Witnessing the Last Stand at Mariupol

As the war in Ukraine has ground on, the world has witnessed a few hundred fighters holed up in a destroyed steel plant in Mariupol fighting against an overwhelming force of thousands of Russian troops trying to take the city. It has been a David vs. Goliath story– a small dedicated force, defending their homeland and willing to take on the full brunt of the Russian Army.

Recently, the last remnants of these fighters, low on food, water and ammunition, finally surrendered to the Russian invaders. In my reading of human history, Mariupol could go down in the history books with Thermopylae–a battle at a mountain pass in Greece where a small force of Greek soldiers, though eventually vanquished, stopped an Army of thousands of invading Persians in 450 B.C. Though the Persians finally prevailed, the Greek soldiers who made their defensive stand at Thermopylae are the ones remembered in history for their courage and commitment.

The Russian propaganda machine will spin things differently and speak of conquering “Nazis” and liberating the city. But, what Putin’s media spin won’t tell you is that during the 2-3 months it took to conquer Mariupol, the West was able to supply Ukraine with enough weapons so that the Ukrainian people could stop a wholesale take-over of their country.

Strategically, the Russian invasion of Ukraine ended up being a tremendous blunder. The rest of the world, after watching apartment buildings being destroyed and innocent people being killed, soon united in near unanimous opposition to the Russian aggression.

One of the objectives of the invasion — to remove Ukraine from being a pro-western, democratic state — also totally failed. Instead, Ukraine is stronger than before and the Russian aggression has so unified the West that even Sweden and Finland (neighbors to the north) are petitioning to join NATO. Now, more nations that border Russia will be unified against its communist/totalitarian system of government. In that respect, Putin’s invasion has totally back-fired on him.

Of course, war is costly and results in unforeseen consequences. There will be a shortage of Russian and Ukrainian wheat this year and people in the middle east will face higher prices and possible hunger. The price of oil has skyrocketed and natural gas has more than doubled in price around the world. And, if you are Russian, your future doesn’t look bright with all of the foreign investment that has been pulled out of the country.

It is sad that Russia has returned to the ways of dictatorship and war. I can still remember the Conference at Chautauqua in 1987 when “glasnost” had begun to open the Soviet Union from years of isolation under communism. Now, by attacking Ukraine, it is taking a step backward in the wrong direction.

It may be an overstatement, but in some ways, Mariupol reminds me a bit of the Alamo in American history.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Ukrainians today have already coined the words: “Remember Mariupol!”

It may be an overstatement, but in some ways, Mariupol reminds me a bit of the Alamo in American history. Though the defenders at the Alamo were killed and Mexico won the battle–it would not be the end of Texas. Texas would declare its independence and become part of the United States. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ukrainians today have already coined the words: “Remember Mariupol!”

Hopefully, there are better days ahead for Ukraine and maybe, someday, the Russian people will rise up again and this time succeed in establishing a democracy governed by the rule of law.

Rolland Kidder

Upstate Has Been In The Headlines

Not often in this urban state (think New York City and its suburbs) does Upstate get a lot of attention, but this has changed in the past few weeks.

The headlines recently have been that a state judge in Bath, NY (Steuben County) is over-seeing the redrawing of Congressional and State Senate legislative district lines. Big-wigs from New York have been traveling to a small, “Podunk” town in Upstate New York to argue their case on how such lines should be drawn even in places like New York City. This has never happened in my memory.

“Big-wigs from New York have been traveling to a small, “Podunk” town in Upstate New York to argue their case on how such lines should be drawn even in places like New York City.”

We can “thank” Republicans for this since they brought the lawsuit challenging the redistricting done in Albany as being especially egregious for them. I say “thanks” in italics, because the only reason they brought the suit is that they no longer control the New York State Senate where, for years, they did their own gerrymandering to better their chances of retaining control of that house of the State Legislature.

To their credit though, the lines drawn by Democrats in the State Legislature this year went “over-the-top” when it came to reducing the chances for Republican success by clustering their incumbents in a few districts and creating more Democratic-friendly seats throughout the State. As a result, we had been thrown into a Congressional District that ran from the shores of Lake Erie to the suburbs of Utica in the Mohawk River valley.

That also would have saddled us with an incumbent Republican Congresswoman now representing that area of the state who has been a very vocal supporter of our previous President and of his unfounded lies about a “stolen” election. Now, at least, we may have a chance to see if the new Master appointed by the Court in Bath can give us a district more resembling our old Southern Tier Congressional District or at least one which is a little closer to home here in Western New York.

Our own Congressional District situation was muddled even more this week when Tom Reed resigned his seat to take a position with a lobbying firm in Washington. Now a special election must be called in the current District, though we still don’t know what the new Congressional District will look like for next year—not an easy scenario for someone wanting to run for Congress.

“If you are an Upstate Democrat, you should be happy right now.”

There has also been another big development for Upstate which has not received as much publicity, and that is the fact that the Democrats this year are running candidates for both Governor and Lieutenant Governor who are from Upstate. Kathy Hochul is from the Buffalo area and Antonio Delgado is a native of Schenectady. If both are successful in the primary, it could be the first time in the history of New York that the Democratic Party has fielded candidates for both of these offices from Upstate. If you are an Upstate Democrat, you should be happy right now.

The legal fracas going on in the court in Steuben County has, of course, “upset the apple cart” when it comes to the political calendar. Right now, along with the upcoming Special Election for Congress in the Southern Tier, it looks like there will be two primary elections this year—one in June and one in August. Nevertheless, the confusion and delays may well benefit Upstate New York if we can get better Congressional District lines and, at the same time, nominate and then elect a couple of Upstate Democrats as Governor and Lieutenant Governor in November. The endorsed Republican candidate for Governor comes from Long Island and his running mate is from New York City.

Rolland Kidder