so there is a time difference of 23 hours between the two.

I thought every schoolboy knows this.

Ah, that's right! We're more worried about stuff like Heather's Two Gay Alligators and Johnny's Mom is a Transsexual Lesbian than teach ignorant stuff like geography.

[Always Independent]

What? Google doen’t have a camera there?

[blake6900]

OK, I didn't watch the Sarah Palin interview, but apparently she made the comment that "you can actually see Russia from Alaska."

I may be mistaken but I believe her actual quote was, "you can actually see Russia from some parts of Alaska". Of course this will turn into "you can see Russia from everywhere in Alaska" just like the libs are misquoting what she said regarding Georgia, NATO, Russia and going to war. That went from "perhaps" to "what button do I push to drop the bombs"?!

[CharlesWayneCT]

Yes. You can see Russia from Alaska.

But remember, DU is populated by people who the Democrats force through the public school system, so they don’t really know geography.

You know it’s getting bad when people start taking correct statements and calling them “gaffes”.

[maine-iac7]

Russia is only 3 miles from Alaska - can you see 3 miles? I can.

Good grief. Who would know better than an Alaskan?

These scoffers probably have no idea that Russia all but connects to Alaska. They ever heard of the Bering Straights?

[count-your-change]

Are you saying because of the international dateline that if I wanted to see Russia from Alaska today I'd have to wait until tomorrow? Or should I have done so yesterday?

[Dustoff45]

have any Freepers who have been to Alaska ever seen Russia from there?

Let me be the first Freeper here to say that I have seen Russia from Alaska.

I went to Little Diomede Island in the late '80s on a business trip. The aircraft landed on the sea ice. There is no runway as the village hugs a steep bank at the water's edge.

The wind was out of the east, and it seemed to me the pilot got fairly close to the other island (Big Diomede) during this approach. I really think I have been in Russian air space.

One of the locals that I spoke with was a volunteer fireman. They had had some exercises with the Russians to coordinate joint-rescue missions.

Well the Americans didn't speak Russian, and the Russians did not speak English, but guess what?

On each team were American Eskimos and Russian Eskimos, and they spoke the same language.

They became the communication bridge between the two teams.

[Eye of Unk]

It most definitely is yes.

no ifs or buts.

[wolfman1]

I can see the moon from my house. I suppose that makes me an astronaut.