Georgia on My Mind

Tom Flynn ("ArtKnows") has a comprehensive report about the distrubing situation in Georgia on his blog: http://tom-flynn.blogspot.com/2008/08/fog-of-war-obscures-state-of-cultural.html

I'm a bit surprised that Saving Antiquities for Everyone ("SAFE") (http://www.savingantiquities.org/) only has this link on its website: http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=5071. The story from a Russian source ("Interfax") reads like old fashioned Soviet "Agitprop" to me.

Georgia has a long and rich history. Recently, the Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution held a spectacular exhibit of ancient grave goods called, "Wine Worship and Sacrifice: the Golden Graves of Ancient Vani-- Treasures from Georgia." See: http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/online/Gold/default.html Hopefully, the destruction of cultural sites is not as bad as some of the initial reports suggest. In any event, this seems to be another situation where the existence of the 1954 Hague Convention meant little to the combatants.