Egyptology Today (Egyptod.com) reports that the Egyptian and Chinese militaries have agreed to set up a cultural relics preservation strike force to root out ISIS and other terrorists that sell cultural heritage for gain:
Beijing, April 1, 2015: Egyptian and Chinese military and cultural officials have announced the creation of a cultural relics preservation strike force to protect Middle Eastern antiquities. The force will be led by the Egyptian military, but rely on weaponry and technical support from the People's Liberation Army and PolEGroup, its antiquities and arms trading subsidiary.
The strike force is being formed as an adjunct to a new all Arab force to tackle terrorism, but the group will rely heavily on a pool of unemployed archaeologists from the Western world for manpower and expertise. When asked for comment, Gill Barmore of Das Kapital Archaeological Institute and the Context Coalition was ecstatic: "It's now time for archaeologists from the US and EU to turn in their spades for AK-47s and join our own jihad against the terrorists and cultural racketeers. We call on archaeologists to join the CRPSF and take the fight to the enemy on their own ground."
There are even plans for drones developed by PolEGroup with stolen Pentagon technology to be assigned to the effort. The "Eye of Horus" will provide reconnaissance while the "Rod of Seth" will be armed with missiles which can be used to attack terrorists, looters and cultural racketeers from the air.
Any antiquities recovered will be taken for safekeeping to China where they will be evaluated by the experts of PolEGroup and sold at auction to Chinese buyers to help pay for the venture. Far from prompting controversy, Egyptian officials embrace the plan as a cultural exchange effort. According to world famous archaeologist Zani Hanass, "Egyptians and Chinese are heirs to great Empires and giving Chinese collectors the opportunity to purchase ancient art from lesser empires such as Assyria is a blow for anti-colonialism."
There are so many unemployed Western archaeologists that the strike force could probably raise quite an army, however they would need extended basic training because most would be in poor physical condition, overage, unable to fire with accuracy and possessing only one skill of military utility: entrenching.
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