Because the Persians allowed the Jews to return, as Jeremiah predicted.
And the Persians no longer exist, we have the modern states of Iran, Oman and others. And the Israel of the day no longer exists, we have the modern state of Israel and its current activities. It's almost like ancient history is a poor guide. Let's look at something a little more pertinent and recent - did the Soviet Union cede back control of Czechoslovakia? Or Romania? Or Latvia? Or Lithuania? Or Estonia?
I was referring to old testament, not modern Israel.
That was sort of my point, you were referring to a fundamentally different social, economic, political and technological paradigm.
Yes Ukraine has retained most of its territory, but could have achieved this through negotiations without losing its fighting age men (they are now mobilising older and teenaged men).
Or, conversely, and more likely, they could have lost everything and become a subjugated vassal state or an occupied one under the whip of Russian oligarchy and corruption - and your suggestion that they abandon the people in those territories is recommending that they be consigned to that fate.
I hereby predict that one day Putin will die. There, it's a heralded possibility.
I'm sure that's of great comfort to the families of the thousands of stolen Ukrainian children.
Well, maybe they will never give it back, but life there can certainly improve.
How? How is it going to improve by being absorbed into a less decent, less lawful, less secure, less safe country?
Perhaps, but that is unlikely if we just make ridiculous calls for ceasefires and security guarantees that the Russians have already rejected.
They can reject them if they want, and then the continued warfare is on them. If we make the guarantee and follow through on it, Russian aggression disappears - we don't even have to send UK troops, there's several thousand Polish troops itching for a chance to show Russia what a first-world arsenal thinks of their tin-pot dictator, his shit-hole logistics and his third-rate weapons platforms with their fourth-rate maintenance regimes.
The only way I see for Russia to be defeated is for the West to continue the fighting once Ukraine's military has collapsed.
Or before, yes. The only way for Russia to win is for the countries that promised Ukraine they'd stand up for freedom and justice to fail to stand up for it. Or, to put it in better known terms, the only way for evil to flourish is for good men to stand by and do nothing.
O.
