i've been speaking of khazars for some time and here an israeli 'new's' rag reinforces that history reporting;

As Ukraine writhes in crisis with sovereignty over Crimea hanging in the balance, it’s an apt time to revisit a time when the region was a Jewish kingdom. Not that this is a call to Israel to throw its hat in the race for control of Crimea.

The Crimean Peninsula has changed hands and rulers time and again. One such occasion was some time in the 4th to 5th century, when a Turkic horde invaded from Mongolia-Siberia and settled the western steppe, mainly the north shores of the Caspian and Black seas.

The invaders were a loose confederation of semi-nomadic pagan tribes, who gradually assumed control over the variegated local population. It took time, but by the mid-7th century, a state had taken shape: the Khazar Kingdom.

This kingdom grew in power and wealth, mostly from taxing the Silk Route to China and other important trading routes between the Arabian and Persian kingdoms and Europe.

The people of Khazar constituted numerous ethnic backgrounds and spoke many languages. They also practiced different religions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam. But the ruling elite was a Turkic aristocracy speaking a Turkic language and practicing a Turkic form of paganism called Tengriism, which focused on a sun deity called Tengri.

That is – until at some point in the 8th or 9th centuries, the ruling elite converted to Judaism.

An angel drops by........more.........