“Ever wonder why the folks at the Alamo flew a flag with the date “1824” on it? The battle occurred in 1836...”
1824 was the date of the Mexican constitution.
Exactly - to the people in the Alamo, it represented an appeal to their rights under the Mexican Constitution of 1824, in a confrontation with the Mexican government and Mexican army.
In other words, comparing Mariupol in Ukraine to the Alamo works great, if you think Ukraine is part of Russia, and the people of Mariupol are Russians with rights protected by the Russian constitution. If you think Ukraine is an independent country (as I do ;>), it's a really crappy comparison...
;>)