Palin on Russia: Beyond Moose-Hunting

By Patricia Lee Sharpe

Reviewing Sarah Palin’s record as governor, NYT reporter William Yardley turned up highly salient information about Palin’s attitude toward Russia, material much more important than the easily satirized notion that she understands Russia because Alaskans can see Russia's Big Diomede Island from their own Little Diomede Island. And then the editors buried it! There's just a 1" teaser on the front page, and that comes only at the end of a 9" intro to a debunking article about Joe Biden as a not-so-ordinary Joe, to wit: “A glimpse of Gov. Sarah Palin’s views on health care, education, the environment and on other issues. Page A22.”

If you notice this squib and actually get to page 22, as instructed, you will find a very meaty article. Let's hope that Gwen Ifill, the moderator for tonight’s Vice Presidential debate, is aware of the substance of this material, because it suggests an excellent Russia question.

It seems that during her tenure as Governor of Alaska,

Ms. Palin does not appear to have made any trade missions since taking office, and former trade officials said the state’s trade staff had been reduced under her watch.

Alaska has also sharply reduced its role in the Northern Forum, an association of state and regional governments from countries including Canada, Russia, Japan and China that works on common issues in northern regions like economic development, flooding and global warming.

Under Ms. Palin the state has reduced its spending to the base-level membership dues [of] $15,000 [from $60,000-$100,000] and the administration has not attended any forum meetings, including one last fall in Russia.

Priscilla Wohl, the executive director of the Northern Forum, is quoted as recalling that had Ms. Palin participated “in the last 18 months, she would have met ambassadors, governors, heads of the European Union’s programs [and] of United Nations programs.”

This is astonishing. The Arctic Ice Shelf is melting away. The Northwest Passage is soon going to be hosting cruise ships full of the curious. There’s already an underwater land rush among Russia, Canada and the U.S. to claim as much of the floor of the Arctic ocean as possible, the better to exploit its mineral wealth. The northern fishing nations have long been at one another’s throats. And what about whales, polar bears, sea lions, walrus, caribou and—yes!—moose, who never signed treaties about national borders and are variously affected by the acceleration of the human impact on northern areas.

Yet Palin downgrades Alaska’s participation in the dialogue and, so to speak, stiffs the dignitaries that attend. How parochial! No wonder she needed a crash course in diplomacy and some quick introductions to various world leaders at the U.N. last month. Clearly she never imagined herself as a player on the world stage. And then, without a blink, without an instant's reflection as to whether she's right for the job, she says, "Sure!" when McCain knocks on the door. What else will she do without thinking?

I’m tempted to say that maybe Palin would have attended those meetings were cross-border moose-chasing at the top of the agenda. And maybe I shouldn’t be ashamed of slipping that dig in, because her documented negligence indicates a profound lack of interest in how her/our global neighbors may affect the well-being of her own state, to say nothing of the security and prosperity of the entire country.

Here’s the governor of a state that is going to be massively involved in a transformation of political and economic relations as the Arctic Ocean becomes navigable and the ocean floor becomes increasingly exploitable. And she didn't see it. Or she didn't care.

A Vice Presidential debate would be a superb forum to probe this ignorance or disinterest. But should Gwen Ifill not pursue these matters, they should not be allowed to vanish from the national consciousness like a rock dropped in the ocean.