So you want to wipe out the LTTE as fast as possible? You support our forces,You support our president. And even if the prices hit the sky you will grin and bear it as long as we are winning the war. You are ready to do your part to achieve victory and protect mother Lanka.
Welcome patriot! You have come to the right place. I am going to give you valuable inside information about the enemy. The LTTE. You can take it seriously or you can dismiss as utter nonsense but just don't tell anyone that I told you all this OK? because if Prabha hears that I am outing his secrets he will send a suicide bomber right to my place! I can really do without a suicide bomber!
Let's get straight to the point. How to beat them. Bomb them like crazy! Kill the buggers! Sink their ships! Shoot! Kill! Is that it? But wait! Aren't we doing this already? In fact we have been doing this for decades. You thought I was going to give you some new information. Of course that is exactly what I am going to do.
Know Your Enemy
Sun Tzu wasn't joking when he said "Know Your Enemy".Whether you are fighting one of the most ruthless terrorist group or just arguing with the 'Auto' driver who insists it is your fault after he has just hit the back of your parked car,this is a rule you should never forget. (In the case of the Auto driver he could be having connections with Mervin Silva in which case arguing with him could seriously damage your health and wellbeing.)
So to fight the LTTE effectively we should first know them. Of course you know them. They are a bunch of blood thirsty killers aren't they? No I didn't mean that. You should know their inner workings. What makes them strong and what their weaknesses are. In fact I am going to introduce you to the most powerful weapon that can be used against the LTTE. The one that makes Prabha nervous. In fact it is the only thing that Prabha can't handle. He can even handle the cyanide capsule that's hanging on his chest if it comes down to it. But he can't handle this thing. This thing will just destroy him and his whole group once and for all. And then there is no chance for a come back. They would be just gone.
Before I tell you what the weapon is , let me give you a hint. This weapon has actually been used against the LTTE recently and it almost destroyed them completely. But unfortunately, just before LTTE was about to collapse something funny happened and we stopped using this weapon. We just threw it away. So the LTTE is still alive although badly weakened by this secret weapon. Now we are fighting LTTE the hard way with old fashioned weapons. So I have to tell you what this secret weapon is.
Before I break the secret I will have to give you some background. First we need to understand some basic things about LTTE.
Three things that make the tigers tick
What is the primary difference between the LTTE and the Government forces? Of course Sri Lankan forces are much bigger in terms of men and materials. But there is a more fundamental difference that almost everyone seems to forget. For a young man joining the Sri Lankan forces it is a job. Of course you get a chance to 'protect your motherland' but still it is a job. He gets paid. It helps him support his family. And he has a life.
The LTTE is an army made up of volunteers. They are not paid. They are not allowed to have a life of their own.They are not usually allowed to visit their families.Their working conditions are much worse than that of Sri Lankan forces. So what makes them join? And what prevents them from leaving? Of course there is forced conscription of kids but it would be ridiculous to suggest that LTTE is just a bunch of under aged kids who are forced to join.
There are three things that drive young people towards LTTE and keeps them there. Anger,Frustration and a complete lack of alternatives!
All three of these are in good supply in the North and East only when there is war. You have to be very very angry and frustrated before you decide to blow yourself up just to kill a few 'enemies'. And life as an LTTE cadre is certainly not fun. Few people would trade in a normal peaceful life to become an LTTE cadre. But what if you don't have a life in the first place? No food,no education, no economy, no jobs so what do you do? You have nothing to lose by joining the LTTE. During the war young people in the North and East have very few options. Joining the LTTE is one of them.
During war brutal violence is unleashed against the whole civilian population. Sometimes it is 'collateral damage' as they call it. At other times it is soldiers angered by LTTE taking 'revenge' by killing civilians. Sometimes it is systematic state-sponsored hit squads walking into villages , taking all young men at gun point and kill them - execution style.(This is similar to the 'black cat' operations carried out in rural areas of Sri Lanka during the JVP time when many young men were kidnapped and murdered by hit squads) Of course you don't see any of these in your newspapers. That's why I am telling you these things!
So one way or the other a lot of innocent civilians get killed. And that annoys a lot of young people. Lots of angry young people coupled with the lack of normalcy in the North and East provide the ideal environment for the LTTE to survive and thrive.
If anyone takes away this anger and frustration from these men and women then they will start thinking about their lives and their future. Now suppose they are given some alternatives to joining the LTTE - A decent job, family friends and a life worth living - a life without fear of getting killed every minute. When that happens, it is the end of the LTTE.
Hitting the Tigers Hard
It almost happened during the ceasefire. Yes the destruction of the LTTE almost happened although none of you patriots were informed. In fact nobody outside the inner circles of LTTE were informed. But it is hard for the LTTE to hide certain things from the people living in LTTE controlled areas. Many of them were smart enough to see the near death experience that LTTE went through.
Before the ceasefire, there was only one thing that was happening in those regions. War. In other part of Sri Lanka war is just a part of your life. You hear about it in the news. You do get a few bombs every now and then but life goes on. But in the North and east war is your life. It is war, the whole war and nothing but the war. The economy grinds to a halt. Prices of food and other essential stuff go through the roof. The prices in other parts of Sri Lanka would seem pathetically low when you see how high prices get in the North and East during war. Of course you would hear about Tons of food being sent to the north every other day. But what they don't tell you is that most of it is actually supplies sent to the military camps in the area. Civilians always face shortage of food and medicine during war. And you have to live with the fact that your life can end any minute! Even if you don't join or support the LTTE or the armed forces.
But during the ceasefire things changed. As the bombing , shelling and other forms of killings stopped people got a taste of what normal life is like. Suddenly the North and East were a different place. People were happy. Nobody was worried about the next bomb falling on their head. Prices were getting unbelievably low. Almost as low as in other parts of the country. New businesses sprang up all over the place. Many displaced people came back to their houses they have abandoned many years ago and started clearing up the 'jungles' that have grown up around their houses. Businesses were doing much better. People were getting better jobs as more and more businesses were opening up during the peaceful period. Lots of 'tourists' (mostly Sri Lankan Tamils from abroad) were coming back in flocks boosting the local economy. Even the Sri Lankan soldiers who manned check points seemed happier. With their friendly smiling faces people started to forget that they used to be their worst nightmare during the war. Soldiers massacreing civilions had become a distant memory then. Even cinemas,which were closed for decades , opened again. The war was over. So people were ready for some fun and entertainment.
A large number of LTTE cadres wanted to go home and visit their families during the ceasefire. Under pressure, the LTTE had to relax it's rules. For the first time, they were allowed to have fun and visit their families.Although LTTE was controlling big portions of North and East, their fighters who were supposed to defend these territories had lost their will to fight. They had just had a taste of peace. As they got up from their bunkers and visited their friends enjoyed the peace they have never had before, they were seeing a different world. For many of those cadres (Those in their teens and early twenties) it was their first taste of what a normal life would look like, for they had never seen what life is like when there is no war.(There were other brief periods without fighting before, but after the eighties, they never lasted long enough to change life in the North and east.)
When life becomes worth living in the North and east it becomes a serious alternative to joining the LTTE. A large number of those cadres suddenly came across a radical idea - living a normal life! A record number of LTTE cadres left LTTE during this period. Initially the LTTE relaxed it's rules and let a number of it's cadres (especially those who have completed 10 years of 'service') leave. Large numbers of men and women left the group, got married and went abroad. And even younger cadres who hadn't completed their 10 years just 'ran away'. Many of those who went home to see their families never came back. They didn't want to go back to those bunkers again. Prabha and his top leaders then had to tighten the rules again. They suddenly stopped all cadres from leaving. "War could start any time, so we can't afford to let you go" they said. But already a large number of experienced cadres (including a large number of highly skilled sea tigers) had already left. And LTTE had to depend on kids recruited by force and men too old to leave the group and get a life.
When I hear people say 'LTTE uses the ceasefire to strengthen themselves' I laugh my head off. To anyone who understands the way LTTE works this is a joke. They are a war machine. They need war to survive. Peace is LTTE's worst enemy. When you look at it from outside it might seem like LTTE was doing well during the ceasefire. They made lots of money as 'tax' when people crossed their 'border'. They made millions of rupees each day. But it is nothing compared to what they got from their supporters abroad. But these supporters need a war before they send money to LTTE. They have to hear about Tamil people getting butchered by the Sri Lankan state. When there is peace, 'contributions from abroad' hit a record low. To the point that LTTE for the first time had to use some rather heavy handed tactics to collect money from Tamils living abroad. The strategy backfired as this angered a lot of Tamils and further eroded their support base oversees.
So the cadres are deserting, recruitment meant kidnapping under aged kids as nobody wanted to join, and money from abroad , which used to be a flood was reduced to a trickle. What more do you need to destroy the tigers? They were almost done!
Worse than the tigers
So LTTE was desperate to start the war. They tried their best to provoke the forces. And with Presidential elections around the corner they realized only Mahindha can save them. Imagine. patriots like yourself were lamenting that LTTE was using the ceasefire to strengthen themselves. Nothing could be further from the truth. They badly wanted Mahidha to come to power that they prevented Tamils from voting. And finally they got what they wanted. We had a chance to beat them without suffering any casualties. Without firing a single bullet. If we had used the weapon of peace we would have wiped LTTE out almost effortlessly. So many people who are now dead would have been alive. We could have prevented the deaths of so many soldiers and so many others included those students from DS who died in recent blasts.
It is still not too late to strike them down with peace. But ignorance is our biggest enemy. It is even worse than the tigers. There are a few people out there who know the truth. But most of us still believe Ranil is the traitor and Mahindha is our savior. Most of us still believe war is the only way.
There is a much better way. But are we ready for it? How many have to die before we choose peace - the ultimate weapon - to finish terrorism?
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
The formula of Love - Finally a solution to the ultimate problem
It's valentines day tomorrow guys! So don't forget to buy expensive jewellery and bouquets for your women. If you are one of those not so rich guys like me then at least buy a card and her favorite chocolate. Forgetting Valentines day or dismissing it as 'commercial rubbish' can seriously damage the health of your relationship.
But what about those poor guys who don't have any girl friends? Those poor chaps who remind me what I was like a few years ago? This post is for those guys. So if you are not one of them them could you please leave now?
Now! Go and find your woman and ask her out! What the heck are you waiting for? If it is Valentines day then your wait is over. Now time for action.
I know that's not easy.How do you say it? How would she react? What would she say? What if she says no! If you starts sweating like crazy when you think about those monstrous, life-or-death matters then you are my kind. That's what I was like. I would think about it. And think about all the scary consequences and get nervous. And finally I end up doing nothing. The enormity of the matter (Will she or won't she) just scares the hell of me and leaves me paralyzed.
I have always been the studious kind. I liked math at school. Once you understand the basics you can work out almost anything. You can prove or disprove anything. Math helps you when you want to find out if two triangles are similar. But sadly when it comes to more important things like girls and stuff, all your math skills are useless! You don't have any formula you can use to work out if she would say yes or no to you.
I just lied. There is a formula just for this! Go ahead and learn it guys! This is by far the most useful formula in the history of mankind! It is here!
But you really don't need that formula. You should be brave enough to go and ask her the question. For god's sake you are not going to die if she says no! The sooner you realize this the better! Just look at how confident I am these days! I am going to ask a woman if she would like to have dinner with me tomorrow! I am not the same nervous guy I used to be those days guys. Now I am brave! So follow my example! But before I finish I must admit that the woman in question happens to be my wife.
Happy valentines day!
But what about those poor guys who don't have any girl friends? Those poor chaps who remind me what I was like a few years ago? This post is for those guys. So if you are not one of them them could you please leave now?
Now! Go and find your woman and ask her out! What the heck are you waiting for? If it is Valentines day then your wait is over. Now time for action.
I know that's not easy.How do you say it? How would she react? What would she say? What if she says no! If you starts sweating like crazy when you think about those monstrous, life-or-death matters then you are my kind. That's what I was like. I would think about it. And think about all the scary consequences and get nervous. And finally I end up doing nothing. The enormity of the matter (Will she or won't she) just scares the hell of me and leaves me paralyzed.
I have always been the studious kind. I liked math at school. Once you understand the basics you can work out almost anything. You can prove or disprove anything. Math helps you when you want to find out if two triangles are similar. But sadly when it comes to more important things like girls and stuff, all your math skills are useless! You don't have any formula you can use to work out if she would say yes or no to you.
I just lied. There is a formula just for this! Go ahead and learn it guys! This is by far the most useful formula in the history of mankind! It is here!
But you really don't need that formula. You should be brave enough to go and ask her the question. For god's sake you are not going to die if she says no! The sooner you realize this the better! Just look at how confident I am these days! I am going to ask a woman if she would like to have dinner with me tomorrow! I am not the same nervous guy I used to be those days guys. Now I am brave! So follow my example! But before I finish I must admit that the woman in question happens to be my wife.
Happy valentines day!
Thursday, February 7, 2008
These violent Tamil bastards!
I saw an interesting blog post about a woman and her husband getting harassed and insulted at a check point in Colombo. Being a Tamil myself, the incident itself is no news to me. But the shock and disgust of the author reminded me humanity is still alive.
After I replied to one of the comments I had to face an interesting question - what makes those little Tamil boys and girls so violent? Is it something that is built into our DNA? Or is it our culture that somehow encourages violence? or was it those violent Tamil movies from South India?
To quote hilal who asked the question
"... It's documented in the West that Tamil culture, movies etc all have no ratings and they all glorify violence with continuous fight scenes ..."
Here is my answer to him.
OK hilal, So it looks like we have an easy explanation right? It is all because of Tamil culture and the violent movies?
We are talking about two things here - culture and movies. First about the culture, I don't know where it is "..documented in the West.." that Tamil culture glorifies violence. Can you give me some more details on this?
As for the movies, you are absolutely right! Tamil movies are becoming so violent that it makes me sick. I am against violent movies and video games. And the lack of ratings is something I have been complaining about for the last few years. So I just can't agree with you more on that!
But can this explain the whole ethnic conflict? Tamil youth watched violent movies. So they became so violent they ended up creating one of the most ruthless terrorist organization in the world! Judging from just how violent some recent Tamil movies are, it doesn't sound that far fetched. But I would like to discuss a few facts here hilal.
Tamil movies are produced in "Tamil Nadu" which is in South India.It is the only Tamil state in India ,which has the biggest Tamil population in the world and is naturally the biggest market for these movies. But despite all these violent movies, There are no terrorist outfit in Tamil Nadu fighting for a separate state although Tamils are a minority and Tamil is not an official language in India. There are various rebel groups in other states in India but not in Tamil Nadu. So if it is Tamil culture and Tamil movies that are causing the problem, and if just 1.8 million of those 'culturally challenged' Tamils are enough to commit all this mayhem in Sri Lanka, then why are the 60.7 million in India leading such a boringly quiet life? What are they waiting for? And what about Singapore?
And talking about violent movies and video games, we do get quite a lot from America don't we? I agree these things encourage violence and I feel they are at least partly responsible for the 'school shootings' in the states. But we are yet to see anything like LTTE over there right? America is one of those few places on earth where you can just walk into a shop and buy a good gun. So why didn't they start the mother of all terrorists groups there then?
Obviously we are missing something here are't we hilal?
We can't easily dismiss all the violence in Sri Lanka as the result of Tamil movies and Tamil culture. The reasons are much deeper than that. I don't want to go into them now, but I will get back this a bit later.
Now I just wanted to let you know that this is not just because Tamils as a people are a violent bunch. In fact it is the Tamil people who have been at the receiving end of the ethnic violence more than any other Community in Sri Lanka. Ever since independence large numbers of Tamil civilians got tortured and murdered during anti Tamils riots that happened again and again(1956, 1958, 1961, 1974, 1977, 1979, 1981 and 1983)
Dramaqueen is understandably shocked and angry when she heard of what her friend had to go through. But I think her friend has been lucky. In the North and East there are times when young girls stopped at checkpoints never returned home. They were raped ,killed and buried in mass graves. Of course you would rarely hear about them unless you live in those areas.
See the anger and shock Dramaqueen feels when she hears about how her friend was harassed? Now imagine how she would have reacted if one of her friends was raped by many men and then killed?
Now imagine how an 18 year old boy in Jaffna would react when his 16 years sister goes missing only to be found as a dead body?
Now you will get a rough idea of what makes an LTTE cadre. Violence always breeds violence. Whenever there is an ethnic divide, It is easy to say 'there is something wrong' with a particular ethnic group. As far as culture is concerned I don't see a huge difference between us and the Sinhalese. (Although I must admit we Tamils have to learn a few things from the Sinhalese. They seem like a friendlier bunch than us. They seem to be smiling much more frequently than us Tamils - even when they are among Strangers. And their 'parrippu' dish and their crispy 'Aappa' are a whole lot tastier than the respective Tamil versions of those dishes I think.)
I have heard similar arguments against Islam as a religion. I have heard people say "Islam glorifies violent jihad! That's why we have Al Quida,Hizbulla , Hamas etc."
But we have to take a careful look at the facts before we start blaming religions and cultures that have existed for centuries as the reason for wars and terrorist groups that started just a few years ago.
A little Palestinian boy grows up in a refugee camp. Why doesn't he have a proper home? His Mom would explain that their land is occupied by Israel. He hides behind his mom and dad as the Monster Battle tanks from Israel roll through their camp. Smashing everything on the way. And one day he sees his baby sister bleed to death by Israeli fire. The next Jihadi is in the making now! And when he grows up to learn that it is the USA (which has given $91 Billion and counting so far to Isreal) which supports the Israeli state and it's military machine by funding it, is it any wonder that he would become more than a bit anti American? An Israeli child goes through similar experiences. They come across bus bombings and rocket attacks. But there aren't many suicide attacks by Israelis yet. It is because they have the upper hand now. They have more protection and less civilian deaths thanks to their superior fire power. So they haven't experienced the sheer sense of desperation and anger that turns an innocent young man or woman into a suicide bomber. It is not because Israelis have a better culture than the Arabs or Judaism is a better religion than Islam.
But we hear 'experts' talking about Islam and it's tendency to encourage violence. For god's sake Islam has existed long before Al Qaeda! And these very same Muslims have lived peacefully for so many centuries. Even now there are large Muslim populations in many parts of the worlds where there is not even a hint of violence! Muslims are living peacefully even in Tamil Nadu! Imagine? With those Tamils! Those violent bastards! And they don't even have a riot! - Not even when there were widespread Hindu-Muslim riots going in other parts of India!
So if it is not the culture and the movies then what is it that started this whole Tamil problem? I am looking for answers as well.
That seems like a long Story and one of the best kept secrets in Sri Lanka. Different people seems to know different bits of this long Story. But it is not easy to get the full picture of a conflict of this scale and complexity so easily. I am going to try to share what I know and I want to learn from what other have to share.
But for now you can take a look at this excellent post by vindi here
and this one from daily mirror here
Here is one more thing you have said.
"..as a responsible Tamil you should do everything in your power to eliminate such mentality within Tamil youth.."
To this my answer is "Of course! I will!"
After I replied to one of the comments I had to face an interesting question - what makes those little Tamil boys and girls so violent? Is it something that is built into our DNA? Or is it our culture that somehow encourages violence? or was it those violent Tamil movies from South India?
To quote hilal who asked the question
"... It's documented in the West that Tamil culture, movies etc all have no ratings and they all glorify violence with continuous fight scenes ..."
Here is my answer to him.
OK hilal, So it looks like we have an easy explanation right? It is all because of Tamil culture and the violent movies?
We are talking about two things here - culture and movies. First about the culture, I don't know where it is "..documented in the West.." that Tamil culture glorifies violence. Can you give me some more details on this?
As for the movies, you are absolutely right! Tamil movies are becoming so violent that it makes me sick. I am against violent movies and video games. And the lack of ratings is something I have been complaining about for the last few years. So I just can't agree with you more on that!
But can this explain the whole ethnic conflict? Tamil youth watched violent movies. So they became so violent they ended up creating one of the most ruthless terrorist organization in the world! Judging from just how violent some recent Tamil movies are, it doesn't sound that far fetched. But I would like to discuss a few facts here hilal.
Tamil movies are produced in "Tamil Nadu" which is in South India.It is the only Tamil state in India ,which has the biggest Tamil population in the world and is naturally the biggest market for these movies. But despite all these violent movies, There are no terrorist outfit in Tamil Nadu fighting for a separate state although Tamils are a minority and Tamil is not an official language in India. There are various rebel groups in other states in India but not in Tamil Nadu. So if it is Tamil culture and Tamil movies that are causing the problem, and if just 1.8 million of those 'culturally challenged' Tamils are enough to commit all this mayhem in Sri Lanka, then why are the 60.7 million in India leading such a boringly quiet life? What are they waiting for? And what about Singapore?
And talking about violent movies and video games, we do get quite a lot from America don't we? I agree these things encourage violence and I feel they are at least partly responsible for the 'school shootings' in the states. But we are yet to see anything like LTTE over there right? America is one of those few places on earth where you can just walk into a shop and buy a good gun. So why didn't they start the mother of all terrorists groups there then?
Obviously we are missing something here are't we hilal?
We can't easily dismiss all the violence in Sri Lanka as the result of Tamil movies and Tamil culture. The reasons are much deeper than that. I don't want to go into them now, but I will get back this a bit later.
Now I just wanted to let you know that this is not just because Tamils as a people are a violent bunch. In fact it is the Tamil people who have been at the receiving end of the ethnic violence more than any other Community in Sri Lanka. Ever since independence large numbers of Tamil civilians got tortured and murdered during anti Tamils riots that happened again and again(1956, 1958, 1961, 1974, 1977, 1979, 1981 and 1983)
Dramaqueen is understandably shocked and angry when she heard of what her friend had to go through. But I think her friend has been lucky. In the North and East there are times when young girls stopped at checkpoints never returned home. They were raped ,killed and buried in mass graves. Of course you would rarely hear about them unless you live in those areas.
See the anger and shock Dramaqueen feels when she hears about how her friend was harassed? Now imagine how she would have reacted if one of her friends was raped by many men and then killed?
Now imagine how an 18 year old boy in Jaffna would react when his 16 years sister goes missing only to be found as a dead body?
Now you will get a rough idea of what makes an LTTE cadre. Violence always breeds violence. Whenever there is an ethnic divide, It is easy to say 'there is something wrong' with a particular ethnic group. As far as culture is concerned I don't see a huge difference between us and the Sinhalese. (Although I must admit we Tamils have to learn a few things from the Sinhalese. They seem like a friendlier bunch than us. They seem to be smiling much more frequently than us Tamils - even when they are among Strangers. And their 'parrippu' dish and their crispy 'Aappa' are a whole lot tastier than the respective Tamil versions of those dishes I think.)
I have heard similar arguments against Islam as a religion. I have heard people say "Islam glorifies violent jihad! That's why we have Al Quida,Hizbulla , Hamas etc."
But we have to take a careful look at the facts before we start blaming religions and cultures that have existed for centuries as the reason for wars and terrorist groups that started just a few years ago.
A little Palestinian boy grows up in a refugee camp. Why doesn't he have a proper home? His Mom would explain that their land is occupied by Israel. He hides behind his mom and dad as the Monster Battle tanks from Israel roll through their camp. Smashing everything on the way. And one day he sees his baby sister bleed to death by Israeli fire. The next Jihadi is in the making now! And when he grows up to learn that it is the USA (which has given $91 Billion and counting so far to Isreal) which supports the Israeli state and it's military machine by funding it, is it any wonder that he would become more than a bit anti American? An Israeli child goes through similar experiences. They come across bus bombings and rocket attacks. But there aren't many suicide attacks by Israelis yet. It is because they have the upper hand now. They have more protection and less civilian deaths thanks to their superior fire power. So they haven't experienced the sheer sense of desperation and anger that turns an innocent young man or woman into a suicide bomber. It is not because Israelis have a better culture than the Arabs or Judaism is a better religion than Islam.
But we hear 'experts' talking about Islam and it's tendency to encourage violence. For god's sake Islam has existed long before Al Qaeda! And these very same Muslims have lived peacefully for so many centuries. Even now there are large Muslim populations in many parts of the worlds where there is not even a hint of violence! Muslims are living peacefully even in Tamil Nadu! Imagine? With those Tamils! Those violent bastards! And they don't even have a riot! - Not even when there were widespread Hindu-Muslim riots going in other parts of India!
So if it is not the culture and the movies then what is it that started this whole Tamil problem? I am looking for answers as well.
That seems like a long Story and one of the best kept secrets in Sri Lanka. Different people seems to know different bits of this long Story. But it is not easy to get the full picture of a conflict of this scale and complexity so easily. I am going to try to share what I know and I want to learn from what other have to share.
But for now you can take a look at this excellent post by vindi here
and this one from daily mirror here
Here is one more thing you have said.
"..as a responsible Tamil you should do everything in your power to eliminate such mentality within Tamil youth.."
To this my answer is "Of course! I will!"
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