While the media has been reporting on Sarah Palin's wardrobe expenses and her family's travel tickets, the action-oriented governor of Alaska has been scoring a huge foreign policy and national security victory for the United States.

It seems that Vladimir Putin of Russia is so enthralled with his ability to bully Europe by threatening to withhold natural gas supplies that he wants to extend his power to the USA and the rest of the world.

So he sent his Gazprom stooges over to Alaska to convince the natives that they would make more money by building a Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) terminal, rather than sending Alaska's gas by pipeline to the United States.

By shipping its natural gas out of an LNG terminal, Alaska would virtually be joining a budding natural gas monopoly run by Russia's Putin.

What he is trying to do is sever Alaska's gas from America and put it into an OPEC-like monopoly which would control the production, pricing and shipping of natural gas, just as OPEC controls oil. Because he and his buddies in Iran and Qatar control 60 percent of the world's natural gas reserves, he would be sitting in the catbird's seat.

If Putin could convince Governor Palin to build a Liquified Natural Gas Terminal, we would be in the crazy position of importing our own natural gas. And Putin would be able to shut off our supplies whenever he wished.

Think about a winter without natural gas. Think about a huge national blackout as natural gas-fed power stations stop functioning. Think about all the disruptions as other sources are diverted to keep the electricity running. Think of all the pollution and increased global warming caused by the necessity of bringing more coal-fired power stations online.

So what did Governor Palin say to Putin's Gazprom stooges?

From the campaign trail, Sarah Palin ordered her office in Anchorage to give the Russians the diplomatic equivalent of "up yours."

The ruffled Russians were informed that "All of Alaska's natural gas is going to America."

This is a big win for America in two ways:

First, it moves us toward the energy independence that Obama, Biden and McCain can only blather about.

Second, it substantially weakens Putin's ability to create a natural gas cartel that would have massive national security implications for America. (Remember the mischief caused by the Arab oil boycott? The gas lines? Shutting down oil for our Mediterranean fleet? The energy inflation?)

I am writing about this because the mainstream media is doing its level best to portray the Alaska governor as a foreign policy lightweight.

Yet she has just achieved a major foreign policy and national security victory for the United States while the press is busy diverting your attention to her travel tickets, wardrobe, hairdo and rimless glasses.

I hope you will help right the massive media injustice by forwarding this column to as many people as possible.

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