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| 7/9 |
| 2008/9/25-30 [Politics/Domestic/Election] UID:51300 Activity:nil |
9/25 Palin stood out for ignoring Russian issues in Alaska
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008174647_palinrussia12m0.html
\_ "Palin has never visited Russia and until last year the 44-year-old
Alaska governor had never traveled outside North America. She also
had never met a foreign leader until her trip this week to New York.
In the CBS interview, she did not offer any examples of having been
involved in any negotiations with the Russians."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080925/ap_on_el_pr/palin |
| 7/9 |
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| seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008174647_palinrussia12m0.html Native children play near the main street in Provideniya in the Chukotka province where in 1988 an Alaska Airlines plane landed that helped renew contacts between Russia and Alaska. Enlarge this photo ALAN BERNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES Native children play near the main street in Provideniya in the Chukotka province where in 1988 an Alaska Airlines plane landed that helped renew contacts between Russia and Alaska. In May 2007, Vladimir Yetylin, a Russian politician from the province of Chukotka, met in Anchorage with Alaska Gov. They talked about the struggles of the Arctic's native people and the possibility of Palin visiting the other side of the Bering Strait. "She seemed very modern and forward-thinking and was open to the idea," Yetylin said in a telephone interview. Yetylin's invitation reflects the kind of grass-roots diplomacy that has marked Alaska-Russian relations, even in a time of growing tension between the Bush administration and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. But so far, in her first 21 months of office, Palin has balked at grabbing that opportunity, instead focusing her energies on home-front issues -- raising taxes on the oil industry and backing construction of a natural-gas pipeline. Her critics say that Palin has shied away from launching any major initiatives in Russian diplomacy despite Alaska's historic ties with Russia. Now, as she campaigns, her understanding of Alaska and its relationship with Russia has become a Republican talking point. As GOP presidential nominee John McCain put it in a recent interview: "Alaska is right next to Russia; Russia is indeed close, with less than 60 miles separating Alaska's northwest coast from Chukotka, and less than three miles separating the Alaska island of Little Diomede from the Russia island of Big Diomede. Russia and Alaska share a window onto the Arctic -- where melting ice puts them at the forefront of climate change -- as well as a vast frontier for future oil production. Her supporters say as governor, Palin has shown she has the right priorities: Alaska's future is closely tied to the further development of energy resources, including a huge natural-gas pipeline that could extend through Canada. "We have gone through a period where most Alaska governors have been focused on those issues, but from day one, this governor, like any Alaska governor, has had to understand their neighbors," said Mead Treadwell, an Alaska Republican who chairs the US Arctic Research Commission. Treadwell notes that Palin targeted Arctic issues in a spring letter she wrote to President Bush, which urged investment in new icebreakers to patrol in seas that are increasingly open to ship traffic. Treadwell also said he had spoken to Palin about a possible trip to Russia this summer, but that effort was derailed by a special session of the state Legislature. Patricia Eckert, a trade specialist in the governor's office, said that currently no trips are planned for Russia. "I am not aware of any plans but that doesn't mean she wouldn't." Opportunities abound for Alaska governors to engage in Russian diplomacy, with the state host to several organizations focusing on Arctic issues. Anchorage is the seat of the Northern Forum, an 18-year-old organization that represents the leaders of regional governments in Russia, as well as Finland, Iceland and Canada, Japan, China and South Korea. advertising Yet under Palin, the state government -- without consultation -- reduced its annual financial support to the Northern Forum to $15,000 from $75,000, according to Priscilla Wohl, the group's executive director. That forced the forum's Anchorage office to go without pay for two months. Tony Knowles -- also stopped sending representatives to Northern Forum's annual meetings, including one last year for regional governors held in the heart of Russia's oil territory. "It was an opportunity for the Alaska governor to take a delegation of business leaders to the largest oil-producing region in Russia, and she would have been shaking hands with major leaders in Russia," Wohl said. Palin grew up in an Alaska still frozen in the Cold War era, when virtually all contacts were severed between the state and Russia -- the Bering Strait bristling with armaments and troops. Even Yup'ik Eskimo, whose kin populated both sides of the strait, lost contact with one another. But by the time Palin was in her mid-20s, the glasnost polices of then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev were helping to melt that ice curtain, and in 1988 an Alaska Airlines plane landed in the Chukotka port city Provideniya, a "Friendship Flight" that helped renew contacts between Russia and Alaska. In the decade that followed, thousands of Alaskans -- students, teachers, politicians, scientists, businesspeople and tourists -- traveled to Chukotka and other Russian provinces. There was a flow of Russians to Alaska, some of whom came to settle. In Wasilla, for example, where Palin was mayor, 7 percent of the high-school student body was of Russian and Ukrainian descent in 2007, according to Cherie Koss, a high-school teacher, in an interview that year with The Frontiersman, a local newspaper. Since the Friendship Flight, there have been setbacks -- particularly on the business front as many joint ventures foundered amid the confusion and corruption that enveloped the new Russia. The difficulties of doing business was an important factor in an Alaska Airlines decision in 1998 to stop flights between Anchorage and five Far East cities. However, Nome-based Bering Air continues to fly to Chukotka, and a Russian airline this year started up service between Vladivostok and Anchorage. |
| news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080925/ap_on_el_pr/palin AP Palin defends Alaska-Russia foreign policy remark By AMY WESTFELDT, Associated Press Writer Thu Sep 25, 7:57 PM ET NEW YORK - Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin defended her remark that the proximity of Russia to her home state of Alaska gives her foreign policy experience, explaining in a CBS interview airing Thursday that "we have trade missions back and forth." Click Here Palin has never visited Russia and until last year the 44-year-old Alaska governor had never traveled outside North America. She also had never met a foreign leader until her trip this week to New York. In the CBS interview, she did not offer any examples of having been involved in any negotiations with the Russians. Palin's foreign policy experience came up when she gave her first major interview, on Sept. Asked what insight she had gained from living so close to Russia, she said: "They're our next-door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska." The comment met with derision from Palin's critics and was turned into a punch line for a "Saturday Night Live" skit featuring actress Tina Fey. Appearing as Palin, she proclaimed, "I can see Russia from my house!" In the interview with CBS News anchor Katie Couric, Palin said: "It's funny that a comment like that was, kind of made to ... "Yeah," Palin said, "mocked, I guess that's the word, yeah." When Couric asked how Alaska's closeness to Russia enhanced her foreign policy experience, Palin said, "Well, it certainly does because our ... Palin didn't answer directly when Couric inquired about whether she had been involved in any negotiations with the Russians. "We have trade missions back and forth," she replied, although Russia is not among the state's top 20 export partners. As she continued, Palin brought up Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. "It's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where -- where do they go? It is -- from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. Palin has two trade specialists working for the governor's office. The top countries receiving Alaskan goods are Japan, Korea, China, Canada and Germany, according to 2006 export data, the most recent figures published, with seafood accounting for 50 percent of products exported. Asked why she only obtained a passport last year, Palin said, "I'm not one of those who maybe came from a background of, you know, kids who perhaps graduate college and their parents give them a passport and give them a backpack and say go off and travel the world. In fact, I usually had two jobs all my life until I had kids. Earlier Thursday, Palin held a rare exchange with reporters outside a ground zero firehouse in New York, and declined to endorse the candidacy of indicted Alaska Sen. On trial for seven counts of making false statements stemming from allegations that he concealed gifts on Senate financial documents, Stevens is running for re-election to retain the seat he has held since 1968. When a reporter asked Palin if she supports the re-election of Stevens, she replied: "Ted Stevens' trial started a couple of days ago. Outside the firehouse just across from the site of the Sept. She has yet to have a news conference in the four weeks since Republican presidential candidate John McCain chose her to be his running mate and has submitted to only three major interviews -- with ABC, Fox News and CBS. Palin was asked if she thought the US presence in Iraq and Afghanistan was helping to mitigate terrorism. "I think our presence in Iraq and Afghanistan will lead to further security for our nation. Wrapping up a trip to New York, the Alaska governor toured a visitors center dedicated to those who lost their lives in the 2001 attacks. She later walked past a bronze memorial built into the wall of a firehouse, which commemorates the 343 firefighters who died on Sept. "To come here and see these good New Yorkers who are not only rebuilding this area but rebuilding America, it's very inspiring," she told reporters. Palin asked several questions during the tour about progress rebuilding the trade center site, victims' families and particularly the health problems suffered by ground zero workers, said Jennifer Adams, CEO of the tribute center. Health advocates believe thousands of people became ill from exposure to toxic dust from the ruins of the trade center site. Palin's parents went to New York in January 2002 to help control the rat population in Staten Island's Fresh Kills landfill as part-time contract workers with the Agriculture Department, her mother, Sally Heath, told The Associated Press on Thursday. Their task for two weeks was to control the rats so that they did not disturb the debris from the World Trade Center that was being brought there and searched by forensic teams for human remains. Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin talks to reporters outside of Engine Company 10, Ladder Company 10 next to the World Trade Center site, Thursday, Sept. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. |