Hi Jabber,

I hadn't heard anything about the Alaskan islands, but of course, knowing me, as soon as I read your post, I had to go searching.

I was a bit surprised to find that Google was not reporting that any of my normal news sources - the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, for example - were talking about it.

But I DID find a blog post discussing it, which I have linked to here.

The story apparently originated with an article that appeared this week in a World Net Daily opinion piece by former Republican U.S. Senate Candidate for Alaska, Joe Miller.

And from what I can tell, it has received huge attention from the blogosphere - so thanks for bringing it to our attention.

In the link above, the poster, someone named Maggie whose blog is called "Maggie's Notebook," reports that she actually called Joe Miller and talked to him to get clarification.

Based on what I read in the post linked to above, this is an issue that has been in contention since time time of George H.W. Bush and Henry Kissinger.

The ownership of the islands is in dispute, due to mapping. And -- while there is supposed to be valuable oil in the sea beds below these islands -- it is not clear yet whether or not Russia is willing to take ownership of them.

The piece I linked to is lengthy, but you will probably find it worth reading.

Thanks for bringing it to our attention here on the forum. (By the way, from her site, Maggie looks to be Boomer aged, and she lives in Oklahoma. Maybe we could get her to join the forum.)

Anne