The Berring Strait

Big news from Russia and from Alaska this week, huh?

First, we'll start with the less significant stuff.

Sarah Palin, huh? None of us had heard of her prior to a few days ago. My friend Elizabeth actually babysat for her kids. Alaska's the both the smallest and the biggest state, apparently.

So, she doesn't seem like McCain's best choice to me. I wonder if he couldn't get Lieberman -- he seemed like the best way to attract independents. From where I sit, I just flat-out don't believe that religious conservatives will ever sit at home to spite McCain. They've been trying for thirty years to overturn Roe v. Wade, and they won't risk letting Obama pick Judges for four years. Talk radio hosts can pretend all they want, but it's not going to happen.

Speaking of abortion, I guess running highly politicized local campaigns would make you something of a maverick in Alaska politics. From what little I know of the place, it strikes me as pretty staunchly rural libertarian -- sort of a "don't mess with my money, don't mess with my personal life, but if you need to break into my house this winter to survive, the door's unlocked and there are plenty of baked beans on the shelf" vibe. When Palin ran for mayor in Wasillia, she ran on a pro-life, anti-gun control campaign. Weird. Cities and townships can't really do anything about abortion, and, seriously, who's going to try to take guns away from Alaskans?

I suppose McCain is hoping that his campaign can tell the public everything they know about Sarah Palin. Not a bad idea, I guess, since the public doesn't know anything about her. If she can reinforce his maverick image, it might work out for him. If voters care about whether or not she's qualified to be President, well, whoops. If picking her was indeed a plan to reach out to Hillary-ites, well, whoops again. They're not going to go ga-ga for anyone so vehemently pro-life.

Okay, now for the important stuff.

Vladimir Putin is expressing Russian antipathy for NATO ships in the Black Sea, right off of the Georgian shore. I guess we've got two there, and Spain, Poland, and Germany have one each. Like I said before, Russia feels like this is their exclusive domain, and we're not in much of a position to challenge that. Putin said Russia would respond calmly to the NATO presence, but that "there will be an answer."

None of this is getting much media coverage, which, while frustrating, may be hopeful. During the Georgian conflict, US diplomats and media outlets were sounding pretty bullish. It seems as though they may have quieted down a bit intentionally to give Putin enough room to chill out. We'll see how this goes, I guess, but it seems much, much more serious than all of this nonsense about Palin's family.

Putin Vows 'Answer' to NATO Ships