To tell the truth, war has broken out. War has been "broken out". That war, which is most important now, is the confrontation of two civilizations: the Land civilization, represented by Russia, and the Sea ​​civilization, represented by the US. It is a standoff between a trade-based system, and a heroic civilization, between Carthage and Rome, Athens and Sparta. However, at certain moments it reaches a “hot” stage. We are in this moment again. We are at the brink of the war, and also one exists. However, this war can become a major and, perhaps, the sole battle of our lives, at any time. As the major players – the US and Russia – are nuclear powers, the war involves all the nations of the Earth. It has every chance to become the end of humankind. Of course this is not guaranteed, but such a plot twist cannot be excluded.

The spiritual plan of the great conflict is comprehend in special terms and contexts. There, the balance of power is always in favor of the Light, despite the faithful’s position. However, at the strategic level, it may seem a little different. The roles in the war are not symmetrical. Russia is in a weaker position, but trying to get back its status of the global player. It only seeks to restore its potential regional power to exert its influence freely in areas near to its borders. However, it is unacceptable for the United States, which, despite everything, remain the global hegemony and refuse to lose the monopolarity by its own will.
 
If we take into account the spiritual background of the war, it will become clear that the darkness doesn’t allow the light to exist in any proportion, it will calm down only when will be able to fight the light everywhere, not only globally, but also locally, one beam is enough to turn the darkness into the darkness, without the light, it can pretend to be anything. There is an important conclusion: the global ambitions of the modern materialistic technocratic West, the globalism itself are not a contingency, but the essence of the force that we deal with. It is naive to assume that you can negotiate with the devil, or deceive him. You can only win. This is the law of spiritual warfare. Today, it attacks, and the other defends. Therefore, the war is almost on Russian territory, in the area of its direct national interests. At the same time, Russia tries to go beyond its borders; the war is defensive for it. Currently, it has only regional objectives. However, the global nuclear power prevents it from reach them. This complicates the situation and elevates the conflict to a global level. In any case, Russia is attacked, and it defends. This is important.
 
Let’s now turn to the fronts of the war.

First Front: Syria

From the very beginning of the Syrian conflict, Moscow supported Bashar Assad who was played against by Washington, Western Europe and the Middle East's US proxies: Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey. Each of the countries, however, followed their own interests. The tool to overthrow Assad was radical Islamic groups: ISIS, Al-Qaeda (the al-Nusra Front), etc. However, Russia became fully involved in military operations only in 2015, when an exhausted Assad asked for open military support. In this case, Moscow received allies, represented by the Shiite axis: Tehran – Shiite Iraq – and the Lebanese Hezbollah; they not only cooperate, but even fight side by side. The Shiite world is strictly anti-American, but at the same time, at the regional level, is opposed to radical Sunni Saudi and Qatari financial backing of the Salafist extremist groups.

On the first front, Russia faces the United States and NATO countries, not directly but indirectly. The Western countries themselves are at war with ISIS, as they say, but in fact strongly support the radical Islamic groups to overthrow Assad. The same tactics were used to overthrow Gaddafi in Libya.

In addition, the presence of Salafi jihadists in Iraq, as well as the Taliban in Afghanistan, seems to justify the ongoing presence of American troops. Therefore, the first fronts are a vital challenge for Russia: it fights indirectly with the US and NATO, and almost openly, with Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Therefore, the war in Syria can’t be considered as an ordinary anti-terrorist operation: in addition, the Salafists now controls most parts of Syria, having an impressive amount of direct and indirect support. But Russia is the nuclear power. Therefore, its involvement in the Syrian war dramatically changed the situation, bringing it from the local to the global level. With its involvement, it has put a lot at stake. Now it is not only Assad’s problem, his enemies are forced to fight with Russia. Nevertheless, the opposite is true too: Russia challenges not only the extremist network of ISIS and al-Nusra, but American hegemony and Middle East Salafism, with its serious base in the wealthiest petrodollar monarchies in the Gulf region. This is important: how does Moscow understand the seriousness of the situation of the first front, and how far is it ready to goin a very difficult war scenario, with an impressive coalition on the opposite side. After all, the US and NATO are there, no matter what they say.

Second Front. Turkey

Involving itself more and more in the Syrian war, Russiafaces, as it is evident, Turkey - which is essentially occupying thenorth of Syria, inhabited by Turcoman tribes, and has begun a military conflict with Syrian Kurds. Erdogan has established an alliance with wealthy Qatar for a long time, funding the Salafi groups (such as the "Muslim Brotherhood" in Egypt) and has began an active struggle against Assad. Therefore, when the Russian military in Syria started bombing the positions of the Salafists in the north of Syria, it was involved in a direct conflict with Ankara. The military jet downing and the brutal murder of the Russian pilots were just a pretext to escalate the tension. When Russia started performing decisively and getting involved in the conflict, there was no other way, the war with Turkey became a very real event.

Then there was the breaking off of trade relations, the tourism ban, and the expulsion of Turkish construction companies, which in the economic sphere is the strongest and most painful hit for Turkey, which has led to multibillion-dollar losses. Ankara is constantly threatening to close the Bosporus to Russian sea crafts, which would be cutting the vital artery for Russian troops in Latakia.

The Turks sent, in recent weeks, a significant part of its troops from the border with Greece to the border with Syria, and this can be regarded as preparation for a military invasion. All these facts greatly increase the risk of a new Russian-Turkish war. How likely is it? It is more likely than it has ever been in the 20th century and the first decades of the 21st. The Second Front has already been opened. When an outright conflict will break out, no one can say for sure. Theoretically, it could happen at any time. Here again, it is worth remembering that Turkey is a NATO member-state, and that it coordinates its actions in Syria with Washington. It means that Russia will face-off against the Western coalition (with the USA in charge) performing on the Turkish side in a potential new war, as it was with the Crimean War. So again, a regional conflict would obviously have a global impact. This is especially true because in Turkey there is a US nuclear military base. It would be difficult for an outright war with Turkey not to be the start of WWIII.

Third Front. Ukraine

The reunification of Crimea with Russia is not recognized by anyone in the world. The DPR (Donetsk People's Republic) and the LPR (the Luhansk People's Republic) are a bleeding wound with an unknown status. Poroshenko’s position in Kiev is quite unstable, and a real change in the economic and social situation in Ukraine in general, even theoretically, is impossible. Therefore, at a certain moment, Kiev has only one way: a new round of tension and escalation in the East, and even an invasion of Crimea.

If Ukraine were face-to-face against Russia in this situation, it would be suicidal for Kiev.

However, we should take into account the US and NATO. The West was behind the coup d’etat of the winter of 2014. Moreover, at some point, an attack on the consolidated position of the Novorossiya militants and even on Crimea, by the Ukrainian army, is quite possible even for Ukrainian domestic reasons, even more so in the context of the logic of the global confrontation between Russia and the United States.

It is worth noting that all three fronts are situated close to Russian borders, in the area that separates Eurasia and Russia, the continental space of the Heartland,from its western territories. It is the area where civilizations of the East and West meet. Usually, disputes over these territories start world wars and global conflicts. All three fronts are on former Ottoman Empire territories, as Russia gained Novorossiya and the Crimea from the Turks, and Syria was a part of the Empire too. Earlier these were areas of the Orthodox-Byzantine world. Therefore, the three fronts have an enormous historical and civilizational sense.

Now let’s look at the domestic problems of Russia. There are three fronts too.

Fourth Front. Salafi terrorism in Russia

The network structures of radical Islam, tied to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey have long been deployed in Russia: both in the North Caucasus as well as in the other regions. As the influx of Muslim population in Russian cities and the capital continues, the networks spread all over and entangle the entire space of Russia. They are not limited to areas densely populated by Muslims, but actively expand their zone of influence in other social environments. Using a variety of domestic problems, radical Sunni Islam has become quite popular as an alternative to incoherent and lethargic official ideological agenda of Moscow and its purely conformist representatives in the regions. It breeds the preparation and training of terrorist groups and ISIS’ direct branches.

If the special services become technically less involved with the task of group deterrence, the strategic plan and the more ideological program to combat the phenomena will not exist, which will over time make the ForthFront extremely important. The Forth Front was actually a hot spot in the First and Second Chechen War campaign; the breakthrough in the Second one was achieved only by using a hard-patriotic line in domestic policy.

Any new attempts at weakening the national discourse automatically strengthen the centrifugal trends and the extremist groups. The Forth Front is open and is in operation, but the scale of the problems it causes, we don’t actually know. Without sowing panic among the population, the security services hide from ordinary people the quantity of averted terrorist attacks and other preventive measures, which, in fact, is impressive even today. Because the United States and its foreign centers, the US proxies in the Middle East, support the Forth Front, we can expect serious financial support and, most importantly, the support of anew escalation.

Fifth Front. Fifth Column

This Front is a network of opposition forces whose core consists of the pro-American liberals who dream to return to the 1990s, the period of obvious looting of Russia and the selling of all its assets to foreign customers, as well as the omnipotence of the liberal elites that have, as its cannon fodder, the radical nationalists and Russian neo-Nazis who are dissatisfied with the Russian authorities and its passive policy on the growing migration and inarticulate or complete absence of the national idea.

The only liberals are not enough to organize weighty and large-scale protests, so the radical Russian nationalists play a role of massive support in the coalition. However, the pro-American liberals are the main center to coordinate efforts and make major decisions, and are responsible for contact with Washington.

The US itself officially supports the "democratic" movement, giving it substantial sums from their budget. However, the funding from other, less evident, sources of the Russian Fifth Column are much greater than the open data shows. On Bolotnaya Square, in the spring of 2012, the Fifth Column showed what it could do. In the case of aggravation of the consequences of the sanctions and possible military conflicts, the Fifth Front can become a significant factor in Russia’s weakening. It is preparing a stab in the back that may be decisive if the administrative system’s inefficiency (and nothing shows that it will be more effective in the near future) continues. Under certain circumstances, sections of their rotated and disappointed ordinary people can join the Fifth Front, creating a serious threat.

Sixth Front. Pro-Western liberals and governmental agents of influence

This group was recently called the Sixth Column. It is the liberals and the pro-Westerners who integrated into power in the 2000s or remained there since the 1990s, accepting the games’ new rules. In contrast to the Fifth Column, the Sixth Column’s representatives are formally loyal to the authorities, and unquestioningly obey it and act in a spirit of complete conformity. However, the Sixth Column follows western ideology, seeing the United States and NATO as the vanguard of progressive human kind, with the economy being guided solely using liberal methods and approaches. Often, the fortunes and families of the higher Russian officials are in the Western countries. In this situation, loyalty and constrained patriotism hides the consistent sabotage of orientation on national sovereignty, State ideology deterrence and implementation of economic, administrative and information strategies, leading, eventually, to the demoralization of society, a weakening economy and further population deideologization. The Sixth Front consists of systematic, deliberate and very skillful sabotage of the Russian revival, the containment and genuine substitution of the patriotic reform, creating efficient simulacra and counterfeits. The Sixth Column is no different in its ideology from the Fifth one, as it is also oriented to the West, but it hides it, preferring to strike at the regime from within, not from the outside. Moreover, just like the Fifth Column, the Sixth Column is controlled from an external center, from Washington, although it is more subtle and nuanced than the Fifth Column. The US Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) manages the Sixth Front’s coordination so that the structure is almost officially represented at the highest levels of the Russian government. In general, this type consists of a large part of the "liberal government" as well as a significant segment of other government institutions.

Now let’s put ourselves in the shoes of American strategists. The escalation in US-NATO relations with Russia is obvious. Moscow behaved as a sovereign regional power in the cases of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in 2008, Crimea and Novorossiya in 2014 and finally Syria in 2015, and if it is necessary, it will use the power to insist on its national interests in certain areas. It is incompatible with the continuation of American hegemony that is still global. Moscow would have to build its policy in accordance with Washington and NATO, and of course, these actions will not appease the forces of sanctions. Therefore, despite the superficial courtesy and the liberal rhetoric, Russia is out of the West’s control. It is a fact. And Washington must somehow respond to it. If he admits it, it would be equal to the denial of hegemony. But in the event of decline, the American Empire will not necessarily stop at the borders that it still firmly controls today. Encouraged by the success of the Russians, one may want to look at the strength of the Americans. Therefore, in Washington strategists’ position, it would be logical to activate all six Fronts. Especially because, in all six cases, America will not outperform itself: even the worst outcome would not cause its fatal collapse, as it is protected by a vast European, North African zone, followed by the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean in the west (especially since there is not any Russian activities in its east side). Moreover, it will be quite reasonable to synchronize the blows to Russia from all sides: militants in Syria, supporting Turkey, making Kiev start a new wave of fighting (and even to attack Crimea), leading the Russian domestic radical Salafi terrorist structures, backing the Fifth Column (finding the appropriate social occasion) and putting another ultimatum sanctions to encourage the Sixth Columns to conduct sabotage more actively and efficiently.

At the same time, it would be equally logical on the one hand to maintain and perhaps to even strengthen the sanctions, to reduce to the oil prices by a few points, and, at the same time, to start attacking the Russian leadership with conciliatory trolling like "the West will help you", "the terrorists is a common problem" (common because some are fighting with it, and the others support it) and "the main problem is China" (let the Russians deny their nuclear weapons, and we will protect them, putting our nuclear missiles on their territories) etc.

However, the simple analytical estimation hides something very serious. War. A real one with bloody seas, fires, torture, suffering and pain. The war in which we will be involved. And, since the three fronts are outside Russia, it is likely that the war on the foreign territories will be accompanied with civil war. That, however, we know very well from history.

Winning strategy: internal enemy

Let us imagine that we, quite objectively, estimated the risks, and our analysis is correct. What should Russia do in such a situation? In levying the war or at least being close to it, we must not only react situationally, but also have a plan for how to wage the war and to win it. It is quite logical to have the desire to win, isn’t it? Now it is important to find way how to achieve it, even if it’s just in theory.

It is obvious that you can only wage war effectively with an external enemy if the society is quite consolidated and mobilized internally. It is desirable to be mentally prepared for the war. To do this, people must understand who is the enemy and who is not, and, most importantly, why this is the case and not so otherwise. You mustn’t demonize the enemy at the very beginning of the war. The image of the enemy must be formed in advance and deliberately.

Therefore, the first task to gain victory would be real fully-fledged company to create the entirely negative, monstrous, satanic image of the United States and the West in general. Therefore, the West is a place where the devil resides. It is the center of the global capitalist tentacles. It is the matrix of ​​rotting cultural perversion and a vice grip of falsehood and cynicism, violence and hypocrisy. Russia already does this, but since the Sixth Column is responsible for anti-Western propaganda, it is a caricature or something miserable and not very convincing. It is this sabotage that describes the essence of the Sixth Front. Its “soldiers” do not refuse to fulfill the government orders, even asking for more and more, but their execution has turned into a farce, stultifying and subtly discrediting all undertakings. Awkward and insincere propaganda often brings the opposite effect. Therefore, by creating the images of the American enemy and its satellites (which we actually have to fight), it would be logical to charge those who think exactly that way and punish them with maximum clarity and cogency to the sleeping masses. Meanwhile, the agents of influence of the West are entrusted to criticize the West. With predictable results. Such an approach is incompatible with the "strategy for victory" and it should be reconsidered (if Russia wants to have at least a chance to win in the coming war).  

From the first point we move logically to the next one. It is important to dismantle the Sixth Column structures as soon as possible, removing the liberals and the pro-Westerners from all the key positions. Together with it, liberalism in the economy will be abolished, which will allow:

• The establishment of national control over the Central Bank.
• The pivot away from the dollar in foreign trade to any different reserve currency (such as the Yuan).
• The achievement of full financial sovereignty.
• The conductibility of the economy’s mobilization in the wartime.

In parallel, it is necessary to form the National Committee for the Mass Media that will reconstruct information work in accordance with the emergency requirements.

The efficiency of the purely destructive Fifth Column’s activity is largely tied with the efficiency of the Sixth Column’s sabotage. The Fifth and Sixth Fronts are inextricably connected. Therefore, the destruction of the Sixth Column’s power will dramatically weaken the Fifth Column which leaders, in emergency situations, could be either interned (by the way, the measures of house arrest are already administered to some of them), or expelled. Of course, any legal means of the liberal dissemination or the destructive nationalist propaganda should be banned.

The Forth Front is a problem, as the State does not have any ethnic and national policies. At the moment, there is only the same Sixth Column or the cognitively inappropriate bureaucrats. That is why the real challenges of uncontrolled migration and ethnic and religious tensions are approved by the bureaucracy with meaningless, for the Russian reality, empty slogans of the "civil society" and "tolerance". Without a coherent system of ethnic and national strategy against Islamic extremism and terrorism, issues in Russia will not be solved. Some security measures are not enough; it needs to eliminate or permanently change the social environment. Forced operations against terrorist fundamentalism must be correlated with the scale, including the ideological, model of ethnic and national policy.

The winning strategy: external enemy

Ukraine – the Third Front – should be ready for armed provocations from Kiev and to repel them. Sooner or later, Russia will have to radically solve the Novorossiyan issue as relying on the fact that Kiev will fall by himself or will abandon its pro-American and anti-Russian policy is somewhat irresponsible. To effectively protect Crimea and resolve the Donbass issue, all the Novorossiya space must be freed, and, if the war is inevitable, Moscow will have only one task - to win as soon as possible and as efficiently as possible. Creating a friendly Russian zone from Odessa to Kharkov, either creating independent States or including them in the part of the Russian Lands, is the goal that could be considered as a victory. The fate of Central and Western Ukraine has no great value.

Regarding the Turkish Second Front, there, in addition to the military operational development which is the military leadership’s task and cannot be discussed by analysts, Russia should pay attention to two main factors: the political opposition to the regime of Erdogan that, in the current circumstances, has become a natural ally, and the fundamental problem for Turkey, the Kurds. Both factors are crucial to the success in the Russian-Turkish conflict. It is extremely important to conduct anti-Turkish propaganda in Russian society, constantly stressing that the US and its supporters (Erdogan) are responsible for the escalation of the region’s conflict, and that Moscow doesn’t consider the Turks as its historical enemy to Moscow. Therefore, any parallels with the Russian-Turkish war, even in internal cases, will only unite the Turkish with Erdogan and strengthen the enemy. In contrast, the support of the Turkish politicians who do not share Erdogan’s views of Neo-Ottomanism could be decisive. At the same time, of course, Russia should intensify cooperation with the Kurds, as it is an imposing force in Turkey.

Finally, the First Front, Syria. We did not accidentally put it in the end of the "winning strategy". The most acute confrontational form is always the most practical and full of technical and military detail. However, it always depends on the particulars of society, and local successes – on the outside, often global, environment.

We have seen that Russia has an important regional ally, the Shi’ite world, which is represented primarily by Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah. These are Russian “brothers in arms”, and it should do its best to deepen the alliance. Obviously, it’s not only the Russians that understand its value, but even the pro-American forces in Russia and in Iran, so they will try to do everything possible to bring division amongst the allies. It should be nipped in the bud, at least in Russia, and concisely spelled out at the negotiations with the Shi’ites.

Next, Russians need the political, preferably military and economic support, of the countries of the planned multi-polar club, BRICS. China plays a special role there, preferring not to come to the forefront of the US opposition, but being ready to support Moscow, staying on the sidelines. Many things in Syria now depends on Moscow-Beijing relations, and it needs maximum attention.

Russia has no chance of making European countries its fully-fledged allies in Syria, as the US influence on them is too great. However, any distancing from Washington by the European powers (especially France, Germany and Italy) alongside differences in NATO will be very useful to Moscow. If Europe is to continue to grow its wave of right-conservative parties and movements, who are generally loyal to Russia, it will significantly strengthen its position in Syria. The Russian propaganda in Europe during wartime has particular importance.

As in Syria, Russia faces forces openly supported by Saudi Arabia and Qatar. As Qatar is involved in the plane crash with Russian tourists over the Sinai, Russia should pay special attention to the maximum destabilization of the regimes. Under certain circumstances, a direct attack on Qatar and military support for the Houthis in Yemen, as well as the Shiites in Bahrain, cannot be excluded. The invitation of the Russian troops in Iraq and Lebanon by their governments is strategically crucial; it will help to wage a full-scale war against the main bases of the ISIS terrorists and break their infrastructure connection with Turkey and the Gulf countries.

In general, Russia is already at war in the Middle East, so it should be recognized as an accomplished fact that, using the whole arsenal of available means, first of all, intelligence networks aimed at promoting, using different ways, Russian interests in the region such as information, economic, ideological, etc, must urgently be revived.

The last argument in this war will involve Russian nuclear weapons, which, thank God, the 90’s liberal reformers did not manage to destroy. It is common sense not to use them ever. However, it does mean that they cannot impose severe restrictions on Russia’s main enemy, the United States of America. Fearing complete destruction, the United States will have to play against Russia abiding by certain rules.

Seventh Front. Americans against Federal Government

In addition, in terms of the United States, it is important to open the Seventh Front. In fact, the US have many people who are unsatisfied with the ruling elite that profess the globalist ideology, drawing the USA into bloody wars, destroying the traditional European Christian identity. New America, where nothing is left from the US itself, and which serves the interests of the global financial oligarchy that has no culture or identity, destroys old America. Therefore, the support of US traditionalism and the conservatism of American identity is an important task for Russia. Its ally in the USA is the American people. In addition, many contradictions have accumulated in the social sphere, in inter-ethnic relations.

The majority of American society does not accept the moral degeneration. The federal government uses each convenient occasion to begin the abolishment of the second amendment of the Constitution allowing the Americans to keep and bear arms. The growing proportions of the Latin population, mostly Catholic, bring to the American public a new identity that is not hostile to Russia. Russia should be actively involved in the struggle for influence on the American society, strengthening the explanation of the Russian spiritual position in the war, showing that Russians and Americans have a common enemy: a manic satanic elite that have usurped power and are leading the whole humanity, including the Americans, towards the inevitable catastrophe. The elite’s results are evident: the whole Middle East is already covered in blood, they are not able any more to establish any order, the globalist elite (the CFR, the neocons, the representatives of the international financial oligarchy of Wall Street) implants everywhere only chaos, devastation, death and pain. The destruction of such a cancer on humanity is a matter for the entire world, including the Americans, who are not only its instruments but also victims.

Where is the city?

It is far from easy to win in this game. As the name of this game is the Big War. Nevertheless, when the Great War comes, it can only be avoided by slavery and deliberate recognition as a loser. Russian history has had no such moments. As much as it may seem difficult, somehow Russians coped with it.

We are not talking just about the geopolitical confrontation, but about the redistribution of influential spheres or the fulfillment of national interests. It is about something much deeper and more important.

All religions have a section dealing with the end of time and the final battle. The Christians, as well as the Jews and the Muslims, associate the events of the cycle with the Big War. Moreover, invariably all three religions describe the Middle East as the place of the Great War, as the field of Armageddon and the neighboring territories. For the Muslims, Damascus, the Umayyad Mosque, is considered to be the place where the Second Coming of Christ is to be held. Therefore, the war in Syria has frankly an eschatological sense. After all, Syria is a part of the Holy Land where the Savior treaded the ground. For the Jews, waiting for the imminent arrival of Moshiach, the escalation of violence on its borders, in areas critical to Israel’s existence, has an eschatological significance. The American Protestants, dispensationalists, see the Last Battle as the invasion of the north Gogh (understand as Russia) army to the Holy Land. Finally, the Athos monks and Greek saints, such as Cosmas Aeolian[1] or Saint Paisios of Mount Athos, repeatedly predicted the release of Russian troops and the collapse of Constantinople and Turkey. So, St. Arsenios of Cappadocia in Faras told the faithful that they will lose their homeland, but soon will find it again: "Foreign troops will come, Christ they will believe in, language they will not know... They will ask: Where is the City?"[2] It is understood as the reference to the Russian army approaching Constantinople. In one of the conversations Saint Paisios said:

" – Know that Turkey will collapse. There will be war two and a half years. We shall be victorious because we — Orthodox.

– Gerontius, we tolerate damage in the war?

– Hey, at most, one or two of the island will take, but we will give, and Constantinople. You’ll see, you’ll see!” [3]

Recently, one or two years ago, all these predictions would have caused only a shrug of the shoulders, what a fairy tale! But... today: blood is being shed in the Middle East; there are military operations around Damascus; Russians are not merely present, but fight in the Holy Land; the conflict with Turkey has started and it can’t be excluded that it will lead to the real war. From an eschatological perspective, it is time to return to the holy places, the Holy Land, Constantinople and Kiev. The statement that we are not living in the End Times now seems unscientific. As Elder Paisius said: “You’ll see, you’ll see!” So, we will see.

Thus, where is the city?

 

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