Open thread – for comments of general Biased BBC interest:


Please use this thread for off-topic, but preferably BBC related, comments. Please keep comments on other threads to the topic at hand. N.B. this is not an invitation for general off-topic comments – our aim is to maintain order and clarity on the topic-specific threads. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog. Please scroll down to find new topic-specific posts.

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731 Responses to Open thread – for comments of general Biased BBC interest:

  1. indigenous says:

    Re postings on Gaza journo seeking asylum and North Koreans all trying to reach the Capitalist West, will BBC Newsnight be covering these stories anytime soon? or will they have a British Muslim on air for “balance” re recent militant activity?

    Taking bets?

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  2. Anonymous says:

    In recent years, Britain has become a hornet’s nest of Islamic extremism. The domestic intelligence service MI5 is currently investigating 30 major terror plots in the U.K., and has over 1,600 individuals under surveillance, who are operating as part of 200 British-based terror networks.
    In April, British courts convicted an Islamic terror cell of attempting to kill thousands of shoppers at the U.K.’s largest shopping mall, in Bluewater, Kent. Between September 2001 and December 2006, there were 1,166 terrorism-related arrests in the U.K., with over 400 people charged.

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  3. Anonanon says:

    Credit is due to the BBC for the File on 4 about honour killings which was repeated earlier this evening.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6239804.stm

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  4. Anonanon says:

    OT I see Islamophobia Watch has been unusually quiet since Thursday. Wonder why?
    http://www.islamophobia-watch.com/

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  5. Tim says:

    OK, I am an explosives expert.

    and these devices are incendiary’s rather than bombs. They do not reflect the car bombs of Iraq, where several artillary shells or high explosives are used. Or IRA car bombs using fertiliser/fuel mix.

    These devices would have ignited rather than detonated. I don’t think there would be huge loss of life, the gas cannisters would have taken a while to “cook off”

    Yes maybe a spectacular fire ball and a few people close by burnt, but not the same as an explosion.

    There’s a big diference.

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  6. GCooper says:

    Anonanon writes:

    “OT I see Islamophobia Watch has been unusually quiet since Thursday. Wonder why?”

    Tempting fate, I realise, but so have some of the trolls.

    As you say – I wonder why?

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  7. GCooper says:

    OK, this is off topic, but it’s funny.

    http://sweasel.com/

    Umm…. I suppose I could add ‘I bet the BBC would never show this!’ Will that do?

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  8. Oscar says:

    Yes maybe a spectacular fire ball and a few people close by burnt, but not the same as an explosion.

    There’s a big diference.
    Tim | 01.07.07 – 7:15 pm | #

    To be fair to the BBC Mark Urban explained this on Friday’s Newsnight making a striking contrast with Frank Gardner’s ‘Baghdad comes to London’ reports. So what is going on?

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  9. Tim says:

    Ok Oscar, didn’t see newsnight, but as for that Dhimini Frank Gardener. He’s a disgrace to the security proffesion which I also work in.

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  10. will says:

    Yes maybe a spectacular fire ball and a few people close by burnt, but not the same as an explosion.

    Oh, that’s alright then. Seems a shame to stop them having fun.

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  11. terry johnson says:

    Number 3,987 in a continuing series from the dhimmis at Al-BBc. What’s missing from this wordy Al-Beeb web page piece under the title ..

    “Police confident in bombers hunt”

    That’s right…, “islam”, “islamic”, “islamist”. You think those words might give us a clue as to the intentions of the terrorists. But no, Al-BBC has decided that this will be the first war in our history where the identity of our enemy must never be revealed.

    Al-BBC – All the news that islamists think is fit to print.

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  12. TPO says:

    Tim | 01.07.07 – 7:44 pm |

    Is that Tim who was based in Baghdad and who used to post from there?

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  13. Anonymous says:

    The scale of the problem involving young Islamic extremists in Britain was highlighted in a major 2005 British Foreign Office/Home Office study. Terrorist organizations such as al Qaeda have found a fertile hunting ground in the U.K., where half of Muslims are under the age of 25, and where there is widespread opposition to the U.S.-British-led war on terror. The report revealed that extremist groups are secretly recruiting well-educated affluent Muslims from British universities, in addition to impoverished, underachieving Muslims through mosques and prisons. Former MI5 director general Eliza Manningham-Buller estimates that over 100,000 British citizens consider the July 2005 London attacks as “justified.”

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  14. Ju says:

    Just watching BBC News 24 now. Don’t know who the reporter is but he just explained (complete with graphics of ME) why we are experiencing terror attacks:

    Young Muslims who have grievances over Iraq and Palestine go to Pakistan and then return to Britain to persue violent jhad

    Nothing about slags and kuffar…

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  15. Ju says:

    Update:

    they are basing above view on the basis that the supsects are not British but from the ME

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  16. GCooper says:

    Ju writes:

    “Young Muslims who have grievances over Iraq and Palestine go to Pakistan and then return to Britain to persue violent jhad”

    Yes, that’s the BBC view in a nutshell. And history be damned.

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  17. Anonymous says:

    Close Links Between Hamas and Al Jazeera Are Now Revealed- So How Deep is the Hamas/Muslim Brotherhood Influence at the BBC?

    1. Removal of Wadhah Khanfar Hamas Head of Al Jazeera

    the removal of station director Wadhah Khanfar from the board (his future as director of the station remains unclear). A little over a year ago, Khanfar was riding high after being put in overall charge of both the English and Arabic stations. But he’s always been controversial, not least in the al-Jazeera newsroom itself. Why was he removed from the board? Thus far, the most popular explanation is based on a big story in the Jordanian weekly al-Majd which claimed that Mahmoud Abbas had delivered two files of evidence (one from Palestinian intelligence and one from Jordanian intelligence) to the Qataris proving that Khanfar (a Palestinian who has always been seen as pro-Islamist) was an active member of Hamas.

    http://abuaardvark.typepad.com/abuaardvark/2007/06/al-jazeera-chal.html

    2. We Already Know That the BBC Employes A Hamas Terrorist, and they give regular commentator spots to Hamas spokesmen and sympathisers like Azzam Tamimi, and his British colleague Iqbal Sacranie and his MCB, and MAB

    http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/149

    http://www.melaniephillips.com/diary/?p=1565

    3. FCO/BBC/Hamas

    Along the FCO (Foreign Office) the BBC is establishing close links with Hamas and the MCB (Muslim Council of Britain) both chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood. Much of BBCs broadcasting has been directed at the behest of the FCO as journalist Martin Bright has uncovered. His excellent expose of FCO/Muslim Brotherhood dealings is a must read

    Click to access 176.pdf

    4. Beautiful Names & Islamic Cultural Events

    You can see for instance that the BBC Symphony Rendition of the “Beautiful Names (of Allah)” was concocted at the behest of the FCO

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/orchestras/symphonyorchestra/performances/Tavener_home.shtml

    5. Alan Johnston

    And now the BBC and FCO are neck deep in trying to unentangle Alan Johnston from his to close dealings with Hamas. Where we have the ridiculous position of trying to discern the “moderate” factions of Jaish Al Islam (Army of Islam) from its more “moderate” pro-Hamas wing. This being a joke (albeit not a funny one as it is intended to be used as a conduit to create links betwen the FCO and Hamas) – Hamas has used Jaish Al Islam (Army of Islam) as a front in the capture of Gilad Shalit – held by Hamas.

    http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2115848,00.html

    That the BBC has ties with Hamas is clear. We must push to have it reveal to the British license payer how deep these links go.

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  18. Tim says:

    TPO:

    Yes mate, I am one and the same (The BBBC Baghdad Blogger)

    As for Frank Gardener, he is not a security expert, he just whistles the BBC’s tune!

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  19. buzzdroid says:

    as far as i know, frank gardner never had any military or mi5 experience.

    so why is he a “security expert”?

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  20. Anonymous says:

    Frank Gardner was a banker with close ties to the Saudi Government. He got the chop and re-invented himself as the BBC resident Arabist and now “Security Expert”.

    Right now he is on BBC making some fictional linking between the Iraq War and the recent attacks.

    The linkage is spurious and is apparently based on the reports that the suspects are of Iraqi origin.

    If the suspects are Iraq and not “Asian Gentlemen” then Al Qaeda will have had a role. Its worth remembering that Al Qaeda has been behind mass casulaty attacks since the early 90s. The 1993 attack on teh World Trade Centre, which aimed to bring down the towers, the Embassy attacks in Africa which killed hundereds, operation Bojinka

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bojinka_Plot

    All preceded the Iraq War. Frank Gardner & the BBC will however never tell you this as it does not fit into their World View.

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  21. Jon says:

    Anonymous | 01.07.07 – 10:22 pm |

    How long does it take to train from an investment banker to a “security expert”?

    “As security correspondent, Frank, a fluent Arabic speaker, has used his expertise and unique insights into the complex situations in the Middle East to inform audiences about al-Qaeda and the world and environment in which they operate.

    His reporting on al-Qaeda has also taken him to Yemen, the Horn of Africa, Guantanamo Bay and the USA.

    Frank graduated in Arabic and Islamic Studies and previously worked as an investment banker before joining the BBC.”

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/newswatch/ukfs/low/newsid_3780000/newsid_3783300/3783349.stm

    Aren’t security experts usually ex-forces or ex-intelligence?

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  22. buzzdroid says:

    interesting analysis on the war against al qaeda.

    in short , we’re winning.

    http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htwin/articles/20070701.aspx

    but theres a big “but” to this:
    “Al Qaeda is having some success in the Western media, and among Moslems living in Europe.”

    western media? hmmm , i wonder who that would be.

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  23. dave t says:

    Then again I’m just glad the BBC don’t employ Andy Bloody McNab! The Sun are welcome to him.

    I often thought Gardner was a bit of a merchant banker…glad to see it proven!

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  24. Anonymous says:

    Not too put too fine a point on it, if Gardner hd teh foggiest about Security matters he wouldnt now be in a wheel chair

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4123145.stm

    I mention this as his Saudi “Lets get to know Saudi Militants” escapade cost the life of his cameraman.

    The BBC has a history of this type of irresponsible attempts to give voice to Islamic militants as Alan John ston can surely testify.

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  25. buzzdroid says:

    oh god.. gardner is on again about the “iraq war” , “palestine” and “afghanistan” being the reason behind jihad.

    bbc tv news on now.

    no mention of course about Sayeed Qutb or the Muslim Brotherhood which provided the ideological underpinnings of Al Qaeda in the 1980s – which all pre dated the iraq war.

    this sort of misinformation on national tv is just making me f**king mad now. its gone beyond the joke.

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  26. dave t says:

    Notice how John Reith et al have gone very quiet about the blatant misinformation being peddled by the BBC in this case as they try to rewrite history yet again?

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  27. buzzdroid says:

    “Aren’t security experts usually ex-forces or ex-intelligence?
    Jon | 01.07.07 – 10:35 pm ”

    i wish i could see more of Bob Baer, although his American accent would discount him from BBC work.

    http://www.channel4.com/news/microsites/C/cult_suicide_bomber/index.html

    his “cult of the suicide bomber” tv series was a tour de force in explaining jihad.

    and he’s ex-CIA, Middle East area:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Baer

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  28. GCooper says:

    Just in case David Gregory has been scratching his head since several commenters (myself among them) complained about mindless coverage of ‘GW’ by unqualified BBC pundits, he might like to use the Corporation’s ‘Listen Again’ facility to catch this evening’s R4 Westminster Hour.

    Once again, listeners were treated to an unquestioning acceptance of the mythology, this time followed by a report from a BBC hack who had just ‘undergone a carbon audit’ (what an original idea!), followed by an interview with a Labour MP who has built a ‘carbon neutral’ house.

    It is this incessant, mantra-like repetition of the same old half-truths that sets the tone of public debate and creates the impression in viewers’ and listeners’ minds that this whole issue is settled.

    Is this accident or is it design? Well the following quote from the Leftist IPPR suggests the latter. And I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions about the BBC.

    “…. at least for popular communications, interested agencies now need to treat the argument as having been won. This means simply behaving as if climate change exists and is real, and that individual actions are effective… The ‘facts’ need to be treated as being so taken-for-granted that they need not be spoken.”

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  29. buzzdroid says:

    Dr Jihad

    http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1273122,00.html
    Two Terror Suspects Are Hospital Doctors

    Sky Crime Reporter Martin Brunt said: “This is very far removed from the picture we normally have. These are professional people with highly paid jobs who are intent on killing people.”

    isnt multiculturalism just great

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  30. GCooper says:

    buzzdroid writes:

    “Two Terror Suspects Are Hospital Doctors”

    Which, if true, is yet another story on which Sky has scooped the BBC!

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  31. Anonymous says:

    SkyNews says 2 of the 5 arrested are Doctors, all are “non-British” … so much for the disenfranchiesed young men theory. It looks like Al Qaeda, smells of Al Qaeda, It tastes of Al Qaeda, … so Frank Gardner will tell you its discontent amongst Pakistani-Bitish youth going to Pakistan as part of their outrage against thnothing to do with Al Qaeda but a reaction to the Iraq War.

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  32. will says:

    oh god.. gardner is on again about the “iraq war” , “palestine” and “afghanistan” being the reason behind jihad.

    bbc tv news on now.

    The BBC often pick up & run with a comment article from the Sunday press.

    Hassan Butt’s “It’s not about Iraq” (Observer) is not one of those cases.

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  33. Anonymous says:

    Red Ken tells BBC Radio: “In this city, Muslims are more likely to be law-abiding than non-Muslims and less likely to support the use of violence to achieve political ends than non-Muslims”.

    Naturally the BBC interviewer shot back and said “So why are there a disproportionate number of Muslims in jail, why are Muslims more likely to perpetrate religious hate crimes and more likely to carry out terrorism then the rest of the population?”

    Nah! Only joking! They said nothing of the sort!

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  34. indigenous says:

    The BBC/Frank Gardner line – Young British Muslims are being radicalised by….

    On the other hand – Islam is a religion of peace (Islam comes from the Arabic word Salaam which means peace, and Muslims always greet each other with the phrase “As Salam Alaikum meaning May Peace be Upon You”) and hence there is no room for radicalism.

    http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=radical+islam

    Thinks “What do Muslims greet Non Muslims with?”

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  35. Jon says:

    Seems like at the BBC “specialists” do not have to study their subject the just appear from nothing.

    The BBC say let there be specialists and lo one appears.

    “In 1994, after a stop off in Elstree to work on political programmes, she reached the Southern end of the M1, and started work as a reporter in Broadcasting House for GNS, the department of the BBC that provides national and international news for the local radio network.

    She became environment specialist in 1998, before moving to BBC News 24 in October last year.”
    http://www.the-ba.net/the-ba/ScienceinSociety/_EventsandProgrammes/x-change/_SarahMukherjeeBiography.htm

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  36. Jon says:

    And here is another one:

    “Mr Alex Kirby is a British journalist. He worked for nearly twenty years for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), starting in the World Service newsroom and following this with stints reporting from Algeria, Egypt and other parts of the Islamic world. From 1987 to 1996, he was environment correspondent for BBC News, working in both radio and television. He then changed to cover religious affairs, before leaving the BBC in 1998 to develop his freelance career. This includes work as environment correspondent for BBC News Online; providing training in media skills to companies, universities and non-governmental organisations; and lecturing, writing and broadcasting. He is presenter of BBC Radio Four�s environment series, Costing the Earth. He has no scientific education, and is convinced that the widespread distrust and misunderstanding of scientists in industrial societies is a threat to human development.”
    http://www.world-nuclear.org/sym/1999/kirbbio.htm

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  37. Umbongo says:

    Why does the BBC persist in telling us that “Asians” are being arrested/questioned? If I were Sikh or Chinese, for instance, I’d be incensed – even “angry” – that I was being smeared by the BBC in order to protect its minority of choice.

    Concerning “minorities of choice” it appears that since I am a member of the indigenous white community I can be smeared with impunity by the mayor of London who accuses my community of being less law-abiding than his Moslem constituents. The white indigenous community is also being smeared by every other politician and policeman on TV who constantly imply that we are going to launch a pogrom against Moslems. This didn’t happen after 7/7, it won’t happen now.

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  38. buzzdroid says:

    bbc news 24: iranian doctor was one of those arrested

    sky news: 2 of the suspects are doctors.

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  39. GCooper says:

    Quite astonishing. It is now midnight and still the complacent BBC hasn’t flagged Sky’s story about the occupations of two of the people arrested in connection with the Glasgow terrorism attack.

    Still – there’s a picture of Lily Allen on the website and lots about the ‘Concert for Diana’!

    Oh, and a story about Bliar having proposed to Cherie, ‘…as I cleaned the loo’. That has been there all day.

    It’s the sheer, relentless professionalism of the BBC that gets to you, isn’t it?

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  40. Ju says:

    12:11 am
    BBC Repeating their resentment narrative over Iraq and Palestine –

    if u watch at 01:00 news u might just catch the repeat

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  41. bijan daneshmand says:

    buzzdroid:
    bbc news 24: iranian doctor was one of those arrested

    Been telling you about the Islamic nutcases that the government of the Islamic Republic has encouraged for some time on this site. The BBC has been abetting in this encouragement of Islamic radicalism for years.

    Lets see if the Maida Vale mosque or Massoud Shajarah of the Islamic Human Rights Comission is involved.

    Lets see what this apparently Newcastle based Iranian Doctor Asha who taken off the M6 was up to.

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  42. buzzdroid says:

    something you wont see on the bbc

    http://michaelyon-online.com/wp/bless-the-beasts-and-children.htm

    warning : not for the faint of heart.

    michael yon reports on the iraqi army digging up a al-qaeda mass grave.

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  43. Ju says:

    GCooper:
    Quite astonishing. It is now midnight and still the complacent BBC hasn’t flagged Sky’s story about the occupations of two of the people arrested in connection with the Glasgow terrorism attack.

    In fairness they did just report the Iranian doctor on news 24 and I saw it referenced in this article
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6259354.stm
    “The man has been identified by the BBC as Dr Mohammed Asha.”

    (er..u mean Sky? who broke the news first)

    No headline on the front page either!
    That might upset their propaganda campaign that it is “youth” resentment over iraq

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  44. buzzdroid says:

    if dr jihad does turn out to be iranian, thats an interesting development.

    iranians are shia. al qaeda are sunni.

    pure speculation, but might this be hezbollah sponsored instead?

    a dry run for the forthcoming israel-hez summer war?

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  45. buzzdroid says:

    ju -> yeah i caught that “iranian doctor” announcement on news24 as well.

    i dont think sky have mentioned “iranian” yet though.

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  46. GCooper says:

    Ju writes:


    In fairness they did just report the Iranian doctor on news 24 ”

    Indeed, and they ran the story on R4’s news, as well.

    As regular readers will know, I have a special kind of contempt for the BBC’s much-vaunted (and phenomenally expensive!) website.

    It is either run and staffed by fools or knaves.

    Damned if I can make up my mind which.

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  47. GCooper says:

    buzzdroid writes:

    “if dr jihad does turn out to be iranian, thats an interesting development. ”

    It certainly is. Leaving aside the implications for our foreign policy (in so far as we have one), it makes the BBC’s downplaying of the psychopathology of Ahmadinnerjacket and his backing group, The Mad Mullahs, all the more treacherous.

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  48. buzzdroid says:

    gcooper -> i dont think its al qaeda, despite what the government is saying.

    i think it was either sky news or maybe on the web, that i read that one of doctors was jordanian, another lebanese, another iranian.

    thats not al qaeda (who are mostly saudi sunni). thats hezbollah.

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  49. buzzdroid says:

    speculation: this is a hezbollah (or even hamas) reponse to tony blair’s “peace envoy” job.
    iranian funded.

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