Friday, June 20, 2014

Investigations Needed of Close, Secretive Ties to Middle Eastern Dictators and Terror States?

According to the archaeological blogosphere there are links between terrorists and collectors that must be investigated.  If so, CPO hopes any such investigation also explores the established but opaque links between the archaeological lobby and Middle Eastern military dictatorships like Egypt and even terror states like Saddam's Iraq, the Assads' Syria and the Mullah's Iran.   Any such links are potentially far more dangerous to our own national security than a few cylinder seals in the hands of terrorists.  And this is no job for Homeland Security or even the FBI.  No, this is one for the CIA or perhaps even the NSA.  They'll get to the bottom of all this-- though, of course, we may never learn what they find.
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2 comments:

  1. John HJune 20, 2014 at 11:31 AM

    Over on an undistinguished Warsaw Junior Common Room-style blog complete with its familiar teenage whine;it’s soooo unfair :-

    "...The first is the obvious one of the digging up of stuff to flog off to unscrupulous dealers (who are patronised by equally unscrupulous collectors) to raise cash to finance their operations [...] When however a group in an attempt to impose a new identity attempts to wipe away national identities, the heritage that supports them also suffers. Wiping out monuments to national identity and a common past is what the Nazis did in Poland, its what ISIS appears to be attempting in Syria."

    So, according to the Dzerzhinsky Square sock-puppet, coin collectors (mostly US apparently) and UK detectorists are subsiding ISIS, Jihadists, and terrorists. Huh?

    Indeed, this may be true! I don’t know whether it is or not, and neither does anyone else, but, seeing that ISIS has financed its war chest by robbing banks,and selling crude oil, then it naturally follows that anyone buying oil, petroleum products, or anything else derived from crude oil, is equally as guilty as those buying antiquities from ISIS sources...using Warsaw spirit level of balanced(!?) ethics.

    Of course, some archaeo-bloggers unable to afford to run a motor car – UNESCO translators don’t get top dollar, I’m told -- might well claim the ersatz moral high ground.

    Usual best wishes

    John Howland
    England

    ReplyDelete
  2. John HJune 21, 2014 at 4:54 AM

    The latest news from the military dictatorship in Egypt is that they are going to execute 183 political opponents. It follows therefore, many archaeo-bloggers support this murderous political dogma. Their mantra; 'Artifacts before Tolerance and Humanity' speaks volumes about them.

    Archaeologists, and their bag-carries who espouse support for the Egyptian generals, certainly needs investigating as a matter of urgency...and not necessarily for the purpose of antiquities racketeering either, one hopes.

    Best wishes

    John Howland
    England

    ReplyDelete

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