Gaza, Israel, Palestine and October 7th: Gaza Faces History

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

Gaza Faces History

Enzo Traverso

Footnote, 2024

Where does the world satnd on the tragedy of October 7th 2023 when the 59 kilometer border between Israel and Gaza was berached and thousnads of HAMAS men stormed into the settlements along the breached wall and massacred with extreme brutality and violence around 1300 civilians and by definition non-combatants. Babies were killed in front of their parents in Be'eri Kibbitz and some even thrown into micro wave ovens by HAMAS militants. In the Supernova Music Festival barely a kilometer within the perimeter fence another 350 young revelers were gunned down and in the Re'im Kibbutz the same scene of nauseating violence was reeneacted all over again. The breach in the Erez border was further widened by JCBs that were pressed into service and HAMAS men trooped into Israel in SUVs and other vehicles. Soon paragliders with heavily armed Palestenians were seen over the Mediterranean near Gaza. By 8 in the morning the Palestenians had uploaded the videos of the horrendous acts of violence that were committed in Israel on Social Media with live coverage on Telegram channel of the HAMAS.

The author of the book cited above dismisses October 7th as an irrelevant detail and launches in a tirade against the Israeli response. Before discussing the book, one point must be cleared. Israeli response was brutal and highly destructive and though nearly 44 000 Gazans were killed we cannot term this as Genocide as the Palestineans in the West Bank were largely unaffected though Israel has launched punitive strikes against Palestenian targets in the West Bank as well. The UN Convention is clear in its definition of what constitutes Genocide and the savage attack against Gaza falls short of Genocide. And in terms of sheer numbers the US and NATO attacks on Iraq, Syria, and Libya caused at least 5 to 7 million deaths.  By 10 30 the IDF swung into action and started engaging the Palestenians near the breached border and in 3 days of intense fighting killed all the Palestenians holed up within Israel. The retreating HAMAS militants took nearly 250 civilians hostage and the number included Israelis, Americans, Germans and other nationalities. The capture and the cynical use of the hostages as "bargaining chips" added a new dimension to the tragedy of October 7th. 

The map illustrates the attacks on Israel and the counter launched from Israel. The militants in the early phase of the October 7 attacks launched more than 5000 rockets against targets in Israel which completely overwhelmned the Iron Dome Missile Shield and at least 2 500 rockets landed in residential areas. Israeli Air force started bombing targets in Gaza though the ground troops The ground troops entered Gaza only after 2 months  in January 2024 when full scale invasion of Gaza and limited attack on Hezbollah positions in Lebonon were carried out. This book is a critique of Israel and its policies in Palestine which the author has termed a Genocide with War Crimes galore. The western press which is inherently anti semetic/Israel and Russophobic has largely been scating in its reportage regarding the Gaza War.  Let us look at some of the criticism made.

The HAMAS has carried out attacks using civilian infrastructure as shields. In pursuit of this policy Schools, Parks, Hospitals and housing areas were seeded with rocket launching pads and in the counter offensive many civilians lost their lives. It is necessary to keep this context in mind and Enzo Traverso ignores this reality. The Jabaliya Indonesian Hospital housed the control and command post of the HAMAS along with a huge cache of arms and ammunition. Western public opinion has been moulded by generally  overstating the Palestinian case and ignoring the political and strategic reasons for Israeli action, And if the past conduct of Israel is any guide we know that Israel will take decisive and brutal countermeasures. HAMAS ought to have known the consequences of its misadventure of Ocober 7th. 

The UN Convention on Human Rights and Genocide were signed in the heady days after the victory in World War II. Terrorism since has morphed into a multi dimensional threat with or without State support. HAMAS, Houthis, Hezbollah are all non state groups and therfore operate outside of the constarints of UN charters and conventions. Israel therefore chooses not to be restrained by laws that act as fretters that bind States and not non state actors. 

This book is an excercise in intellectual polemic that is aimed at the liberal white audience,

The Tamils: A portrait of a Community Critical Review

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The Tamils Portrait of a Community

Aleph: New Delhi 2025

This book provides a close look into the dark world of politico-ethnic fantacies that is being promoted by the "Dravidian Model" partly as an ideological carapace to gloss over the rather bizzare social experiment that has been enacted in the Tamil region under the leadership of E V Ramasamy Naikker and his acolytes and to further the political objectives of the ruling dispensation. Academia and Media act in concert one furthering the discourse of the other. If indents for Zyklon are not being filled in Tamil Nadu, the answer lies in the reality that the Indian State is a reassuring presence. Like every kind of fascism Tamil Nadu, for political reason has identified one particular ethnic/caste group for instense campaign of hate and marginalization. And Stockholm Syndrome prevents its victims from even apprehending the scale and scope of their own debasement.

Let us start with the positive elements in this book. Though highly repetitive, especially on the historical aspects of medieval History, the book rests on a solid base of secondary material culled from the published work of Burton Stein, Noboru Karashima, Y Subbarayalu, Nilakanta Shastri amomg others. The geographical locus of the study is entirely Madras and Nothern Tamil Nadu with ocassional forays into Tanjavur and Madurai. The rich history and culture of the Kongu region is completely neglected except for the interegmum of Tipu Sultan and his father. The Kongu region has had a complex history and became the hub of entrepenuership and industrialization early in the twentieth century and as such deserves more engagement. 

The obsession with the so-called Sangam Age is paraded throughout the book. Using  literary narratives to frame an archaeological culture is always problematic in that it presupposes a clear and unambiguous chronology. The bardic compositions associated with the narrative poems are beset with intractable controversies relating to the dating of these poems and their modes of transmission down to the nineteenth century when they were "discovered" by Dr U V Swaminatha Aiyer. Whitney Cox has demonstrated that the Manuscript Culture prevalent in the medieval period presupposes a professional literate group with the skill set necessary to curate copy preserve the literary works. This being the case there is no truth in the oft repeated fable that the "Sangam Age" and its literary heritage was lost until the Tamil Renaissance rediscovered it.

On page 125 the author writes: "...the general boost that Brahmins received socially from royal diminished the resistance and gave brahmin landlords an inbuilt advantage that servered  them multigenerationally in the accumulation of wealth and resources". Of course when grand sweeping generalizations of this nature are made whose purpose is to play along with the dominant dravidianist narrative, we cannot expect evidence to stand in the way. Historical facts tell a different story. The brahmadeyas endowed disappeared from the agrarian landscape in the turbulent thirteenth century when the Chola Empire preciptously declined. Burton Stein has shown through a detailed study of inscriptions that brahmadeyas were not extablished after the 13th century. In fact during the later Chola period the base of royal patronage shifted from brahmadeyas to the rapidly proliferating Saiva mathas that were coming up in the Kaveri region and its environs.  So much for intergenerational accumulation that she talks about. This fixation on brahmin privilege is hardwired by vigorous propaganda in political, cinematic and media channels and of course organic intelllectuals will parrot this "wisdom" ad nauseum. Coming to more recent evidence, the fact that less than 40% of the graduates of Madras University  who got their degrees in the first commencement were of non brahmin origin. And the list of voters who were elibible to vote in the elections held as per the Minto-Morley Reforms which was on the basis of property qualification is even more damning to this self serving argument trumped up through political grandstanding.

The tales of persecution of Jains of course offends modern sensibilities. But there is no evidence to substantiate the oft repeated horror stories about jains being killed in Madurai on the orders of a Saivte King. Geograhical details are spotty. Is Udayagiri near Sanchi as stated on pg. 94. Does Marco Polo refer to the "Tower of Malla" near Nagapatinnam as remarked on pg. 79. The author ignores one of the most amazing cultural and intellectual contributions of medieval Tamil region. The appropriation and transformation of Kasmiradesa Saiva religion into the Saiva Siddhantha which became institutionalised in the mathas referred to above. Perhaps the reason for ignoring such developments can be traced back to the cautionary words spoken by a prince of the dravidianist movment. 

This book written by one trained in "Post Colonialism" must be read with extreme caution as it presnts contentious facts as though they have no context and are beyond debate.

Subash Chandra Bose, an American Historian and Politics A Terrible deplorable Mixture

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The book on the right is a collection of short essays. reviews and reflections of a Historian well entrenched in the "South Asia" baliwick. A Jewish heritage amkes him natrually drift to the left of the political spectrum, but when it comes to India we find him squarely with the Congress on all key issues. His book Brothers Against the Raj was based on material found and curated in the Netaji Research Bureau and and therefore presents the lives of Sarat and Subash from a perspective that does not annoy the family. However there is one very offensive line that I eake stong exception to: "British documents of the period note the he (Subash Chandra Bose) was presumed dead. If found alive, he would have been the only civilian tried (p.385). Tried for what Mr, Gordon? The implication of this sinsiter line is that Bose was guilty of collaborating with the Germans and the Japansese on whom the British Raj had declared war. Now it is very clear that being a subject state India had no say in this decision and Indians are at liberty to use the situation created by World War II to puruse its Independence. Leonard Gordon has crossed a line in making this absurd remark. Let me bring in the analogy of General Charles de Gaulle.

After the defeat and surrender of France, Col De Gaulle deserted Ftance and set up the Fighting France and sought soldiers in Algiers to join his force. It was only the good will of Winston Churchill that made de Gaulle join the victory parade after Liberation though his Fightin France had done precious little. And France will not question this politically convenient interpretation as (a) avoided the stigma of collaboration (b) avoided the consequences of defeat in that France was rewarded a victor and got a permanent seat on the Security Council. A defeated nation that collaborated with Germany becamr free of moral and political stain and Subash Chandra Bose who like Gaulle faught for his Nation has to be "tried" as Japan was defeated. Had the tables been turned the results would have been different.

Leonard Gordon has shown how easily his "white privilege" got his easy access to the Indian political and cultural elite. When Indira Gandhi's regime refused visa, he got Jyoti Basu and Satyajit Ray sign a joint letter requesting visa and the then Chief Minster of WEst Bengal Siddhartha Shankar Ray signed it and sent it to the PMO. If this is not privilege what else can we call it. And western scholars are able to suborn Indian loyalties very easily and this unfortunate tendency is still goin on. Every week we have the same suspects joining hands with white American scholars to lambast India. Colonialism still endures,

een

The Bose Deception is germane to this discussion. There has been virulent controversy over the alleged plane crash in August 1944 in which the regime in power in India at that time and the Congress playing to the gallery declared Bose dead. As far as India is concerned the people at large refused to buy this self serving theory especially as the British Government under Clement Atlee decided to Transfer Power to Jawaharlal Nehru and his Party. Bose dead would have been very convenient to this arrangement and this explains why the Intelligence Bureau kept track of Bose and kept up very close surveillence on the family.

Subash Chandra Bose remains the only Hero of the Freedom Struggle.

The Deep State, the Truth and the Battle for our Democray. Kash Patel exposes the Swamp

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

Anybody with doubts about the democratic credentials of USA must read this book. Kashyap Pramod Patel, the presumptive head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the new Administration of President Trump has exposed the ugly underbelly of what he calls the Swamp or the Deep State. That USA is in a state of permanent war with the rest of the world in well known: less so are the institutional and ideological compulsions behind the constant drum beat of war and military adventures. When President Trump  left Office in 2020 there was an uneasy peace which was soon shattered by the Ukraine-Russia War. It is now generally assumed that had Trump not been deprived of his victory in the 2020  Election, the pretext for Russian invasion, the NATO membership for Ukraine would not have been present. As we survey the world today we see a widening arc of conflict from Central Europe, to Iraq, Israel, Gaza, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangla Desh. Taiwan was a point of contention even in his first term and North Korea was far less beligerent during his term in the White House.

Kash Patel as he obviously likes being called is the son of Gujarathi immigarnts who settled in Queens, New York after Idi Amin expelled Indians from Uganda. A lwayer by profession, Kash Patel worked in Florida and caught the eye of the Republican establishment there as a "public defender". In this memoir of his four years in the first Trump Administration, Patel was instrumental in exposing the deep conspiracy that emanated from the Democrat Party and the Campaign headquarters of Hilary Clinton. Joe biden has even awarded her the Presidental Medal of Honor. Using a disgraced MI6 agent Christopher Steele to prepare a "dossier" with fabricated evidence, the Deep State and its assets in the Media such as the Washington Post and New York Times ran a vicious campaign to descredit Trump as a :Russian Agent". The methods used were similar to the ones used in India to run the false narrative against Narendra Modi and his alleged involvement in the 2002 Gujarat Riots. In both cases a high decibel campaign of  slander, selective leaks, motivated public statements and lawfare were used to create a narrative. Kash Patel was part of the Congressional team investigatiing Russia Gate and the Nunnes Memo estabished the fact that Trump was in no way connected with Vladmir Putin. It is shocking that well respected global newspapers sold themselves for political causes  that are close to the Deep State.

The most damning part of the book is when Kashyap Patel discusses the Benghazi killings of the American Ambassador and his staff in the compound of the Embassy. Obama who dis bot want the Inquiry damage the political climate for Hilary Clinton's Presidential Campaign used the FBI leadership to scuttle the probe. Real crimes involving American citizens were set aside and FBI misused to harass and intimidate ordinary citizens suggests that in the brave new world of Hi Tech USA, totalitarianism lurks. And there is no defence as even the courts are compromised.  FBI and its leadership was again deployed for political purposes when  the Director made a public statement knowing that it was false that Hunter Biden's lap top which contained documents relating to his deals in Ukraine was a Russian plant and Russian Disinformation. The failure of FBI to investigate the hunter Biden Lap top and the egregious corruption it proves indicates that the security apparatus was being misused. Kash Patel is livid and he regard both the FBI and the ODNI as parts of the corrupt Deep State.

Kashyap Patel is perhaps being too simplistic when he attacks an entity called the Deep State, It is in reality too diffuse, too complex and too widespread to be apprehended in a single term or word. Perhaps we should call it an ideology that believes in western dominance, permanent war, covert and overt interventions in parts of the world where economic and geopolitical interests converge, and selective use of law and ultimately its foreign policy is militaristic and costly in terms of blood and tresaure, US interventions in Serbia, Iraq, Libya and Syria have all been fueled by a pliant media willing to sell the War Now line.

I enjoyed reading this book. I encourage geopolitical and foreign policy experts in India to read this book as Kashp Patel will move into the White House from the FBI Headquarters. politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

Canada, India and the Unknown Gunmen: Is India responsible for the killing of criminals in Canada?

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The Unknown Gunmen by Col Ajay Raina is a good place to start.  There have been a spate of killings that seemingly target anti-India terrorists. In Pakistan alone several of the terrorists involved in the hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight to Kandahar have been eliminated together with terrorists belonging to the LeT and JeM, The Pakistani press has been crying itself hoarse over these executions though it has not provided any incriminating proof. Before proceeding we must look at this issue of "cross border" executions.

India has been wary of dealing with Pakistan ever since the audacious Mumbai Attacks on 26/11/2008. Obviously the teror attacks were organized by the Pakistani State and no meaningful resolution has happened. In fact the book by R V S Mani seems to imply that the Mumbai Terror Attacks were enable by the then UPA regime which colluded with Pakistan to help drive the narrative of "Saffron Terror". The Indian Army and Airforce were both ready to launch punitive strikes but the Government of Man Mohan Singh stood down. Since 2014 the policy has changes: surgical strikes and attacks on terror camps and facilities have taken place. And as the book Unknown Gunmen seems to imply, India has some ingress into opposition networks in Pakistan. It must be said that state Sovereignty casnnot be respected if a state indulges in terrorism and interferes in the internal affairs of another country. Westphalian statecraft does not apply in these circumstances. 

Justin Trudeau has made some outrageous allegations about the killing of a Khalistani terrorist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar. The Government of Canada is dependent on the support of extremist Sikh parties for survival and there are serious charges that China has helped Justin's Liberal Party win the elections. Is the Prime Minister of Canada diverting attention from China by making these allegations and this is exactly the line taken by the Ministry of External Affairs in its uncharecteristically harsh response to Canada. The fact that Nijjar may have been involved in the killing of Malik a Sikh extremist  who mended his relationship with India was ignored by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in its investigation. Gangland rivalries within Khalistani Terror groups linked to US asset Patwant Singh Pannu are being ignored  and India which has sent 28 extradiction requests for the criminals involved is being blamed by the Canadian Government. The complicity of the Canadian Government is clear from the fact that Nijjar's petition for citizenship was fast tracked in spite of serious errors in documentation. 

In the latest round of accusations against India, Canada has brought in the name of Laurence Bishnoi whos is lodged in an Indian jail. Laurence and Goldy Barar are rivals and both groups are killing rival gang members and Canada is dragging the name of India in the murky waters of inter gang rivalries and conflicts. It must be said that Lawrence Bishnoi has emerged as a cult figure after he started a crusade against the Balck Buck shooting convicts. But this does not mean that the Government of India in any manner is supporting him. Therefore the insinuation that India is operating through Lawrence Bishnoi is misplaced.

Col Ajay Raina's book is written in  free flowing journalistic manner and he seems to suggest that R  &AW has made deep inroads into terror networks in Pakistan, Dubai and Thailand. There is little evidence from intelligence sources to back up the claims and the author has relied entirely on press accounts. However it is an interesting read.

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis: J D Vance and American Politics

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Even the title is poetic. J D Vance who has been declared the running mate of President Trump, the once and future President of the United States is all of 38 years old and is a Senator from the state of Ohio. He has carved out a space for himself on the American Right by carefully selling himself as the epitome of a self made man who has caught the American dream in a green bay and danced with it to political visibility. His wife and mother of there three children is Indian and so obviously there is a great deal of interest in his politics and opinions. We were a little surprised by the nomination as Vance had attacked President Trump in a savage manner and did not expect him to be favored. But the die is cast and it is a Trump-Vance ticket. Vivek Ramaswamy had an incredible  run but after the Presidential debates he withdrew and it is certain that he will find a prominent place in the Trump Administration.

Vance advertises himself as a Hillbilly, a colorful word that has several  less respectable synonyms of which "poor white trash" is well known. After the Civil  War in America many white share croppers  and tenant farmers were displaced and made their way to the Appalachian regions. Vance's family settled in Kentucky and later Ohio. Poverty,  alcohol and substance abuse, serial marriages and joblessness were all part and parcel of Hillbilly society. And J D Vance's writes about his own mother as a typical representative of Appalachian upbringing--quick temper, a foul tongue, a violent passionate temper coupled with strong familial loyalty and Vance writes, " I was the abandoned son of a father I hardly knew and a mother I wished I did'nt."A very poignant statement about family in the poor regions of the US. As the country song of Lisa put it, learn right from wrong from a color T V.

Vance entered Yale Law School and graduated with a good degree in Law and joined a very prestigious Law firm. From his public positions he seems to have opposed the Iraq War and the costly military adventures  in Syria, Libya and other parts of Asia. And here he will certainly be on the side for maintaining peace in the world. The whole world is watching the Presidential Election very closely as another term for the war mongering Deep State will spell disaster. The crucial vote in this battle will be the African American vote.

Since the turn of the  twentieth century, the American Media and the "Professorate" has run a campaign blaming the Republicans for all the ills confronting African American Society. It has been pointed out that black families were functional entities until the 1960 when with the Civil Rights Movement and the transition to all enveloping Social Welfare, the families began to disintegrate with absentee fathers and multiple social crises within the Black Community. Some scholars have traced the process of ghettoization of Blacks to the Federal Housing Agency set up by the Democratic President Dwight Eisenhower when funds were made available for housing and by redlining neighborhoods whites  only communities were set up and with the concentration of high paying jobs the local schools tended to be better leaving the African American communities bereft of skills, social capital, jobs and education. The nanny state provided doles and that very much sealed the fate of most communities.

The Democrats are crafting a narrative that centers of "Black Empowerment" but few are trusting this narrative driven by the corporate media and Hollywood.

ARNI JAGIR AND THE "TEARS OF THE NAWAB": Histroy if Fiction

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History writing is an underdeveloped art in India and Historical Fiction remains a distant dream, While the 1857 Revolt has inspired a few credible pieces of historical fiction, South India has essentially defied the charms of a novelist. This book The Nawab's Tears is neither well written not is the historical research of a high order. The plot is weak, the dialogues flat and one dimensional, the characters are really cardboard cut-outs. Yet I would like to take this book seriously as I am connected to both Vijayanagara as a Historian and Arni as I have heard tales about the goings on in the palace.

Palace of Poosimalai, Arni

 The attractive European style   building was constructed in the l   late nineteenth century, in a "French Style" to serve as the   residence of a court favorite. The   History of the Arni Jagir goes   back  to the days of the great Emperor Shivaji who conquered Tanjavur and Senji and made one Vedaji  Bhaskar Pant the Qiladar of the area, Consisting of around 125 villages, the Jagir was quickly acquired by the Bhonsle rulers of Tanjavur from whom it passed into the hands of the Nawab of Carnatic and saw considerable shifts in its fortunes as the English East India Company and Tippu Sultan faught for supremacy. In the famous Treaties, Sanads and Engagemenrts vol X were have the confirmation that in June 1789 the East India Company entered into a Treaty with Arni in which the jagir was conferred on Tirumal Rao and his successors. After the Administration of Sir Thomas Munro, Puddukkotai and Arni were the few estates which were not under the Royatwari Settlement. A Tribute of 10,000 Arcot Rupees was fixed as the peshkush, tribute, to the Nawab of Arcot. There is no record that  this amount was ever paid as the Nawab himself ceased to be an important player in politics after the Peace Settlement of Vienna which was signed in 1815. The Nawab was the only Indian potentate who signed this Settlement. The Jagirdars were firm devottees of the Madhava Philosophy and one of the heads of the Uttaradi Mutt attained Samadhi in Satyamangalam as Arni was called.

Arni Jagirdars were educated as the Madras Administration took over the samastanam and took custody under the Court of Wards decree. Consequently the princes were sent to Bangalore for education and later Tirumal Rao and Srinivasa Rao were both educated at Presdidency College, Chennai. The revenue of the Jagir picked up after the dissoulution of the Court of Wards and the Annual Reports of the Madras Irrigation Department and the Revenue Department show that considerable improvements were made. Silk production was encouraged and Arni Silk still remains an important item in the local economy. The jagirdars were notorious spendthrifts and lived a ;life of luxury. William Pogson, the noted Scottish Architect was commissioned to design the famous "Arni House" in Halls Road, Chennai.

Arni House, Halls Road

  It is against the back drop of the history       sketched above that we must situate the   context of the Nawab's Tears. This book  has been inspired by Dan Brown's Da Vinci   Code, Willkie Collins, Moonstone, Indiana   Jones with a touch of Hercule Pirot thrown in for good measure. The novel revolves arounf Krishna a widow of the last Jagirdar who asks her college flame Aravan to help her with some secret codes that she discovered in a diary belonging to one Captain Miller. Needless to say the necklace which was the Nawab's Tears as its immediate owner Chanda Sahib had been brutally executed after being defeated. The Masonic Lodge and its rituals play a prominent part in the novel. All said and done this is an entertsining read. Now I turn to certain Historical details which are certainly open to different interpretations.

There are frequent allusions to the History of Vijayanagara in this novel. Robert Sewell's Forgotten Empire even appears in the Bibliography. First, there is an equivalence drawn beteeen Hindu monarch's treatment of images and temples in the territory of rival kings after they had conquered them and Muslim conquerors like Malik Kafur and others including the Deccani Sultanates. The Historians of JNU are primarily responsible for the false equivalence. He gives the example of the Pallava conquest of Vatapi by the King Nandivarman. The image of Ganesha was neither destroyed or descecrated. It was brought to Kanchipuram and installed in the temple. Similarly when Rajendra Chola I (1014-1044) defeated the Chalukyas he drought back as war trophies images which till today are in worship in the temple of Gangaikondasolapuram. Similarly when Krishnadeva Raya (1509-1529)  defeated the Gajapathis of Orissa he brought back the image of Balakrishna from Udayagiri which was installed in the Krishna Temple which he specially constructed for this image. Unfortunately the Historians in their desire to please the powers that be made such outlandish claims and the novelist has only repeated them. Similarly the Gilani brothers who betrayed the Ruler, Rama Raya on the Battlefield of Talikota is referrewd to in a near contemporary account by Fredrick Ceasar.

This book needs a good editor to sharpen the storyline. And the writer does show the potential for Indian History to be engaging.