Geography Quotes
Misquoted. Comedian Tina Fey, while impersonating Ms. Palin on Saturday Night Live, uttered this line that is now widely attributed to the former Alaska governor. The basis for this line comes from a Sept. 11, 2008 interview with ABC News's Charles Gibson, who asked Palin what insights she had from her state being so close to Russia. She responded: "They're our next-door neighbors, and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska." This is true. On a clear day, those on the Alaskan island of Little Diomede can see the Russian island of Big Diomede, some two and a half miles away. There are other points in Alaska where you can see Russia on a clear day.
The Kurds are an ethnic people—Sunni Muslims by religion who like Armenians and Jews before Israel had no country of their own. There are large contingencies of Kurds in Iraq, Iran and Turkey where historically each of those countries saw the Kurds as part of their Nation. In Turkey, it could be said that almost half the population are Kurds. The Turkish government takes the position that all its citizens are Turks—there is no such thing as a Kurd. Turkey once banned the speaking of Kurdish and would not allow the language to be used in schools insisting that Turkish was the language of the country. Kurds outside of Turkey established terrorist cells and murdered many innocent Turkish people including Turkish Kurds. Turkey, Iraq and Iran have all tried to eliminate any semblance of a Kurdish state or province using force and military means. No country has really aided the Kurds but they have been able to avoid annihilation because of the mountains where they could hide and endure.
Dayan was a strong advocate for co-existence with the Arabs and an understanding of their frustrations and disappointments without bowing to the extremists who wanted to destroy Israel.
