The Red Glare
During the War of 1812, “rockets red glare” and other bombs exploded in the air as American forces attacked British naval bases and the capital. In this new exhibition, five museums and historical societies in southeastern Connecticut have joined together to highlight historic objects that illustrate the impact of the War of 1812 on the state and its people.
The exhibition, “The Rockets’ Red Glare: Connecticut and the War of 1812,” opened July 6, 2012 at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London. The exhibition was made possible by the generous support of the Connecticut Humanities Council. The Stonington Historical Society, New London County Historical Society, Mystic Seaport Museum, and Groton’s Coby Museum of Art & History contributed historic objects for the exhibition.
Congreve rockets were an incredible invention designed by the British army engineer William Congreve. These iron cased black powder rockets on wooden guide poles had incendiary, shrapnel, and explosive warheads. The British fired 600 to 700 rockets at Fort McHenry during the bombardment that lasted 25 hours. Although the British failed to destroy the fort, they were able to tie down the American fleet in Baltimore.
PYROMANIA(tm) ‘Rocket’s Red Glare’ is a beautiful addition to the perennial garden. It is hardy in zones 5b (with protection) to zone 9. This long season perennial has tall upright spikes of bright red flower buds that open to a creamy yellow bloom. The dark green grass like foliage adds texture and depth to the garden. This plant is bee friendly and attracts hummingbirds and butterflies to the landscape. Use this perennial as a focal point in the garden or use it in mass for added color to the border. It grows 2 1/2 to 3 foot tall and spreads 2 foot wide. This bee friendly perennial is drought tolerant and deer and rabbit resistant.
The Red Shame
When Vladimir Putin paraded the loose echelons of his invincible army on Red Square last May, he looked like a man who had been forced to confront reality. The swaggering troops in his parade were not preparing to invade another country, as he had promised. Instead, they were dying in Ukraine and were probably preparing for more deaths at the hands of Russian artillery and air strikes. He also had no record of victories to brag about. Rather, his troops were losing the battle and his paranoid mind was rife with rage.
The parade of shame echoed the Soviet era demonstration in August 1968 that defiantly declared “this is not the war we fought for!” The war that is being waged by Russia against a peaceful nation is no different from the ruthless campaign of invasion and occupation that the Red Army carried out 78 years ago. Yet again, the dissenting voices have been silenced with ferocious hostility and a slew of repressive measures.
While it’s true that many Russians are more interested in foreign travel and consumer goods than chauvinist messianism that looks to the past, there are still some who have the courage to speak out against Putin’s military aggressions. Some of these people have been arrested and are enduring punishments for their moral defiance. Others have been barred from laying flowers on the monuments to their liberators or forbidden from displaying Soviet flags. In addition, dozens of activists have been placed on the so-called List of Shame, an official blacklist of those who have violated Russia’s law against “discrediting the armed forces.”
The list includes journalists who have criticized Putin, and businessmen who have called for sanctions against Russia. Hundreds of Western companies have withdrawn from Russia in response to these moves, even though it means losing business. Among the firms that have heeded the call to stay away is AB InBev, the world’s largest brewery and one of the most popular brands in Russia. The decision has not been taken lightly by the company, which has seen its stock value plummet.
The Red Eye
There is a strange split in the West, and especially Europe, over Russia. On the one hand there are those who want to stop Putin but not humiliate him. These are people like Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz and Mario Draghi who are not only worried about the costs of the war to Russia (its economy, its armed forces, its food inflation) but also the huge burden it will place on European economies as they absorb millions of Ukraine refugees and supply military firms with ammunition. This is the’realism camp’. Then there is the ‘justice camp’, led by Orban, which wants to keep up the war as long as it takes to humiliate Russia. These two camps are in a deadlock over the’resolution’ to the crisis.
The Red Alert
The Kremlin’s military actions in Ukraine have raised global eyebrows, and not just because of its brazen assault on a country that has been at war with Russia for years. The situation has also prompted renewed calls for the international community to provide Ukraine with anti-ship weapons, which Kyiv says it needs to fight off Russian naval vessels that are attempting to deliver arms and ammunition to occupied Snake Island.
A video released Friday shows a Ukrainian navy tugboat firing at a Russian vessel that is moving toward the strategically important Snake Island, which Kyiv has said is being used to deliver arms and personnel to pro-Russian separatists. The tugboat is pictured launching what appears to be missiles, and the Ukranian government tweeted that it was using Harpoon missiles in the attack, which it did not detail. The Pentagon and Denmark have both recently announced providing Ukraine with Harpoons, but Newsweek has not been able to independently verify the claim or determine how many missiles were fired in the attack.
At least seven people have been killed in the fighting for Snake Island, and Kiev has also accused the Kremlin of supplying weapons to pro-Russian separatists on the island. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry also confirmed that its ships have seized the tugboat Spasatel Vasily Bekh, which is carrying Russian military personnel and weapons to the island.
Meanwhile, in Kherson, the flooded city in eastern Ukraine, intense shelling wreaked havoc on civilians who were fleeing their homes for safety in boats or military trucks. One witness described how a shell exploded on the roof of a residential building as residents frantically fled into rafts. The flood waters are contaminated with the corpses of those who died after the blast at the sabotage-hit Nova Khakhovka Dam, and residents say they can’t drink the water.
The shelling comes just a day after President Zelensky visited the region, calling for a “clear and quick response from the world” to stop the Russian aggression against Ukraine. During his visit, he reiterated a call for international assistance to help Ukraine build up its anti-ship capability.
