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[smjjames]

My point is just that Christianity didn't arise in a religious vacuum and neither did Islam.

[mainiac]

We have pretty detailed account about the way that the Christian theology came together in the early years.  Something like this Quran or the dead sea scrolls is of interest because we dont have as detailed a timeline.

[penguinofhonor]

Jordan has apparently taken in a quarter of its population in refugees recently, despite very few resources to take care of them, and has had very few problems.

[Antsan]

Yeah, but that, of course, will never work for a country as piss-poor as Germany.

[scriver]

That's not really an argument for why we too should take in more refugees than we can handle, though. Not to mention that integration into Jordan will be much smoother than integration into European countries.

[Loud Whispers]

Jordan has apparently taken in a quarter of its population in refugees recently, despite very few resources to take care of them, and has had very few problems.

Other than the water crisis, inability to pay for their food and after receiving donations and subsidies from the West?

The Washington DC-based non-governmental organisation says that, by 2040, the region will experience eight of the 10 worst droughts in the world. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Israel will be among the worst affected.
Many countries will have to stop growing their own food. Saudi Arabia, for example, will entirely depend on grain imports by 2016, the report says.
And the lack of water will continue to make conflicts worse in Syria, Palestine, Iraq and elsewhere.
Al Jazeera's Nisreen El Shamayleh reports from Jordan where, due to the influx of refugees from Syria, the situation is already critical.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/08/syrian-refugee-crisis-strains-jordan-water-supply-150827011123701.html

Oh and on the topic of subsidies, the U.N. food agency just announced today it has run out of money to feed Syrian refugees in Jordan and is appealing for donations. They also have to deal with the free syrian army, Assad loyalists and Islamic extremists outside their borders and Salafist and ISIS recruiters running amok inside their country, and Jordanian contributions to ISIS are quite something. Plus Jordan doesn't really get a say in how many refugees it accepts, it's a matter of fighting the war which King Abdullah has called the third world war. As inspiring as it would be to see all the forces from LA to Shanghai roll tanks onto the streets of Ramadi everyone in the West has lost any will for war and the East gives little fucks.

[martinuzz]

Some members of Russian parliament came up with a plan to give all inhabitants of rebel republics of Donetsk and Loeganks a Russian passport.
In their words, "then Ukraine might come to understand that it is one thing, to kill their own civilians, but another thing, to kill Russian civilians.

The Doema will discuss the proposition next month.

It is worth noting that this is not a unique proposition; in South-Ossetia, and in Abchasia, two regions that seceded from Georgia, Russia did the same. It gave the citizens Russian passport, and afterwards claimed the right to defend Russian civilians, which aided the two regions in their subsequent declaration of 'independence'.

It is not very certain though, that the plan will pass the Doema.
Taking this course of action will likely prompt more sanctions from Europe and the US, as it will surely end the fragile cease fire between Kiev and the rebels.
It would also imply that Russia will have to pay for rebuilding, and pay for the care (and overdue pensions which Ukraine refuses to pay, because they do not want to fund the rebels who are fighting against them) of the republic's war-empovered 3 million inhabitants, for which there is not much popular support amongst Russian voters.

[Loud Whispers]

Some members of Russian parliament came up with a plan to give all inhabitants of rebel republics of Donetsk and Loeganks a Russian passport.
In their words, "then Ukraine might come to understand that it is one thing, to kill their own civilians, but another thing, to kill Russian civilians.

This has some worrying implications in regards to er... Annexation, in all but name.

[scrdest]

Some members of Russian parliament came up with a plan to give all inhabitants of rebel republics of Donetsk and Loeganks a Russian passport.
In their words, "then Ukraine might come to understand that it is one thing, to kill their own civilians, but another thing, to kill Russian civilians.

This has some worrying implications in regards to er... Annexation, in all but name.

Yeah, it's kinda ridiculous. 'We didn't annex Donbass. That would be bad. And wrong. Oh, and by the way, they are our citizens now.'.

[Sheb]

Another advantage from Russia's point of view would be to further muddy the water in respect to who is fighting there. If everyone is a Russian citizen, it becomes easier to sneak in more Russians to fight Ukraine.

In other news, Saakashvili is having arguments with the central government, which it accuses to be too slow to reform and too corrupt. It's an echo I've seen from other foreigners brought in to reform the country.

The article also contain this gem:

Following the accusations, Likarchuk was stripped of his authority to oversee customs offices and given powers to run only a spa resort in Russian-annexed Crimea that Ukraine no longer controls.

[Owlbread]

Some members of Russian parliament came up with a plan to give all inhabitants of rebel republics of Donetsk and Loeganks a Russian passport.
In their words, "then Ukraine might come to understand that it is one thing, to kill their own civilians, but another thing, to kill Russian civilians.

This has some worrying implications in regards to er... Annexation, in all but name.

Yeah, it's kinda ridiculous. 'We didn't annex Donbass. That would be bad. And wrong. Oh, and by the way, they are our citizens now.'.

They did exactly the same thing in Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria.

[Sergarr]

I doubt that they would do it, after a whole year of "Minsk ceasefire" farce. It would be too good of a change for that to happen.

[mainiac]

Change?  What change?  From the start it has been salami tactics, this would be another salami tactics.  If they completely took the Donbas they would just start a war in some other place.

[Helgoland]

In another instance of me providing German English-language articles on the Eurozone crisis, I present to you this.

The translation is fairly bad, and the article is not too great either, but it's better than nothing.

[Sergarr]

Change?  What change?  From the start it has been salami tactics, this would be another salami tactics.  If they completely took the Donbas they would just start a war in some other place.

But that wouldn't be immediately afterwards. For a short time, there would be peace. With no constant artillery barrages and all that crap. I'm tired of seeing reports about people getting shelled to death every time I accidentally look at TV news.