Monday, November 29, 2010

State Department Largess to Iraqi Archaeology Continues Despite Budget Pressures

Today, President Obama told federal workers they can't expect pay raises for the next two years because of pressure on the federal budget. See
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/us/politics/30freeze.html?hp

Such financial pressures apparently have yet to impact the State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Cultural Heritage Center and the archaeological lobby that supports it, however. Just last week, the State Department announced that it was doling out another $2 million to support Iraqi archaeology. See
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/11/151888.htm

Predictably, such largess has won the Cultural Heritage Center kudos from preservation groups like the award that was recently given at the posh Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C. See
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/11/151921.htm

On the other hand, for others all this money should just be viewed as "reparations" for past wrongs. See
http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/11/26/35716051.html

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