The School District Of Sevastopol: Fill & Download for Free

I am Russian and I lived in Germany for 2 years (6 months in Leipzig/GDR and later in Hamburg). In GDR it was during our Perestroika and while Erich Honecker was still ruling. All Germans I have met were very friendly, some could speak Russian very well (after years in Soviet universities), told me stories about German women who used young Russian soldiers to get pregnant when they couldn’t find a father or husband was infertile - that does not look like a dislike of Russians at all ;)In Hamburg I was a refugee, at that time, in 1990, it was perhaps a bit different story than now, at least most refugees were white Europeans, local community in Harburg(district of Hamburg) was VERY friendly, they created a kind of committee with meetings at local church, and tried to help refugees as much as they could. To say frankly not all refugees deserved help, about 80% of them were simply thieves who took advantage of German bureaucracy and long waiting times to kick us out, and I am not talking about ambiguous refugee claims, I am talking about shoplifting etc. However, local Harburg people quickly sorted out who was who and concentrated on those who were worthy of help, so they helped several people to find jobs, I personally worked like crazy without weekends for one year because I knew that sooner or later I will be sent home, so I tried to save as much money as I could and I saw that most Germans understood me and tried to help. I also worked officially in retirement home where I was the only foreigner, mostly with 5 other German workers and only one of them was a kind of negative, but nothing of the sort that Russian man can’t handle (we are not that sensitive), plus other workers basically protected me from him. Who knows, maybe such friendliness was also because I look like a VERY typical German, more typical than most Germans, and many old inhabitants of this retirement home would rather communicate with me than with other workers. I also had conversations with several former WWII soldiers, one of them spent his youth in Siberia and remembered some Russian words and expressions, he actually seemed to be not very affected by terrible Stalin’s imprisonment, quite the opposite, he was treated by locals very well and I guess not only survived but also left plenty of his DNA there (he was a fine male specimen at that time, tall and strong). Well, my conversations with old Germans deserve a separate book but rest assured that they told me things that they never told to their own children and grandchildren (their own words).In short, they all told me that Hitler was a complete idiot because he attacked Russia. They could somehow explain why he ordered to exterminate local German Jews or mentally ill - but they could not explain why he ordered to invade huge, cold and absolutely patriotic Russia. These young soldiers were taught that Russians is an inferior race - but when they came to Russia they discovered that 1) they are in fact the same race and many Soviet people speak German learned at school or because they played with Russian Germans as children 2) Russian soldiers are actually a bit more resourceful than Germans, despite initial losses they quickly became very good at modern warfare. Such discoveries were not good for German morale, many Germans actually hated Hitler and played their roles just because they were ordered to do that and that.To say frankly, even all these atrocities toward civilians were mostly performed not by Germans but by collaborators: Western Ukrainians (14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician) - Wikipedia), volunteers from Estonia/Lithuania/Latvia (The Holocaust in Lithuania - Wikipedia) etc. Besides reading about them I can tell you what my father (then 17 y.o.) told me about occupation of Crimea where local Crimean Tatars offered to kill all Russians. My father told me about German papers displayed publically with explicit order to Tatars do not do anything like that and usual “For disobedience - execution” at the end. My father told me that Manstein was the name of this german general who stopped Tatars. Most Germans were not crazy Nazi and pretty soon they felt that they did a wrong thing by coming to Russia uninvited, and they would calmly accept ANY punishment after they were defeated and after 20 million of Soviet people were dead because of their invasion. Germans in Hamburg in 1990 understood that they could be totally wiped out for their crimes but they were spared and they at least respected Russians for that, some even loved - because despite all difficulties and problems - Stalin treated Germans better than Hitler treated Soviet people which were destined to disappear or become slaves under German rule.So why I am writing all that on Quora now? Simply because I see how the results of WWII are revised and distorted now. I see that from Western press, I see that after conversations with young Germans I had not so long time ago in Cuba where I lived for one month and entertained myself by playing beach photographer and generally bored Russian (yes, I will never visit Cuba for more than 2 weeks again). Unfortunately, I see that efforts of our American friends who try to demonize Russia are not without a success. They invested tons of money into distortion of real history so now young Germans are guessing whether Hitler was right and just prevented Stalin’s attack, they all know how many German women were raped like that was the most terrible thing during WWII. What will be the next discovery of these “historians”, how many homosexuals were treated badly during Stalingrad Battle?I wouldn’t care much about all this BS but it eventually causes hostility toward Russia and very real support of Americans who orchestrated 2014 anti-Russian coup in Ukraine, with help of the descendants of the very same Western Ukrainian Nazi - YouTube, it translated into sanctions just because Putin in fact defended some pro-Russian territories of Ukraine occupied by Western Ukrainian junta.Such BS could be impossible with old generation of Germans, they all knew that during WWII Crimean Sevastopol was Russian, not Ukrainian AT ALL. They also knew that even Kiev was Russian city. Germans used written Ukrainian language in Western Ukraine where population supported their Nazi ideas and loved Hitler because he allowed them to kill all their old enemies - about 100,000 of Poles and practically all Jews. Now Merkel (the woman who was wiretapped by US for decade) is seriously against Putin who saved Crimeans from massacres like in Odessa:https://www.rt.com/news/156592-odessa-activists-burnt-alive/"Surgical Waste" in Odessa Cemetery - Who Is Buried in the Unknown Graves?Why Germany is supporting sanctions against Russia? Why Germany is supporting today’s Ukraine ruled by Western Ukrainian nationalists, this parody of Europe where the only official language is Ukrainian despite the fact that majority of population speaks and thinks in Russian? Why Germany voluntarily refuses to get reasonably priced gas and oil from Russia and spends money on much more expensive liquefied gas and all this BS with super-expensive renewable energy when oil prices fell 3 times?Yes, I realize that Merkel and many other German politicians were wiretapped for years but their policy toward Russia could be impossible without brainwashing and revision of history supported by US and so-called “independent” mass-media. Ask yourselves who owns today’s German newspapers and TV and who demonizes Russia using German language? Please take it seriously - German Editor Confirms Mass Media is Controlled - he is not a crazy man, he simply remembers what happened to Germany when it attacked Russia.I can also say you one secret thing, just don’t tell anybody. There is one small nation that controls a lot in this world. Western Ukrainians killed a lot of them during WWII - and in 2014 WUs were helped to come to power - so many of them are killed in Donbass already and many more will be killed in the future (war against Russians, sorry… the final result is always the same). This small nation gets its revenge. Beware, they also don’t like Germans much and they prepare you for next stage. Perhaps not soon(they can wait). Perhaps their revenge will be different from Ukrainian scenario, perhaps you simply disappear and be replaced by new Muslim population. But sanctions between Germany and Russia are also good for them. In any case, I see that vaccination against russophobia given by WWII is wearing out…but I still hope that German immune system is not completely defenseless. You may like Russians or not - but objectively peace and cooperation between us is beneficial for our economies that complement each other. And any conflict or sanctions are harmful for all (except America trying to sell their expensive liquefied gas).My advice is to elect new (not wiretapped by CIA) politicians, and don’t forget to visit RT Deutsch from time to time, it provides alternative to your mass-media.I wish you well. Because I wish prosperity and peace for both our countries. As well as for China. They have human resources, Russia has natural resources, Germany has engineering and technologies. America is simply trying to separate us all. Ukraine is their latest project, before it was Poland etc. They will push Ukraine to escalate conflict with Russia, and involve EU and therefore Germany into it.P.S. Somebody just requested to answer the following: Online, I came across Stalin Order 0428 during World War II for communist partisans to dress as the German soldiers and destroy their own villages 60km from the frontlines to "ignite hatred against the invaders". Is this true?The stream of such BS about Russia and Soviet Union is neverending. The number of fakes simply exceeds the ability to analyse and debunk them. That’s how demonizing of Russia works today. Just pay those “historians” enough and they will never stop. Some of them even pretend to be Russians but they are not.

2006 Report from the town of Feodosia, CrimeaThe logical application of the “Gravitational Law” of the 21st Century newly discovered in our time in Great Britain, aka the ‘Highly Likely’ Law, unequivocally allows us to suggest — This is consistent with all its intents and purposes — that in terms of identification of the present-day point of departure of the Collective West opposition to the fact of the existence of Russia, our conclusions to that effect are correct.These are the events that took place in the town of Feodosia, Crimea, in June 2006, or in other words, long before 2014, when it is alleged, the main cause and effect developments occurred resulting in the civil war now in progress in Ukraine as well.This statement is based on the strength of the most convincing evidence provided in the format of footage — from the end of the 9th and the beginning of the 10th minutes of a short 15-minute video-coverage — capturing the completion of an uninvited visit and unwelcomed stay in Feodosia, a quiet resort town in Crimea, of a detachment of the American military personnel, servicemen and their civilian support associates from “PORA,” a Ukrainian nationalist youth organization; they both were accorded absolutely “unwelcoming” treatment by the people of Feodosia, in particular, and the communities of Crimea, in general: all local communities joined their efforts and kicked them out contrary to the will and wishes of the authorities in Kiev: ‘Yankee Go Home’ chanted the crowds when they came to see them off.On May 27, 2006, under the pretext of a joint U.S.-Ukrainian Sea Breeze-2006 Exercise, the USS Advantage, a cargo vessel with 250 military personnel and equipment onboard, called at the seaport of Feodosia, the Black Sea, so that to commence their works to prepare the KIZILTASH Forward Operating Control Center and make arrangements for the development and upgrades to the Military Personnel Training Field designed to provide for the NATO countries’ military personnel, in the vicinity of Stary Krym, a small town within the jurisdiction of the district of Feodosia, Crimea.“At that time, I was the deputy commandant of the Feodosia border commandant’s office,” recalls public activist Alexander Talipov, — “At the beginning of May 2006, I received information that there were plans to hold NATO exercises in the Feodosia region and that there were plans to create a temporary base, which would gradually become permanent.”The Feodosia communities took the unwelcomed guests by surprise: they drove in their trucks and blocked the exit road from the Sea Terminal whereas the Stary Krym community members camped out and blocked the access road to the Military Training Field.In June 2006, the ‘YANKEE GO HOME!’ rhyme sounded in the streets of the towns of Crimea for the first time after many years, a slogan long forgotten in Europe and the world and which used to be highly popular in the second half of the 20th century.Now, we can only presume that it was in the aftermath of the events unfolding in Feodosia in June 2006, that decisions must have been taken at the highest level of the Collective West so that to use force, and which were implemented in 2014, thus resulting in the Second Maidan when the Ukrainian ultra-nationalists seized power in Kiev, whereas the people of Crimea held their Independence Referendum to secede from Ukraine and rejoined Russia, whereas the people of Donbass in South-Eastern Ukraine rose in rebellion against the Coup in Ukraine. Therefore, it will be, Highly Likely, a correct statement to make that the ongoing Civil War in Ukraine began as a result of the implementation of such decisions made by the U.S. and NATO military (courtesy of President Obama and all his men?).For the USA and NATO, the main goal and objective of Maidan-2014 was the deployment of 5 military bases in Crimea:1. A Naval Base facility, Sevastopol. On 5 September 2013, invitations to bid for a Sevastopol school building renovation project for the needs of the US Engineers Corps were posted; the deadline for submission of bids was 21 October 2013; the Donuzlav Southern Naval Base of Ukraine had been considered for the construction of a US Naval Base facility since 1997 (the Sea Breeze-97 Exercise*)2. The Belbek Airforce Base. The US Airforce had plans to upgrade the Belbek airfield to meet the requirements for the operations of the forward air force group, and namely, the Air Defense fighter and ground support aircraft and air surveillance aircraft wing.3. The GTS 825 (K-825) Underground Submarine Base Facility in Balaklava, Sevastopol.The U.S. planned to procure diesel-powered submarines from NATO countries for the needs of the Ukrainian Navy so that to control the Black Sea water zones. It is also Highly Likely that the American and European submarine crews would have been involved in those submarine operations under the flag of Ukraine.4. The deployment to the “SOTKA” underground facility bunkers of the US anti-ship missile systems to ensure total control of the Black Sea area including the operations of the Black Sea Navy of the Russian Federation.5. The deep underground anti-nuclear bunker Kiziltash. The U.S. had a plan for their Forward Operating Control Center to be deployed at that facility.Sea Breeze-97 ExerciseThe scenario for exercises: In the aftermath of a major earthquake devastating the Orange Republic, foreign military, i.e. Russia’s Black Sea Navy Forces, intervene to support the rebels in the Cimmerian autonomous province in a mythical ethnic conflict resulting from this natural disaster; the legend implies that the Russian majority aided by a neighboring power (Russia) is seeking to overthrow the government of the Orange Republic. The U.S. and NATO peacekeeping forces are deployed to intervene, deliver humanitarian aid, detain ships that violate the declared embargo regime, and enforce constitutional order in the Cimmerian autonomous province (the ancient name of Crimea).Aims and objectives of exercises — combating the separatists, conducting police operations, launching amphibious landing in the territory plagued by mass unrest, providing anti-aircraft and anti-boat protection for NATO’s Black Sea convoys delivering humanitarian aid, and the blockade of Crimea. According to the U.S. European Command (EUCOM), the invitations to participate in the Sea Breeze-1997 exercises were sent to the following countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Ukraine, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The military “will practice ensuring security in a crisis region,” commented a Ukrainian Navy rep. Russia rejected offers to take part in the maneuvers, even as an observer. “Military exercises are a matter of the internal affairs of any country, but we understood perfectly well what was meant by the ‘orange country’ and the ‘mass unrest’ that needed to be quelled,” said Capt. Andrei Grachev, spokesman for the Russian Black Sea Navy. “We have to ask ourselves in whose interest it is to cause an ‘earthquake.’”

CRIMEA’s NODAL POINTFor the USA and NATO, the main goal and objective of Maidan-2014 was the deployment of 5 military bases in CrimeaCRIMEA’s NODAL POINTFor the USA and NATO, the main goal and objective of Maidan-2014 was the deployment of 5 military bases in Crimeahttps://savkinoleg583.medium.com/crimeas-nodal-point-6c62440bbc4a?source=post_page-----6c62440bbc4a--------------------------------Hence is the U.S. and NATO conflict with Russia: just another bubble has burst, and people are asking: What’s going on? The answer is as in the fairy tale: first, it was all Stalin’s fault, then Khrushchev-Brezhnev’s, and now it is Putin’s. They are themselves, the eternal virgins from Reeperbahn Street in Hamburg.“President Bush told Gorbachev and Shevardnadze, the Soviet foreign minister, ‘We don’t want you to do what you did in Hungary in 1956. We don’t want you to do what you did in Czechoslovakia in 1968. Don’t use your army, get it out of Germany,’” Raymond Berkley McGovern quoted Bush Sr.In the end, the former CIA official said, the parties had agreed that the military would be withdrawn from East Germany and Germany would be reunified but on one key condition. “The U.S. had to promise not to move NATO further than East Germany. That was in 1991,” recalled the founder of the U.S. intelligence veteran organization. With the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, the military organization of the Soviet bloc countries, the military forces were withdrawn not only from East Germany (the former GDR), but also from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland. Moreover, in 1989, Gorbachev declared the end to the Cold War for the rest of the whole world to hear. How did the United States and NATO respond to that? A few years later, they declared themselves the winner in the Cold War, coined the Cold War Vicory medal, which they could have never won, even theoretically, given the military and economic potential of the USSR. Moreover, taking advantage of the collapse of the USSR, they began to behave not just as winners, at times as an occupation force with respect to the country they allegedly had defeated. Hence is the current conflict between the United States and NATO and Russia: just another soap bulb bursting, and people are asking: What’s going on? The answer is like in a fairy tale: first, it was all Stalin’s fault, then Khrushchev-Brezhnev’s, and now it is Putin’s; with their evergreen innocence claims as if they were the eternal virgins from the Reeperbahn Strasse in Hamburg.Before the peninsula became part of Russia, not only the U.S. but also NATO as a whole, had views on it. In June 2016, former CIA official Raymond Berkley McGovern, founder of the U.S. intelligence veteran organization, told Regnum news agency* that if Crimea had not joined Russia, NATO military bases would have appeared there. According to him, this story began not even in this decade or the past, but since the fall of the Berlin Wall.By 2008, 12 countries had become new members of NATO, all of them “east of Germany.This continued until 2008. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov summoned U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation William Joseph Burns and said: “Do you understand what ‘no’ means?” Ambassador Burns said, “Yes”. And Lavrov said, “No means no. We have a red line. Don’t even think about accepting Ukraine and Georgia into NATO,” Lavrov said: “If you try to include Ukraine in NATO, there will most likely be a civil war, there will be all kinds of military clashes. We will have to; we Russians will have to decide whether we have to interfere or not. Militarily,” Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying by the CIA veteran.He emphasized that it was important for Russia to ensure that Sevastopol and Crimea did not become part of NATO. “Sometimes Mr. Putin shows a superb sense of humor. Because during those days he held one of the longest press conferences. And he was asked, ‘Why did you decide to reincorporate Crimea,’ and he said, ‘Okay. I was thinking about Sevastopol. And I knew the NATO sailors were great guys. But I wouldn’t want them to give us permission to visit their base in Sevastopol. I’d rather we give them permission to visit our naval base in Sevastopol,” Raymond Berkley McGovern quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin as saying.*Regnum Agency’s materials were used for this segment of the post.2006 Report from the town of Feodosia, CrimeaThe logical application of the “Gravitational Law” of the 21st Century newly discovered in our time in Great Britain, aka the ‘Highly Likely’ Law, unequivocally allows us to suggest that in terms of identification of the present-day point of departure of the Collective West opposition to the fact of the existence of Russia, our conclusions to that effect are correct.“At that time, I was the deputy commandant of the Feodosia border commandant’s office,” recalls public activist Alexander Talipov, — “At the beginning of May 2006, I received information that there were plans to hold NATO exercises in the Feodosia region and that there were plans to create a temporary base, which would gradually become permanent.”These are the events that took place in the town of Feodosia, Crimea, in June 2006, or in other words, long before 2014, when it is alleged, the main cause and effect developments occurred resulting in the civil war now in progress in Ukraine as well.This statement is based on the strength of the most convincing evidence provided in the format of footage — from the end of the 9th and the beginning of the 10th minutes of short 15-minute video coverage — capturing the completion of an uninvited visit and unwelcomed stay in Feodosia, a quiet resort town in Crimea, of a detachment of the American military personnel, servicemen and their civilian support associates from “PORA,” a Ukrainian nationalist youth organization; they both were accorded absolutely “unwelcoming” treatment by the people of Feodosia, in particular, and the communities of Crimea, in general: all local communities joined their efforts and kicked them out contrary to the will and wishes of the authorities in Kiev: ‘Yankee Go Home’ chanted the crowds when they came to see them off.On May 27, 2006, under the pretext of a joint U.S.-Ukrainian Sea Breeze-2006 Exercise, the USS Advantage, a cargo vessel with 250 military personnel and equipment onboard, called at the seaport of Feodosia, the Black Sea, so that to commence their works to prepare the KIZILTASH Forward Operating Control Center and make arrangements for the development and upgrades to the Military Personnel Training Field designed to provide for the NATO countries’ military personnel, in the vicinity of Stary Krym, a small town within the jurisdiction of the district of Feodosia, Crimea.The Feodosia communities took the unwelcomed guests by surprise: they drove in their trucks and blocked the exit road from the Sea Terminal whereas the Stary Krym community members camped out and blocked the access road to the Military Training Field.In June 2006, the ‘YANKEE GO HOME!’ rhyme sounded in the streets of the towns of Crimea for the first time after many years, a slogan long forgotten in Europe and the world and which used to be highly popular in the second half of the 20th century.Now, we can only presume that it was in the aftermath of the events unfolding in Feodosia in June 2006, that decisions must have been taken at the highest level of the Collective West so that to use force, and which were implemented in 2014, thus resulting in the Second Maidan when the Ukrainian ultra-nationalists seized power in Kiev, whereas the people of Crimea held their Independence Referendum to secede from Ukraine and rejoined Russia, whereas the people of Donbass in South-Eastern Ukraine rose in rebellion against the Coup D’Etat in Ukraine.Therefore, it will be, Highly Likely, a correct statement to make that the ongoing Civil War in Ukraine began as a result of the implementation of such decisions made by the U.S. and NATO military (courtesy of President Obama and all his men?).For the USA and NATO, the main goal and objective of Maidan-2014 was the deployment of 5 military bases in Crimea:1. A Naval Base facility, Sevastopol. On 5 September 2013, invitations to bid for a Sevastopol school building renovation project for the needs of the US Engineers Corps were posted; the deadline for submission of bids was 21 October 2013; the Donuzlav Southern Naval Base of Ukraine had been considered for the construction of a US Naval Base facility since 1997 (the Sea Breeze-97 Exercise*)2. The Belbek Airforce Base. The US Airforce had plans to upgrade the Belbek airfield to meet the requirements for the operations of the forward air force group, and namely, the Air Defense fighter and ground support aircraft and air surveillance aircraft wing.3. The GTS 825 (K-825) Underground Submarine Base Facility in Balaklava, Sevastopol.The U.S. planned to procure diesel-powered submarines from NATO countries for the needs of the Ukrainian Navy so that to control the Black Sea water zones. It is also Highly Likely that the American and European submarine crews would have been involved in those submarine operations under the flag of Ukraine.4. The deployment to the “SOTKA” underground facility bunkers of the US anti-ship missile systems to ensure total control of the Black Sea area including the operations of the Black Sea Navy of the Russian Federation.5. The deep underground anti-nuclear bunker Kiziltash. The U.S. had a plan for their Forward Operating Control Center to be deployed at that facility.Sea Breeze-97 ExerciseThe scenario for exercises: In the aftermath of a major earthquake devastating the Orange Republic, foreign military, i.e. Russia’s Black Sea Navy Forces, intervene to support the rebels in the Cimmerian autonomous province in a mythical ethnic conflict resulting from this natural disaster; the legend implies that the Russian majority aided by a neighboring power (Russia) is seeking to overthrow the government of the Orange Republic. The U.S. and NATO peacekeeping forces are deployed to intervene, deliver humanitarian aid, detain ships that violate the declared embargo regime, and enforce constitutional order in the Cimmerian autonomous province (the ancient name of Crimea).Aims and objectives of exercises — combating the separatists, conducting police operations, launching amphibious landing in the territory plagued by mass unrest, providing anti-aircraft and anti-boat protection for NATO’s Black Sea convoys delivering humanitarian aid, and the blockade of Crimea. According to the U.S. European Command (EUCOM), the invitations to participate in the Sea Breeze-1997 exercises were sent to the following countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Ukraine, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The military “will practice ensuring security in a crisis region,” commented a Ukrainian Navy rep. Russia rejected offers to take part in the maneuvers, even as an observer. “Military exercises are a matter of the internal affairs of any country, but we understood perfectly well what was meant by the ‘orange country’ and the ‘mass unrest’ that needed to be quelled,” said Capt. Andrei Grachev, spokesman for the Russian Black Sea Navy. “We have to ask ourselves in whose interest it is to cause an ‘earthquake.’”The Black Sea Navy Ensemble: “Sevastopol is the City of the Russian Sailors”Post ScriptumWhat is Ukraine’s long-term plan with Crimea? Shouldn’t they just recognize the Russian sovereignty over Crimea?There has never been any Ukrainian sovereignty over Crimea. Present-day Ukraine in terms of its frontiers is the product of the Leninist policies of the destruction of the Russian empire. The Ukrainian ultra-nationalism is the product of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Keizer Germany, and the Third Reich Germany wartime policies they were using in their wars against Russia and the USSR. Therefore, the Western and US collective involvement in the Maidan Coup of 2014 is consistent with what he saw in the 1914–1918 and 1941–1945 periods. The paymasters of the Maidan revolution have preferred to ignore the history lessons: both efforts failed dismally. Ukraine’s long-term plan is to rebuild its relations with Russia and request that “AMI GO Home. The Bidens have already been to Ukraine; we know what happened when they went home: “Human blood is not water,” is this the thing they know next to nothing about?Oleg Savkin – MediumRead writing from Oleg Savkin on Medium. History Writer, WWII. Every day, Oleg Savkin and thousands of other voices read, write, and share important stories on Medium.https://savkinoleg583.medium.com/?source=post_sidebar--------------------------post_sidebar-----------History Writer, WWII