Proximity breeds knowledge, or does it?

This blog isn’t really about politics, but a recent statement about Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin struck me. Apparently, she doesn’t need foreign policy experience because Alaska is so close to Russia, with variations on the theme citing from seventy to 300 miles or so. Without even addressing the validity of that logic to begin with, it got me thinking - just how far is Anchorage from Moscow, where the real seat of Russian power lies? The answer to that (and any distance questions) is here, at the Distance Calculator.

Apparently, Anchorage is about 4,350 miles from Moscow, only about four hundred miles closer than Philadelphia, where I’m writing this. I guess that means I’m almost qualified to be vice president. The Drudge report had a different take on this line of argument, but either way the distance calculator is kind of a cool tool.

image in the public domain, from nationalatlas.gov