a crane and a heart's rhythms....

"The lingering cry of a crane is heard over the swamp.

I am listening, having gotten rid of unnecessary rhymes.

Sleep, torn and bloody land,

Shuddering from explosions, disrupting the heart's rhythm.”*

Lack of American funding is the reason Ukraine is failing on the battlefield, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Monday. He demanded the House Republicans pass the $61 billion aid bill as soon as possible.

Schumer, a New York Democrat, brought up Ukraine in a speech about the upcoming legislative agenda. The Democrat-majority Senate passed the funding proposal in mid-February, but the Republican-majority House has not voted on it yet.

“The situation in Ukraine is desperate,” Schumer said, claiming that the funding bill has been “collecting dust” for 55 days while “our friends in Ukraine fight and die on the battlefield with no support.” With each passing day, Ukraine is running out of more soldiers, ammunition and hope, he added.

“Let’s be blunt: the biggest reason Ukraine is losing the war is because the hard-right in the Congress has paralyzed the US from acting. That’s it, that’s the reason,” Schumer said.

By passing the bill, House Speaker Mike Johnson would “do the right thing for Ukraine, for America, and for democracy,” the New York Democrat argued. Otherwise, he claimed, the Republicans would hand a “large victory” to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Schumer made much the same argument while visiting Ukraine in late February, claiming that if Kiev gets the money, “they will win the war and beat Russia.”

Democrats have sought to split the GOP into “moderates”and “MAGA Republicans” – referring to former US President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan ‘Make America Great Again’ – to get support for their legislative agenda in both chambers of Congress. The tactic has paid off in the Senate, where 22 Republicans voted in favor of funding Ukraine, more than offsetting three Democrats who were opposed.

Republicans currently have a razor-thin majority in the 435-member House, with 218 seats to the Democrats’ 213. Johnson became speaker in late October, after a group of disgruntled GOP lawmakers voted to oust his predecessor Kevin McCarthy for striking a secret deal with the Democrats to pass Ukraine funding.

The US has provided Ukraine with $113 billion in various forms of assistance since the start of hostilities. Meanwhile, Russia has repeatedly condemned Western arms shipments to Ukraine, saying these will only prolong the conflict, while making the West a direct participant in the hostilities.

https://www.rt.com/news/595621-ukraine-losing-american-funding/

Written by Drago Bosnic, independent geopolitical and military analyst

For over two years now we’ve been reading, listening and watching the mainstream propaganda machine’s laughable claims about “Russia losing”, with the likes of the New York Times effectively becoming tabloids in all but name only with reports that Russia supposedly “lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers”. Simultaneously, they kept parroting the Neo-Nazi junta’s official numbers about “just over 30,000 of its own soldiers who have been KIA” (killed in action). However, ever since last year’s much-touted counteroffensive failed, they low-key started changing that narrative. In the last few months, that effectively turned into a full panic mode, with either “doomsday scenarios” popping up or the “Ukraine war” sections, previously overflowing with reports about the Kiev regime’s PR “victories”, now replaced by regular updates about the solar eclipse.

However, ignoring reality won’t change it and a lot of people have questions about the situation on the ground. Why is Russia winning “all of a sudden”? Why are the sanctions not working? Better yet, why is there an opposite effect, with Moscow’s economy breaking records and becoming the largest in Europe, while the political West is going through an unraveling of sorts? And yet, instead of looking in the mirror and finding a way to actually deal with all that, the US-led power pole is resorting to more of the same – good old war propaganda. Namely, the troubled Biden administration is now insisting that “Russia has almost completely reconstituted militarily”. Last week, on April 3, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said so at an event hosted by the infamous pro-Democrat and neoliberal extremist/warmongering neocon mix Center for New American Security (CNAS).

“We have assessed over the course of the last couple of months that Russia has almost completely reconstituted militarily,” Campbell stated.

He added this happened despite the political West’s sanctions that were supposed to “dent [Russian] military supplies, funding and capabilities”. Defense News found Campbell’s assessment quite surprising, as it “contradicts those of the Pentagon and America’s allies in Europe”. Namely, just last month, during the 20th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG), US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that “at least 315,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded” since the special military operation (SMO) started. He also added that Russia has allegedly spent “up to $211 billion to equip, deploy, maintain and sustain” its forces in Ukraine and that this will supposedly cost it “$1.3 trillion in previously anticipated economic growth through 2026”. If the numbers are true, that would be quite impressive for a country that’s supposed to be a “gas station with nukes“.

However, given the history of the US-led political West’s blatant lies about pretty much anything, one must take such claims with a truckload of salt. In fact, these numbers may very well be an admission of NATO’s own expenses and the Neo-Nazi junta’s losses, as both usually just flip the actual figures and report the ones they don’t like as Moscow’s supposed “losses”. Expectedly, the advance of Russian troops in several sectors of the frontline is attributed to the “drop in American aid, leading to ammunition shortages on Ukraine’s front lines”. Interestingly, Austin’s claims were preceded by other Western officials’ laughable statements that Moscow’s forces would “take years to rebuild”. Namely, back in mid-January, Laurynas Kasčiūnas, Chair of the National Security and Defense Committee in the Lithuanian Parliament, said it would “take Russia 5-7 years to reconstitute its forces”.

And yet, Campbell’s assessment suggests this happened in just two months. This pretty much tells you all you need to know about “well-informed Western officials”. Defense News attributes the “rebuilding process” to the rise in Russian defense spending, assessing it now stands at 6% of Moscow’s GDP. However, isn’t its economy “in tatters”, and if that’s the case, how come that the “evil Kremlin” is able to increase spending? All this shows that the mainstream propaganda machine keeps getting caught in the web of its own lies and “reality bubbles”. However, as those keep bursting, the political West is desperately trying to (re)construct its propaganda narratives for domestic consumption. It now goes as far as to blame Russia’s resilience on not only China, but also North Korea and Iran. Both Campbell and another senior official of the troubled Biden administration said so.

“We’ve really seen the [People’s Republic of China] start to help to rebuild Russia’s defense industrial base, essentially backfilling the trade from European partners that lapsed when Russia invaded,” the other official said, speaking with reporters this week on the condition of anonymity.

President Joe Biden reportedly raised the issue in a call with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, while US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen did the same during a recent visit to China. However, Beijing seems completely unconcerned, as it has repeatedly stated that Washington DC’s threats regarding its close ties with Moscow mean nothing, particularly as the United States and its vassals and satellite states keep escalating their aggression in the Asia-Pacific. It seems that simply maintaining normal economic and financial relations with Russia now boils down to “helping” its efforts to push back against NATO aggression in Europe. After all, even if countries like China, Iran and North Korea are building closer ties with their northern neighbor, it can only be expected that countries that the political West keeps threatening will find ways to unite their forces and push back together.

Interestingly, the Defense News report also effectively admits the staggering losses of the Neo-Nazi junta, as it claims that “Moscow’s success has added pressure to the government in Kyiv, which this week lowered the draft age from 27 to 25 amid losses on the frontlines”. If the Kiev regime’s manpower losses amount to only 31,000 KIA, they certainly wouldn’t be lowering the age for forced conscription. Worse yet, it’s now even considering the possibility to tap into over three million childless Ukrainian women, demonstrating once again just how desperate it is. However, manpower alone doesn’t mean much if around 80-85% of soldiers on both sides die due to artillery, drones and long-range weapons. And the battlefield data shows that on average, precisely Russia has a 10:1 advantage in all those systems, which further explains the Neo-Nazi junta’s staggering losses.

https://southfront.press/russian-military-completely-reconstituted-biden-admin-effectively-admits-it-lied/

it's time for being earnest.....

POEM AT TOP BY A RUSSIAN WOMAN FIGHTER....

By Gus Leonisky at 9 Apr 2024 - 2:16pm
Gus Leonisky's blog
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yuck-nazis....

By Kit Klarenbeg / The Grayzone

Centuria, an ultra-violent Ukrainian Neo-Nazi faction, has cemented itself in six cities across Germany, and is seeking to expand its local presence. According to Junge Welt, a Berlin-based Marxist daily, the Nazi organization’s growth has been “unhindered by local security services.”

Junge Welt traces Centuria’s origins to an August 2020 Neo-Nazi summit “at the edge of a forest near Kiev.” There, an ultranationalist named Igor “Tcherkas” Mikhailenko demanded the “hundreds of mostly masked vigilante fighters present,” who were members Kiev’s fascistic National Militia, “make sacrifices for the idea of ‘Greater Ukraine.’” As the former head of the Neo-Nazi Patriot of Ukraine’s Kharkiv division, and commander of the state sponsored Azov Battalion from 2014 to 2015, Mikhailenko has professed a desire to “destroy everything anti-Ukrainian.”

Junge Welt reports that since 2017, the National Militia “had been practicing brutal vigilante justice” throughout Ukraine, including “tyrannizing the LGBTQ scene.” Centuria was subsequently blamed for a terrifying November 2021 attack on a gay nightclub in Kiev, in which its operatives assaulted revelers with truncheons and pepper spray.

Now the same Neo-Nazi sect “has an offshoot in Germany,” Junge Welt revealed. On August 24 2023, the 32nd anniversary of Ukraine’s independence, Centuria convened a “nationalist rally” in the central city of Magdeburg, “unmolested by Antifa and critical media reporting.”

Participants proudly posed with the flag of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) founded by World War II-era Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera. Centuria boasted at the time on Telegram, “although Ukrainian youth are not in their homeland, they are starting to unite.” Meanwhile, they threatened the “enemies” of their country with “hellish storm,” pledging that “Ukrainian emigrants” would not “forget their national identity for a few hundred euros.”

Junge Welt reports that Centuria “is currently raising funds for its parent organization’s combat unit,” which is commanded by Andriy Biletsky – the Azov Battalion founder who infamously stated in 2014 that the Ukrainian nation’s mission was to “lead the white races of the world in a final crusade… against Semite-led Untermenschen.” At home, Centuria’s members express similar attitudes towards Muslims, Africans, and gays, whom they refer to, respectively, as the “German Caliphate,” “black rapists,” and “pedophiles.”

Now, the group’s members are working hard to pass their ideological vision down to future racists across the continent. “We are creating a new generation of heroes!” Centuria’s Telegram channel boasts. Accordingly, the neo-Nazi group has been arranging hiking trips to Germany’s Harz mountains with a Ukrainian nationalist scout association called Plast. This outfit opened chapters across the Western world beginning in the 1950s, in response to the Soviet Union’s hounding of fascists and nationalists. Besides receiving ideological indoctrination, Plast’s youthful members may have the opportunity to improve their physical fitness and receive military training. As Centuria ominously declares on Telegram, “free people have weapons.”

As Washington gradually backs away from its sponsorship of Ukraine’s war with Russia, it has begun ceding responsibility for the military campaign’s management – and likely failure – to Berlin. If US arms shipments continue to dwindle, Germany will become Kiev’s chief supplier of weapons. And the Germans may find that saying “no” to Ukraine could result in some nasty surprises.

Unlike the US, Germany does not enjoy an ocean-length buffer between itself and the fascistic proxy warriors it sponsors in Ukraine. After Ukraine’s much-hyped counteroffensive finally collapsed in late 2023, its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, grumbled a veiled threat during an interview with the Economist: “There is no way of predicting how the millions of Ukrainian refugees in European countries would react to their country being abandoned.”

While Ukrainians have generally “behaved well” and are “very grateful” to those who sheltered them, it would not be a “good story” for Europe if it were to “drive these people into a corner,” Zelensky remarked to the outlet.

To understand how more radical elements of a spent proxy force could turn their guns on the Western governments that armed them, one need only look at the events of September 11, 2001.

A Secret Western-Backed Nazi Network

While Centuria relies heavily on Ukrainian migrants as recruits, it also benefits from an entrenched structure of elite European support.

In September 2021, George Washington University’s Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) published a detailed and deeply unsettling report which documents how Centuria was nurtured by a “self-described order of ‘European traditionalist’ military officers that has the stated goals of reshaping the country’s military along right-wing ideological lines and defending the ‘cultural and ethnic identity’ of European peoples against ‘Brussels’ politicos and bureaucrats.’”

IERES reported that Centuria’s military wing began training in 2018 in Ukraine’s Hetman Petro Sahaidachny National Army Academy (NAA), Kiev’s “premier military education institution and a major hub for Western military assistance to the country.”

The paper revealed that “as recently as April 2021, [Centuria] claimed that since its launch, members have participated in joint military exercises with France, the UK, Canada, the US, Germany, and Poland.”

Indeed, many of the neo-Nazi group’s members have drilled at the de facto NATO base in Yavoriv, just a few kilometers east of the Polish border.

What’s more, “the group claims that its members serve as officers in several units of Ukraine’s military. Since at least 2019, Centuria has… [called] on ideologically aligned members of the AFU to seek transfer to specific units where the group’s members serve. To attract new members, the group – via its Telegram channel, which has over 1,200 followers and a dedicated mobilization bot – continues to tout its alleged role in the AFU and access to Western training, military, and exchange programs.”

Every Western government the IERES researchers approached claimed not to tolerate neo-Nazis in their militaries, insisting they “trusted the Ukrainian government to select and identify the right candidates” for their training programs. But Ukraine’s Hetman Petro Sahaidachny National Army Academy (NAA) has explicitly declared it carries out no such screenings, while also denying Centuria operates within its headquarters.

After the report’s author reached out to Centuria and the NAA for comment about the training of neo-Nazis, operatives of the extremist movement began purging their online footprints, and have concealed their real-world activities ever since.

Western media outlets have almost completely ignored the IERES report, save for a single article in the Jerusalem Post. The silence around the issue is all the more unusual given the credentials of its author, a Washington DC-based Ukrainian citizen whose work has been published by US government outlet Voice of America, and the US and UK-government funded “open source” investigative outfit Bellingcat.

Among Western officials, only the Canadian Armed Forces have commented on the report’s meticulously-documented findings, preposterously claiming that photos posted to Facebook by Centuria members had been “doctored” to advance “Russian disinformation.”

Such disingenuity is not surprising given the Canadian military’s well-documented history of providing training to hardened Ukrainian fascists — and its refusal to disavow Ukrainian Nazis.

To this day, the leader of the country’s military, Gen. Wayne Eyre, continues to refuse to apologize for giving a standing ovation to Yaroslav Hunka, a WWII Nazi collaborator honored by Canada’s parliament.

According to researchers, Centuria fighters within Ukraine have spent at least the last five years attempting to indoctrinate their high-achieving comrades into Neo-Nazism. The IERES report notes that Centuria “has been able to proselytize Ukraine’s future military elite inside the NAA.”

Portrait of a British-Trained Neo-Nazi

Underlining the extent of the neo-Nazi penetration of Western military apparatuses, NAA cadet Kyrylo Dubrovskyi, attended an 11-month Officer Training Course at Britain’s esteemed Sandhurst Royal Military Academy in 2020. Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs celebrated his graduation while the NAA published a 12-minute video profile of the new graduate’s path to military leadership. IERES noted that Dubrovskyi “showed very keen interest in Centuria matters” while attending the Academy

Dubrovskyi appears to have narrated a Centuria promotional video circulated on Telegram in May 2020, in which the group’s members are shown marching in Lviv, attending an NAA event, and firing their weapons. Dubrovskyi can be heard intoning, “our officers are raising the new army of Ukraine… We are the Centuria. We are everywhere… defend your territories, your traditions till the last drop of blood.”

A month before, Centuria posted an interview with an unnamed “cadet of Her Majesty’s Armed forces,” a description that could only match one individual: Dubrovskyi. He made clear he preferred training in Ukraine, as British training for military officers “put less emphasis on theory.” During this time, “Dubrovskyi enjoyed access to foreign cadets who visited the Academy,” and “on several occasions escorted foreign delegations that visited the Academy,” including cadets from the US Air Force and the French military.

It is unclear how much “theory” Dubrovskyi injected into the daily routines of Western soldiers with whom he crossed paths while at Sandhurst. IERES concluded that “Dubrovskyi and Centuria leveraged his status as a Sandhurst cadet” to promote the group and its ideology. On the “about” section of his personal YouTube channel, Dubrovskyi describes himself as “a cadet of the Royal Academy of Great Britain.” There, he posted multiple videos about his experiences at the academy, and at least one message expressing a desire to join the neo-Nazi Azov Regiment.

On Telegram in December 2020, Centuria made clear that infiltrating the Ukrainian military’s highest echelons was but the first step in a much wider ideological blitzkrieg: “Centuria is shaping a first-of-its-kind military elite whose goal is to attain the highest ranks inside the Armed Forces in order to become an authoritative core able to hold significant influence.” After consolidating its hold on the military, the group plans to penetrate the ranks of “Ukraine’s political elite,” in order to “carry out societal changes.”

https://scheerpost.com/2024/04/08/meet-centuria-ukraines-western-trained-neo-nazi-army/

it's time for being earnest.....

the aussie fools....

A Ukrainian soldier kneels in a church hit in a Russian air raid in Orikhiv, in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, on Friday. Photo: AP

EXCLUSIVEPlea to divert ‘dirty money’ to Ukraine

Rob Harris

Europe correspondent

Billions of dollars in Russian assets frozen by Australian authorities should be confiscated and put towards financial support for Ukraine, a group of prominent Australians say, as they urge the federal government to join other allies of Kyiv to boost aid for the war-torn nation.

The group, which includes former prime ministers, business, union and military leaders and former diplomats, has written to Treasurer Jim Chalmers urging him to consider several options to divert billions in ‘‘dirty money’’ held in Australia since it sanctioned Russian oligarchs and others deemed to have aided and abetted the invasion and the occupation of Ukraine.

Discussions on using Russian assets have intensified as President Vladimir Putin’s forces gain momentum on the battlefield, its air force pounds Ukrainian forces and towns, and the US Congress holds out on approving a multibillion-dollar aid package.

Amid growing criticism of Australia’s lack of military and humanitarian aid, the Supporters of Ukraine Network has asked the government to join other nations in developing legal options for the use of sovereign Russian assets for the nation’s recovery and reconstruction and to update its own laws to

ensure that Russian assets can be utilised.

‘‘We make this plea because Australia can punch well above its weight at no cost to the Australian taxpayer,’’ says the letter, whose signatories include former prime minister John Howard, health industry leader Dr Tanya Dus and Reverend Bill Crews, a Uniting Church minister and humanitarian.

‘‘Nine billion dollars in Russian assets now held in Australia can make an immense difference in Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction. It would effectively fund the reconstruction of half of Ukraine’s educational infrastructure.’’

Sanctions imposed by much of the West since Russia’s invasion in February 2022 are estimated to have frozen about $US300 billion ($455 billion) of Bank of Russia foreign exchange reserves in G7 countries, the European Union and Australia. It is estimated that two-thirds of these assets are located in EU countries, and held mostly in cash. Australia has no domestic mechanism for seizing frozen assets. The current domestic legal framework prevents the government from being able to seize or apply for forfeiture of them. The Proceeds of Crime Act does not apply to assets frozen due to sanctions.

‘‘There’s current major global action on accessing sovereign Russian assets for Ukraine’s rebuild,’’ said Ukraine’s Ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko.

‘‘In Europe – whether it’s in terms of armed support or accessing frozen assets – leaders are seeing that they need to act with resolution when it comes to the Russian threat.

‘‘We would very much welcome Australia’s participation in those processes, as it’s just and practical for an aggressor to pay for the immense damage they have done to an innocent nation.’’

Current rules dictate that when sanctions are lifted in the future, the owners of the assets must receive them back in full, plus the interest owed as agreed contractually before the sanctions were imposed, but minus the costs of handling these assets during the sanctions period.

The US and Britain have been pushing G7 allies to seize the central bank assets outright, but some European members, especially France and Germany, are opposed to the move over legal concerns and worries that it could set a dangerous precedent.

In addition to sovereign assets, more than 40 Russian oligarchs have been sanctioned by the Australian government since the invasion began. An estimated $9 billion in cash and assets has been frozen of wealthy businessmen viewed as allies of Putin, more than nine times the amount that has been pledged by the federal government for military and humanitarian aid.

A UN-backed study published last month estimated post-war reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine is projected to cost $US486 billion ($740 billion) over the next decade, up from $US411 billion estimated a year ago.

Analysis from the Kiel Institute, which monitors countries’ aid to Ukraine, found Australia has contributed just 0.04 per cent of its GDP to helping. Only New Zealand, Taiwan and Turkey – of the 41 countries that have given Ukraine money – have provided less.

Among the 26 signatories to the letter is Tony Abbott, a vocal critic of the faction of US Republicans holding up aid; former defence minister Marise Payne; former NSW premier and diplomat Barry O’Farrell; Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association national secretary Gerard Dwyer; author and academic Michael Lawriwsky; and Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew Mackellar.

Opponents say such a move could weaken confidence in the euro and have questioned the legal basis for seizing the assets, but the letter points to several allies who believe a legal route to seize Russian state assets could be found.

‘‘Other countries are acting in this respect and Australia should too, further bolstering its substantive support to Ukraine to date and re-emphasising its commitment to Ukraine and the rule of law.’’

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said Australia’s goal was to ‘‘empower Ukraine to end the war on its terms’’. ‘‘We will continue to provide targeted assistance to Ukraine and impose costs on Russia,’’ he said.

SMH, 09/04/2024....

NOT ONLY UKRAINE IS LOSING, IT WILL LOSE NO MATTER THE AMOUNT OF MONEY THE AUSSIE GOVERNMENT IS GOING TO STEAL FROM RUSSIANS... EVENTUALLY, WHEN A PEACE DEAL IS SIGNED, THE MONEY WILL HAVE TO BE PAID BACK... WITH WHAT CASH I DARE SAY... FURTHER MORE, THIS WOULD SIGNAL TO THE REST OF THE WORLD THAT AUSTRALIA IS A THIEF... THIS IS NOT A NEW CONCEPT BUT LET'S NOT ADD MORE TO THIS NARATIVE...

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FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW....

By Gus Leonisky at 9 Apr 2024 - 2:41pm
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yuck-yankee....

The United States does not have any evidence that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza as it carries out its war against Palestinian militant group Hamas, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has said.

Israel declared war on Hamas last October after a surprise and deadly cross-border raid staged by the militant group, in which at least 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage. The subsequent Israeli bombing and ground operation in Gaza has killed at least 33,000 people, according to the territory’s Health Ministry.

Austin, who was delivering opening remarks on the Pentagon’s 2025 budget request, was interrupted twice by anti-Israeli protesters who made it into the hearing room on Capitol Hill, demanding that the US “stop funding Israel” and supporting a “genocide” in Gaza. The demonstrators forced the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing to pause while police removed them from the room.

Asked by Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) if he agreed with the protesters’ claims of genocide, Austin said he did not.

“We don’t have any evidence of genocide,” Austin replied. “I would remind everybody that what happened on October 7 was absolutely horrible.”

Last month, UN Human Rights Council special rapporteur Francesca Albanese concluded in a report that there are, in fact, “reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating Israel’s commission of genocide is met.”
The UN has also warned of further humanitarian “catastrophe” if the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) goes through with a planned ground offensive in Rafah, the last remaining Palestinian shelter in Gaza. On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government had set a date for the offensive to begin.

https://www.rt.com/news/595664-gaza-genocide-israel-pentagon/

HOW MANY MORE KIDS AND WOMEN DOES NETANYAHU NEED TO KILL BEFORE ONE RECOGNISES A GENOCIDE?

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FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW....

By Gus Leonisky at 10 Apr 2024 - 9:27am
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