Showing posts with label Iraq. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iraq. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
'The Baby And The Baath Water' - A Multi-Media History Of The West's Involvement In Syria & The Region Via The CIA Infiltrated Baath Party
THE BABY AND THE BAATH WATERAdam Curtis
Thursday, 16 June 2011
What is happening in Syria feels like one of the last gasps of the age of the military dictators. An old way of running the world is still desperately trying to cling to power, but the underlying feeling in the west is that somehow Assad's archaic and cruel military rule will inevitably collapse and Syrians will move forward into a democratic age.
That may, or may not, happen, but what is extraordinary is that we have been here before.
Between 1947 and 1949 an odd group of idealists and hard realists in the American government set out to intervene in Syria. Their aim was to liberate the Syrian people from a corrupt autocratic elite - and allow true democracy to flourish. They did this because they were convinced that "the Syrian people are naturally democratic" and that all that was neccessary was to get rid of the elites - and a new world of "peace and progress" would inevitably emerge.
What resulted was a disaster, and the consequences of that disaster then led, through a weird series of bloody twists and turns, to the rise to power of the Assad family and the widescale repression in Syria today.
I thought I would tell that story.
In 1968 a CIA agent called Miles Copeland (Ed. Conspiracy Buffs Note: His son is Stewart Copeland drummer for the well-known band "The Police".) wrote a book called 'The Game of Nations' that revealed what went on in 1947.
Back then Copeland was part of a mangement consulting team in Washington who were working out how America should contain the threat of communism in the Middle East, now the old European Empires had gone. This was before the CIA existed, and Copeland describes how they got together an odd group of diplomats, secret agents left over from the war, advertising men from Madison Avenue, and "pipe-smoking owls" (which is what intellectuals were called in those days).
Copeland describes an impassioned lecturer telling this group that their aim should be to change the leadership in the countries in the Middle East:
"Politicians in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Egypt seem to have been elected into power, but what elections! The winners were all candidates of foreign powers, old land-owners who tell their tenants and villagers how to vote, or rich crooks who can buy their votes. But peoples of these countries are intelligent, and they have a natural bent for politics. If there is a part of the world which is crying for the democratic process the Arab World is it."They decided to start with Syria. Compared to what was to come, it was all very sweet and innocent...
In Full
Author Adam Curtis also produced the excellent three part documentary "The Power Of Nightmares" for the BBC.
The documentary explains the roots of the Muslim Brotherhood, now much in the news due to the Egyptian revolt earlier this year, al-Qaeda, the Neoconservatives of the United States and elsewhere, and their common philosophical roots derived from a grossly dysfunctional 'reading' of Jewish philosopher Leo Strauss' works and teachings. There was an Egyptian national in Leo Strauss' lecture hall, and he returned home to Egypt with the same world view and vision as Elliot Abrahms Fred Kagan, Paul Wolfowitz, and other public figures who now have the ear of the American political Right and all to often, the confidences of sitting US presidents.
From the introduction:
This film explores the origins in the 1940s and 50s of Islamic Fundamentalism in the Middle East, and Neoconservatism in America, parallels between these movements, and their effect on the world today.The documentary is available at Internet Archive at two links:
From the introduction to Part 1:"Both [the Islamists and Neoconservatives] were idealists who were born out of the failure of the liberal dream to build a better world. And both had a very similar explanation for what caused that failure. These two groups have changed the world, but not in the way that either intended. Together, they created today's nightmare vision of a secret, organized evil that threatens the world. A fantasy that politicians then found restored their power and authority in a disillusioned age. And those with the darkest fears became the most powerful."
The documentary presented in a player-on-page with a number of video formats available for download here.
Here is the link to the landing page for an ISO file ready to burn to DVD.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Half The World's Refugees Are Running From US Instigated Wars
"I do not understand this sqeamishness about the use of gas. I am strongly in favour of using poison gas against uncivilised tribes." -- Winston Churchill 1920 (speaking of the Iraqis, Kurds, and other 'dusky natives' of the region)
[Clickthrough ThinkProgress]
"MY COUNTRY is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today" ~~Martin Luther King Jr....and endangering citizens by causing them to flee from wars made for extractive resources but persecuted under false pretenses qualifies as one of the most callous forms of violence as it affects everyone from old people to infants. They are also the most likely to die as displaced persons.
Labels:
Afghanistan,
Displaced People,
Imperial War,
Iran,
Iraq,
Migration,
Pakistan,
Refugees,
Syria,
UNHCR,
War Child
Sunday, February 27, 2011
The Neocon's 'Crude Urges' - The UN's Libya Sanctions Are A Declaration Of War On Libya's Civilians Who Have Already All But Removed Their 'Dictator'
The Neo-Cons have 'Urged' a Libyan 'intervention' and demanded (draft-dodging arrogant warmongering pricks that they are) 'immediate military action.'.The appeal, which came in the form of a letter signed by 40 policy analysts, including more than a dozen former senior officials who served under President George W. Bush, was organised and released by the Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI), a two-year-old neo-conservative group that is widely seen as the successor to the more-famous – or infamous – Project for the New American Century (PNAC). [More @ al-Jazeera]In the REALPOLITIK world, Gadaffi is done... why wait for those "Sanctions" to have the effect they had on Iraq with an estimated half million children alone dead from causes including starvation, unsanitary water, and lack of medicine, when the citizens of the country have already isolated, disenfranchised, and cornered him in the only remaining 'un-liberated' city in Libya, Tripoli?
The Western industrial nations fronted by NATO and blessed by their Security Council cronies at the UN will simply use Muammar al-Gadaffi as the excuse for military intervention and an 'oil grab'. All they REALLY want al-Gadaffi to do is hide. But he probably won't because he considers himself Libya's 'leader of destiny' (for want of a better nomenclature).
Perhaps there's a JSOC team with al-Gadaffi visage, daily movements and habits already burned into their memories ready to 'snatch' him in the same manner they illegally kidnapped Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide? (Just a conjecture... al-Gadffi would be a much 'harder' target for such an operation.)
But the BIG QUESTION here is... If the Libyans are capable of deposing their own leader (and currently the 'Libyan government' probably controls less that 10% of what was 'Libyan' territory), with the oil the West so badly needs soon under the control of tribal groups more than willing to deal for their fair share of what they've been deprived of for all these years... It begs the question: "Why Sanctions? Why Intervention?
It will not stop the bloodshed the sanctions have been claimed to prevent.
If Iraq is used as a notable example of "intervention" in recent history, those now-in-place sanctions will only magnify the mayhem by un-countable multiples in an economic and militarized war-without-a-thought for the civilian population of Libya.
Because it WILL BE a war on the civilian population of Libya who almost completely OPPOSE the regime we have sanctioned, after turning a blind eye to the alleged atrocities al-Gadaffi's administration has committed for all these years.
The West and America were such good friends with Libya that our EX-Vice President's company sold Libya (Iraq too!) dual-use oil drilling equipment (The other use would be drilling test holes for nuclear weapons experiments) and, through its subsidiary, Halliburton Logging Services, sent six pulsed neutron generators to Libya.Pulsed neutron generators are used to break down Uranium into isotopes, and could easily be used to create fissionable material for a nuclear 'dirty bomb' or, with more time and materials, a complete nuclear weapon.
[More about Halliburton @ Wikipedia] (including information on the long-standing relationship between the Bush family and Halliburton-related corporations)
The State Department prosecution and fining of Halliburton that followed was a joke, "After having pleaded guilty, the company was fined $1.2 million, with another $2.61 million in penalties.". Halliburton's revenue statement for the year of the prosecution, 1995, is Here.
But about those sanctions...
When the West committed to sanctions on Iraq's Hussein regime it caused mass suffering among a population which was already under authoritarian rule.
UNICEF has stood by it's figures of ONE HALF MILLION CHILDREN DEAD (including sanctions, collateral effects of war) by those measures, which deprived the civilian population of Iraq such things a Chlorine ('Dual-use', natch!) to purify their water (after we bombed their infrastructure thereby CREATING a contaminated water supply).
Do you really suppose that Saddam Hussein (by US media parlance 'so-damn insane') went even one day of the sanctions drinking unclean water, without food or medicine?
Sanctions on a country like Libya, where the leader is already 'on the way out' is a murderous joke (if they are ever truly useful at all for reining in a 'loose cannon' in the geopolitical 'deck'), and NOT to the benefit of ANYONE but the invested(sic) financial and industrial interests in the West.
They will certainly be of no benefit to the Libyan people, and may very well PREVENT Muammar al-Gadaffi's removal from power by his own people. The ONLY people who have a right to judge him for his actions, and allow him to cobble his regime back together in the guise of a 'Jihad' against foreign intervention.
...and I AM NOT alone in that train-of-thought...
Libya: Is Washington Pushing for Civil War to Justify a US-NATO Military Intervention?
Is Tripoli being set up for a civil war to justify U.S. and NATO military intervention in oil-rich Libya?
Are the talks about sanctions a prelude to an Iraq-like intervention?
Something is Rotten in the so-called “Jamahiriya” of Libya
Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya is a Canadian Multidisciplinary sociologist and scholar. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) specializing in geopolitics and strategic issues. He is also a lecturer and author about the topics of the Middle East, Central Asia and the former USSR.
There is no question that Colonel Muammar Al-Gaddafi (Al-Qaddafi) is a dictator. He has been the dictator and so-called “qaid” of Libya for about 42 years. Yet, it appears that tensions are being ratcheted up and the flames of revolt are being fanned inside Libya. This includes earlier statements by the British Foreign Secretary William Hague that Colonel Qaddafi had fled Libya to Venezuela. [1] This statement served to electrify the revolt against Qaddafi and his regime in Libya.
Although all three have dictatorship in common, Qaddafi’s Libya is quite different from Ben Ali’s Tunisia or Mubarak’s Egypt. The Libyan leadership is not outright subservient to the United States and the European Union. Unlike the cases of Tunisia and Egypt, the relationship that exists between Qaddafi and both the U.S. and E.U. is a modus vivendi. Simply put, Qaddafi is an independent Arab dictator and not a “managed dictator” like Ben Ali and Mubarak.
In Tunisia and Egypt the status quo prevails, the military machine and neo-liberalism remain intact; this works for the interests of the United States and the European Union. In Libya, however, upsetting the established order is a U.S. and E.U. objective.
The U.S. and the E.U. now seek to capitalize on the revolt against Qaddafi and his dictatorship with the hopes of building a far stronger position in Libya than ever before. Weapons are also being brought into Libya from its southern borders to promote revolt. The destabilization of Libya would also have significant implications for North Africa, West Africa, and global energy reserves...
[More @ GlobalResearch.ca]
Friday, February 25, 2011
SUCH A Kidder! EX-general Stanley McChrystal Says "...to defeat a networked enemy we had to become a network ourselves." (A Network Using al Qaeda)
Today in Foreign Policy Magazine (with the comments closed), resigned in disgrace EX-general Stanley McChrystal said:"In bitter, bloody fights in both Afghanistan and Iraq, it became clear to me and to many others that to defeat a networked enemy we had to become a network ourselves." (source)
He's SUCH A KIDDER!... We have (re)created that network... with al-Qaeda as part of our not-yet-announced but underway War On Pakistan!.
(See Here and Here for more on our "Madeline's War NATO affiliated al-Qaeda network and Here (the site's New Yorker link is dead...It's here, with more here) for information on our dealings with them regarding Iran and our attempt to stymie a Shiite rise to power elsewhere in the Middle East)
Al-Qaeda is generally translated as: The Database... of CIA affiliated Muslim fighters who fought our proxy war against the Russians in Afghanistan and worked for the Pentagon and NATO elsewhere.. the former Yugoslavia, in 'Madeline's War', where Osama bin-Laden had been tasked with recruiting mercenaries for the Kosovo Liberation Army.In recent history, the U.S. was first in line to acknowledge Kosovo as a new 'independent' Nation (with an economy based on smuggling and a government led by a wanted terrorist)
Journalist Mike Whitney give us a very clear picture of the US Foreign Policy Apparatus' ONGOING INVOLVEMENT with al-Qaeda affiliated elements in Pakistan and elsewhere in a freshly minted article @ CounterPunch, and he also gives us many (many!) details on the recent imbroglio in Lahore Pakistan where a supposed "diplomatic aide" named Raymond Davis apparently shot and killed two people he said were trying to mug him...
Or perhaps not...
Breaking: US reveals that CIA agent Raymond Davis worked for private security firm Xe, formerly known as Blackwater. "...eyebrows were raised when it emerged that he shot the men 10 times, one as he fled the scene." More @ Guardian UK
An Excerpt From Whitney's Article At...
CounterPunch
The CIA's Killing Spree in Lahore
By Mike Whitney
February 24, 2011
When CIA-agent Raymond Davis gunned down two Pakistani civilians in broad daylight on a crowded street in Lahore, he probably never imagined that the entire Washington establishment would spring to his defense. But that's precisely what happened.
Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Mike Mullen, John Kerry, Leon Panetta and a number of other US bigwigs have all made appeals on Davis's behalf. None of these stalwart defenders of "the rule of law" have shown a speck of interest in justice for the victims or of even allowing the investigation to go forward so they could know what really happened. Oh, no. What Clinton and the rest want, is to see their man Davis packed onto the next plane to Langley so he can play shoot-'em-up someplace else in the world.
o
o
o
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But why all the intrigue and arm-twisting? Why has the State Department invoked the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations to make its case that Davis is entitled to diplomatic immunity?
If Davis is innocent, then he has nothing to worry about, right?
Why not let the trial go forward and stop reinforcing the widely-held belief that Davis is a vital cog in the US's clandestine operations in Pakistan?
The truth is that Davis had been photographing sensitive installations and madrassas for some time, the kind of intelligence gathering that spies do when scouting-out prospective targets. Also, he'd been in close contact with members of terrorist organizations, which suggests a link between the CIA and terrorist incidents in Pakistan. Here's an excerpt from Wednesday's The Express Tribune:
"His cell phone has revealed contacts with two ancillaries of al Qaeda in Pakistan, Tehreek-e-Taliban of Pakistan (TTP) and sectarian Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), which has led to the public conclusion that he was behind terrorism committed against Pakistan's security personnel and its people ....This will strike people as America in cahoots with the Taliban and al Qaeda against the state of Pakistan targeting, as one official opined, Pakistan's nuclear installations." ("Raymond Davis: The plot thickens, The Express Tribune)
"Al Qaeda"? The CIA is working with "ancillaries of al Qaeda in Pakistan"? No wonder the US media has been keeping a wrap on this story for so long.
Naturally, most Pakistanis now believe that the US is colluding with terrorists to spread instability, weaken the state, and increase its power in the region. But isn't that America's M.O. everywhere?
Also, many people noticed that US drone attacks suddenly stopped as soon as Davis was arrested. Was that a coincidence? Not likely.
Davis was probably getting coordinates from his new buddies in the tribal hinterland and then passing them along to the Pentagon. The drone bombings are extremely unpopular in Pakistan. More then 1400 people have been killed since August 2008, and most of them have been civilians.
And, there's more. [A MUST READ @ CounterPunch]
Labels:
Afghanistan,
al Qaeda,
Black Ops,
CIA,
Iran,
Iraq,
Lahore,
Mike Whitney,
Pakistan,
Pentagon,
Raymond Davis,
Seymour Hersh,
Stanley McChrystal,
Taliban,
War On Terror
Sunday, July 4, 2010
This 4th 0f July Take The Pledge To Stop Thinking Like An American
"The trouble with Eichmann was precisely that so many were like him, and that the many were neither perverted nor sadistic, that they were, and still are, terribly and terrifyingly normal. From the viewpoint of our legal institutions and of our moral standards of judgment, this normality was much more terrifying than all the atrocities put together." ~~Hannah Arendt
[Pop Out Player]
This A/V montage is brought to you courtesy of Vietnam Veterans Against War (historic footage), OuterNational, Sir NO SIR! (Tom Morello, Rage Against The Machine) and The Asian Dub Foundation for the credit music, Rivers of Dub from Adbusters: Live Without Dead Time CD [Torrent, currently showing 4 'seeds']
Labels:
Activism,
Adbusters,
Afghanistan,
Anti-War,
Antiwar,
Iraq,
IVAW,
Music Video,
Outernational,
Pentagon,
Rage Against The Machine,
Tom Morello,
Video,
Vietnam,
Viral Video,
VVAW,
War,
Warmongers
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Memorial Day? It's About War! (...And Something's Gonna Give)
The war to liberate Southeast Asia from communism resulted in the deaths of 3.5 million Vietnamese, 2 million Laotians & Cambodians, and 58,000 Americans.
Rather than raping and pillaging the lands for its resources, the American military napalmed its jungles, carpet bombed its cities, defoliated the jungles with 20 million gallons of herbicides (including Agent Orange) and slaughtered women and children (My Lai Massacre).
It was easy to rationalize these acts when referring to the inhabitants as gooks, dinks, tunnel rats, and Uncle Ben's boys. Racism makes it easy to treat human beings as objects and dehumanize your acts of horror. ~~Jim Quinn, Charlie Don't Surf, OpEd News, February 2009
Here's a little something Auntie Imperial lashed together for Memorial Day 2010. It's Dedicated to those who have fallen, and Americans still at risk, in our ongoing IMPERIAL wars.
[Pop Out Player]
(Also See: Vietnamistan - PoP dEFECT Radio, Agitational Propaganda For A 'Failed State')
Some photos pulled from various sources follow the Outernational credits
Labels:
Activism,
Adbusters,
Afghanistan,
Anti-War,
Antiwar,
Iraq,
IVAW,
Music Video,
Outernational,
Pentagon,
Rage Against The Machine,
Tom Morello,
Video,
Vietnam,
Viral Video,
VVAW,
War,
Warmongers
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Just In: Iraq elections assessment from bitterlemons-international.org
A victory for Iran?
Sadegh Zibakalam
In the short term, anti-western forces both inside and outside Iraq can smile.
The game is not over
Safa A. Hussein
If all four blocs form a government, this could ease tensions with Saudi Arabia.
Turbulence at the exits
Greg Bruno
The political turbulence following the March 7 vote--and the wave of violence that punctuated it--illustrates just how long the road for Iraq truly is.
Building a state on a sectarian, ethnic and quota basis
Sawsan al-Assaf
Sectarianism will almost certainly ensure that Iraq's major cities again witness an increase in violence.
Read them @ bitterlemons-international.org
Be sure to browse bitterlemons-international archives too.
Recent roundtable topics:
The Arab League and Palestinian-Israeli proximity talks Ed. 7 Vol. 8 - March 11, 2010
* "All that is needed at this time is public Arab support" - Daoud Kuttab
* "High probability of failure" - Shlomo Brom
* "Reverse engagement" - Rime Allaf
The Mabhouh assassination in Dubai Ed. 6 Vol. 8 - March 01, 2010
* "Israel must be held accountable" - Ghassan Khatib
* "A brilliant blunder" - Josef Joffe
* "Hypocrisy" - Yossi Alpher
* "A scandal for Israeli intelligence" - an interview with Mustafa Alani
Labels:
Bitterlemons,
Elections,
Foreign Policy,
Iraq,
Iraq Elections,
Israel,
Middle East,
Palestinians
Saturday, March 13, 2010
"Imperial Hubris" - Another Way To View "The Hurt Locker"
"It is imperial hubris turned into an art form in which the Iraqi people appear as numbed bystanders when they are not deranged extras. It is a perverse tribute to the film’s accuracy in portraying the insanity of the U.S. invasion—while ignoring its root causes—that the Iraqis are at no point treated as though they are important.
They never have been, at least in the American view. No Iraqi had anything to do with attacking us on 9/11, and while we are happy to have an excuse to grab their oil and deploy our bloated military arsenal, the people of Iraq are never more than an afterthought.
Whatever motivates Iraqi characters in the movie to throw stones or blow themselves up is unimportant, for they are nothing more than props for a uniquely American-centered show. It is we who matter and they who are graced by our presence no matter how screwed up we may be."
Truthdig
Labels:
Dehumanization,
Disinformation,
Iraq,
Iraq War,
Movies,
Propaganda,
US Military,
War On Iraq
The Iraqi Elections: "Meet The New Boss, Same As The Old Boss"
Meet the New Iraqi Government Coalition, (Probably) the Same As the Old Coalition
In Full, FiredoglakeBy: Swopa Saturday March 13, 2010 5:00 pm
So the election results are trickling in slowly from the Iraqi parliamentary elections, and the coalition led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is expressing confidence that they will come away with the largest share of the votes — a confidence that may or may not be related to the gradually accumulating accusations of fraud in the ballot-counting process.Although all of the blocs that made up the Iraqi national legislature have frayed somewhat since the last round of elections at the end of 2005, virtually all of the major players are expected to return when the dust settles this time… most likely including al-Maliki as the prime minister.
Labels:
al-Maliki,
Allawi,
Elections,
Empire,
Empire Building,
Imperialism,
Iraq,
Iraq Elections,
War On Iraq
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Lied To Again? General Odierno Requests More Combat Forces In Iraq (beyond the Obama deadline)
Odierno requests more combat forces in Iraq -- beyond the Obama deadlineIn full at The Best Defense, Foreign Policy Magazine
by Thomas E. Ricks
February 25 2010
In a move that could force President Obama to break his vow to get all combat troops out of Iraq by August of this year, his top commander in Iraq recently officially requested keeping a combat brigade in the northern part of the country beyond that deadline, three people close to the situation said Wednesday.
Gen. Raymond Odierno asked for a brigade to try to keep the peace in the disputed city of Kirkuk, but only got a polite nod from the president when the issue was raised during his recent meetings in Washington, according to two of the people familiar with the discussions. If the brigade in northern Iraq is indeed kept in Iraq past the deadline, there will be a fan dance under which it no longer will be called a combat unit, but like the six other combat brigades being kept past the deadline, will be called an advisory unit.
I can imagine the press releases that will follow-
"Three U.S. Army soldiers were killed last night in an advisory operation . . . ."
Labels:
Disinformation,
Endless War,
Imperial War,
Iraq,
Lies,
Oil War,
Pentagon,
US Military,
War On Iraq
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
You're Gonna Have To Kill Someone For Your 'NIMBY' "Green"[tm] Lifestyle
The budget for the Pentagon's SouthCom command has increased dramatically over the last few years... and we're "Muscling Latin America"
Here's ONE reason why:
Most of the lithium is mined in Chile, Argentina and China and sold by only a handful of companies. Bolivia, led by the Anti-American President Evo Morales, recently discovered that one of its decommissioned salt mines harbored giant reserves of lithium....
.
.
.
...The United States used to produce its own lithium and REEs, but most of the domestic mines have closed because mines in Latin America and China are able to operate much cheaper." (and Lithium is one of the most toxic elements on the face of the planet along with Cadmium, another rare material used in high tech batteries. You wouldn't want either mining operation in YOUR back yard. Even if you COULD live near these operations)
The world's next resource conflict (UPI)BERLIN, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- The next resource conflict could be about minerals and rare earth elements needed to fuel the green economy, as China, which supplies most of the minerals, is considering limiting exports.
There is great hope for a green boom to transform the CO2-heavy world economy into one that is less dependent on fossil fuels and more sustainable. Experts envision solar panels and wind turbines to produce clean power and heat and electric cars to cruise tomorrow's roads.
The problem with these technologies is that they rely on minerals and rare earth elements, or REEs, which are produced by politically unpredictable countries...
...When it comes to REEs (Rare Earth Elements, needed for hybrid cars, wind turbines, solar panels and defense industry products), China is the new kid on the block. In charge of more than half the global reservoirs, China supplies around 95 percent of the world's REEs.
This worries experts: A single mine in Mongolia accounts for 80 percent of China's production, so an earthquake or a flood in that region could severely disrupt global supplies.
And don't forget a political earthquake. Recently, Beijing indicated it plans to reduce exports of its minerals in a bid to save supplies for domestic use.
China has a quickly growing green technology industry and its solar panels and wind turbines are already competing with products from Europe and the United States, so they increasingly need the REEs themselves.
The situation is similarly dire for lithium, which forms the basis of the batteries intended to power the electric car boom. According to the Hyundai Research Institute, 80 percent of the world's lithium reserves are buried under just three countries...
In Full
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