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 …read more