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AS PART OF our presidential election coverage, TheJournal.ie asked each nominee the same 12 questions so voters can see why the candidates are running and where they stand on a number of important issues.
You can read that article here.
One of the topics we asked the candidates about was Direct Provision, specifically this question: Should people who have been living in Direct Provision for five years or more be given a blanket amnesty?
About 5,500 people live in Direct Provision centres around the country, with a few hundred living there for more than five years.
The conditions in the centres have been regularly criticised as unsuitable and overcrowded. It was announced in Budget 2019 that the allowance paid to adults living in the system will increase from €21.60 to €38.80 and the allowance for children will increase from €21.60 to €29.80.
The idea of granting an amnesty to asylum seekers who have lived in Ireland for a certain length of time has been discussed on numerous occasions, with former High Court Judge Bryan McMahon among those to suggest five years as a suitable time frame.
He made this suggestion in 2016 while launching a report into how well recommendations regarding Ireland’s asylum system had been implemented on foot of a report the previous year.
The amnesty, obviously, did not come to pass but the possibility of one has been raised a number of times since then.
Here’s how the six presidential candidates responded when asked: Should people who have been living in Direct Provision for five years or more be given a blanket amnesty?
All nominees had the option of answering Yes, No or I’d rather not say, and were invited to elaborate.
I would be wary of a blanket amnesty, but I would urge the Department of Justice to look at a means to better resource the system, so that people’s lives aren’t put on hold for an interminable duration.
Yes. I believe a time limit should be put on how long one can be in Direct Provision. With a time limit, decisions will be made in advance of the expiry of the limit.
I’d rather not say. As President, I can’t interfere in policy-making that surrounds asylum seekers living in Ireland. However, I do believe that the legal system needs to speed up the asylum application process and that anyone living in direct provision should be treated considerably better than existing standards. Some of those centres are inhumane and degrading, and we shouldn’t be seen to condone them.
Yes, once all the screening processes are completed. Direct Provision is a stain on our Government and society. If we look back in years to come I believe it could be the ‘Magdalene Laundry’ of our generation. I find it difficult to fathom that a country such as Ireland, which has more descendants living outside of the state than in it, should treat those in Direct Provision so badly. It is a shame and a scandal.
I have visited Direct Provision Centres, most recently when I ensured that the Gaisce Presidential Awards are open to young people living in Direct Provision.
While this specific issue is, in the first instance, a matter for Government I have spoken about the recommendations of the McMahon Report and I believe that how we welcome and treat those who are displaced is an important reflection on our commitment to human rights.
Yes. I believe that the situation being experienced by those in Direct Provision is unacceptable. I think in the future we will look back on how we have treated vulnerable and desperate people fleeing persecution in their home countries the way we now look at the Magdalene homes.
The position of those who have been in Direct Provision for a prolonged length of time must be regularised. It is unacceptable that children are spending their whole childhood in Direct Provision.
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Says the people who have started world war 3
@Michael Rossney: world war 3 hasn’t started.
@Munster1: thats a matter of opinion
@Munster1: just a fact. Some people have low IQ
@Munster1: Putin’s Russia placed their nuclear arsenal on the highest readiness level early in this invasion (once it became clear that the 3 day war had failed and that the Ukrainians would hold out and receive assistance from The West). If you threaten nuclear weapons as part of your public strategy in a conflict, then it may not be WWIII, but you are saying clearly it has the potential to be WWIII.
@Munster1:
Ukrainian foreign legion, chechens, syrians, armenians, belarussians and more involved. Explosions in moldova, russian backed Wagner group attack in Mali, every one and their mother sending arms to ukraine. Maybe you are mistaken?
@François Pignon: WWII involved conflicts in Europe,Russia,North Africa, the Philippines,Japan, the Pacific, the North Atlantic. WWIII hasn’t started (yet)
@Munster1: and someone’s swallowing Russian propaganda hook line and sinker
@François Pignon: agreed
@A Kelly: at what point did ww2 start? It wasn’t a full on world scale war to start with, it started with one act of aggression and the rest spiralled into the inevitable. If their is another one due to Russia invasion of Ukraine, history books will show it will have started with the initial invasion of crimea.
@David A. Murray: sounds like to me they are saying,I’m threatening you as I fear we can’t win.
@François Pignon: By you logic WW3 happened in 2013 when Iraq was invaded. More countries were involved in the Iraq invasion than you mentioned above about Ukraine.
@Roy Dowling: ***2003 not 2013***
@A Kelly: unfortunately there will be no history books to tell us when ww3 started, but if Carlsberg done history books after ww3 it would put the start of ww3 as Thursday /24/2022 the day Russia invaded Ukraine.
@Roy Dowling: again Roy, you may not support Russia, but you have once again deflected attention away from the conflict in the Ukraine by turning attention towards the US while at the same time giving the Russians a justification for their invasion, in your usual anti US rants. Leave those rants for the middle east articles and stay on topic here.
@Joe_X: I didn’t have a rant Joe..I didn’t even mention the US. Just pointing out that by Francis pigeon logic WW3 already happened in 2003 and more countries were involved in the Iraq invasion than what he listed above. So were on WW4 by his logic.
@Roy Dowling: Whatever Roy, you just once again brought up the Invasion of Iraq as you always do. The fact that this time you did not mention that the US led the invasion does not negate the fact that you have mentioned it every other time you got a chance to. Also the 2003 invasion happened to be an internationally sanctioned invasion of Iraq due to the suspicion of international crimes, of a rogue nation, whereas the Russian invasion of The Ukraine is again a rougue nation doing what it shouldn’t. What happened this time, you forget to mention the west? Francis was right the first time.
@Joe_X: I don’ care about what you just said. If we’re using Francis logic WW3 happened in 2003 as more countries invaded iraq than invaded Ukraine.
@Roy Dowling: In that case so, you are both wrong, and WW3 kicked off in 1990 when Iraq invaded Kuwait, Or maybe 1955 with the start of the Vietnam War, or if you want to see a list of countries involved in a war, try the Korean war which started in 1950, but then, Korea could be considered a hold over of WW2, and seeing as those hostilities are still in progress you could claim WW2 is actually still in progress.
No, what history will recognise is, should WW3 kick off, is it started this year with the invasion of The Ukraine. Why? Because the Gulf wars, the Korean War, Vietnam war, and all the other regional conflicts did not affect the whole world anywhee near as much as WW1 abd WW2. If WW3 kicks off, the whole world will pay like it did after the first and second world wars.
So again Roy, your mention of Iraq was pointless!
@Joe_X: you could be right. Still I’m correct in saying that 2003 was a bigger world war than 2022. Literally more countries involved in fighting on the invasion and at least one country from every continent involved in the Iraq invasion. If that’s not a bigger global conflict than Russia invading Ukraine I don’t know what is.
@Roy Dowling: it was never the number of countries involved that decided if a war was classed as a world war, it was the devastation wrought, but both world wars started with very small actions, just like this time. The first world war with the assassination of the Austrian heir to the throne and the second with the German invasion of Poland.
Also, more countries may have been involved in 2003, but it was a coalition force, not individual militaries taking individual actions like during the world wars and you keep forgetting they went in to Iraq because it went rogue. The countries involved were the exact same countries that went to Kuwait’s aid in 1990 when Iraq sowed the seeds to it’s own invasion 13 years later, so 2003 will never be classed as the start of anything.
@Joe_X: well Joe’s that’s your opinion on what a world war is. We’re not talking about your opinion though are we? We were talking about Francis opinion of what a world war is. Scroll back up there an have a look at what he said. I never said I agreed with him I said going by his logic WW3 happened in 2003 when an international coalition of forces from every continent on the globe invaded Iraq. You can talk all you want it doesn’t change the fact that if you agree with Francis definition of what is classed as a world war then the iraq invasion was a world war. You want my opinion. So far Russia has invaded Ukraine. No other countries army has gotten involved in the war so far. It’s not a world war it’s a war between 2 countries.
@Joe_X: Also when did Iraq go rogue in 2003? They invaded Kuwait in 1990. The next 13 year Iraq didn’t invade anyone. The premises for the invasion in 2003 was Iraq had WMDs. International weapons inspectors had already been in Iraq and said no they don’t. The coalition invaded anyway and guess what no WMDs were found.
@Roy Dowling: I know the debate is about Francis definition, but I happen to agree with him, after all the first and second world wars happened origially as conflicts between two nations. But the bigger issue here is how once again you managed to deflect attention away from what is actually happening in The Ukraine like you always do by bringing up the Iraqi war
As to Iraq going rogue, you really need to address your lack of knowledge concerning that country if you are going to take every opportunity you can to defend them ( or give out about the west) If memory serves me correctly, when the investigators went in looking for WMDs, they complained the Iraqi authorities hindered them. I don’t know if you know of the Iran/Iraq war, but I’m sorry to tell you but Iraq have a history of WMD use against civilians which is why no one believed them, and the coalition was sent in.
@Joe_X: Sadam used chemical weapons against the Kurds as well. But i actually for once agree with Roy. The pretext for invading Iraq the second time was a bunch of lies. It was a stupid war that has cost the world dearly. Sparked a lot of terrorism around the world. Saddam was contained and was not a threat. Bush and Blair did a terrible thing and a lot of innocent people died. They used the wmd as an excuse. It was inexcusable. As was Libya.
The intervention in Afghanistan for me was justified (as they were protecting the people behind 911) as was Serbia. IMHO
@John Comerford: I actually don’t think it natters to him which counties are involved, because he actually groups everything together, Afghanistan, Yemen, Iraq, Libya and so on. I don’t believe he actually gives a toss about any of them, just a way to get a dig at the west. Now I don’t care that he actually does that, but by doing it here, he is deflecting attention from the war on our own doorstep, the fact that Russia invaded the Ukraine. There are plenty other articles nearly every day, concerning the middle east and what is happening there, where he can debate that subject to his heart’s content, but this is not the place, especially as he is as good as justifying the Russian actions by going “but what about …….” and so on.
@Joe_X: *countries* not counties
@Anthony Guinnessy: some say it started when Germany invaded Poland, others say the seeds were sown after WW1 at the Treaty of Versailles. As for the current War in Ukrainian…it’s not WWIII yet…
@Joe_X: totally agree. Hate the whatabouts – justifies Putin’s action.
@Munster1: we’ll be told in a week it started today and that’s to give Twitter and Facebook a headstart
@Tomas Launikonis: are you a spokesperson for them ?
@François Pignon: It’s isn’t really. When you can’t breathe it will be World War III.
@Tomas Launikonis: 480 million deaths on the continent of Europe, that’s WWIII.
One consistent thing is that Russia continues to over estimate its capabilities. They cannot overcome Ukraine, and suffer massive military losses. Yet they threaten Finland, Sweden Moldova and the other balkan States, these people are deluded. In a few months they won’t even have enough hardware to keep fighting Ukraine let alone anyone else.
@C.J Captain: why won’t Russia have enough hardware in a few months to keep fighting? Is that coming from official data on projected inventory loss?
@Peter Lalor: Because their economy is on its knees. You have to have money to prosecute a war. They need western machine parts that they can’t get due to sanctions to operate their military equipment because it will take too much money to bring their tanks to operational readiness. Because their military doctrine hasn’t changed since the Soviet era it’s either throw men into the meat grinder or artillery everything & drive tanks into the problem no strategy, that’s why they lost in Afghanistan. Their tactics are too predictable their command & control structure was & still is top down less adaptable on the battlefield. They are having their officers picked off every day. They have logistical issues because they weren’t prepared for a long campaign. Which this will be, they lost already.
@Ciaran Burke: As long as the EU keeps buying oil and gas from them the Russians will have more than enough money to keep the show on the road.
They also have a huge stockpile of arms and men. My biggest fear if I was Russian would be how the Chinese will react to talk of WW3. Not good for business, can’t sell crap during a WW.
@Justin Gillespie: yes and no having money is one thing being able to spend it on the things you need is another particularly if the are prohibited on the list. Machines like tanks and cars Need parts for constant upgrading and servicing as to do helicopters and jet engines an inability to get those parts will affectively ground those aircraft and heavy combat vehicles making them nothing more than paperweights or mounted artillery. Their soldiers are not equipped for a long campaign and there is also the attack versus defence statistics normally an attacker tends to lose 3 to 1 KIA against the defender as well as additional casualties roughly roughly 9-1, 10-1 injured or maimed.
@Ciaran Burke: same question to you, are the estimations that the Russians only have a couple of months left based on officially published data? Any sources for this at all?
@Ciaran Burke: also because russia hasnt declared ‘war’ they cant use their conscripts or call up their reserves so the russian army in the field is constantly shrinking.
@Peter Lalor: you dont have google ?
@Rian Lynch: yeah I looked. I can’t find anything from Google that suggests Russia will have no military hardware left in a couple of months time.
Can you?
@Peter Lalor: thats not what was said though. the point made was that russia wouldnt be able tocacquire parts for some vehicles and weapons systems because of sanctions.
@Rian Lynch: It was clearly said in the main post “in a few months they won’t even have enough hardware to keep fighting Ukraine let alone anyone else”.
@C.J Captain:Their stated objective was always the donbass/western region, that’s what they are focusing on. Everything else about invading Finland etc is just propaganda. In fact everything I hear is mostly propaganda from both sides.
@Peter Lalor: Peter I have many commentators speculating that they are short of their precision weapons. They asked the Chinese for weapons apparently. I think they will struggle to keep going at these levels.
@C.J Captain: I wouldn’t mix up the Russians capability of ground forces with their arsenal and capability of nuclear missiles – they are threatening to use their not inconsiderable missile weaponry on those countries – the west are right to arm and support ukraine but they do need to be careful not to leave Putin with only last resort options – I think you will find that’s what the Russian minister is getting at – it is precisely because the two superpowers are squaring up as a proxy war that elevates the risks – having one nuclear button pusher in a corner and increasingly isolated is not where we want to get to either
@Ciaran Burke: they got chips, data, radar equipment from factories in the Ukraine that they have flattened.
@Blue Avians: blue that is simply not true. Why did they try take Kiev then?
They then changed their plans and stated phase one was Donbas
The military announced phase two last week. They want the south too. To link up with a region in Moldova. They also said there would be additional phases.
@Peter Lalor: what sources do you think there are? some academic on the front with body armour and a clipboard
@C.J Captain: I think you justight be correct
@Peter Lalor: based on my assessment. I’ve looked at an entrenched army a nightmare for any army to move and is now a battle hardened force. They have been holding the line and pushing the Russians back for 60 odd days they stopped their capital from being taken through relentless counter attacking and are growing in confidence by the day. They are dug in and have prevented Russia air superiority they have forced the Black Sea fleet out of range. They are getting more heavy armor from the west, that they can entrench if necessary more mobile artillery that they can move quickly and they are fighting an enemy with reduced logistical power and who are demoralized and falling back.
“Stop giving them weapons”. They are beating us!! Simply a case of the bully being hammered and throwing their toys from the pram.
@Thomas Meaney: it is obvious. Some not able to read between lines.
@Thomas Meaney: exactly. My fear is a classic bully won’t ever accept defeat, and when they’re down to their last chips they’ll launch nukes.
Russia can’t even manage to take a small piece of Ukraine never mind rest of the world. NATO would have Russia beat in 5 mins they are a joke of a nation and army, a people afraid to stand up against a dictator who is 5 foot tall and clearly has some sort of disability.
@блядь Путина: while i understand your feelings and war etc, having a disability doesnt make him more or less a man..
@блядь Путина: but the mutally assured destruction of the thousands of missiles that would launch if Russia were attacked would not just end in Russia being defeated – you maybe need to research the nuclear capability and missile pacts and try understand the reason Moscow hasn’t been attacked before pontificating nonsense
@David Dineen: He’s quite obviously a narcissistic psych0path megaloman1ac killer. That makes him less of a man than just about any other man on Earth.
@David Dineen: unless the disability he mentioned is Little Man Syndrome.
Russia continues to insist they have the right to exterminate the Ukraine. The rest of the world believes this is not the case. If WWIII does kick off, Russia will cease to exist.
@Jane Alford: If World War 3 kicks off and it goes nuclear as is the likely logical escalation, life as we know it will cease to exist for the entire planet in about a hour.
@Jane Alford: Putin is quoted as saying recently ‘a world without russia is not a world’. Sounds like he is quite happy to take us all down with him.
@David Van-Standen: Sounds good. This planet could do very well without humans.
@Kevin O’Hara: He’s a sociopath. That’s exactly how he thinks.
@Kevin O’Hara: Russia wouldn’t be the only one to take ud all with them. Say for example Britain was inavded and most of it was occupied and London was about to fall do you honestly think they aren’t going to launch there nukes at their aggressive invaders country in retaliation?. That’s pretty much what nukes are for. They don’t work as an offence weapon there literally for mutual assured destruction. One side had nothing left to lose so it’s going to take the other side with it at all costs.
@Roy Dowling: the only thing in that scenario is the invading army would massacre everyone they could get their hands on in retaliation. youre inviting mutual annihilation
@Kevin O’Hara: A world without Putin would be a better place.
@Rian Lynch: nope. The invading army launchs their nukes at them before the first nukes hit hence mutual assured destruction. When the first nukes are launched its because the country that launchs them has nothing to lose..
@Roy Dowling: Except the only time nuclear weapons have been used was a an offensive weapon against Jason.
@Roy Dowling: let’s try that again! Except the only time nuclear weapons have been used was as an offensive weapon against Japan .
@Jane Alford: Except it would not just be humans, would it? Every other life form would be gone too if Nukes are released!
Another threat by Russia, let us invade who we want and if you interfere we will start WW3. They need to be stopped now before they invade the rest of Europe.
I would say Putin is delighted on one level that Ukraine is being armed by countries, some of which are in NATO. He can spin this at home as a threat to the existence of Russia, scare the bejasus out of people and present himself as the saviour of the motherland and secure his rule unopposed.
Russia leaves itself very vulnerable to a Chinese take over and they must know ,what a better time could you find to make a move on them ,America and Europe may have left it a little late to supply the heavy armalament,s unless they are settling in for a long war whatever a long war is nowadays.The Russians are right it is a proxy war ,its a effort to ware
the Russian army down and see if they have anything else to throw
At the end of the day Russia is going down the drain unless the bring on the nukes and then we are all down the drain .It will be down to the Russian generals at the end of the day and not Putin
@FlopFlipU: China are Russia’s ally’s so I can’t see them invading. As we speak they’re conspiring for all our war with the west. Russia China North Korea and possibly India. Russia are too stubborn and childish to accept any kind of defeat, and they’ll launch their nukes soon enough. They’ll be downed in the sky over Eastern Europe and the Pacific Ocean. Their allys wont follow suit and we’ll have tragic nuclear fallout across europe. The US will nuke russia asding further to this.
Keep the pressure up on Russia. Keep the weapons flowing in to Urkanie. The Russian system is coming under pressure with sanctions. Yes they have the manpower but remember the machine tools needed to produce weapons need maintaining and the dies and mold wear out and need replacement. Sanctions are no always for show sometimes they do effect your a ability to continue the offensive. Same way the air war hampered Germany ability to produce enough weapons towards the end of WW2 .and they cant depend on China who seem to be having there own problems at the moment. 500 container ship s waiting in their waters. !!!!. Putin is in survival mode now and no big news for the May Day holiday.
@Simbacat: but I do belive In leaving a door open for the Russians there has to be some sane heads over there who are looking at all options.
The bully that is Russia had their bluff called by NATO, and are struggling for an out card.
Any weapons Ukraine need, they should be supplied with. The artist formerly known as the Soviet Union has been found out.
Putin needs to be put to sleep soon, is the solution here…
Stop helping them to defend themselves, it’s not fair, wah wah wah, I’m taking my ball home.
Given the the Russians and Chinese are not going to supply the USA with millions of rounds 7.62 x 39mm ammunition, its highly likely that any number of arms dealers that were on the USA’s axis of evil naughty list only a few weeks ago, are now their best buddies ever!
@David Van-Standen: I would be very surprised if American bought any weapons from either Russia or China
@John Comerford: Strangely enough, that’s exactly what I said..
Small touch of irony .. China and North K will be so annoyed at Russia (their mates) for starting WW3 and ending them in a war they arnt even involved in!! If those who are allowed push the button were not allowed in the bunker after the chance of buttons being pushed reduces greatly !!
Of course he is saying that
The Ukraine has been fighting a proxy war on behalf of NATO since day one. It is inevitable that the longer this war drags on, the higher the risk of nuclear weapons being used. The world is sleepwalking into nuclear annihilation and there is nothing that I see at the moment to prevent that from happening.
@Mike Dunne: the only country threatening using nuclear weapons id Russia. The only way to stop this war is for Russia to stop attacking Ukraine. Totally in putins hands. They are the aggressor.
@Mike Dunne: A proxy war on behalf of NATO? Remind me again who invaded who. Exactly. It was Russia who invaded Ukraine. This is a war between Russia and Ukraine, with the overwhelming majority of the planet on Ukraine’s side. It was Russia’s decision to go to war with Ukraine, NATO has never once invaded Russian territory.
@Mike Dunne: you need to reexamine who invaded who. Another example of trying to deflect attention away from Russia actions by blaming the West.
Russians, are, losing this, War,
Yawn.
Nuclear war….then the Terminators rise! It’s finally happening!!
@Keth Warsaw: Seven more years to 2029.
As I read comments about Ukraine vs Russia, it amazes me how many use the topic to highlight actions taken by the West over the years, and while they claim they do not support Russia, they allow their hatred of the west blind them to the fact that by going off the topic in hand, they are deflecting attention away from Russian actions, and also giving the Russian’s the justification because “The west did it first” kind of comments. Well I don’t think the west lined anyone against a wall and shot them in the head which hs what appears to be happening in The Ukraine. Secondly, there are plenty artickes about what is happening in the middle east for those comments to be expressed there!
I think this is positive. It shows to me that the Russians are struggling to win this war and that the weapons the west are providing are helping the Ukrainian’s avoid defeat.
The world needs a ceasefire/peace – besides the huge cost in terms of lives and suffering there is a real cost to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable if this continues. We need peace and we also need Ukraine to retain access to some ports so it can continue to feed the world.
Ukraine and indeed Russia are too important to the world. We need peace as a matter of urgency.
Unfortunately a ceasefire will only happen if there is a stalemate and neither party see any benefit in continuing and it is expensive in terms of lives and money to continue. Putin is not there yet. But time is against him.
Putin will never pay for these crimes – the best we can hope is to give him a bloody nose, put him back in his box and make him think twice about invading another country. And that means giving Ukraine the means to avoid defeat and forcing this stalemate.
This has already become a ‘proxy war’ similar to the wars in Angola, Vietnam, Lebanon and other USSRUSA wars.
Bit rich coming from those who initiated the hostilities in the first place!
Hey Russia. If you don’t want western weapons used against you don’t invade other countries.
Would this not be history repeating itself once again.
Russia was behind the plot to assassinate Franz Ferdinand, the archduke of Austria-Hungary. starting world war one.
Joined forces with Germany to invade Poland starting the second world war.
Its only natural that Russia would again start another European war. Not sure it would turn into a world war. Colonist powers no longer have control over Africa or Asia.
Is he a little slow? They have been supplying Ukraine for the past 2 months so what happens now Sergi?
Or the shortened version, big bully keeps on bullying until he gets his own way.
Has a phoney war already begun ? Like the start of WW2.
That’s a good sign so, the Ukrainian will to survive and fight matched with the right weapons must be worrying the Russian leadership.
CHINESE ARE THE NEXT
@Patrick Herbert: the Chinese are learning a lot from this war as well and not just about the West but about how they could try and take the east of Russia with all that oil and gas !!! People might say thats mad talk but strange things have happened before. Solve a lot of there problems in one go. I doubt if it would happen but I’m sure its cross the leaderships mind !!!!.
@Simbacat: China now own Russia
For now, global nuclear war does not threaten us. The disciples once asked Jesus, “Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall begin to be fulfilled?” (Mark 13:4, Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition) He answered: “You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end [τελος - fulfillment (of the sign)].” (Matthew 24:6, New American Standard Bible 1995) The global nuclear war, (this will be the fulfillment of the sign of Jesus), will begin as a result of ethnic conflict, “for nation will rise against nation”, like as in 2008 in Georgia. (Matthew 24:7)
Since 1945 Heaven is holding back the wind of the WW3. And so it will be until the appointed time. In the Book of Daniel, we read, “At the appointed time [the king of the north] will return back [Russian troops will return to where they were previously stationed. It also means the big crisis, plus the break-up of the EU and NATO], and will enter into the south [because of ethnic conflict (Matthew 24:7)], but it will not be as the former [Georgia - 2008] or as the latter [Ukraine – now. It also will not evolve into WW3. This will happen only later, after Russia returns], then the dwellers of coastlands of Kittim [the distant West] will come against him, and (he) will broke down [mentally], and will go back.” (11:29, 30a) And then “the great power sword” will be used. (Revelation 6:4) Jesus characterized him in this way: “A frightening things both and extraordinary (related to unusual phenomena) from sky powerful will be.” For that reason there will be significant tremors along the length and breadth of the regions [of strategic importance] and famines, and pestilences. Some ancient manuscripts contain the words “and frosts”. The Aramaic Peshitta: “and will be great frosts”. (Luke 21:11) We call this today “nuclear winter”. In Mark 13:8 there are also words of Jesus: “and disorders” (in the sense of confusion and chaos). The Aramaic Peshitta: “and confusion” (on the state of public order). Jesus stated: “All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.” (Matthew 24:8)
@Ryszard Ewiak: is that from the first book or the second book of fairytales ?
One possible way to confront these thuggish bullies is for Ukraine and its allies (us, you an’ me) to approach the aggressor and put it up to them.
Quick genuine question In this twenty first century how do you declare a war ? Do you Facebook or Twitter the facts and will it be fact-checked and by who
He should have thought of that when he decided to invade an independent country.
have your say