Alaska sprawls across four time zones (even though three of these have been politically combined into one). It covers 57.5 degrees of longitude, which equals the span of land from Maine to Washington. North to south, Alaska extends through 20 degrees of latitude, from 51 to 71 degrees, which equals the span of land from a latitude south of London, England, to within nineteen degrees of the North Pole.
In addition, the coastline of Alaska exceeds the combined coastlines of all the other states in the U.S., including Hawaii.
I am concerned that Putin might be looking at Alaska with “hungry eyes” as it would be such a difficult state to defend the entirety of its geography. Would we have the will to defend it?