Vermont Tiger

Ethan Allen: Vermonter

by John McClaughry

Forty-two years have passed since the appearance of an academically respectable biography of Vermont’s patron figure (clearly not a patron saint!), Col. Ethan Allen of Sunderland and Burlington.  Now Burlington journalist-historian Willard Sterne Randall has given us Ethan Allen: His Life and Times, a lively, readable biography of a remarkable American, a man of whom author Stewart Holbrook remarked, “riot and tumult followed in his wake.”

How one views Ethan depends a lot on one’s own preferences. Boozer, brawler, blasphemer, bully. “Lover of liberty and property.” Bold, brave, hot headed, intemperate, philosopher, pamphleteer, commanding presence. Remarkably self-educated, a friend of scientific inquiry and calumniator of Puritan divines. Military hero, foolish adventurer, scourge of Tories, prisoner of war, author of the second most widely read work of the revolutionary era (after Paine’s Common Sense), “A Narrative of Col. Ethan Allen’s Captivity.” Successful and failed businessman, absentee father, enthusiastic land speculator. Duplicitous negotiator (with the British). Father of independent Vermont.

Randall’s work gives ample coverage to all these features and more. It portrays Ethan not only as he saw himself — heroic — but as others saw him, ranging from George Washington to the Albany Junto to his British captors in England.

June 28th 1709 - The Battle of Poltava

By Daniel Foty

(I published this essay (elsewhere) two years ago on the potentially-troublesome 300th anniversary of the Battle of Poltava. Poltava remains little-known outside of the “region of involvement”; this is unfortunate, because Poltava is one of the most important watershed moments in history. And like most such watershed events, it didn’t just happen in isolation – but was the culmination of a very long series of events.

More importantly, the consequences of that watershed are with us still today – intertwined with some of the most thorny strategic and diplomatic challenges in the contemporary world. Ukraine is one of the places to which my work takes me regularly, and I’ve long had the country pegged as one of the most interesting – and most signal – places in the world. The endless argument about “Ukraine” – what it was, what it is, and what it will be – cannot be separated from the chain of events that began in 1648 and led on to Poltava.

And this is not a localized debate; Ukraine sits in a critical place in the world, and is forced by geography to serve as a crossroads – both in reality and metaphorically. Thus, our own interests simply cannot be separated from that region. In particular, one cannot even begin to grasp what is driving contemporary Russian strategy – with all the headaches and dangers that may pose – without understanding Poltava and the events preceding that day. We’ll come back to that at the end of the essay.)

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Some watershed events in history are generally well-known, while others remain obscure, perhaps known only in a particular geographic region. However, some of these seemingly-obscure events deserve more attention - as much of the present situation in many parts of the world owes a great deal to those events.

Today happens to be the 302nd anniversary of one of those little-known watersheds - the Battle of Poltava.

Poltava represents a critical breakpoint in the history of eastern Europe; it shattered forever the power of Sweden, marked the rise of Russia as a major power, provided a poignant note that Poland was in terminal decline, and sparked the rise of Prussia that would eventually lead to the emergence of Germany as the other major power in eastern Europe.

But getting to Poltava.... that was the culmination of an accumulation of events over a number of centuries - one of history's more chaotic stories.

We'll tell that story below the fold.

June 4th 1942 - Midway, The Forgotten Victory

By Daniel Foty

When early June rolls around each year, June 6th is accorded a great deal of reverence for the well-known
events of the Normandy landings of 1944. On the decadal anniversary years, there are major ceremonies and
there is extensive news coverage.

Sadly, an equally (at least) important anniversary on June 4th goes largely neglected. On June 4th 1942, an
outnumbered American fleet won a staggering upset victory over the Imperial Japanese Navy in the waters
near Midway Island. This battle was arguably the single most important military action by the United States
during the entire 20th century.

However, Midway remains largely forgotten and uncelebrated; the only “observance” I can recall on the
milestone 50th anniversary back in 1992 was that one of the networks showed the slightly-loosely based-on-
events Hollywood movie of the battle’s name.

Midway deserves better than that - and the story deserves to be told anew. Hence, we tell that story here.

About That "Vermont Brand"....

By Daniel Foty

As many readers know, Estonia is a regular stop for your humble correspondent - and one of his favorite places.

Several years back, a day or two after I had arrived, I was sitting at my desk minding my own business - when one of my friends/colleagues walked into my office.... and, chuckling, tossed something onto my desk.

Due to the size and shape, I knew immediately what it was - and since the package contained a product that I do not use, I was just about to ask why he had given me this gift... when I immediately noticed why it was so funny....

"It just came out.  There's a big eye-catching new display for it in the shop where I found this."

And indeed there was - as I found out a couple days later when I made an effort to see for myself.

The main display graphic was a glowing dusk - backlighting a rocky, wave-washed shoreline, topped with a lighthouse.

To learn what this is all about, go here and scroll down to the appropriate alphabetical location.

The line-up of offerings has clearly expanded since that initial incident....

Ronald Reagan

By Daniel Foty

Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of President Ronald Reagan.

How can we best remember him and honor his legacy?

Perhaps with this story:

One man who understood was Yakob Ravin, a Ukrainian émigré who in the summer of 1997 happened to be strolling with his grandson in Armand Hammer Park near Reagan’s California home. They chanced to see the former President, out taking a walk. Mr Ravin went over and asked if he could take a picture of the boy and the President. When they got back home to Ohio, it appeared in the local newspaper, The Toledo Blade.

Ronald Reagan was three years into the decade-long twilight of his illness, and unable to recognize most of his colleagues from the Washington days. But Mr Ravin wanted to express his appreciation. “Mr President,” he said, “thank you for everything you did for the Jewish people, for Soviet people, to destroy the Communist empire.”

And somewhere deep within there was a flicker of recognition. “Yes,” said the old man, “that is my job.”

Yes, that was his job.

And in that job, he succeeded.

Të Liri.  Za Svobody.

Gëzuar Ditën e Flamurit!

By Daniel Foty

Whereas on November 28th, 1443, Gjergj Kastrioti (soon to be forever known by his nom de guerre of Skanderbeg) returned to his hometown of Kruja, raised the red-and-black double-eagle flag, and declared Albania to be in rebellion against Ottoman occupation.

Whereas on November 28th, 1912, Ismail Kemal raised the red-and-black double-eagle flag over the port of Vlorë and declared Albania to be independent of the Ottoman Empire.

(If you want to know why you should care about all this… continue reading below the fold.)

The World Turned Upside Down

By Daniel Foty

It's official.  The world is upside down:

Here's a twist: The mighty capitalist U.S. could take some economic lessons from the tiny Balkan country Albania, which for decades writhed under the cruel rule of a Stalinist dictatorship. Today Albania has the most vibrant economy in Europe.

Read the whole thing in a spirit of wonder.  And cheer.

What the Election Results Mean - Part II

By Daniel Foty

Yesterday, your humble correspondent took a run at interpreting what happened.  At the overall national level, those conclusions are very simple - that the results clearly reflect a revulsive rejection of the attempt to impose "Europeanism" upon us.  The sneaky attempt to do this was unprecendented, and - thankfully - the clear rejection of it was also unprecedented.  (And what was coming - and why - was very self-evident over the past 12 - 18 months; contrary to the attempts at self-medication emanating from certain quarters, it was most definitely not some sort of irrational temper-tantrum - nor was it an otherwise-disembodied spasm of "anti-incumbency.")

But for today's brief, let's go a little deeper - into some of the sub-jurisdictional divides.  What happened there also doesn't require a great deal of complex or detailed explanation.

It seems to me that at the state level, what happened on Tuesday was less an election - and more a census....

What the Election Results Mean - National Edition

By Daniel Foty

Q: What do the people of Greenland, Norway, and now the United States have in common?

A: When given the chance to pass judgment on the matter, the people of all three polities have voted - emphatically - against joining the European Union.

That will do.

Dear Santa: More Engineering, Less "Activism"

By Daniel Foty

A couple weeks back, I complained in a comment that one contemporary Vermont disease is that we are way too long on cheerleading and vaporous hand-waving, and way too short on things that really matter - like good, hard-nosed engineering.

During last week's dramatic rescue of the trapped Chilean miners (seeming to echo a similar but less-dreadful situation in Pennsylvania a few years back), it was somewhat annoying to hear all the airy talk about "spirit" and such - while the marvelous engineering technology and competence that were deployed for these rescues got the short shrift.

So when this landed in my inbox this morning, it was just too good not to share:

• Schramm Inc. of West Chester, Pennsylvania built the drills and equipment used to reach the trapped miners.
• Center Rock Company, also from Pennsylvania, built the drill bits used to reach the miners.
• UPS, the US shipping company, delivered the 13-ton drilling equipment from Pennsylvania to Chile in less than 48 hours.
• Crews from Layne Christensen Company of Wichita, Kansas and its subsidiary Geotec Boyles Bros. worked the drills and machinery to locate and reach the miners and then enlarge the holes to ultimately rescue them.
• Jeff Hart of Denver, Colorado was called off his job drilling water wells for the U.S. Army's forward operating bases in Afghanistan to lead the drilling crew that reached the miners.
• Atlas Copco Construction Mining Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin provided consulting on how to make drilling equipment from different sources work together under differing pressure specifications.
• Aries Central California Video of Fresno, California designed the special cameras that were lowered nearly a mile into the ground sending back video of the miners.
• Zephyr Technologies of Annapolis Maryland, made the remote monitors of vital signs that miners wore during their ascent.
• NASA engineers designed the "Phoenix" capsule that miners would be brought to the surface in, and provided medical consulting, special diets and spandex suits to maintain miners' blood pressure as they're brought back to the surface.
• Drilling Supply Co. of Houston, Texas was also involved.

Oh, and Canadian-based Precision Drilling Corp. and South African company Murray & Roberts, drilled backup rescue shafts in case the American rig failed. Which it didn't.

Pretty amazing, isn't it?  Ponder the technical, managerial, and logistical competence - build up over decades of work in the commercial sector - that was brought together to actually carry out that rescue.

Vermont could do with a lot more such technical, managerial, and logistical competence - and a lot less mindless, negative-net-value-add, far-left political "activism"....