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Your guess is as good as mine.

You're too modest. I never heard of Palin until a few months ago, and I'm a long way from Wasilla. I'm surprised that there are many Ruskies there. Any idea why? I guess it's obvious if they can get there and make a life without getting locked up or being deported.

As for the Canadians, IMO it wouldn't necessarily be a question of "why bother?". Canadians and Americans really are different, red state Americans and your average Canadians anyway.

By the way, a few years ago I read an article by a couple of Alaskan socioligists who were challenged by a Canadian sociologist and acquaintance to do a study of two small towns across a river from each other, one in Canada and one in AK. The challanger thought they would conclude that the Canadian one was oh so much more superior to the American one.

They found that the Canadian town was tidier, had a better library, pleasant streets, more government jobs, etc, but were uptight about money and always scheming to get more grants (shades of my little isolated Canadian community), while the American side wasn't very tidy or pretty, but the people were inventive , figured out ways to get things done, and had a much more cheerful and vibrant community. The sociologists stayed on the Canadian side, why not.

I've tried a few times to find the article via Google, with no luck. Have you ever heard of that story?

"As for the Canadians, IMO it wouldn't necessarily be a question of "why bother?". Canadians and Americans really are different, red state Americans and your average Canadians anyway."

The "why bother?" was because the territory between Canada and Alaska is some of the wildest, harshest, most forbidding territory on earth. Who would want to try that? Sneaking across THAT border is unthinkable.

Russians probably emigrate here because there is only about 10 miles between Russian territory (Big Diomede Island) and the U.S. (Little Diomede Island), so it's "close to home." A regularly scheduled Aeroflot flight between here and Russia makes it closer. Most of the Russians I know of (several neighbors) appear to be naturalized. They are property owners, most of whom build their own homes. If any are illegal, they don't act like it.