It's a while since I've posted a book review, gentle reader, so I'll make amends with this one.
The author, Bob Woodward, has impeccable credentials as an investigative journalist. Along with Carl Bernstein, he produced extensive and forensic reporting on the Watergate scandal, which led to the resignation of Richard Nixon.
He has also written 19 books on US politics, most of them best sellers.
He is a navy veteran, and a Yale graduate and his writing style is direct. His style reminds me of the work of a good police roundsman - no nonsense and sparse.
Because of his celebrity status, Trump was happy to give him unfettered access and he has used it to good effect.
Woodward's narrative recounts some gobsmacking behaviour, not only on the part of Trump, but also on those working for him. He cites examples of senior officials hiding memos by removing them from Trump's desk. They were doing this, because they believed he had absolutely no idea of the consequences of policy decisions made on the basis of many of his decisions, which seemed to be driven by whims or obsessions. His termination of the Korea Free Trade Agreement was a case in point.
Trump was determined to abolish it and a memo was drawn up to that effect. The paperwork was hidden, until he could be persuaded to modify, rather than terminate it. In this case the strategy worked. (Trump had roundly condemned the agreement prior to election).
Trump's senior officials were also bewildered with the freedom he gave his family in terms of access and decision-making in the White House. Woodward recounts Trump's daughter Ivanka's indignation at being told she was "just a staffer" by Steve Bannon, who at the time was Trump's Senior Counselor.
Bannon had a strong agenda of his own, and Woodward claims he used Trump to advance it. This seems to have been borne out subsequently by Bannon's fall from grace, and most recently his indictment on charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and money laundering in connection to the We Build the Wall campaign.
Trump has bulldozed through a bewildering array of advisors and political appointees. The turnover rate is unprecedented. The more notable include National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, White House Chief of Staff, Reince Priebus, White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, and Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tom Price. Their tenures have been brief and chaotic. By May this year, there have been 415 White House staffers dismissed or resigned.
Woodward puts this down to Trump being unprepared to continue to employ anyone who disagrees with him. He paints a picture of senior military men, such as James Mattis and H R McMaster being unwilling to kowtow, and leaving the administration as a result.
Perhaps the most telling reflection on Trump's style is this quote -Real power is - I don't want to use the word - fear. (Trump 31st March 2016)
I'd recommend it.
(Fear, Trump in the White House, Bob Woodward, Simon & Schuster, 2018).
Comments closed.
55 comments:
Woodward is another sad old man reliving the glories of his past.
A washed up hack with nothing new to say and totally reliant on lies to get headlines.
He should have retired after Bernstein wrote the book on Watergate.
John Grey
Bob Woodward has been an "FBI asset" since the days of Deep Throat.
Source - US State Department.
So much for his journalistic impartiality.
John Grey
Old mate, is Bob Woodward still running that old, fake news about President Trump's handling of the Chinese Flu?
He's so short of things to write about that he dredges up false stories from the past.
No wonder you like him so much - you've got a lot in common.
John Grey.
A washed up hack with nothing new to say and totally reliant on lies to get headlines.
Is this a lie - The US has 4% of the world's population and 20% of Covid 19 deaths?
Woodward is far from "washed up".
Watch this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfIgjTrYYeQ
Old mate, is Bob Woodward still running that old, fake news about President Trump's handling of the Chinese Flu?
Those figures aren't fake. The USA, with 4% of the world's population, has 20% of pandemic deaths, all on Trump's watch. In the last few weeks with the onset of the colder weather, in some states, rates of infection are higher than they've ever been.
Check out the figures here, and then answer my question -https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/
Instead of sniping, John Grey, answer the question.
You're looking increasingly silly.
"all on Trump's watch."
Old mate, there is the flaw in any argument you try to make and your abuse of statistical analysis fails on many counts.
It is the state governors who determine Chinese flu policies and procedures. Lockdowns, masks, orders to self-isolate - all the responsibility of governors.
NY State Governor Cuomo has as much blood on his hands as Dictator Dan has in Victoria. He sent 6,300 Covid-19 patients to nursing homes. As a result, 6,400 deaths in homes and long-term care facilities are tied to the virus.
President Trump did an excellent job in banning flights from China. Nancy Pelosi denounced this as xenophobic and posed for picture hugging people in Chinatown. He was right, she was wrong.
Trump promoted the use of hydroxycloroquine for patients in early stages of Wuhan flu and study after study agreed with him.
He declared a national health emergency 8 days after the first diagnosis hit American shores.
He encouraged his people to be brave, face the dangers responsibly, and deal with the crisis without destroying America.
All of his 4th quarter salary was donated to health responses.
Two naval hospital ships were sent to hot spots at his direction.
Meanwhile state governors were racking up deaths due to politically motivated policies.
I may not agree with all of the President's actions but he has an excellent track record of dealing with this imported virus.
So to address your question - the statistics are correct but totally irrelevant.
John Grey.
"nstead of sniping, John Grey, answer the question.
You're looking increasingly silly."
Perhaps you should be asking old mate to be quicker in updating posts instead of whinging about my absence.
The only thing silly here is the blogger's fanatical left wing politicisation of every event in the world.
John Grey.
"Instead of sniping, John Grey, answer the question.
You're looking increasingly silly."
Oh dear. Another poster is pissed off at me.
Now where have I seen that tactic before?
John Grey.
Old mate, any acknowledgement about the source of the pandemic, or are you shielding your totalitarian mates from harm by not mentioning China and Wuhan?
John Grey
Old mate, any acknowledgement about the source of the pandemic, or are you shielding your totalitarian mates from harm by not mentioning China and Wuhan?
The origin of the pandemic has nothing to do with totalitarianism. It's a politically agnostic organism. As it happens the Chinese have done better job of managing it than Trump. His constant references that it is all everybody else's fault except his make him sound like a petulant six year old.
Old mate, there is the flaw in any argument you try to make and your abuse of statistical analysis fails on many counts.
Those statistics are not "abuse". Last time I checked, five times more Americans have died from Covid than were killed in Vietnam.
It is the state governors who determine Chinese flu policies and procedures. Lockdowns, masks, orders to self-isolate - all the responsibility of governors.
It's a little more complicated than that. Irrespective of what the state governors do, it's the President that sets the tone. Trump's succession of lies and denials about Covid ("It's just the flu/it's going away/we have a cure/masks are not necessary) have contributed to discouraging people from following the restrictions, and his flensing of the Affordable Care Act has contributed to the death toll. Mortality rates are much higher in minority communities.
NY State Governor Cuomo has as much blood on his hands as Dictator Dan has in Victoria. He sent 6,300 Covid-19 patients to nursing homes. As a result, 6,400 deaths in homes and long-term care facilities are tied to the virus. That is simply untrue. He didn't "send" anybody anywhere - he didn't have the authority. Decisions were made, when the NY hospital system was overtaken by Covid admissions to transfer elderly patients to nursing homes to open beds for seriously ill Covid patients. Those decisions were made by the hospitals and the nursing homes. The same spread of infections in nursing homes occurred there as occurred here. Cuomo managed New York’s emergence from the depths of the infection better than just about any other state governor. New York now does much more testing than any other state in the country; it has reopened cautiously and in stages, and the virus has not resurged as it has elsewhere. To prevent a second wave, Cuomo and other northeastern governors have implemented a mandatory 14-day quarantine for travelers from states where the virus is spreading uncontrolled. Deaths have slowed to a trickle, New York’s infection rate had remained lower than many other states for some time.
President Trump did an excellent job in banning flights from China. Nancy Pelosi denounced this as xenophobic and posed for picture hugging people in Chinatown. He was right, she was wrong.
Trump did exactly the same as most other western leaders. Whether he was right or wrong won't bring 200000+ Yanks back.
Trump promoted the use of hydroxychloroquine for patients in early stages of Wuhan flu and study after study agreed with him.
Trump also promoted injecting antiseptic. Fortunately, the medical profession, including his own advisors like Dr Fauci, treated his pronouncements with the skepticism they deserved. Latest research on hydroxychloroquine finds its use Use of these drugs is premature and potentially harmful - https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1432/
He declared a national health emergency 8 days after the first diagnosis hit American shores. He encouraged his people to be brave, face the dangers responsibly, and deal with the crisis without destroying America. All of his 4th quarter salary was donated to health responses.
Which didn't stop 223,644 Americans dying from it (as of today).
Two naval hospital ships were sent to hot spots at his direction.
Expensive political stunt. They were never used.
Meanwhile state governors were racking up deaths due to politically motivated policies.
Look at the deaths in Republican states. If this were true, they would have a lower mortality rate. They don't - https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/
I may not agree with all of the President's actions but he has an excellent track record of dealing with this imported virus.
Apart from Bolsonaro in Brazil, Trumphas the worst track record in the Americas.
"Expensive political stunt. They were never used. "
Therefore the panic over hospital shortages was an over reaction.
You can't have it both ways - a massive problem but hospital ships were not needed. Which is it?
John Grey.
"Last time I checked, five times more Americans have died from Covid than were killed in Vietnam"
Another irrelevancy.
Both situations are tragic but not equivalent. The causes are totally different. National responses are totally different. Those responsible for the responses are totally different people and levels of government.
That is what I mean about your abuse of statistics old mate. You pull idiotic statements out of your arse which are meaningless but do allow you to mention ad nauseam the Vietnam war.
John Grey.
President Trump didn't promote injecting antiseptic.
Trump was far from a model of clarity, but he did not actually propose injecting patients with disinfectant; he deferred to “medical doctors” to figure out how to apply Bryan’s research. (Breitbart)
Don't let the facts get in the way of your prejudices old mate.
John Grey.
"It's a politically agnostic organism."
What a load of rubbish.
No-one really knows how the virus developed, or got out nor its real start date. China lied, people died.
All we do know is that Chinese authorities welded shut their citizens' houses to keep them locked up.
I'm sure that appeals to the inner totalitarian in the blogger.
John Grey
but he did not actually propose injecting patients with disinfectant;
Except he did.
Here is the videotape. Watch between 25secs and 35 secs in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33QdTOyXz3w
Here's the verbatim transcript -“So I asked Bill a question some of you are thinking of if you’re into that world, which I find to be pretty interesting. So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous, whether its ultraviolet or just very powerful light, and I think you said, that hasn’t been checked but you’re gonna test it. And then I said, supposing it brought the light inside the body, which you can either do either through the skin or some other way, and I think you said you’re gonna test that too, sounds interesting. And I then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in one minute, and is there a way you can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs, and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it’d be interesting to check that. So you’re going to have to use medical doctors, but it sounds interesting to me, so we’ll see. But the whole concept of the light, the way it goes in one minute, that’s pretty powerful.”
He talks so must gibberish, but desperate sick people will cling on to it.
He is extremely dangerous. At least one person took him at his word and died as a result - https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/man-dies-drinking-cleaner-thought-21924827
China lied, people died.
China actually told the truth, and then did a good job of containing the virus, unlike many European countries, and the USA which until fairly recently has the highest fatality rate worldwide -https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/house-was-fire-top-chinese-virologist-how-china-and-us-have-met-pandemic
"China actually told the truth, and then did a good job of containing the virus"
Absolute bullshit and you know it.
China under-reported the numbers affected by Wuhan Flu.
They allowed infected Chinese people to return to Northern Italy after the Chinese New Year despite the disease having already started in Wuhan.
Doctors who tried to alert people about the disease were "disappeared" by the CCP.
China knew about the Wuhan Flu 2 months before they reported it.
When Morrison called for an open and transparent inquiry into China's handling of the pandemic, China threatened a boycott of Australian goods.
Yep, that's truth telling for you. In a totalitarian sort of way.
The only question is whether the initial release of the virus was accidental or deliberate.
John Grey.
"At least one person took him at his word and died as a result "
You claim President Trump said to inject disinfectant.
The link is to a person who a man who swallowed fish tank cleaner.
I don't think the two are the same, do you?
Please also note the precautionary warnings the President said at the same time, as shown in your own quote:
"So it’d be interesting to check that. So you’re going to have to use medical doctors, but it sounds interesting to me, so we’ll see"
I think that sorry death is an example of a Darwin award nominee.
John Grey.
"Fear" is a good title for any book about President Trump.
Because that is how the gravy train deep state feel about their future under the only incorruptible politician in the USA.
John Grey
"the Chinese have done better job of managing it than Trump"
What a lot of unmitigated bullshit.
China started it.
China exported it.
China benefits from collapsing economies elsewhere.
No wonder you are on their side - totalitarianism suits you.
John Grey.
Blogger, if you are going to continue putting up rubbish then leave out the stuff that is easily checked.
President Trump is to be blamed for Americans not wearing masks - another false claim by you.
"World Health Organization officials Monday said they still recommend people not wear face masks unless they are sick with Covid-19 or caring for someone who is sick." CNN, 312st march 2020.
WHO stands for World Health Organisation - you know, the people responsible for "The Science" you depend on.
John Grey.
"Trump was happy to give him unfettered access"
The President's courage shines through again.
Allowing an avowed Democrat journalist (BIRM) to get so close to the workings of his office shows us the mettle of the man.
Question - in 8 years, did Obama ever give such freedom to anyone from Fox News?
Answer - no of course not. Didn't even give them an exclusive interview let alone unfettered access.
Well done to the President.
John Grey.
" In the last few weeks with the onset of the colder weather, in some states, rates of infection are higher than they've ever been."
Blogger, you have unintentionally ruined your own argument.
The President has no control over the weather so saying "on Trump's watch" is ridiculous.
In some states - well there we have it, state governors DO have a lot of power to fight the Wuhan flu despite your assertions that the President is all-powerful in fighting the virus.
Your beef is with a country that led Australia into Vietnam, not with the specifics of the issue at hand.
Let it go.
John Grey.
"China lied, people died."
Chinese track record of lies about the Wuhan Flu include:
* Boris Johnson’s scientific advisers have concluded that paramount leader Xi Jinping’s regime has downplayed the true number of cases in China “by 15 to 40 times.”
* Then there is the Communist Party’s active disinformation campaign abroad. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson suggested that the coronavirus might actually be American in origin — brought to Wuhan by the US military!
* When the late Dr. Li Wenliang, the heroic whistleblower, tried to warn the public about the coronavirus, he was detained, charged with “spreading false rumors” and accused of “seriously disrupting social order.” All discussion about the virus is now censored.
(h/t NY Post)
To continue defending China smacks of a desperate search for communist power.
John Grey
More on the "China lied, people died" theme:
According to Dr. Li-Meng Yan, China knew the virus can spread from human to human several weeks before acknowledging it to the rest of the world.(bgr.com)
There's no excuse for covering up for China, old mate.
John Grey.
Who to believe - the blogger ("China told the truth") or Dr Anthony Fauci who said "when China claimed "the virus jumped from an animal reservoir to a human and wasn’t being transmitted from human-to-human."
"Well, it became very clear pretty quickly that that was not the case, that the virus was being transmitted from human-to-human. But not only that, but the nightmare that we have is that not only is it transmitted human-to-human, it does it very efficiently," he explained" (Town Hall, April 5th 2020)
No sane person would continue to keep saying "China told the truth". The blogger will.
John Grey.
"did a good job of containing the virus"
That's impossible to believe, given the vast amount of lies going out of your masters in the CCP.
John Grey.
That's impossible to believe, given the vast amount of lies going out of your masters in the CCP.
They're not a patch on Trump. Last count reveals 20000 false or misleading claims -https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/13/donald-trump-20000-false-or-misleading-claims
Boris Johnson’s scientific advisers have concluded that paramount leader Xi Jinping’s regime has downplayed the true number of cases in China by 15 to 40 times.
Is that the Boris Johnson who ended up in ICU with the virus because he didn't take it seriously? He does now, but it hasn't helped the UK. Oz has done a much better job of managing it. Can you explain what evidence these "scientific advisers" used to back up their claims?
Then there is the Communist Party’s active disinformation campaign abroad. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson suggested that the coronavirus might actually be American in origin — brought to Wuhan by the US military!
Their claims are about as believable as those that say the virus was deliberately released by the Chinese.
When the late Dr. Li Wenliang, the heroic whistleblower, tried to warn the public about the coronavirus, he was detained, charged with “spreading false rumors” and accused of “seriously disrupting social order.” All discussion about the virus is now censored.
It's not you know. The Chinese papers are all over it -https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3105872/china-greta-thunberg-coronavirus-held-climate-wake-call
"The Chinese papers are all over it"
Meet me at the base of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
I have a deal you may be interested in. Bring your credit card.
John Grey.
"given the vast amount of lies going out of your masters in the CCP.
They're not a patch on Trump."
Ah ha. So you agree that the CCP is lying, just at a lower rate.
Thanks.
John Grey
Using The Guardian as a reputable source is not the action of a sensible person.
Biased yes, truthful no.
John Grey
The President has no control over the weather so saying "on Trump's watch" is ridiculous.
But he should have control over the nonsense that comes out of his mouth. Some quotes - In February, he said: It’s going to disappear one day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.He also said in the same month: A lot of people think that goes with the heat, as the heat comes in, typically that will go away on April.
- At a rally in September - But it affects virtually nobody. It’s an amazing thing.In February, he said: This is a flu. This is like a flu.
Also in February - It’s a little like a regular flu that we have flu shots for, and we’ll essentially have a flu shot for this in a fairly quick manner.
He later compared the number of deaths caused by flu with the then 22 fatal cases of Covid-19 in the US.
Now there are 224,732 deaths, that's about 700 daily. There are 17,582 deaths in Texas, which has a Republican administration -https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/usa/texas/
"it's the President that sets the tone" and well done to President Trump on encouraging Americans to keep the economy going whilst protecting the vulnerable.
He set an example to Americans by continuing to work while his Presidential opponent hid in his basement.
John Grey.
More on the on-going censorship by the CCP (the bloggers' mates.
1. keyword-based analysis of popular social media sites such as WeChat, where COVID-19 discussions that are critical of the government have been blocked or removed.
2. the hashtag “We Want Freedom of Speech” has been suppressed.
3. the government appears to be censoring research on the origins of the virus by requiring that scientists submit their studies to the Ministry of Science and Technology before publication.
Truth and China do not belong in the same sentence.
John Grey.
The blogger tries to avoid logic - again.
When I make a good point, he can only divert to a completely different argument.
It's a shame really.
John Grey.
"When I make a good point"
You haven't managed that yet.
Your comments are simply smears.
"it's the President that sets the tone" and well done to President Trump on encouraging Americans to keep the economy going whilst protecting the vulnerable. There are 225,151 people who weren't protected.
They're dead...
"It's a while since I've posted a book review, gentle reader"
Wrong again.
"reader" is singular.
There are 4 people who read this blog so that should be "readers".
Just here to help.
John Grey.
"Your comments are simply smears"
OK, provide some counterpoints to my facts.
Challenge issued!
John Grey
"There are 225,151 people who weren't protected."
What a lot of emotive rubbish.
Those tragic deaths were caused by a myriad of factors including state governor decisions, Chinese indifference (at least - possibly deliberate release of the virus), comorbidities, age, and geographic influences.
In your myopic anti-American mindset, you pretend that Trump is the only cause of those deaths.
Crazy staff old mate.
John Grey.
Another brilliant rebuttal of the blogger's meme that President Trump is responsible for all the deaths in America.
"How can any governor legitimately ‘slam’ the White House response to the pandemic when under the Stafford Act of 1988, the states are specifically responsible for planning, implementation of their plans, and management of natural disaster and pandemic response efforts within their own state? The federal role is limited by law to assisting the states upon request and supporting state efforts through federal financial relief. The White House does not have the authority to impose stay-at-home mandates nor mask mandates within the states." (h/t Catallaxy files, 20th October 2020)
John Grey
https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/causes-death/provisional-mortality-statistics/latest-release
Irrefutable evidence on tonight's Alan Jones show that hydroxychloroquine works for patients in the early stages of Wuhan Flu.
No-one in their right mind will deny its effectiveness from now on.
John Grey
No-one in their right mind will deny its effectiveness from now on.
One of the well understood side effects of hydroxychloroquine is eye damage -
"while hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), a less toxic metabolite of chloroquine, is used to treat rheumatic diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and Sjogren's syndrome.[2] Both medications can cause corneal deposits, posterior subcapsular lens opacity, ciliary body dysfunction, and most important, irregularity in the macular pigmentation in the early phase, a ring of macular pigment dropout in the advanced stage, and peripheral bone spicule formation, vascular attenuation, and optic disc pallor in the end-stage. Ocular symptoms of retinopathy include blurred and partial loss of central vision, side vision and in the later stage, night vision." (Chloroquine And Hydroxychloroquine Toxicity
Thomas J. Stokkermans; Amandeep Goyal; Pankaj Bansal; Georgios Trichonas - July 4, 2020).
Doctors are guided by the maxim - "primum non nocere". It's apparent by your postings that you place no value on ethics, medical or otherwise, but normal people do.
Then, of course, there are numerous reviews of its efficacy, including this one in the British Medical Journal of 8th April 2020 (BMJ 2020; 369 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m1432)
We sorely need an effective treatment for covid-19, but prevention by a vaccine or treatment with drugs that target specific structures in the virus are more likely to succeed than old drugs that may work in the laboratory but lack data supporting clinical use. No intervention should be assumed to be efficacious. Even drugs initially supported by evidence of effectiveness may later prove to be more harmful than beneficial. Too many medicines have been withdrawn because of adverse reactions after showing clinical promise.29 We need better, properly powered, randomised controlled trials of chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine. For now, except for supportive measures, infection with SARS-CoV-2 is “essentially untreatable.”
Note the reference to "may work in the laboratory". The proponents of hydroxychloroquine base their opinions on a series of trials run in China early in the pandemic. What they neglect to mention (or perhaps are blissfully unaware of) is that these were "in vitro" trials, i'e. carried out in test tubes.
Until proper double blind trials are successful, it cannot be safely used. That is yet to happen, despite the fact that there are many programmes under way.
Trump (and others) who are completely unqualified to advise on treatment are using the pandemic to further their political agendae - a disgraceful episode.
Another brilliant rebuttal of the blogger's meme that President Trump is responsible for all the deaths in America.
Presidents lead by example.
Whether you like it or not, Trump has actively discouraged Americans from following restrictions (mask wearing/large gatherings), and has been doing so for months. As a result of this, many have ignored those restrictions and the country is paying the price.
Ever wondered why the Covid 19 death rate in the US sits at 681 per million, whereas in Australia it's 35 per million?
In your myopic anti-American mindset, you pretend that Trump is the only cause of those deaths.
Show me where I wrote that.
"reader" is singular.
Only one person is reading at a time.
Hence "gentle reader" is entirely fitting.
Liberal MP Craig Kelly says studies have shown a 73 per cent reduction rate in mortality where Hydroxychloroquine was dispensed to COVID infected patients.
Why not let doctors and patients decide on the use of a potentially life saving drug?
John Grey
Sorry.
You are right. There is only one reader (me). All the others have gone.
John Grey
Good to see the blogger sticking up for free speech (no, not sarcasm)
He simultaneously praises the CCP and also allows an anti-CCP newspaper to advertise on his vanity blog (The Epoch Times).
Unless it is a mistake and then when his communist masters find out there will be hell to pay.
John Grey
Professor Harvey Risch, the professor of epidemiology at Yale; someone with almost 40-plus years of experience. And his words were, and I quote: “I conclude the evidence is overwhelming: there is no question that for people who need to be treated and are treated early, it (hydroxychloroquine) has a very substantial benefit in reducing the risk of hospitalization or mortality.” (Craig Kelly, Australian Parliament)
Only totalitarian regimes would prevent doctors and patients from making up their own minds - you know, democratically.
John Grey
Craig Kelly totally nails it. He is correct, in substance.
Anti-hydroxychloroquine fear merchants like the blogger are simply anti whatever President Trump supports.
John Grey
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