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Are Russians In For Yet Another War?

April 8, 2016

Are Russians In For Yet Another War?

by Tyler Durden

on 04/07/2016 21:50 -0400

Source: Are Russians In For Yet Another War? | Zero Hedge

Do Russians want another war? If you are Russian, you would be surprised by the question. Why would anyone want war (hot or cold)? But if you are an American, and grew up fearing ‘bad Russians’ such question does not surprise you a bit. After all, the whole Cold War was based on the main assumption – Russians/Soviets want war!

Despite being an allies during the World War II, the friendship between the Soviet Union and the United States was quickly replaced with an intense rivalry. Just one year after the victory over Nazi Germany, a new face of the Soviets was painted in the West – the ‘evil Russians’, who wanted one thing – world domination.

It would be absurd if it didn’t have such dire consequences – years of fear on the both sides of the Atlantic, and wasted resources, which could have been spent on normalizing people’s lives.

After losing more than 20 million people in the World War II, and experiencing hunger and devastation of ruined industries and infrastructure, the last thing the Soviets wanted after the WWII was another war. It took the Soviet Union decades to rebuild the country. People lived in deep poverty and everyone was longing for a normal life. Yes, U.S.S.R. was building up defense industry – because it didn’t want to be attacked again. Offense was never the purpose!

How did the former allies become the adversaries?

The fear of the Soviet Union was initiated by Kennan’s ‘Long telegram’, sent on February 22 1946 from Moscow to James Byrnes in State Department, Washington D.C. The telegram was later reprinted as an article in Foreign Affairs, called ‘The Sources of Soviet Conduct’, where he pictured Russians as too “insecure and untrusting and too obsessed with protecting their borders.” A portion of Kennan’s ‘Long Telegram’ was selectively quoted to the public to make an image of evil Russia that is looking to take over the world.

Another part of telegram, stating that the Soviet Union is actually much weaker than the US and doesn’t pose a danger to America was omitted: “Gauged against Western World as a whole, Soviets are still by far the weaker force.” Not just “weaker” – the economy of Soviet Union after the war was a fraction of American economy. But that part got ignored – the telegram was enough to send Pentagon, and propaganda machine into motion. Building weapons is a profitable business, after all.

Ex British PM Winston Churchill delivering his Fulton speech on March 5, 1946.

On March 5, 1946, shortly after Kenan’s ‘Long Telegram’, Winston Churchill made his famous ‘Iron Curtain’ speech in Fulton, Missouri. Churchill proposed coordination of the Anglo-American military to halting the spread of Russian Communism, which he warned has become a “growing challenge and peril to Christian civilization.”

The former British Prime Minister, standing on the platform beside President Truman, warned that only through a military alliance of English-speaking nations can a clash of ideologies be prevented from bursting into a third world war. Despite agreeing in 1945 at Yalta Conference to post-war settlement, Churchill characterized Russia as dropping an ‘Iron Curtain’ in the middle of Europe in order to create ‘Spheres of Influence’.

The catchy phrases of the speech became the new language of the Cold War and created an image of Russia as an enemy of the West. Churchill insisted that the Soviets want war and they plan to conquer all of Europe. Former British Prime Minister warned that Moscow understands only force and that in order to stop Soviet ‘expansion’, the West has to unite around the United States, who has the necessary force (nuclear bomb).

Shortly after the United States demonstrated convincingly its nuclear capability in August 1945, the Soviet Union developed its own nuclear weapon, and the gloomy era of the arms race and fear-mongering on both sides would begin. The “Iron Curtain” speech at Fulton would turn former allies into enemies for many years to come.

Formation of NATO and Warsaw Pact

Copy of the 1954 Soviet note to NATO, click to download full PDF

A year after Stalin died in 1953, the Kremlin asked to join NATO. In the declassified ‘note’, dated April 1 1954, the Soviet government, asked Western leaders to “examine the matter of having the Soviet Union participate in the North Atlantic Treaty“, for which it received an answer that ‘the unrealistic nature of the proposal does not warrant discussion’.

Why did Soviets asked to join NATO? Naturally, Kremlin leaders believed that the alliance, uniting US and the Soviet Union in its fight against Germany could become a true security alliance. After the refusal, Russia had no choice but to establish its own security alliance, the Warsaw Pact, which was established in 1955.

In 2001, Kremlin’s request to join NATO once again was met with refusal from the alliance. Moscow again expected too much from so-called ‘strategic partnership’, which ended up to be in name only.

Why are we fighting the new Cold War?

The period of time since Vladimir Putin’s first presidency till now has been marked by a slow buildup of tension between the United States and Russia to the point when the Cold War II became a new reality. The media is complicit in heightening the tension by deliberately omitting or distorting the information and creating an image of ‘totalitarian regime’ in Russia.

Instead of tracing the true source of events in Ukraine and Syria, the major Western news sources blame the responsibility on Kremlin, taking it as far as claiming that Russia is fueling the instability in the Middle East and Ukraine in order to spread chaos to Europe. Such claims are unfounded and the opposite is true: the instability on Russia’s borders can harm Russia more than Europe.

There are several reasons for the return of confrontation, but the main reason is that United States had failed to understand Russia’s willingness to cooperate with the West in the early 1990s. The U.S. continued to treat Russia with mistrust. Russia was treated as a looser, and an attempt for cooperation with the West was perceived as a sign of economic weakness. Russia was treated as a beggar, who was asking to be liked, to join “gentlemen’s clubs”. And it was accepted, with much condescendence from those “civilized gentlemen” to sit at some of the fine tables, as long as awkward Russian bear was on a leash.

A typical primitive propaganda cartoon depicting “aggressive Russia” for Western public.

When the bear started showing some teeth, and growling once in a while, gentlemen started to worry and wonder if they haven’t made a mistake of dealing with such an unrefined creature? They didn’t care that the bear meant no harm – beast is a beast and should be dealt with accordingly! So, the taming of the beast began.

Slowly, but surely, the image of ‘aggressive Russia’ started to emerge. And thanks to misinformation about real causes of war in Georgia and Ukraine we got a total culmination, what CNN, Washington Post and the New York Times were “predicting” all along – ‘resurgent Russia’.

How can we avoid a confrontation between the two nuclear superpowers when Washington is determined to continue its information warfare, in which it determined to portray Russia in bad light, no matter what Russia does?

Just like the Cold War I, the Cold War II has its ideological underpinning, except, now it is not about communism versus capitalism, it is about multipolarity versus unipolarity. It just happened Russia was not willing to be a part of unipolar world. It just happened to be against Russian national character to be serving a “higher master”. How did it dare to disobey? Well, the nuclear weapons came handy for standing up to protect its national pride and its national interest in face of America bluntly stepping into Russia’s spheres of interest.

Is current U.S. – Russia state of relations a result of the U.S. blindly following its own grand strategy at any cost? According to Wolfowitz doctrine states are not allowed to have their own national interests, and no one can stay in the way of US global preeminence:

“Our first objective is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival, either on the territory of the former Soviet Union or elsewhere, that poses a threat on the order of that posed formerly by the Soviet Union.”

In respect to the Middle East and Southwest Asia, Wolfowitz doctrine does not hide its objective: “our overall objective is to remain the predominant outside power in the region and preserve U.S. and Western access to the region’s oil.”

The Wolfowitz doctrine clearly states that “We must maintain the mechanism for deterring potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global role.” Russia is definitely a stumbling block to American goal of “dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power.”

Like generations of Cold War fighters before him, Wolfowitz warned against the possible threat posed by a resurgent Russia:

“We continue to recognize that collectively the conventional forces of the states formerly comprising the Soviet Union retain the most military potential in all of Eurasia; and we do not dismiss the risks to stability in Europe from a nationalist backlash in Russia or efforts to reincorporate into Russia the newly independent republics of Ukraine, Belarus, and possibly others….’We must, however, be mindful that democratic change in Russia is not irreversible, and that despite its current travails, Russia will remain the strongest military power in Eurasia and the only power in the world with the capability of destroying the United States.”

Despite the two decades of Russia’s attempts at assuring the United States that strategic partnership between the two states is possible and desirable, American leadership never took these assurances seriously. The Cold War mentality never left the U.S. foreign policy. NATO expansion and the wave of Color revolutions in the former Soviet Union only consolidated a mistrust of the United States in Russia.

John Pilger wrote:

“How many people are aware that a world war has begun? At present, it is a war of propaganda, of lies and distraction, but this can change instantaneously with the first mistaken order, the first missile.”

“In the last 18 months, the greatest build-up of military forces since World War Two — led by the United States — is taking place along Russia’s western frontier. Not since Hitler invaded the Soviet Union have foreign troops presented such a demonstrable threat to Russia. Ukraine — once part of the Soviet Union — has become a CIA theme park. Having orchestrated a coup in Kiev, Washington effectively controls a regime that is next door and hostile to Russia: a regime rotten with Nazis, literally. Prominent parliamentary figures in Ukraine are the political descendants of the notorious OUN and UPA fascists. They openly praise Hitler and call for the persecution and expulsion of the Russian speaking minority. In Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia — next door to Russia — the U.S. military is deploying combat troops, tanks, heavy weapons. This extreme provocation of the world’s second nuclear power is met with silence in the West. “

We are back to fear and mistrust of each other as we were back in 1946. We have already been at the brink of the nuclear war once, do we want to take another chance?

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Islam and terror: Attempts at apologetics

April 8, 2016

Islam and terror: Attempts at apologetics, Israel Hayom, Martin Sherman, April 8, 2016

Barely 20 days before the bloody massacre at the Paris offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and the subsequent slaughter among the shelves of the kosher supermarket Hyper Cacher in the French capital — both perpetrated in the name of Islam — I took part in a televised debate on “The rise of anti-Muslim sentiment in the West”( i24 News, Dec. 16, 2014).

In an attempt to debunk the claim that Islam could or should be blamed for the wave of terror carried out overtly in its name, my opponent, Sami Abu Shehadeh, secretary general of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa branch of the anti-Zionist Israeli-Arab faction Balad, made the following pronouncement:

“One out of every six people all over the world is a Muslim. … Trying to say anything in general about this huge community — 1.5 billion people — will be wrong. … The vast majority of these populations are not involved with what’s happening with violence and terror all over the world. … I don’t think there is anything essential that connects between this huge and historically important religion, and all the terrorism that’s going on.”

Of course, there is much truth to Abu Shehadeh’s claim that most Muslims are not actively involved in terrorism. However, while this claim is factually correct, substantively it is meaningless.

(Obama Video at the link. — DM)

Islam is to terror as rainfall is to flooding

Indeed, for anyone with a reasonably informed grasp of world affairs and an iota of intellectual integrity, the answer to whether Islam and violence/terrorism are causally connected should be unequivocally clear. To ask whether Islam is associated with terrorism is a little like asking if rainfall is associated with flooding.

Of course it is, as can be irrefutably deduced from Abu Shehadeh’s very attempt to exonerate it. After all, if one in six people in the world is Muslim, then five out of six are not. Accordingly, if there were no inordinate Islamic affinity for violence/terrorism, the number of Muslim acts of terrorism should be one-fifth that of non-Muslim terrorism — that is, one would expect five times as many non-Muslim acts of terrorism as Muslim acts of terrorism.

Clearly, this is not the case. Terrorist attacks committed by adherents of Islam far outstrip those carried out by non-Muslims.

So, in stark contrast to the dubious precepts of political correctness, it seems there is little choice but to accept the commonsense conclusion that there is a wildly disproportionate causal connection between Islam on the one hand and acts of ideologically-politically motivated violence against civilian populations — terrorism — on the other.

Try as one may, in the modern world, there is no way that any other faith or creed can be as associated with such violence/terrorism, in scope, size, frequency or ubiquity.

The ‘colonialism’ canard

Numerous attempts have been made to explain away much of the prevalence of violence in the Muslim world and its conflict with the West.

Arguably, the most prominent among such apologists has been none other than U.S. President Barack Obama. In his 2009 “outreach address” in Cairo, he offered the following explanation for the sad state of affairs between the West and Islam, which, he alleged, followed “centuries of coexistence and cooperation” (yeah, right). Obama suggested that “more recently, tension has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims.”

This argument clearly holds no water whatsoever, for while it is true that much of the Middle East was under imperial rule for centuries, this was mostly Muslim imperialism — the Ottoman Empire. After all, with perhaps the exception of North Africa, Western colonialism was imposed only for a relatively short period after World War I, and ended soon after World War II. This hardly seems sufficient to engender the obdurate Islamic enmity we see today.

So if complaints are to be lodged regarding colonialist deprivation of Muslim rights and opportunities, shouldn’t they be directed at Muslim imperialism?

Significantly, the crucibles of today’s most extreme anti-Western Islam were barely touched by colonialism — the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.

Although neither has endured any imperial — including Western — rule of any consequence, the former birthed the Sunni-derivative version of Islamic radicalism; the latter, the Shia-derivative.

Clearly, this fact sits uneasily with the diagnosis ascribing ongoing tensions between Muslims and the West to colonial injustices.

No cries of ‘Kill for Krishna’?

Moreover, one might well ask why the iniquities of colonialism have not afflicted, say, the Hindu majority in India, certainly “denied rights and opportunities” under the same yoke of British imperialism, no less than the Muslims in adjacent Pakistan.

Yet, in stark contrast to the bloodcurdling yells of “Allahu Akbar” (“Allah is great”) so frequently heard as a precursor to some act of Muslim-related atrocity, we somehow hear no cries of “Kill for Krishna” or “Ganesh is Great” from embittered Hindu terrorists, blowing themselves up in crowded buses, markets, cafes and mosques. Nor do we see aggrieved devotees of Shiva embarking on a global holy war, dedicated to the subjugation of all to the Hindu creed.

So why has India, to a large extent, been able to put its colonial past behind it, and become a vibrant economic juggernaut? Why has it not allowed itself to remain tethered to its past and mired in fratricidal frustration that has so beset its Muslim neighbor, Pakistan? After all, since by far most victims of Muslim violence are other Muslims, rights and opportunities allegedly denied by foreign occupiers, seven decades ago, seem an unpersuasive explanation for Islam’s current conduct.

Modernity as culprit?

Some have tried to contend that the onset of modernity and globalization has generated a perceived threat to Islamic values, which has precipitated tensions with the West. Thus, in Cairo, Obama suggested that “the sweeping change brought by modernity and globalization led many Muslims to view the West as hostile to Islamic traditions.” This, too, is difficult to accept.

After all, Islam is the youngest of all major religions, founded centuries — even in some cases, millennia — after Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism and Christianity. Why would the newest religion find that the developments of modernity threaten its traditions in a manner that, apparently, does not threaten the traditions of faiths far more ancient? Why do they not generate the same tensions with the West that we find in the case of the Muslim faith? Could it perhaps be that Islam is fundamentally incompatible, not only with modernity, not only with anything that is not Islam, but even with variations of Islam within itself?

After all, as appalling as Muslim violence against non-Muslims might be, it pales in comparison to the violence between Muslims.

Horrors of intra-Muslim strife

Indeed, as the Pakistani website Dawn lamented (June 17, 2013): “From Aleppo in Syria to Quetta in Balochistan, Muslims are engaged in the slaughter of other Muslims. The numbers are enormous. … Millions have perished in similar intra-Muslim conflicts in the past four decades. Many wonder if the belief in Islam was sufficient to bind Muslims in peace with each other.”

And wonder we might. For even before the unspeakable barbarism of al-Nusra and Islamic State began to sweep across the Levant, and the ghastly savagery of Boko Haram and al-Shabaab ravaged huge swathes of Africa, and merciless massacres of Muslims at the hands of Muslims abounded.

For example, in the almost 10-year Algerian civil war, internecine frictions between rival Islamist factions resulted in massive fratricide, with a death toll reaching, by some estimates, 150,000. Acts of unimaginable brutality were perpetrated, with entire villages wiped out and victims’ bodies mutilated.

Likewise, regular bombings of markets and mosques across countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan have produced massive loss of Muslim life at the hands of belligerent brethren, yet hardly generate a footnote in the mainstream media. The intra-Muslim conflict seems so intense and complex that even a reasonably informed layman would find it almost impossible to figure out who is killing whom, and why.

The majority of Muslims

The pervasive violence in the Muslim world inevitably raises the question of the general character of Islam, and the kind of behavioral patterns it seems to generate. It also raises the thorny question of minority actions versus majority inaction.

Thus, while Abu Shehadeh is probably right to claim that only a minority of Muslims engage in abhorrent acts of terrorism, it is highly unlikely they would be able to sustain this activity without the support — or at least the tacit approval — of much larger segments of the population.

Even if the majority does not actively endorse the conduct of a delinquent minority, there is little evidence of effective disapproval, let alone active opposition to it. So, although, as Abu Shehadeh contends, it is difficult to formulate accurate generalizations for 1.5 billion people, several edifying measures are available that paint a daunting picture of the views held by much of the Muslim world.

The Pew Research Center has conducted numerous in-depth surveys across much of the Muslim world. Its findings show solid — at times, overwhelming — majorities in many countries (and significant minorities in others) in favor of harsh corporal punishments (whipping/amputation) for theft/robbery; death by stoning for adultery; and death for apostasy.

With such a propensity for violence as a widely accepted cultural norm, it is not implausible to assume that wide sections of the Muslim population would not find the use of violence and terrorism overly incompatible with their core beliefs.

Islam is a political theory of conquest

We, in the West, would do well to heed the clarion call from someone who has intimate firsthand knowledge of Islam — the Somalian-born former Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who was forced to flee to the U.S. because of threats to her life over her criticism of Islam. She warned: “Islam is not a religion of peace. It’s a political theory of conquest that seeks domination by any means it can. Every accommodation of Muslim demands leads to a sense of euphoria and a conviction that Allah is on their side. They see every act of appeasement as an invitation to make fresh demands” (March 21, 2009).

The consequences of disregarding this will be dire — and deadly.

Categories: Islam - causes of terrorism, Islam - Shiite vs. Sunni, Islam and colonialism, Islam and the Islamic State, Islamic history, Islamic terrorism, Islamism, Non violent Muslims
Tags: Islam - causes of terrorism, Islam - Shiite vs. Sunni, Islam and colonialism, Islam and the Islamic State, Islamic history, Islamic terrorism, Islamism, Non violent Muslims

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Saudi TV Host Nadine Al-Budair: The Terrorists Emerged from Our Schools and Universities

April 8, 2016

Saudi TV Host Nadine Al-Budair: The Terrorists Emerged from Our Schools and Universities, MEMRI-TV via You Tube, April 7, 2016

The blurb following the video notes,

Saudi journalist and TV host Nadine Al-Budair recently criticized the “hypocrites” who say that the terrorists “do not represent Islam or the Muslims.” After the abominable Brussels bombings, it’s time for us to feel shame and to stop acting as if the terrorists are a rarity,” she said, in an address that aired on the Saudi Rotana Khalijiyah TV on April 3. “Why do we shed our own conscience?” she asked. “Don’t these perpetrators emerge from our environment?”

Categories: Islamic indoctrination, Islamic terrorism, Saudi media
Tags: Islamic indoctrination, Islamic terrorism, Saudi media

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Aleppo district shelled with chemical gas – local journalist to RT

April 8, 2016

Aleppo district shelled with chemical gas – local journalist to RT

Published time: 7 Apr, 2016 18:06 Edited time: 7 Apr, 2016 21:33

Source: Aleppo district shelled with chemical gas – local journalist to RT — RT News

A neighborhood in the Syrian city of Aleppo, which is held by Kurdish YPG militias, has been shelled with chemical agents from territory held by Islamist and FSA factions, a local journalist on the ground has told to RT.

“The attack was carried out between 11.30 and 12.00 local time. The gas that was used in this attack, caused choking and malaise among those affected. This indicates that the poisoning substances were used in the attack,” journalist Nawrouz Uthman reports.

Uthman adds that 23 people were killed and over 100 injured in Thursday’s attack.

Video filmed by the journalist shows yellow gas rising over the Sheikh Maqsood neighborhood.

The Kurdish Red Cresent has confirmed the reports alleging that a chemical weapons attack took place.

Walaat Mamu, doctor at a local hospital, said that several victims came to the hospital with symptoms of suffocation after the shelling.

“The victims mostly come with symptoms of suffocation as a result of the shelling of the Sheikh Maksoud toxic gases. It is not established exactly which specific poisonous substance was used in the shelling. However, symptoms that the victims have been showing make it possible to ascertain that they were poisoned as a result of [inhaling] of banned toxic gasses,” the health worker said.

A video shot in the Sheikh Maqsood neighborhood shows several men experiencing difficulty breathing and a voice behind the camera saying there was a chemical attack in the area.

One of the victims described his physical state on camera.
“Suddenly I felt dizzy and unwell. I could not stand up. And now, I still feel bad, I can’t stand up or walk, my entire body is weakened.”

Kurdish journalist Kovan Direj reported that civilians and People’s Protection Units (YPG) fighters had been exposed to yellow smoke. He said nine civilians were killed and 29 injured in the shelling.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that more than 1,000 Al-Nusra militants, along with seven tanks and 24 all-terrain vehicles armed with heavy machine guns, are currently based on the northern outskirts of Aleppo.

The Russian military also stated that, over the past 24 hours, Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and Al-Nusra militants have been stepping up armed provocations against civilians and government troops in the area, which included an attempt to capture the village of Handrat.

“Over the past 24 hours [the militants] shelled he village Handrat with mortars 6 times, killed two and wounded six more civilians,” according to the Russian center for reconciliation in Syria.

READ MORE: Syrian Kurds say jihadists used phosphorus in chemical attack in Aleppo

Last month, Islamist fighters used yellow phosphorous in a chemical attack on the Sheikh Maqsood neighborhood, according to YPG.

“We hereby inform you that on March 8, 2016 at 15:00, shelling [was carried out] with rockets that carry chemical material, which we believe to be yellow phosphorous chemical weapon, on Sheikh Maqsud neighborhood by the Syrian armed opposition factions and battalions,” Redur Xelilm, YPG’s spokesman, said in a statement.

Several Kurdish militia soldiers were admitted to a hospital following the reported chemical attack, according to RT’s sources in the YPG.
The victims were reportedly suffering from itching skin and other symptoms of a chemical poisoning.

The ceasefire in Syria came into force at midnight Damascus time on February 27. The truce does not cover groups officially recognized as terror-organizations by the UN Security Council, namely Islamic State and Al Nusra, as well as several others.

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Syrian Islamist group Jaysh al-Islam admits using banned weapons against Kurds in Aleppo

April 8, 2016

Syrian Islamist group Jaysh al-Islam admits using banned weapons against Kurds in Aleppo

Published time: 7 Apr, 2016 21:45 Edited time: 8 Apr, 2016 06:40

Source: Syrian Islamist group Jaysh al-Islam admits using banned weapons against Kurds in Aleppo — RT News

The Jaysh al-Islam militant group fighting government forces in Syria has admitted to using “forbidden” weapons against Kurdish militia in Aleppo. The group’s statement comes after reports of chemical gas being used in shelling Aleppo’s Sheikh Maqsood district.

Read more

The hardline Islamist group did not not specify what substances were used, but claimed that it will punish those responsible.

The group’s statement reads: “During the clashes one of the Jaysh al-Islam brigade leaders used [weapons] forbidden in this kind of confrontations.”

The group claims that the brigade commander in question was summoned to a military court, where it was decided he is to be held accountable. “This situation is contrary to the charter of Jaysh al-Islam,” says the group.

Aleppo’s Sheikh Maqsood neighborhood was shelled with mortars containing chemical agents earlier on Thursday.

READ MORE: Aleppo district shelled with chemical gas – local journalist to RT

The Kurdish Red Crescent confirmed reports that chemicals had been used in the attack. “The symptoms of those affected by the attack such as choking made it possible to affirm that they were poisoned as a result of the use of banned toxic gases such as chlorine or other agents. All our patients have similar symptoms,” Doctor Wallat Mamu told RT.

YPG also confirmed that toxic agents had been used by the Islamists, according to RIA Novosti.

“We confirm the information concerning usage by Islamists, acting under patronage of Turkey, of the poisonous agent in the Maqsood neighborhood of Aleppo. Its poisonous effect have experienced dozens of civilians,” the head of the YPG central headquarters was cited as saying.

READ MORE: ISIS launches chemical weapons attack on Syria’s airbase in Deir Ez-zor – report

YPG intends to report the incident to the Jordan-based US coordination center and the Russian Center for reconciliation of the opposing sides in Syria, which oversee the cessation of hostilities.

“We will report this fact to the ceasefire centers, to the Russian center in Latakia and to the American one in Jordan,” YPG said in a statement.

The hardline Islamist group Jaysh al-Islam is formally a member of the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) that is representing the Syrian opposition at the Geneva talks.

Read more

Both Russia and Syria have repeatedly demanded the exclusion of Mohammed Alloush, previously known as Jaysh al-Islam’s political leader, from the negotiations process.

Alloush was picked as the chief negotiator for the Syrian opposition in Geneva, which has drawn ire from Damascus and criticism from Moscow.

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov told a press conference in January that Russia would not change its view of the “terrorist essence of Jaysh al-Islam,” which is “known to have shelled residential districts in Damascus, including the Russian Embassy.”

In March, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov reiterated Russia’s stance that Jaysh al-Islam is a terrorist organization.

“From the very beginning, Russia opposed inclusion of the representatives [of Jaysh al-Islam] in the opposition delegation… They take part in the delegation only in a purely personal capacity… We will only welcome their exclusion from participation in the negotiations,” he told RIA Novosti.

Read more

44 civilians killed, 74 injured in Aleppo attacks in 2 weeks – Russian MOD

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry has reported observing a rise in terrorist attacks in the Aleppo area over the past two weeks, which it said had killed and injured dozens of people.

“In [the] past two weeks, the number and the scale of terrorist provocations in Aleppo have grown significantly – 44 civilians have been killed and 74, including children, have been wounded as a result of these attacks,” said the ministry’s spokesman, Igor Konashenkov.

Official YPG spokesman Redur Xelil told RT that Turkey has contributed greatly to the disruption of the ceasefire in Aleppo by backing militant groups fighting against the Kurds in Syria.

“Here in Sheikh Maqsood, and in Aleppo, there is no cessation of hostilities. The ceasefire has not brought any peace for the YPG and the Kurdish people. In fact it’s the opposite – the attacks on us have intensified. We are absolutely sure that it’s the Turkish government and the rebel groups they support that are responsible for these assaults,” said Xelil.

The ceasefire in Syria came into effect on February 27. The cessation of hostilities agreement, drawn up with the active involvement of US and Russian diplomats, includes some 97 militant opposition groups operating in Syria. Terrorist organizations, such as Islamic State (IS, ISIS/ISIL) and Al Nusra Front, were excluded from the deal.

Numerous violations of the ceasefire have been reported since its implementation. Last month, Sergey Kuralenko, head of the Russian Center for reconciliation of the opposing sides in Syria, confirmed 250 cases of the ceasefire being breached.

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Saudi cash boosts Egypt’s war on ISIS-Sinai after US opts out

April 8, 2016

Source: DEBKA saudi cash boosts Egypt’s war on ISIS-Sinai after US opts out

ISIS raider hangs flag on MFO lookout post in North Sinai

The first visit to Cairo by Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Thursday, March 7, heralded a new chapter in the war on the Islamic State in Sinai, one to be fought with petrodollars versus the jihadis’ war chest.

The monarch brought President Abdel-Fattteh El-Sisi two large checks: a $20bn guarantee to cover the oil needs of 90 million Egyptians for the next five years, and another $1.5bn listed euphemistically under the heading of “Sinai development.”
Two-thirds of the latter sum – a cool billion dollars – has been wholly earmarked, according to debkafile’s military and intelligence sources, for weaning 13 Sinai Bedouin chiefs from their commitments to supply fighters and other services to the Wilayat Sayna of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – ex-Ansar Bait al-Maqdis. The Egyptian army will also acquire hi-tech intelligence tools for fighting the terrorist group holding the peninsula in its grip.
King Salman’s arrival in Cairo, his first since ascending the throne in January 2015, follows a sharp downturn in Egyptian security versus the rampant ISIS threat due to three disturbing developments in the last week of March::

1. A large group of senior ISIS officers arrived in Sinai from their Syrian Raqqa headquarters to assume command of operations against the Egyptian army and security forces. Their arrival coincided roughly with the transfer to the Golan of another group of officers to bolster the affiliated Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade posted there.
The Islamist commanders traveled to Sinai via Iraq and Jordan and were ferried across the Gulf of Aqaba in smugglers’ boats.

2. They carried additional orders to mount terrorist operations from Sinai against Israel. One of their plans is to land sea raiders on Israeli beaches, in the same way as ISIS gunmen attacked tourist seaside resorts in Tunisia and southern Egypt.

3. ISIS has imported into Sinai through Bedouin smuggling rings a new type of extra-powerful Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), which were recently encountered with deadly effect by Egyptian military, intelligence and security forces on Sinai roads.

The Bedouin tribesmen pose an all-encompassing threat to Egyptian forces. They are the Islamist terrorists’ eyes and ears for detecting and betraying their slightest movements in the peninsula. Furthermore, hundreds of “messengers” on motorbikes or camels carry information and orders to and from ISIS commanders before they decide whether to strike or go into hiding from a coming Egyptian assault.
By using these human couriers, ISIS operatives can eschew communication by satellite networks, cell phones and social media, which are susceptible to eavesdropping.
Another service supplied by the indigenous Bedouin is their vast smuggling network, which covers 11,000 kilometers stretching from the eastern Libyan town of Derna to western Iraq and runs through Egypt, the Gulf of Aqaba and Jordan.

All in all, the Bedouin tribes are the Islamic State’s lifeline in Sinai: they move forces and command posts from country to country through clandestine trails, and procure any item ISIS may require to support its campaign of violence, from missiles to brand new automobiles straight off Japanese or South Korean production lines.
No espionage or counterterrorism services, whether Egyptian, American or Israeli, has ever managed to penetrate the secret Bedouin smuggling master hub, from which all orders issue to the sprawling the network.

Israel has its own special problem with this network, since it also serves the Palestinian Hamas terror organization and other radical Salafi groups in the Gaza strip.

ISIS and this vast Bedouin smuggling machine have mushroomed in recent weeks into major hazards not just to the stability of the Sisi regime in Cairo, but also to Saudi Arabia and its oil shipping route through the Gulf of Suez and the Suez Canal.

Saudi rulers have therefore decided to neutralize the threat by severing the dangerous symbiosis between the Bedouin tribes and the Islamic State’s Sinai wilayat, by using the same means as their peace effort in Yemen, i.e., buying the loyalty of renegade tribal chiefs with hard cash.
King Salman handed President El-Sisi a check for one billion dollars for Egyptian intelligence to spend on winning the Bedouin chiefs away from the terrorists. The balance of half a billion dollars was made available for the Egyptian army to acquire sophisticated intelligence systems, including advanced drones and other items which the Americans have withheld, although they were promised.

The effort to turn the war on terror into a financial contest carries its own risks.

The Saudis may discover that ISIS can match them dollar for dollar, rather than relinquish access to the most wide-ranging smuggling machine in the region. Furthermore, the Sinai Bedouin chiefs are perfectly capable of pocketing money from both sides and carrying on as before
The day before the Saudi king landed in Cairo, it was leaked in Washington that the Obama administration is pondering ending or reducing the US-led Multinational Force and Observers operation in Sinai, since the peacekeepers have become sitting ducks for Islamist terrorists.
The White House has still not answered El-Sisi’s urgent plea for US military back-up to support Egypt’s foundering effort to curb ISIS in the peninsula, although US officials constantly declare their strong commitment to the war on global terrorism.

Saudi Arabia this week showed itself ready to step into the breach left by Washington’s indifference.

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Welcome to the United States, where anti-Israel indoctrination masquerades as ‘critical thinking’

April 8, 2016

Welcome to the United States, where anti-Israel indoctrination masquerades as ‘critical thinking’ israel matzav, April 8, 2016

Greetings to all of you from Boston (yes, again).

I am starting today’s posting with a local story – from my home town.

Indoctrination @ Newton, a new video released today by Americans for Peace and Tolerance (APT), exposes a pattern of anti-Israel teachings found in Newton, Massachusetts high schools, including:

Newton’s high schools have used Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) maps that falsify the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Newton students were not told that the maps were created by the PLO’s propaganda unit.

Newton’s schools presented students with a falsified version of the Hamas Charter. In Newton’s doctored version the word ”Jews” – as a target of hatred — is replaced with the word “Zionists.”

In one lesson, Newton students are asked to consider the Jewish state’s right to exist. (The legitimacy of no other nation-state’s existence is questioned.) The lesson included “expert” opinions, which are drawn overwhelmingly from anti-Israel academics and anti-Semitic activists.

A book used in Newton high schools has a recommended reading list that includes the extremist writings by Muslim Brotherhood leaders including Sayyid Qutb, and Yusuf Qaradawi, whose sermons call for the murder of Jews and homosexuals.

Newton schools officials are shown to continuously refuse to make school curricula and teaching materials available to the Newton residents.

Charles Jacobs, APT President said, “The video also shows that Saudi, Palestinian, and other Arab-funded teaching materials have been inserted into the curriculum, much of it containing anti-Israel bias.”

The Saudi funded Arab World Studies Notebook was used in Newton high schools until public pressure forced its removal. The Notebook, condemned by the American Jewish Committee (AJC), and rejected by many other school boards, teaches students, among other things, that Israeli soldiers murder Palestinian women. Newton’s Superintendent of Schools David Fleishman claimed that use of the Notebook helps develop “critical thinking skills.”

The video’s release follows news reports of anti-Semitic incidents, including hateful graffiti found in Newton North High School and at the F.A. Day Middle School. The graffiti featured swastikas and the genocidal statement “Burn the Jews.” According to media reports, Newton Day school officials – in violation of required mandatory reporting procedures – failed to inform parents and police about the incidents. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) expressed concerns about these escalating anti-Semitic incidents.

Upon discovering racist graffiti at Boston Latin High School, city, state, and federal agencies immediately launched an investigation into the matter. Jacobs said, “Concerned parents in Newton demand equal protection for Jewish students. Accordingly, in light of Newton’s biased education, its ongoing refusal to allow public access to curricula and teaching materials, and the recent escalation of anti-Semitism, we urge Newton Mayor Setti Warren, Massachusetts’ state education officials, and the FBI to investigate this hateful situation in Newton schools.”

Let’s go to the videotape. More after the video.

As many of you know, I grew up in Newton – about a 5-minute walk from Newton North High School. I did not attend the Newton public schools. Newton was and is a heavily Jewish suburb of Boston and both Newton North and Newton South have many Jewish students. Some of you may have heard of this alumna of Newton North. One can only wonder how much influence the Newton public schools had on her political views.

Are there Jewish anti-Semites in Newton?

Categories: Antisemitism in America, Education, Muslim Brotherhood, Obama's America, Palestinians
Tags: Antisemitism in America, Education, Muslim Brotherhood, Obama's America, Palestinians

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Blasphemy Convictions Intensify in Sisi’s Egypt

April 7, 2016

Blasphemy Convictions Intensify in Sisi’s Egypt, Front Page Magazine, Raymond Ibrahim, April 7, 2017

(The author demands that President Sisi “do something,” but does not specify what he, as the president, is in a position to do legally. He does not control Al-Azhar University, nor can he require the courts to interpret or enforce the law as he wishes. He became Egypt’s president because millions of Egyptians were tired of his dictatorial predecessor. Would the author like to see Sisi emulate Morsi?

Egypt is an Islamic nation; Sisi can’t change that. At best, he can try to precipitate a gradual Islamic reformation.– DM)

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Despite Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s many pluralistic words and gestures—which have won him much praise from the nation’s Christians and moderates—he appeases the Islamist agenda in one very clear way: by allowing the controversial defamation of religions law, colloquially known as the “blasphemy law,” to target Christians and moderates in ways arguably worse than under the Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi.

Late last February, three Christian teenagers were jailed for five years for breaking the defamation of religions law. A fourth defendant, 15, was handed a juvenile detention for an indefinite period. Earlier they were detained for 45 days and subjected to “ill-treatment” said a human rights group.

Their crime is to have made a 20-second video on a mobile phone mocking the Islamic State—which has been interpreted as mocking Islam. In the video, the boys appear laughing and joking, as they pretend to be ISIS members praying and slitting throats. The Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, an independent rights group, confirmed that the four teenagers were performing scenes “imitating slaughter carried out by terrorist groups.” Even so, according to their defense lawyer, Maher Naguib, the Christian youth “have been sentenced for contempt of Islam and inciting sectarian strife…. The judge didn’t show any mercy. He handed down the maximum punishment.”

Considering that even Al Azhar—the Islamic world’s most prestigious university located in Egypt—refuses to denounce the Islamic State as being un-Islamic, it is unsurprising that mockery of ISIS is being conflated with mockery of Islam.

The Christian youth made the brief video back in January 2015, when three of them were aged 17 and one 15. It is believed that the court kept delaying their case till the three 17-year-olds became 18, so they could receive the full penalty. Their teacher who also appeared in the video had earlier been sentenced to three years in jail.

Several other Christians have been prosecuted for insulting Islam and Muslims under Sisi’s tenure. One young Christian man was sentenced to six years for “liking” an Arabic-language Facebook page administered by Muslim converts to Christianity. A female Christian teacher was imprisoned for six months after Muslim parents accused her of insulting Islam and evangelizing. Bishoy Armia Boulous, a Muslim convert to Christianity, remains behind bars on, according to his lawyer, trumped up charges of blasphemy.

While Christian minorities are the most prone to being targeted by the blasphemy law, secular Muslim thinkers and writers are also on the hit list. Late last January, female Muslim writer Fatima Naoot was sentenced to three years in prison after she criticized the sadistic slaughter of animals that takes place during the Islamic festival, Eid al-Adha. The month before that, in December, television host Islam al-Behairy was sentenced to one year in prison for questioning the validity of some of the sayings (hadiths) attributed to Muslim prophet Muhammad.

Although Egypt’s constitution outlaws the “defamation of religions,” the plural indicates that, along with Islam, Judaism and Christianity are protected. In reality, however, the law is almost exclusively used to prosecute Christian minorities and secular Muslims. Despite the fact that there are many more Muslims than Christians in Egypt, rarely are Islamists arrested and prosecuted for defaming Christianity.

In this, Egypt is becoming more like Pakistan. Although that nation also prohibits the defamation of religions—which technically includes Christianity—only Christians and moderates are targeted and imprisoned; some, like Asia Bibi, a wife and mother, are on death row. Conversely, Muslims who openly defame Christianity—and they are many—are regularly let off one way or the other. A few weeks ago a Muslim broke into a church and proceeded to burn its Bibles. Although several Christians caught and handed him over to police, the latter claimed he was mentally unstable and could not stand trial. Earlier, a Muslim shopkeeper started selling shoes which depict the Christian cross on their soles. Christians demonstrated but police did nothing.

On January 26, soon after the sentencing of the writer Fatima Naoot, another moderate Muslim and television host in Egypt, Ibrahim Eissa, scathingly criticized the Sisi government, including by saying that “there have been more blasphemy cases and convictions during the Sisi era than during the Morsi era.” He continued:

There is no greater contradiction between what the [Egyptian] state says and claims about itself and the reality on the ground… The Egyptian state is schizophrenic because it says what it does not do…. It’s amazing and baffling to see a state who’s president regularly preaches about the need for religious discourse and renewal—and yet, during Sisi’s 18-19 month tenure, the nation has witnessed more reports, cases and convictions, and the imprisonment of writers, in the name of defamation religions than during the one year tenure of the Muslim Brotherhood president…. The [Sisi] revolution dropped the Brotherhood but kept the ideology unchanged.

Categories: Blasphemy, Christians, Egypt, Human rights, Muslims, Sisi
Tags: Blasphemy, Christians, Egypt, human rights, Muslims, Sisi

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Police Raid Apartments Over ‘Right-Wing’ Social Media Posts

April 7, 2016

Police Raid Apartments Over ‘Right-Wing’ Social Media Posts, Breitbart, Chris Tomlinson, April 7, 2016

(Please see also, Germany Moves To Remove Anti-Erdogan Poem And Merkel Calls Turkey To Apologize. — DM)

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Getty

Police in Berlin have raided ten apartments because residents may have posted “anti-migrant” views online.

Berlin Police completed a large scale raid on internet users Wednesday. The officers ransacked ten separate apartments in the German capital in the suburbs of Spandau, Tempelhof, Marzahn, Hellersdorf and Pankow.

The force confiscated mobile phones, narcotics and weapons. Nine suspects were arrested, aged 22-58, and are accused of posting messages critical of migrants, migrant helpers and some anti-semitic slogans on social networks like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Twitter, reports Berliner Morgenpost.

The Berlin police have told media that they already knew of the suspects and said that many of them have what they consider a “right-extremist” background. Police spokesman Stefan Redlich said that while many of the men shared anti-migrant views, “the men do not know each other according to previous findings,” and there was no evidence of any planned conspiracy to commit crime among them.

In some of the homes searched police were forced to admit they hadn’t found anything at all, but Redlich justified the raids saying they were maybe, “people who just once expressed their hate-opinion.”

One of the raids in particular was prompted by a Facebook comment to an article regarding an Afghani migrant who was shot dead at the Bulgarian border. The incident took place in October and according to Bulgarian officials it was an accident as a bullet was meant to be a warning shot but ricochet and hit him.

The post responded to the article saying that it was unfortunate too few migrants met with a similar fate, as it might scare the rest of them from coming.

Police announced that the raids show Germans that they are not as safe online as they might think. They say that anyone who says something xenophobic, spreads hate toward migrants, or shares what they consider to be xenophobic music, may be next on the list of apartments to be raided in the future.

58 police were involved in the raids and some illegal items were found in a few of the apartments. Police found one revolver handgun, though it was not mentioned if it had any ammunition or whether or not is was deactivated. They also found an air soft gun, which requires a license to own in Germany and a stun gun that appeared to be camouflaged as a flashlight.

Spokesmen Redlich also mentioned that they had found several unconstitutional symbols but did not divulge specifics. Banned symbols in Germany include Nazi era symbols like the swastika and various Nordic runes used by the Nazis during the era.

Berlin has seen a rapid increase in prosecutions for speech on the internet. In 2014 there were 196 investigations into anti-migrant and xenophobic posts, while 2015 saw 289 cases. In the last six months there have been three raids prior to this one, but so far this has been the largest in scale. Investigators have set up a special task force who work with the organization Network Against Nazis (NAN), headed by ex-stasi agent Anetta Kahani, to monitor internet postings across Germany.

Google and Facebook have been criticized for helping the German government crack down on speech that is critical of migrants and of the policies of German chancellor Angela Merkel. The policy led to the deletion of the Facebook account of a young girl who spoke out about the migrant crisis and how she no longer felt safe walking the streets of her town.

Redlich says that the team is constantly searching YouTube, Twitter, WhatsApp and especially Facebook where most cases are pursued because users are forced to use their real names. He said the message of the raids is clear, “the internet is not above the law.”

The raids come just days after British police issued an apparently menacing tweet, warning them not to get into trouble on-line. As reported by Breitbart London, the Greater Glasgow Police offered internet users this helpful advice: “Think before you post or you may receive a visit from us this weekend. Use the internet safely. #thinkbeforeyoupost”.

Categories: Freedom of speech, Germany, Internet, Islam and human rights, Islamic integration, Islamic invasion, Islamic jihad, Islamisation, Islamophobia
Tags: freedom of speech, Germany, Internet, Islam and human rights, Islamic integration, Islamic invasion, Islamic Jihad, Islamisation, Islamophobia

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Muslim Brotherhood 101: Why the State Dept Should Ban Them

April 7, 2016

Muslim Brotherhood 101: Why the State Dept Should Ban Them, Clarion Project, Elliot Friedland, April 7, 2016

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Muslim Brotherhood supporters. (Photo: © Reuters)

Clarion Project launches a new campaign to demand the Muslim Brotherhood be designated a terrorist entity in the United States.

Muslim Brotherhood_NL

Who is the Muslim Brotherhood?

The Muslim Brotherhood (Al-Ihkwan al-Muslimun) is a Sunni, pan-Islamic organization based in Cairo, Egypt whose ultimate aim is the re-establishment of the global Islamic caliphate and the implementation of sharia as state law. Founded in Egypt in 1928 it is the oldest Islamist group in the world and along with Jamaat e-Islami in Pakistan and India, the most influential.

During World War II they backed the Nazis against the British. They were provided with a printing press by the Third Reich to print Arabic copies of Hitler’s book Mein Kampf and the notorious anti-Semitic forgery Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

They see Islam as a holistic system of life that must be implemented at every level. This includes the brutal hudud punishments such as amputations and the death penalty for adultery and blasphemy. However, they are aware that such ideas are unpopular so they seek first to Islamize the society through education. Although the group officially renounced violence in 1971, that seems to have been a practical decision. The group still believes that armed jihad is a legitimate way to achieve its goals when the time is right.

Following that they would implement their policies step-by-step, under their doctrine of gradualism. After the Egyptian revolution the group came to power in an election which attempted to implement this vision. It was deposed after one year because of their tyrannical policies.

They have branches in approximately 80 countries worldwide including the United States.

Is the Muslim Brotherhood Involved in Terrorism?

They have been the leading source of inspiration behind terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda and its offshoot the Islamic State. Founder Hassan al-Banna and ideologue Sayyid Qutb wrote extensively on the importance of armed jihad. Qutb is also credited with the idea of modern political understanding of jahilliya, which holds that any government which does not implement sharia as state law is in a state of un-Islamic ignorance and should be opposed.

Osama bin Laden’s mentor, Abdullah Azzam, and the mastermind of 9/11, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, were both members of the Muslim Brotherhood before they joined al-Qaeda.

The Muslim Brotherhood branch in Gaza, Hamas, is a terrorist organization which glorifies attacks on civilians and seeks to violently eradicate the state of Israel and commit massacres against the Jews living there.

Muslim-Brotherhood-linked entities in America and other countries have raised money for Hamas. The most famous case of this was the Holy Land Foundation Trial in 2007.

What are other governments doing about the Muslim Brotherhood?

The Muslim Brotherhood has been banned in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as a terrorist organization. The UAE ban included U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entities the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim American Society (MAS) as well as Islamic Relief Worldwide, which has sent money to Hamas.

Israel has also banned Islamic Relief Worldwide for funding Hamas.

The UK commissioned a report into the Muslim Brotherhood. While it stopped short of banning it as a terrorist organization, the British government rejected the myth that the Brotherhood is “moderate” along with the patently false notion that it is “non-violent.” The UK will keep the Muslim Brotherhood under review.

Which US Organizations Are Included in This Bill

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR); the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT).

Read our profiles of each group’s extremism by clicking on the links

Categories: CAIR, ISNA, Muslim Brotherhood, NAIT, Obama and Muslim Brotherhood, Obama's America, State Department
Tags: CAIR, ISNA, Muslim Brotherhood, NAIT, Obama and Muslim Brotherhood, Obama's America, State Department

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