If Maureen Dowd was a man I’d call her a first class @$$hole. What willful ignorance! How many times has the AK Air national Guard scrambled to intercept Soviet/Russian aircraft approaching US territory? Isn’t Palin the CinC of the AK National Guard?
The threat of Russia within 64 miles, while it might not give you an invitation to discuss the grain crop with the ambassador of Nothing, located in Nowhere, it does lead one to a lot of serious thought about world threats, how one would react, what effect you might have on the outcome, etc.
Certainly the governor of Alaska would think about tho world threats in more depth than some ambitious small time pol sitting in a Chicago bar BSing with his cronies about how to climb the ladder.