Archive for the ‘In the News’ Category
Israel’s Opportune Time to Strike Iran Expires this Weekend
Posted by: Joe Haynes in In the News on August 17th, 2010
“Israel has until the weekend to launch a military strike on Iran’s first nuclear plant before the humanitarian risk of an attack becomes too great, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said Tuesday.” Read the rest of this news report here (source: FoxNews.com, August 17, 2010).
The really fascinating part of this news report is the comment at the end confirming Russia has been helping Iran in its nuclear ambitions–ambitions on record as including the aim of the destruction of Israel. If Israel strikes Bushehr, Iran threatens to totally wipe out Israel. If Israel does not strike Bushehr, Iran will be close, very close, to having the capability of destroying Israel anyway:
Iranian officials on Tuesday warned Israel not to take military action. Iranian media quoted Ahmad Vahidi, Iran’s defense minister, as saying Israel would be taking a huge risk with such an attack.
"We may lose a power plant, but the whole existence of the Zionist regime will be jeopardized," Vahidi was quoted as saying.
The reactor project has been in existence for decades, but the Russians have helped push it to the finish line.
In Ezekiel 38:5, Iran, by the name "Persia", is listed as an ally of Russia (by the name "Gog") and in verse 7 it is implied that Russia is a support or protector of Iran at the time foreseen in this prophecy. Here’s what the prophecy says Russia and its allies will one day attempt:
" 8 After many days you will be mustered. In the latter years you will go against the land that is restored from war, the land whose people were gathered from many peoples upon the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste. Its people were brought out from the peoples and now dwell securely, all of them. 9 You will advance, coming on like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your hordes, and many peoples with you. 10 "Thus says the Lord GOD: On that day, thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme 11 and say, ‘I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will fall upon the quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gates,’ 12 to seize spoil and carry off plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places that are now inhabited, and the people who were gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell at the center of the earth." (Eze 38:8-12 ESV)
Anti-Semite “Khazar” Theory Refuted By New Genetic Study
Posted by: Joe Haynes in In the News on June 16th, 2010
Every now and then I get emails from people thinking they are doing me a favour by “introducing” me to the so-called evidence that most, if not all, modern-day Jews are actually descended from medieval Khazars and not, as is commonly thought, from Abraham and the people of Israel in the Bible. This theory belongs with others held by folks who wear tinfoil hats but was given a big boost by the pseudo-historical work of Arthur Koestler in his book The Thirteenth Tribe. I’ve spent more time than I care to admit looking into the claims of these people, that modern Jews have no right to their ancestral lands because they aren’t actually descendants of Israel. Now, I’m glad to share, a recent genetic study adds to earlier genetic research proving that the Khazar-Jew nonsense is just that: nonsense.
The study, published June 3, 2010 in the American Journal of Human Genetics, compared 237 Jewish people from seven regions of the world with 418 non-Jewish people from the same regions and demonstrated that the Jewish people are genetically linked to a common Jewish ancestry concentrated in Persia-Babylon around 2500 years ago (about the same time King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon conquered the southern kingdom of Judah and its capitol, Jerusalem, exiling the population to Babylon). [I first read about this in a summary article published here.]
In short, thanks to modern science, one of the key arguments used by anti-semites in their propaganda of hatred is debunked. Reasonable people can put the Khazar-Jewish garbage out of their minds and be strengthened in their confidence in the Bible. Because in the Bible, Moses predicted both a dispersion of Jewish people around the world and an eventual regathering of their descendants to the land of Israel. The final stages of the dispersion happened under the rule of the Roman Empire. This is consistent with the new genetic study which found that an influx of DNA from non-Jewish converts entered the genetic makeup of European Jewry around that time and that the closest modern “cousins” of European Jews are, drum-roll, Italians. The regathering of Jews to Israel is happening in the present day and has been since the late 19th century.
“And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste” (Lev 26:33 ESV).
“And the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other” (Deu 28:64 ESV).
“…then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. And the LORD your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers”
(Deu 30:3-5 ESV).
What is God doing—gathering together an ancient nation into the young State of Israel—in the midst of persecution and slander? He is setting the stage for a rebirth of souls far more wondrous than the rebirth of a nation.
“And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live” (Deu 30:6 ESV).
“Stored up for fire”
Posted by: Joe Haynes in In the News on June 5th, 2010
The Day of the Lord Will Come
3:1 This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. (2 Peter 3:1-7 ESV)
Whether or not the artifact found on Mt. Ararat, by the team from Noah’s Ark Ministries International (NAMI) in Hong Kong, turns out to be the real wreckage of Noah’s Ark or not, the Scripture holds a clear warning that the historical event of the global flood in Noah’s lifetime is the one and only event comparable with the day of judgment still to come. I’ve commented on NAMI’s discovery and the work being done by Creation Ministries International (CMI) to verify NAMI’s “Ark” claim in a blog post at Keruxai.com here. I lay awake for a while last night thinking about the implications of such a discovery if it proves legitimate. However, this passage in 2 Peter 3 came to mind and I was reminded that even without actual physical evidence of Noah’s Ark, there is ample physical evidence all over the world of “Noah’s Flood”.
That’s what Peter was saying in verses 5-6: “…they deliberately overlook this fact… [that] the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.” In many, many conversations with unbelievers committed to the popular dogma of a billions-of-years-old-Earth, I’ve pointed out evidence that many fossils show a sudden, catastrophic event happened long ago. Like a reptile buried and fossilized while giving birth, 346 whales being buried together in mud, hundreds of jellyfish buried and fossilized without a chance to decay, or a T-rex bone found with intact blood vessels complete with red blood cells, these and many other examples testify to anyone with an open mind that whatever catastrophic event killed the dinosaurs and formed much of the fossil record happened quickly and relatively recently (a few thousand years ago and not millions of years ago). The reaction I’ve usually gotten from skeptics reminds me of that scene in The Princess Bride when Miracle Max sticks his fingers in his ears, refusing to listen to his wife. Dr. Tas Walker’s “Biblical Geology” website has a lot of additional information helpful for believers to understand the geology of the world we live in without having to appeal to billions of years of earth formation. In most cases, in my experience, people who deny the accuracy of the Bible’s account regarding the Flood and Creation events do so not for scientific reasons involving actual recorded facts or physical evidence but for doctrinal reasons (e.g., the Bible can’t be true because God can’t exist). Peter calls this, “deliberately overlook[ing] this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.”
If NAMI’s claims of discovering the actual Ark Noah built and took refuge in during the global flood turn out to be true I would think this will be very troubling for people who deny the Bible for doctrinal reasons (people like Richard Dawkins). If you click the photo above and to the right, you can see the wooden timbers of the alleged Ark encased in ice and buried under tonnes of rock (full size photos here). I hope experts are able to confirm this discovery. And I hope that if and when they do so, skeptics, like Dawkins and like so many other people who so far refuse to acknowledge God, will realize that underneath tonnes of flimsy “evidence” and encased in Darwinian propoganda lies buried not the fact of a godless, random, billions-of-years-old Universe, but a desperate, fearful hope that they are not accountable to any Creator and Judge. The day is coming when God will expose the lies of men for what they are and judge the world on the basis of whether or not each and every person has trusted in Jesus Christ through the Gospel. Just because the world seems to go on like it always has in our experience does not mean it will do so forever. God judged humanity once before and He will do so once again.
Worshipping the Image of the Beast
Posted by: Joe Haynes in In the News on November 23rd, 2009
- Image via Wikipedia
Herman Von Rompuy has just been appointed the first ever permanent President of the European Union. It’s no wonder that this news causes a stir among a large segment of Christians in North America who subscribe to a view of the end of the world known as “Dispensationalism”, or, more commonly, the “pre-trib rapture view”. It’s even less surprising that when Von Rompuy, in his first big speech, made mention of “global government” and “global management of our planet”, certain Dispensationalist sensationalists saw all kinds of “red flags”, portens of the “one world government” they expect before the coming of the arch-enemy of the Church, the Antichrist. (Just so you know, I actually respect Jerome Corsi, the author mentioned in the above link. But I think his work on this topic is a misinterpretation of the Bible and that its sensationalistic flavour feeds certain extremist elements in the Christian Church.)
What did President Herman Von Rompuy actually say? Here’s the video:
Okay, so all he really said was that the current financial crisis was the occasion of the establishment of a G-20 response… what he called “global governance”… by which it seems he meant “global governance” of the financial crisis. Similarly, when he mentioned “global management of our planet”, it was in the context of talking about the Copenhagen Conference, and seems to be a reference to “global management of our planet” with respect to the environment.
I think both of those (global governance of the financial crisis and global management of the environment) are terrible ideas. They seem to undermine local national sovereignty (which I think is a great idea!). I want to be governed by a government that I elect, a government formed from my own countrymen, ruling with respect to the laws of the country I live in. I don’t want some European deciding how much fuel I can put in what kind of car so that I can commute to work and earn a foreign currency to spend however the EU or some foreign legislative body determines I should spend it. I’m Canadian. I like my flag with the maple leaf on it, thank you very much. I’m also Baptist in my heritage and convictions (Second London Baptist Confession of Faith, 1689), and I value local autonomy, for local churches and individual countries!
But Von Rompuy isn’t the Antichrist. The Westminster Confession of Faith identifies the Popes of Rome as the Antichrist–and I think those guys were correct. It makes better sense of the various Bible prophecies than expecting a single individual to be the arch-enemy of the Church. Especially an individual living so long after the Antichrist was due–at the demise of the Roman Empire and the rise of 10 European kingdoms that replaced it in the West.
And just because liberal elites like Von Rompuy and his socialist friends scheme and plan how to centralize international control of things like the environment and the global economy doesn’t mean that they are setting up an evil Antichristian Empire to usher in the end of days. All it means is that they are worshipping an ideology patterned after the Roman Empire. They are enamoured with fantasies of recreating the Imperial Senate of Rome.
In Revelation 13 & 17, as well as in Daniel 2 & 7, the Roman Empire is the fourth and final monolithic Empire to rule Western Europe. Upon its demise a ten-fold commonwealth of kingdoms is predicted to emerge, with a partly political and partly ecclesial kingdom rising to leadership among them. This occured when the Roman Empire fell, finally, in 476 AD and within a bit more than a century, the territory of Western Europe saw the emergence of 10 barbarian kingdoms–the precursors of the same number of nations that exist within those boundaries today. During much of their history–more or less the period sometimes called the “Dark Ages”–the City-State ruled by the Popes, dominated those ten kingdoms.
In Revelation 13 and 17 and in Daniel 7, the Empire of Rome is called “the beast”. When socialist elites today fantasize and scheme to recreate Rome’s glory through the establishment of the European Union, the G-20, the Copenhagen Conference, etc., etc., they are literally worshipping the picture, the form and shape and image of the Beast:
Revelation 13:14-15 by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.
It’s an old cult, this worship of the image of the beast, the idolatry of Roman forms of government. Not new at all. And Christ has already conquered the beast, its worshippers, the Hell they will endure forever and the death their sins (and ours) have earned. So don’t fear the Antichrist, his government, or Obama. Fear God, worship His Son, Jesus, and put your trust in His death and resurrection as the Substitute for sinners.
Even Chuck Norris Is Afraid of Obama’s “One-World Government”
Posted by: Joe Haynes in In the News on October 26th, 2009
Famous movie-star, martial arts expert and political columnist, Chuck Norris, recently wrote a column on WND warning readers about the implications of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held in Copenhagen this coming December. Bottom line? He’s afraid.
I was in a small-group Bible study this past weekend in which a member expressed similar fears that Obama is working towards a “one world government”. I’ve got to admit that the socialist, even communist, ideology that seems to motivate Obama is scary. And yes, democracy, freedom, national sovereignty (for all nations), opportunity for hard work and religious freedoms, all of these are threatened by what seems to be the agenda of the Copenhagen coference and what sure looks like Obama’s agenda. But why do people give voice to this fear under the label, “one world government”?
The reason, I think, is the wide acceptance of the theological views most popularly expressed in the Left Behind series of novels and movies. The actual perspective is known as “Pre-Tribulational Dispensationalism”. This perspective sees the Bible as teaching a series of dispensations under which God arranges His dealings with humanity throughout history. The “Pre-Tribulational” part of the label refers to the belief that the final dispensation is ushered in by the invisible coming of Christ to Earth just before a world-wide “tribulation” (pre-tribulational) breaks out against Christians.
Very common among writers who hold this view is the belief that the mastermind behind this world-wide tribulation will be a global dictator, the “Antichrist”, and leader of a “one-world government”. The thing of it is that no such “one-world government” is described in Bible prophecy anywhere.
For instance, in Daniel 2, the Bible predicts that starting in about the year 600 BC (2600 years ago), the nation of the Jews will be dominated by a succession of Empires: 1. Babylon, 2. Medo-Persia, 3. Greece, and 4. (though not named) Rome. In that prophecy, the Roman Empire is foreseen to break up into a commonwealth of 10 inferior kingdoms. This happened within about a century-and-a-half of the collapse of the Roman Empire in 476 AD. I’ve written in some detail about this already in a previous post. The point is that from the early “Middle Ages” until the present day, that same territory exclusively ruled by the Roman Empire (not the Greek, Medo-Persian, or Babylonian Empires) still included 10 nations.
Daniel 7 adds some detail to this foreview of world history by explaining that a single religious-political ruler will emerge who will have great influence and power over this commonwealth of 10 nations. Revelation 13 also pictures this. We often call this religious-political ruler “the Antichrist”–though he’s not named that in either book of the Bible. But even if we go along with the use of the name, “Antichrist”, we still find no indication whatsoever that he ever is predicted to rule over a “one world government”.
I don’t really care that lots of people believe a “one world government” is coming though they’ve paid very little attention to studying the relevant Bible passages. But I do care that in looking ahead so intently for the emergence of the Boogeyman a great many Christians are blind to the much more serious and close-at-hand threat presented by the real “Antichrist”, the Popes of Rome. It’s not that Christians around the globe are in danger of being persecuted by the Pope. Hardly. It’s that the Gospel message proclaimed by Christians around the globe is constantly attacked by the counterfeit “Christianity” of the Roman Catholic Church, and the self-proclaimed leader of the Christian Faith.
A read through Augustine’s City of God is a more effective vaccine for fuzzy Christian thinking about the distinction between politics and the mission of the Church than Obama’s H1N1 vaccine is for the Swine Flu. Augustine can help Christians to see that our main mission is not to defend religious freedoms and democracy, but to preach the Gospel. We can be good citizens and pray for our political leaders, yes, but when we begin to demonize them we run the risk of being distracted from our mission as the Church of Christ. We can and must pray for and seek the welfare of “The City of Man”, but we are first and foremost citizens of “The City of God.” Therefore, our real enemy is not Obama or the UN or some fictional future leader of a “one world government”. Our real enemy is the enemy of the Gospel. We call him “Satan”, and the counterfeit Christianity we call, “Roman Catholicism” is his pawn (as is every other counterfeit form of Christianity that has spawned from the Roman “church”).
Let’s pray for the success of the Gospel while also doing our part. Let’s also pray for the welfare of the City of Man and the leaders God has set up in it. But let’s not get distracted from our spiritual mission by political science-fiction masquerading as biblical teaching.
By the way, I still love Chuck Norris’ column.
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The Bear Goes (a little bit farther) South?
Posted by: Joe Haynes in In the News on June 29th, 2009
- Image via Wikipedia
An article on WND.com Saturday, June 27 2009, suggests that Russia’s impending military excercises in the Caucases could be a staging ground for an invasion, and take-over, of Georgia:
Moscow has drawn a new “red line” in its confrontation with the regime of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili by calling for its end, just as Russia is preparing for its annual military exercise – which last year was used to invade Georgia, according to a report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
In a previous blog post, I drew attention to the fact that Moscow is “on-record” with ambitions to acquire control of energy resources in the Middle East. It would not be surprising if control of Georgia, and its strategic location in terms of oil extraction and delivery, is a first-step toward a plan for Russian regional dominance. From a biblical prophecy point of view, Gog (Ezekiel 38) would have to go through Georgia to get to Israel.
The Georgian Times reports concern among parliamentary leaders over Moscow’s intentions:
Georgian lawmakers say the Kremlin is following its plan and [trying] to involve Georgia in a new conflict. The MPs also do not rule out the possibility of a new aggression from Russia against Georgia.
This news comes nearly a year after a five-day war broke out last August between Russia and Georgia, in which Moscow siezed control of the Georgian province of South Ossetia.
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North Korea Preparing to Launch ICBM Capable of Hitting Alaska…or Jerusalem
Posted by: Joe Haynes in In the News on June 1st, 2009
A story on FoxNews today carried this headline:
Gates: North Korea Prepared to Launch Missile Capable of Hitting Alaska
They say this missile has a range of around 4000 miles. That seems to put Jerusalem within firing range. I’m not saying that’s what North Korea is going to do. I’m just saying that if Pyongyang is working with Iran then nothing would surprise me.
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Irish Government Punishing Catholic Orders for Lying about Abuse & Wealth
Posted by: Joe Haynes in In the News on May 28th, 2009
- Image by AFP/Getty Images via Daylife
Associated Press ran this story yesterday: “Catholic orders plead poverty in Irish abuse“…
DUBLIN – The Catholic orders responsible for abusing Ireland’s poorest children say they’re struggling to come up with money to help their victims. Yet investigations into their net worth paint a very different picture — that of nuns and brothers with billions’ worth of carefully sheltered assets worldwide.
Back in about the year 2000 one of my uncles told me to expect a worldwide eruption of scandal and public backlash against the Roman Catholic Church targetting her morality and her money. He based his predictions on a) the conviction that all of Revelation up to chapter 18 was now history (i.e., fulfilled prophecy) and, b) that Revelation 18 predicts the humiliation of the Roman Catholic Church (“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!” – Rev 18:2) and her arrogant, persistent refusal to voluntarily confess her sins. Notice the triple themes of public humiliation, sexual sin and loss of wealth in the following excerpts from Revelation 18:2-8 and 15-17. And ask yourself, “Is Revelation 18 being fulfilled right now in my lifetime? And if so, is Revelation 19 next?”
Revelation 18:2-8 And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast. For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.” Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed. As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, ‘I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.’ For this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.”
Revelation 18:15-17 The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud, “Alas, alas, for the great city that was clothed in fine linen, in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, with jewels, and with pearls! For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste.”
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The Russians Are Coming?
Posted by: Joe Haynes in In the Bible, In the News on May 14th, 2009
I know, I know, you’ve heard this all before. But a news item caught my eye this morning and it seemed like a good idea to blog it. So read over the following verses from Scripture and then read the quote (below) from Associated Press.
Ezekiel 38:3-6, 8-13 Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords. Persia, Cush, and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer and all his hordes; Beth-togarmah from the uttermost parts of the north with all his hordes- many peoples are with you… In the latter years you will go against the land that is restored from war, the land whose people were gathered from many peoples upon the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste. Its people were brought out from the peoples and now dwell securely, all of them. You will advance, coming on like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your hordes, and many peoples with you. ”Thus says the Lord GOD: On that day, thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme and say, ‘I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will fall upon the quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gates,’ to seize spoil and carry off plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places that are now inhabited, and the people who were gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell at the center of the earth. Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all its leaders will say to you, ‘Have you come to seize spoil? Have you assembled your hosts to carry off plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to seize great spoil?’
Daniel 11:43 might refer to the same events, though it is difficult to be certain: “He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt…” Of course there is no word for petroleum in the Old Testament but the word “treasures” in Dan 11:43 is a likely candidate. In Proverbs 21:20, the same Hebrew word refers to “desireable treasures” that a fool is greedy for. Now have a look at the news item below. Don’t cash in your savings, quit your job and start carrying a sign announcing the end of the world. But do consider how much time we have left in this present age and use this “sign of the times” (if that’s what it is) to spur yourself to faith, evangelism and good deeds.
MOSCOW – A Kremlin policy paper says international relations will be shaped by battles over energy resources, which may trigger military conflicts on Russia’s borders.
The National Security Strategy also said that Russia will seek an equal “partnership” with the United States, but named U.S. missile defense plans in Europe among top threats to the national security.
The document, which has been signed by President Dmitry Medvedev, listed top challenges to national security and outlined government priorities through 2020.
“The international policy in the long run will be focused on getting hold of energy sources, including in the Middle East, the Barents Sea shelf and other Arctic regions, the Caspian and Central Asia,” said the strategy paper that was posted on the presidential Security Council‘s Web site.
“Amid competitive struggle for resources, attempts to use military force to solve emerging problems can’t be excluded,” it added. “The existing balance of forces near the borders of the Russian Federation and its allies can be violated.” (Get the full news item here…)
