Subject: Re: Soviet Alaska?
From: "A. P. De New" <denewa@fhs.csu.McMaster.CA>
Date: 1996/03/30
Message-ID: <Pine.HPP.3.91.960330145924.15251D-100000@fhs.csu.McMaster.CA>
Newsgroups: soc.history.what-if
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On 28 Mar 1996, Timothy John Woelk wrote:
> What would have happened during the Cold War had the Americans not bought
> Alaska in 1867, but instead it had remained part of Russian territory?
>
> Tim
>
Jeffrey Archer, the British MP and author, wrote about this possibility
in one of his thrillers (Matter of Honour, I believe), in which the
Seward Purchase included a secret protocol making the purchase a 99 year
lease instead.
Would appear at first to be a really big pain in the rectal sphincter; but
upon reflection, I doubt too much would change:
Alaska was used for some nuke testing; the US could
have blown up more of Nevada instead. Gas and oil in Alaska would go to
USSR, but would require extraction technology from US or other western
country to make profitable; also would have to pipe it across Bering
Sts. (not likely) or send it to market in US/Canada. DEW line was mostly
in Canada anyway, no big deal to add a radar line in British Columbia.
Less obsession with Cuba, since an integral part of USSR would be that
much closer. Soviet pollution in Alaska might have been a problem, but
perhaps they would not have risked moving their nuke power stations to an
area so easily overrun.
My $0.02.
-- Andrew De New
