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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
2/14/2015 11:08:56 AM

Ukraine ceasefire in doubt as fresh fighting kills 28

AFP

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Fighting escalated in Ukraine ahead of peace talks

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Donetsk (Ukraine) (AFP) - Fighting has raged on in Ukraine, throwing doubts on a ceasefire deal due to take effect over the weekend, with the US saying Russia is still deploying heavy arms and Kiev warning that shelling of civilians had intensified.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Friday that the continuing bombardment of civilians in eastern Ukraine by pro-Russian separatist rebels was already undermining the peace plan reached in Minsk a day before.

At least 28 civilians and soldiers were reported killed in the latest upsurge in fighting.

"Unfortunately after the Minsk agreement, Russia's offensive has significantly increased. We still think that the agreement is in great danger," Poroshenko said during a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

"After what we concluded in Minsk, these are not only attacks against civilians but also against the Minsk agreement," he added, referring to the shelling of the town of Artemivsk that killed three people including a seven-year-old.

The ceasefire, due to take effect from 2200 GMT Saturday, will be the first test of the commitment by Kiev and pro-Russian separatists to the freshly-inked peace plan.

But with separatists fighting to conquer more territory ahead of the truce and Kiev forces digging in, there are fears over whether anyone will observe the truce, considered vital to the success of the peace roadmap.

The UN Security Council is expected to meet on Sunday for an emergency session to shore up the ceasefire deal, diplomats said.

- Fresh fighting -

The United States said it believed Russia was continuing to deploy heavy weapons ahead of the ceasefire.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the US had received reports of heavy weapons being moved into eastern Ukraine from Russia over the past few days, and more apparently on the way.

"This is clearly not in the spirit of this week's agreement," Psaki told reporters.

She said the Russian military had deployed large amounts of artillery and multiple rocket launcher systems and was using them to shell Ukrainian positions.

Friday's fresh fighting came after rebels and Kiev agreed to the wide-ranging plan on Thursday following marathon talks in Minsk between the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned Russia that the EU, which has already slapped Moscow with sanctions over the crisis, is not ruling out further measures if the truce fails.

The G7 nations -- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States -- also voiced concern about the violence and the build-up of weapons in eastern Ukraine.

Welcoming the peace plan, the group of industrialized nations called on all sides to refrain from moves that could scuttle the deal.

The G7 warned it was ready to "intensify the costs" for anyone who broke the terms of the agreement.

Ukraine's deputy defence minister Petro Mekhed, meanwhile, accused the rebels of wanting to "raise their flag" over railway hub Debaltseve, scene of the most bitter recent fighting, and strategic port Mariupol ahead of the ceasefire.

"Ukraine is expecting an escalation and taking all necessary measures to be able to respond," Mekhed told journalists.

The fragile agreement was seen as the best hope of ending the conflict, which has killed at least 5,480 people and ratcheted East-West tensions to highs not seen since the Cold War, but scepticism remains high after the collapse of a similar previous peace plan.

Kiev and the West accuse Russia of stoking the war in ex-Soviet Ukraine by pouring arms and troops to help the pro-Russian rebels fighting Kiev government troops in Ukraine's industrial east. Moscow denies the charges.

- Roadmap to peace -

Ukraine's military said that fighting remained fiercest around Debaltseve, with rebels firing missiles at the beleaguered railway hub mid-way between the main separatist bastions of Donetsk and Lugansk.

Kiev has accused Russia of deploying another 50 tanks across the border during the talks in Minsk.

Rebel leaders -- seen by the West as Kremlin puppets -- have said the new deal raises hopes of peace but warned there would be no more talking if it fails.

The new Minsk agreement is broadly similar to an earlier failed deal in September, except that the new heavy weapons-free zone will be 50 to 140 kilometres (31-87 miles) wide, depending on the range of the weapon -- double the width of the buffer zone agreed in September.

Kiev will also begin retaking control over the approximately 400-kilometre (250 mile) stretch of Russia's border with rebel-held Ukraine, but only after local elections are held.

The border is entirely under Russian and pro-Russian rebel control and is used, according to Kiev, as a conduit for separatist supplies.

Separatist-held territories will be granted a degree of autonomy to be established through talks.





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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
2/14/2015 1:28:59 PM

Rebels 'destroying' key Ukraine battleground town: pro-Kiev police

Ukrainian president warns ceasefire is in great danger as fighting continues to rage in separatist east

PUBLISHED

Firemen try to extinguish a fire after a shell hit a home in Donetsk, eastern Ukrainian on February 13, 2015 ( Vasily Maximov (AFP) )Firemen try to extinguish a fire after a shell hit a home in Donetsk, eastern Ukrainian on February 13, 2015
(Vasily Maximov (AFP))

Ferocious rebel bombardments Saturday were leveling the key government-held town of Debaltseve in east Ukraine, hours before a ceasefire was due to start, the local police boss said.

"The rebels are destroying the town of Debaltseve. There are non-stop artillery bombardments of residential areas and buildings. The town is in flames," pro-Kiev police chief Vyacheslav Abroskin said on Facebook.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said the continuing bombardment of civilians in eastern Ukraine by pro-Russian separatist rebels was already undermining the peace plan reached in Minsk on Thursday.

At least 28 civilians and soldiers were reported killed in the latest upsurge in fighting.

"Unfortunately after the Minsk agreement, Russia's offensive has significantly increased. We still think that the agreement is in great danger," Poroshenko said during a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

A member of a unit of the rebelian military police examines a burning military track following shelling in Donetsk, on February 13, 2015 ( Vasily Maximov (AFP) )A member of a unit of the rebelian military police examines a burning military track following shelling in Donetsk, on February 13, 2015 ( Vasily Maximov (AFP))

"After what we concluded in Minsk, these are not only attacks against civilians but also against the Minsk agreement," he added, referring to the shelling of the town of Artemivsk that killed three people including a seven-year-old.

The ceasefire, due to take effect from 2200 GMT Saturday, will be the first test of the commitment by Kiev and pro-Russian separatists to the freshly-inked peace plan.

But with separatists fighting to conquer more territory ahead of the truce and Kiev forces digging in, there are fears over whether anyone will observe the truce, considered vital to the success of the peace roadmap.

Fresh fighting

The United States said it believed Russia was continuing to deploy heavy weapons ahead of the ceasefire.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the United States had received reports of heavy weapons being moved into eastern Ukraine from Russia over the past few days, and more apparently on the way.

Map of eastern Ukraine comparing territory held by pro-Russian separatists in September and now in February ( Graphics/AFP )Map of eastern Ukraine comparing territory held by pro-Russian separatists in September and now in February
(Graphics/AFP )

"This is clearly not in the spirit of this week's agreement," Psaki told reporters.

She said the Russian military had deployed large amounts of artillery and multiple rocket launcher systems and was using them to shell Ukrainian positions.

"We are confident that these are Russian military, not separatist systems," she said, adding that Russian troops along the border were preparing a large shipment of supplies to pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.

Friday's fresh fighting came after rebels and Kiev agreed to the wide-ranging plan on Thursday following marathon talks in the Belarussian between the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned Russia that the EU, which has already slapped Moscow with sanctions over the crisis, is not ruling out further measures if the truce fails.

The G7 nations -- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States -- also voiced concern about the violence and the build-up of weapons in eastern Ukraine.

Welcoming the peace plan, the group of industrialized nations called on all sides to refrain from moves that could scuttle the deal.

A woman and her baby wait to cross at the Uspenka border post separating Ukraine and Russia in the village of Uspenka, on February 13, 2015 ( Vasily Maximov (AFP) )A woman and her baby wait to cross at the Uspenka border post separating Ukraine and Russia in the village of Uspenka, on February 13, 2015 ( Vasily Maximov (AFP))

The G7 warned it was ready to "intensify the costs" for anyone who broke the terms of the agreement.

Ukraine's deputy defense minister Petro Mekhed, meanwhile, accused the rebels of wanting to "raise their flag" over railway hub Debaltseve, scene of the most bitter recent fighting, and strategic port Mariupol ahead of the ceasefire.

"Ukraine is expecting an escalation and taking all necessary measures to be able to respond," Mekhed told journalists.

The fragile agreement was seen as the best hope of ending the conflict, which has killed at least 5,480 people and ratcheted East-West tensions to highs not seen since the Cold War, but skepticism remains high after the collapse of a similar previous peace plan.

Kiev and the West accuse Russia of stoking the war in ex-Soviet Ukraine by pouring arms and troops to help the pro-Russian rebels fighting Kiev government troops in Ukraine's industrial east. Moscow denies the charges.

Roadmap to peace

Ukraine's military said that fighting remained fiercest around Debaltseve, with rebels firing missiles at the beleaguered railway hub mid-way between the main separatist bastions of Donetsk and Lugansk.

Ukrainian reserve officers take part in military exercises in the Army Training Center near the village of Desna, in the Chernigiv region, on February 13, 2015 ( Sergei Supinsky (AFP) )Ukrainian reserve officers take part in military exercises in the Army Training Center near the village of Desna, in the Chernigiv region, on February 13, 2015 ( Sergei Supinsky (AFP))

An AFP journalist in the rebel capital of Donetsk said that sporadic missile salvos and dozens of artillery bombardments could be heard around the city early Friday morning.

Kiev has accused Russia of deploying another 50 tanks across the border during the talks in Minsk.

Rebel leaders -- seen by the West as Kremlin puppets -- have said the new deal raises hopes of peace but warned there would be no more talking if it fails.

The new Minsk agreement is broadly similar to an earlier failed deal in September, except that the new heavy weapons-free zone will be 50 to 140 kilometers (31-87 miles) wide, depending on the range of the weapon, double the width of the buffer zone agreed in September.

Kiev will also begin retaking control over the approximately 400-kilometer (250 mile) stretch of Russia's border with rebel-held Ukraine, but only after local elections are held.

The border is entirely under Russian and pro-Russian rebel control and is used, according to Kiev, as a conduit for separatist supplies.

Separatist-held territories will be granted a degree of autonomy to be established through talks.

(AFP)


"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
2/14/2015 3:41:20 PM

US sending around 600 paratroopers to Ukraine to train troops



A battalion of around 600 American paratroopers will be heading to Ukraine next month to train national guard troops there, a Pentagon spokesman told Fox News Wednesday.

The unit heading to the war-torn country is from the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, based out of Vicenza, Italy.

The training is to take place at the Yavariv training center in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, U.S. Army Europe Commander Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges said, according to The Associated Press.

Hodges said the Americans will train the Ukrainians how to better defend themselves against "Russian and rebel artillery and rockets." Training also will include securing roads, bridges and other infrastructure and treating and evacuating casualties.

He spoke during a visit to NATO's Multinational Corps Northeast Headquarters in the Polish city of Szczecin.

The announcement came as fighting raged in eastern Ukraine Wednesday, killing five people at a bus station in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk. Western leaders confirmed that they would take part in peace talks later in the day.

Steffen Seibert, a spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said she and French President Francois Hollande would travel to the Belarusian capital, Minsk, to attend the four-way summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

European leaders have warned that there is no guarantee a deal will be reached with Moscow, which the West says is fueling a separatist rising in eastern Ukraine with troops and arms. Germany and France have rushed to mediate after a recent uptick in violence in the region, where fighting has killed at least 5,300 people since April.

In Donetsk, rebel officials said that five people were killed and nine wounded in a shelling attack early Wednesday on a bus station, where an Associated Press reporter saw one body. Donetsk city officials said in a statement that three people had been killed in shelling overnight.

Officials in Kiev said Wednesday that 19 troops had been killed and 78 wounded in a day of fighting in Debaltseve, a hotly contested transport hub in the region.

Poroshenko posted a statement on his website saying that he had made an impromptu visit to the region early Wednesday. He stopped in the city of Kramatorsk, some 30 miles from the nearest front line, where Kiev says 16 people were killed and 48 wounded in a rocket strike Tuesday.

"We demand an unconditional peace," Poroshenko said. "We demand a cease-fire, a withdrawal of all foreign troops, and closing of the border.... We will find a compromise within the country."

Later, in comments carried by Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Poroshenko said he was "ready to impose martial law across the country if we are not able to reach an agreement today in Minsk."

At a news conference in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that there was "notable progress" in the peace process, but gave no details.

Lavrov said the most important goal of the talks would be to implement a cease-fire, and that it would be impossible for Ukraine to re-establish its control over the border with Russia.

"In these conditions, to give away the Russian part of the border also would be to cut them [the rebels] off even from humanitarian help and allow them to be surrounded," Lavrov said.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said early Wednesday that "quite a number of problems remain" in negotiations, including the future of eastern Ukraine, guarantees about the Ukraine-Russia border, and the prospects of a possible cease-fire, weapons pullback and prisoner exchange.

Fabius said the aim of the talks is to win an accord, but "not just one on paper."

The Associated Press contributed to this report

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
2/14/2015 4:16:19 PM

Iranian leader Ayatollah Khamenei sent Obama secret letter: WSJ

Reuters

Wochit
Ayatollah Khamenei Doesn’t Want To Be Pen Pals With Obama


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has responded to overtures from U.S. President Barack Obama amid nuclear talks by sending him a secret letter, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

Citing an Iranian diplomat, the paper said the Iranian cleric had written to Obama in recent weeks in response to a presidential letter sent in October.

Obama's letter suggested the possibility of U.S.-Iranian cooperation in fighting Islamic State if a nuclear deal was secured, the paper said, quoting the diplomat.

Khamenei's letter was "respectful" but noncommittal, it quoted the diplomat as saying.

Both the White House and the Iranian mission at the United Nations declined to comment on the report.

Khamenei said this week he could accept a compromise in the nuclear talks and gave his strongest defense yet of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's decision to negotiate with the West, a policy opposed by powerful hardliners at home.

The nuclear talks with the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany are aimed at clinching an accord that would ease Western concerns that Tehran could pursue a covert nuclear weapons program, in return for the lifting of sanctions that have ravaged the Iranian economy.

Negotiators have set a June 30 final deadline for an accord, and Western officials have said they aim to agree on the substance of such a deal by March.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to address the U.S. Congress on Iran on March 3 - to the annoyance of the Obama administration - has vowed "to foil this bad and dangerous agreement."

(Reporting by Sandra Maler; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason in San Francisco and Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

Related Video:

Go Inside the Religious Epicenter of Iran





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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
2/14/2015 5:44:04 PM

Kevin Barrett VT 2-12-15… “Putin set to drop “truth bomb” on USA” (Will Russia blow 9/11 wide open?)

veterans_today_banner_NEW_55veterans_today_kevin_barrett_banner_19This is Kevin’s added information and speculation about what was presented in this VT post.

“Russia’s satellite photos and other evidence are currently serving a strategic role analogous to that of nuclear weapons. They are primarily a deterrent – a last-ditch ace-in-the-hole whose main role is to deter and dissuade the enemy from going too far.

“But unlike nuclear weapons, the “truth bomb” will not kill anyone; and its use against the US would first and foremost harm the 9/11-complicit faction of the American power structure, while helping the non-complicit faction regain control and adjust the course of the ship of state away from the icebergs. While risky (the 9/11 bomb could indirectly lead to Israel contemplating or even exercising its Samson Option) and therefore anathema to risk-averse elites, Putin has apparently decided that the benefits outweigh the potential drawbacks.

“If and when the Russians finally release their 9/11 dossier, the cataclysm that ensues will stand as a milestone in the march of one of the signal trends in modern warfare and geostrategy: the weaponization of truth. While lies have been weaponized since time immemorial, in the form of propaganda, disinformation, false signals, and so on, truth has rarely been in a position to fight back.”

———————————————————————————-

Putin set to drop “truth bomb” on USA

Will Russia blow 9/11 wide open?

putin-truthbombAs Gordon Duff reported here Tuesday –and as discussed on today’s False Flag Weekly News (posted above – clickhere for story links) – Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing the release of Russian satellite photos and other evidence showing that 9/11 was a false-flag operation by treasonous elements of the American national security community.

The original story reporting Putin’s threat was published by Pravda on February 7th. According to Duff, that story has been confirmed by a reliable source who has actually seen some of the photos during a visit to Moscow. VT sources insist that this is NOT merely a shot across the bow of the US government. Putin, these sources say, is genuinely planning to release the 9/11 material.

These historic photos are expected to show:

* That none of the passenger airliners allegedly used as weapons on 9/11 actually crashed where we were told they did; and:

* That the World Trade Center demolitions were conducted using extremely high-energy weapons.

“The sh*t has hit the fan!” exclaimed one highly knowledgable VT source.

Russia’s classified 9/11 dossier has been held in reserve against the day the Russians feel a vital national interest – such as their survival as a free and independent nation – is at stake. That day, it appears, has either finally come, or is approaching so fast that the impending launch of the “truth bomb” is being prepared.

Russia’s satellite photos and other evidence are currently serving a strategic role analogous to that of nuclear weapons. They are primarily a deterrent – a last-ditch ace-in-the-hole whose main role is to deter and dissuade the enemy from going too far.

But unlike nuclear weapons, the “truth bomb” will not kill anyone; and its use against the US would first and foremost harm the 9/11-complicit faction of the American power structure, while helping the non-complicit faction regain control and adjust the course of the ship of state away from the icebergs. While risky (the 9/11 bomb could indirectly lead to Israel contemplating or even exercising its Samson Option) and therefore anathema to risk-averse elites, Putin has apparently decided that the benefits outweigh the potential drawbacks.

If and when the Russians finally release their 9/11 dossier, the cataclysm that ensues will stand as a milestone in the march of one of the signal trends in modern warfare and geostrategy: the weaponization of truth. While lies have been weaponized since time immemorial, in the form of propaganda, disinformation, false signals, and so on, truth has rarely been in a position to fight back.

Today, the weaponized big lies of the Zio-American Empire – like the empire itself – are over-extended and vulnerable. The stage is being set for a David’s slingshot of truth to bring down a Goliath of lies. To understand how 9/11 has backfired, let’s review the past few decades of history.

During the 1990s, the neoconservatives (and even some realists like Zbigniew Brzezinski, who has since repented of the way his views were used to justify 9/11) believed a New Pearl Harbor would bring invaluable benefits to American geo-strategy. According to their analysis, famously expressed in Brzezinski’s The Grand Chessboard (1997) the US was “too democratic at home to be autocratic abroad.” In The Grand Chessboard, Brzezinski stated that the US would increasingly find it “difficult to fashion a consensus on foreign policy issues, except in the circumstances of a truly massive and widely perceived direct external threat.” He ominously noted: “The public supported America’s engagement in World War II largely because of the shock effect of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.”

The obvious solution: A New Pearl Harbor that would convince the American people they were under massive external threat. The neoconservatives, with their Israeli friends, were glad to oblige. The result was 9/11: The event that was supposed to enable a “New American Century.”


But the New Pearl Harbor backfired, for several reasons.

First, the “direct external threat,” alleged Arab and Muslim extremism, was bogus. The Arab and Muslim world, with its vast energy reserves and economic growth potential, should have been a US ally, not an enemy. And the religious element in Arab-Muslim civilization was especially conducive to friendship with the US, since the US and the Islamic nations are the last monotheistic cultures on earth. It would have been in the US strategic interest to be a strong ally of the Muslim world against European secularism, Russian and Chinese post-communism, and Hindu extremism. The deal should go something like this: America protects the genuine independence, including the religious values, dignity and autonomy, of its fellow monotheists; and in return gets a say (though not total control) in oil pricing and policy.

But thanks to a false flag that turned the US against Islam and Muslims, America chose precisely the wrong enemy. While Israel has benefitted mightily from the US war on Islam, America has been digging its own grave by wasting its substance, even its sanity, on a fight against a phantom.

Secondly, rather than uniting Americans behind their leaders in a “good fight” against the nation’s enemies, 9/11 has greatly exacerbated the fractiousness and mistrust of leadership that makes it hard for the US to conduct foreign policy. Polls show that 36% of Americans (over 100 million people) think 9/11 was an inside job, while a whopping 84% or so don’t believe they are getting the full truth about 9/11 from their government. Confidence in government is at record lows, and the sickening feeling of having been lied to is largely responsible for the US military’s inability to win wars – and for the rash of troop and veteran suicides that are far more lethal than any enemy army.

So 9/11, the neoconservative New Pearl Harbor, has hollowed out America, not strengthened it. The false-flag attack on New York and Washington has left the US morally and financially bankrupted, without a functioning Constitution, fragmented in every conceivable way, lacking domestic and international legitimacy, and no longer in a position to be even a first among equals, much less a self-styled sole superpower.

The neoconservatives, whose top priority has always been Israel, are in a panic. Their only hope is to flee forward into ever-bigger wars. That is why Netanyahu is so desperately lobbying for a war on Iran that would set the Middle East, and perhaps the whole world, on fire. And that is why such neoconservatives as Victoria Nuland are pushing for a war with Russia that would in all likelihood go nuclear.

World War III is the last desperate hope for the neoconservatives and their Likudnik allies. Such a war would usher in martial law, enable the suppression (or at least continued obfuscation) of the truth about 9/11, and save the neocons from treason trials, and Israel from dismantlement.

Though Putin doesn’t want to play his ace in the hole, the 9/11 truth card, until he absolutely has to, the moment of truth may have finally arrived. As soon as it becomes absolutely clear that the US is never going to back off from its attempt to turn Ukraine into a hostile NATO base; that the economic war on Russia has reached a point of no return; that the neoconservative “flight forward” into World War III is inevitable…

…at that point, no sooner and no later, Putin will slap his 9/11 truth card down on the table and let the chips fall where they may.

If he plays it too soon, he is taking unnecessary risks.

But if he waits too long, the move will lose its impact. (Once World War III is underway, 9/11 truth from the Russian government will be dismissed as propaganda, and censorship under martial law will turn the truth bomb into a dud.)

I believe the moment of truth is at hand. Strategically, Putin needs to play his 9/11 truth card now.

The Pravda story, confirmed by VT’s inside sources, suggests that the card is about to be played.


"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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