Letter from Chip Northrup

I Had a Farm in Ukraine

After the fall of the Soviet Union, American investors rushed in to buy up the previously state-owned farms, factories, and oil fields in Russia and Ukraine. I bought a farm in Ukraine with a group of Texas investors. Amber waves of grain. It seemed like a good idea at the time. When Putin came to power, he made sure that his gang took control of the major properties and concessions, squeezing out the foreign investors. Including me. So no love lost there.

I remember when the Russian tanks rolled into Budapest in 1956. We listened to it on Radio Free Europe. My mother was crying. I was seven. The Cistercian monks that fled Hungary didn’t stop until they got to Texas and founded Cistercian Preparatory School, where both of our sons went to school. Corky Cunningham designed the chapel using limestone blocks my father donated. The monks conversed in every major European language but Russian.

Seeing Ukraine torn apart sickens me. Seeing the president abandon Ukraine in its hour of need in favor of Russia infuriates me. We are better than that. For all of my 75 years, we were better than that.

Chip Northrup
Cooperstown