We’re heading to Alaska soon, so I’ve been paying closer attention to all the talk these days about Russia — Alaska’s neighbor — playing America for the fool…..for example, by inserting its military into the affairs of neighboring countries and messing with elections in the USA, and in both cases, doing so with impunity.
All this could be true but, frankly, Russia has a long way to go to get even with the United States. After all, the US purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867 for just two cents an acre, about a penny an acre cheaper than the bargain basement price paid for the Louisiana Purchase by the US from France in 1803.
When Alaska became the USA’s 49th state in 1959 (the year before Johnny Horton’s song and the film “North to Alaska” were released), it also became the nation’s largest and most natural resource-rich state. Alaska has helped secure energy independence for the lower 48 states — transforming the US from an oil and gas importing nation (remember the long gasoline lines of the 1970’s) to the world’s number one oil and gas exporting nation — but it may have increased this nation’s dependance on fossil fuels. The Alaska acquisition also has enhanced the USA’s claim in the Arctic whose economic and strategic importance is increasing even faster than the planet’s rising temperatures.
Most important of all, perhaps, is that some Alaskans have claimed they can see Russia from where they live. Which is great. With only a narrow water passage between our countries, rather than some wide expanse of ocean, we may be able to find more mutually beneficial reasons to get along than to blow each other up.
JER
ALL OVER THE MAP 