It’s been 17 years since then US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin didn’t say: “I can see Russia from my house.” (She really said: “You can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska,” but why spoil a good story?)
A happy day, then for the ex-governor of the largest state in the union when, come Friday, she will finally be able to “see Russia”, maybe even from her house, when Vladimir Putin rides into town.
Observers have already noted the unpleasant symbolism at the choice of venue, the US having bought the state from bankrupt Russia in 1867 in a $7.2m deal called the Alaska Purchase
Putin is flying in to an as-yet undisclosed Alaskan location for a summit with Donald Trump at which both men will probably feed that human Jack Russell terrier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, into the wood chipper.
Trump, possibly the lousiest poker player in history, has already shown his hand, saying there will be some land “swapping”, which makes the summit sound like a dodgy 1970s swingers’ evening.
Observers have already noted the unpleasant symbolism at the choice of venue, the US having bought the state from bankrupt Russia in 1867 in a $7.2m “deal” called the Alaska Purchase.
Those were the days when the Russian empire, its belly distended from gorging itself on the seeds of its own destruction, was close to collapse. It recovered its superpower status briefly in the 20th century before being derailed again by the same sort of breathtaking larceny and corruption that did for the tsars in the first place.
Make Russia Great Again is part of a delusion that has brought ruin to Ukraine and death to both countries, and Europe has warned of the peril in giving Russia what it wants.
Meanwhile, somewhere in Alaska, two tsar-crossed lovers are probably going to chum up the Ukraine Purchase which will, when guns fall silent, carry nothing but the stink of a grubby real estate deal.
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