Eurocrats Find Little Evidence Terrorist Artifacts Entering Market, But that Does Not Stop Calls for Draconian Legislation

Ivan Maquisten writes that EU bureaucrats believe the absence of evidence that ISIS looted material is entering the market is reason for more draconian controls, not fewer.  The bureaucratic thinking is that vast amounts of looted material must be entering the market unnoticed under current customs regimes.  Of course, those who seek to justify draconian regulation will not consider the distinct possibility the extent of ISIS looting has been greatly overstated by Russian and Syrian propagandists and archaeological advocacy groups for their own purposes.  Moreover, it does not help that the EU cultural bureaucracy-- like its US counterpart-- only considers archaeologists and foreign governments legitimate stakeholders in the issue.  No wonder the cultural bureaucracy is so distrusted by collectors and the small businesses of the antiquities and numismatic trade. 

CPACKed Again on the Way Out the Door

Before leaving office, the outgoing Obama Administration made late appointments or reappointments to all the available slots for the 11 member Cultural Property Advisory Committee.  CPAC members are appointed to three year renewable terms.  As such, the late appointments or reappointments appear calculated to try to ensure that CPAC continues the Obama Administration's "archaeology over all" approach to cultural heritage issues well into the new Administration.

As contemplated by Congress, CPAC is to represent the interests of the public (3 members), the trade (3 members), museums (2 members) and the archaeological community (3 members).  See Senate Report 97-564 at 9.

Under the Obama Administration, however, CPAC picks have been steered to individuals supportive of the retentavist views of the archaeological lobby.  Of course, this also dovetails nicely with the Department of State Cultural Heritage Center's use of MOUs as a "deliverable" to foreign cultural establishments to promote "good will."   At a minimum, all this "good will" helps ensure that the Cultural Heritage Center's allies in the archaeological lobby continue to get the foreign excavation permits they need to continue their work.  These permits allowing for excavations by foreign missions are then portrayed as prime examples of "cultural exchange" fostered by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

But archaeology is supposed to be only one stakeholder, not the only stakeholder with an interest in the issues.  Moreover, CPAC ought to provide the President with useful advice so that he or his designee will exercise the "independent judgment" of the U.S. as to the need and scope for import controls.  Senate Report at 6.  Indeed, the Senate has emphasized that "U.S. actions need not be coextensive with the broadest declarations of ownership and historical or scientific value made by other nations."  Id.

Hence, the Obama Administration can and should be faulted for appointing NO ONE representing the interests of the antiquities and coin trade or the interests of members of the public who are collectors. Indeed, having some passing knowledge about trade issues is certainly not the same as "representing" those interests. (The one true "trade representative," James Willis, is an expert in ethnographic artifacts, not antiquities.)

CPO hopes the Trump Administration will undertake a full review of the operations of CPAC and the Cultural Heritage Center to ascertain whether both are operating as contemplated by statute.  CPO also hopes Obama picks (other than Mr. Willis) will be replaced at the earliest time possible with individuals that will provide useful advice reflective of the interests of all stakeholders.

Here are the recent appointments and reappointments to CPAC.

Key, A-Archaeology; M-Museums; P-Public; T-Trade. Where the affiliation is unclear from Obama Administration official announcements, the designation is followed by a ?

January 11, 2017 Announcement

John E. Frank (T?)- John E. Frank is Microsoft's Vice President for European Union Government Affairs, a position he has held since 2015 From 2002 to 2015, Mr. Frank served as Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, and Chief of Staff in Microsoft’s Legal and Corporate Affairs Department He worked as Associate General Counsel for Microsoft Europe, Middle East, and Africa from 1996 to 2002 and Corporate Attorney for Microsoft Europe from 1994 to 1996 Mr. Frank was an Associate Attorney with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom from 1988 to 1994 and with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP from 1985 to 1987 He is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Seattle Art Museum and served as Board Chair from 2013 to 2015 Mr. Frank received an A.B. from Princeton University and a J.D. from Columbia Law School.

ABC News lists Frank as a campaign donations bundler in the $500,000-plus category.

Karol Wight (M)- Was senior curator of antiquities at the Getty Villa and internationally renowned specialist in Roman glass, was named the next executive director of The Corning Museum of Glass, the world’s foremost museum dedicated to the art, history, and science of glass.

Lothar von Falkenhausen (A)- Lothar von Falkenhausen is Professor of Chinese Archaeology and Art History and Associate Director of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA, where he has taught since 1993. He was educated at Bonn University, Peking University, Kyoto University, and Harvard University, and received his PhD in anthropology from Harvard in 1988. His research concerns the archaeology of the Chinese Bronze Age, focusing on large interdisciplinary and historical issues on which archaeological materials can provide significant new information.

Nancy Wilkie (A)- Nancy Wilkie is a distinguished archaeologist who has lectured on numerous study tours worldwide, especially in the Mediterranean. She is William H. Laird Professor of Classics, Anthropology, and the Liberal Arts, Emerita, at Carleton College where she was co-coordinator of the Archaeology Concentration. Nancy has worked on archaeological projects in Greece, Egypt, and Nepal, authored more than 30 articles, and co-edited three books on archaeology. From 1998-2002 she served as President of the AIA, and in 2009-10 she was the AIA’s Charles Eliot Norton lecturer, one of the highest honors that the Institute bestows. In April 2003 the President appointed Nancy to the Cultural Property Advisory Committee of the U.S. State Department, on which she continues to serve. In April 2013 she was elected President of the U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield, an organization dedicated to the protection of cultural property in times of armed conflict.

January 6, 2017 Announcement

Rosemary Joyce (A) - Cultural Property Advisory Committee; first appointed to CPAC in 2011.
Rosemary Joyce is an American anthropologist and social archaeologist who has specialized in research in Honduras.

James Wright Willis (T) - Cultural Property Advisory Committee; first appointed to CPAC in 2003.
James Wright Willis is the founder of James Willis Tribal Art in San Francisco, which he has owned and operated since 1972.  He is a member of the San Francisco Art Dealers Association and Friends of Ethnic Art in San Francisco.  In addition, he served on the boards of the Museum for African Art, the San Francisco Craft and Folk Art Museum, and the Ancient and Tribal Arts Study Committee of the M. H. De Young Museum.  Mr. Willis received his B.A. from Pomona College and his M.A. from San Francisco State.

December 15, 2016  Announcement

Dorit D. Straus (T?)- Dorit D. Straus is an Art and Insurance Advisor for Art and Insurance Advisory Services Inc., a position she has held since 2013.  Ms. Straus was previously Vice President Worldwide Specialty Fine Art Manager for Chubb, where she held various management positions from 1982 to 2013.  She has been a Visiting Lecturer at the Association for Research into Crimes Against Art since 2009 and was an Art Culture and Entertainment Manager at ACE USA from 1998 to 2000.  Ms. Straus was a Curatorial Researcher at the Jewish Museum from 1981 to 1982, an Assistant Collection Manager at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography at Harvard University from 1978 to 1981, and an Assistant Registrar at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts from 1976 to 1978.  She serves on the Board of Directors of AXA Art Americas Corporation, and the International Foundation for Art Research.  Ms. Straus received a B.A. from The City University of New York.

September 16, 2016  Announcement

Adele Chatfield-Taylor (P?)-Adele Chatfield-Taylor, a native of Virginia, is an American prominent arts administrator. She served as president and CEO of the American Academy in Rome from 1988 to 2013.

Shannon Keller O'Loughlin (P)- Former chief of staff of National Indian Gaming Commission. Ms. She also supports repatriation of indigenous artifacts.

James K. Reap (M?)-Secretary General of ICLAFI, ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Legal Administrative and Financial Issues.  He also is associated with the Lawyer's Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation.

Jeremy Sabloff (Chairman) (P?) -Jeremy "Jerry" Arac Sabloff is an American anthropologist and past president of the Santa Fe Institute. Sabloff is an expert on ancient Maya civilization and pre-industrial urbanism.

Kerry Ignorant of Collateral Damage to Legitimate Trade and Museums

It's evident listening to Secretary Kerry that he has been grossly misinformed about how the State Department and CBP misapply import restrictions under the CPIA.  If restrictions were applied as contemplated, there would not be so much collateral damage to the legitimate trade.  Unfortunately, however, our CBP and State Department take cues not from the plain meaning of the statute, but from the archaeological lobby's desire to "shift the burden of proof" to the collector based on the dubious assumption that undocumented means stolen.

Under the CPIA, the burden is on the government to prove: (1) the item is of a type that appears on the designated list; (2) the item was first discovered within and subject to the export control of the country for which restrictions were granted; and (3) that it was illegally removed from the country for which import restrictions were granted after the date the restrictions were imposed.  19 USC Sections 2601, 2604, 2606, 2610.  Draconian rules that assume guilt after only the first element is proved are for dictatorships like Egypt, not for democracies that respect rule of law like the United States.

Outgoing Obama Administration Gifts Egypt and Archaeological Lobby with a MOU

The outgoing Obama Administration has gifted Egypt's authoritarian government, its cultural bureaucracy and supportive archaeologists with a MOU that will likely ban import of undocumented Egyptian antiquities created before 1517.

In so doing, the Administration has ignored 91% of the public comment to CPAC which raised serious concerns with any MOU.  Moreover, the decision once again raises the question whether there was any "done deal" from the outset.

Implementing regulations are expected soon.

State Department Official Confirms Collector Concerns

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Larry Schwartz has confirmed collector concerns about how the State Department has administered the CPIA in a video prepared on behalf of the Antiquities Coalition, an archaeological advocacy group.  For Schwartz and the State Department, MOUs only stem the flow of "illegal" antiquities; not legal antiquities openly sold abroad that don't meet stringent documentation requirements.  The CPIA's legal requirements are "not hard;" there are no real procedural and substantive constraints before import restrictions may be approved.  The burden of proof is on the importer; artifacts can be seized and forfeited without proof they were first discovered within and subject to the export control of the country for which restrictions are given.  And, of course, State sees itself as a partner with foreign cultural bureaucracies, academic archaeologists that depend on these foreign bureaucracies for excavation permits and their advocacy groups.  But what rule of law and the interests of museums, collectors and the small businesses of the numismatic and antiquities trade?  They apparently don't rate, something that hopefully will be addressed when a new administration takes over in January.

Cyprus: What's Wrong with This Picture?

Cypriot Government requests extension of MOU with US that authorizes the detention, seizure and repatriation of undocumented artifacts of Cypriot origin to Cyprus because they "may be stolen."  For more, see here.

Mayor of Paphos, Cyprus, accuses antiquities service of stealing artifacts; antiquities service says not stolen, just undocumented.  For more, see here.

As Cultural Bureaucrats, Culture Cops and Archaeologists Party-- Questions Linger about MOU with Italy

On March 23, 2016, the Italian Embassy will be hosting a party to celebrate (a bit late) the 15th anniversary of Italy's MOU with the United States.

Speakers will include the Italian Ambassador, Evan Ryan, the Assistant Secretary of the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, as well as representatives of the Archaeological Institute of America, the Carabiniri Command for Safeguarding Cultural Patrimony, Homeland Security Investigations and the Italian Ministry of Culture, i.e., the bureaucracies, police forces and archaeological groups that have benefited most from the agreement.

There will surely be no mention of the fact that 94% of the public comments received by CPAC were either opposed to the renewal of the MOU or continued import restrictions on historical coins of the sort widely collected within Italy itself.  Nor any discussion of the limited benefits of the MOU to American citizens, who, after all, have had to pay substantial admissions fees to visit museum exhibits hyped as "cultural exchange" under its terms.

Nor presumably will there be any discussion about the poor state of Italy's monuments or the gross under funding, corruption and bureaucratic malfeasance that has caused it.

After all, why spoil a good time?

Progress on HR 1493

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has passed a much modified version of HR 1493, a bill designed to protect cultural property in times of war and civil strife.  The Senate's version of the bill is not yet available on-line, but CPO has had an opportunity to review its provisions.  Most importantly, the Senate substitute legislation replaces a controversial State Department "Cultural Property Czar" found in the House version with a sense of Congress that the President should establish an inter-agency task force to coordinate a US Government response to protecting international cultural property in times of war or civil strife.  The bill authorizes import restrictions on Syrian cultural artifacts-- consistent with the provisions of the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act, but also strengthens provisions for "safe harbor" for Syrian artifacts compared to the House version of the bill.

HR 1493's sponsor, Ranking Minority House Foreign Relations Committee Member Congressman Elliot Engel,  has welcomed the Senate's actions.  So, CPO suspects the Senate's changes were likely worked out in advance with Engel and his staff. If true, that should help expedite passage of the measure and any House-Senate conference.

The major remaining concern deals with how such restrictions will be implemented.  Will the State Department and US Customs revert to standard operating procedure and restrict items solely based on them being of a type manufactured in Syria hundreds or thousands of years ago? Or will the governing UN Resolution and statutory intent be honored so that restrictions only apply to artifacts illegally removed from Syria after the start of its civil war?

2/10/16 Update:  The text of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee version of the bill is now available here.

ISIS Crisis: Likely Fake Seized Months Ago Used as Justification for New Laws?

The archaeological lobby in both the United States and Germany are joined at the hip with the foreign policy bureaucracies of both countries.  In the US, the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs has worked closely with archaeological groups like the Archaeological Institute of America and the American Schools of Oriental Research for years.  In Germany, the German Archaeological Institute is similarly linked to the German Foreign Ministry.

Moreover, both the US State Department and the German Foreign Ministry have recently decided that repatriation is a "soft power" measure that can further foreign relations with source countries in Southern Europe and the Middle East.  And the archaeological lobby can be counted on to be supportive of even the most authoritarian of regimes as long as excavation permits are assured. So, perhaps it should be no surprise that what appears to knowledgeable antiquities dealers to be a fake seized back in March is now being used months later to again claim that there is an "ISIS Crisis" demanding a change in current law on the importing of antiquities.

Serious questions have been raised as to the wisdom of  the current forms of HR 1493/S.1887 in the United States and a new Cultural Heritage law in Germany, particularly now that dubious claims about ISIS and antiquities have been exposed.  So, perhaps this story that appears to have been planted in the New York Times at the behest of  the State Department and archaeological groups in the US and Germany should be viewed more as part of a desperate effort to overcome legitimate questions about this legislation and the new intrusive bureaucracies that would be created in the US and Germany as much as anything else.

Byzantine

Is a good way to describe the cultural property laws a Greek numismatist must deal with for the private foundation where he works to add Byzantine and other coins to its collection.   At least the politically connected KIKPE Numismatic Collection is designated a "collector" under Greek law. That allows them to do more than merely "possess" the coins they own.

One would hope that efforts to cut down on choking regulation-- which have been discussed in Greece as a much needed remedy to open up its moribund economy to growth-- would carry over to "cultural property issues."  However, the archaeological lobby and the cultural bureaucracy are probably too entrenched to make that possible.

Indeed, it would appear, if anything, based on red tape creating legislative proposals in Germany and the United States that the trend is in the opposite direction.  CPO strongly believes that such added layers of bureaucracy and over regulation do little, or nothing, to protect archaeology as claimed, but much to undercut legitimate cultural exchange and the study and appreciation of coins and other artifacts that comes with it.

A Question of Degree

The Art Newspaper has reported on warnings from the FBI's Bonnie Magness Gardiner, an alumnus of the State Department's Cultural Heritage Center, and Michael Danti, a beneficiary of a $600,000 contract from the US State Department, about ISIS looted material -- particularly coins-- entering the U.S. market.

CPO remains dubious that looted material is reaching our shores in any quantity, and further wonders whether the ultimate source of any such "fresh" material is just as likely, if not more likely, to be the cash-strapped Assad regime or the Free Syrian Army rather than ISIS.  After all, the iconoclasts of ISIS seem more intent on destruction than anything else,  and all those coins with graven images on them could be melted to provide metal for their new Caliphate coinage. 

Still, given the crisis, due diligence is warranted, particularly if one is offered groups of similar coins that may have come from the region.   Reasonable due diligence based on the type of artifact is one thing.  However, it's quite another thing to condition legal import of all collector's coins made in Syria millennia ago on difficult, if not impossible to obtain, documentary proof that an item was out of Syria before the start of Syria's civil war in 2011.   Nor should concerns about looting provide the State Department and US Customs license to ignore the provisions of the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act and the Anglo-American notions of putting the government to its proofs  under that statute.  Otherwise, for every 1 looted coin recovered, it is quite likely hundreds if not thousands of quite legitimate but not adequately documented coins could be sucked up by Customs for repatriation to war torn Syria.   Is that what US Customs and the State Department really want?

And, finally, the question remains whether all the publicity at the end of Congress' summer break is also meant to help push along the still flawed HR 1493/S.1887, and its proposed creation of a new, pumped up State Department Cultural Heritage Center bureaucracy, as much as anything else.  So, as CPO has previously cautioned, consider the source.

"Italian" Coin Seizure: More to Come?

US Customs is bragging to the press about its seizure of Roman coins the importer "misrepresented" came from the Middle East when "everyone" knows "Roman" means "Italian."  But from the pictures, the coins appear to be from the 4th C. at which time Rome had mints in the "Middle East." Moreover, it's  quite likely the importer was being truthful about what he knew about their find spot.  So, this could very well be yet another case of Customs overreach that is not contested in court because the low value of items that are seized and the high cost of legal services.

US Customs promises to "repatriate" the coins (estimated value $1,000) to the Italian Government at a future date.  What the Italians will do with them remains to be seen, but CPO suspects they would be better off in collector's trays than dumped unwanted on Italy's grossly underfunded and corrupt cultural bureaucracy.

CPO is even more concerned that such questionable seizures will multiply if HR 1493, a bill meant to ramp up customs enforcement, becomes law.  There is already enough abuses visited on small businesses and collectors by overzealous Customs officers.  We need to encourage fairness and strict adherence to law,  not "getting a seizure" to "get more press."

Let's Support Our Fellow Collectors in Germany!

As you may have already heard, draconian legislation is to be introduced in Germany that may greatly limit the legal trade in even common ancient and modern coins.  CPO hopes its readers will sign this petition not only to show our solidarity with German collectors, but to demonstrate our own commitment to coin collecting and the people to people contacts and cultural understanding it helps foster:   https://www.openpetition.de/petition/online/fuer-den-erhalt-des-privaten-sammelns

For more background, see here.

 Let's support our fellow collectors in Germany!

Legal Trade to Continue under HR 1493?

The House of Representatives has passed HR 1493 with some modifications that don't go anywhere near far enough to address the concerns raised about the legislation by the Committee for Cultural Policy and other groups.

The new bureaucracy created in the State Department will lack transparency.   Any "coordination" efforts will again ignore the concerns of collectors and the small businesses of the numismatic and antiquities trade.  Instead, the same insiders associated with the archaeological lobby who already dominate things will again be given free reign to help call the shots.

As for the "emergency" Syrian restrictions that are authorized in the legislation, the new "sunset" provision appears to be little more than an invitation for emergency restrictions to be a bridge to permanent ones.  The much needed provision for temporary imports of at risk Syrian cultural artifacts requires so many bureaucratic findings that it will likely never be used to save much from destruction at the hands of ISIS or Assad for that matter.  Indeed, nothing in this legislation precludes the State Department and US Customs from ultimately repatriating artifacts to the same odious Assad regime that has already engaged in looting in places like Apamea and Palmyra and which has bombed important cultural sites into dust.  That. of course, may be just fine with at least some in the archaeological lobby which generally has been unwilling to criticize the Assad regime despite its looting and destruction of Syrian cultural property. 

On the bright side, before the bill was voted on in the House, Representatives Chabot and Engel both emphasized that the legislation was not meant to target the lawful trade in Syrian artifacts and only authorizes import restrictions on artifacts illegally removed from Syria after the start of its civil war.

However, assuming HR 1493 becomes law, it remains to be seen whether the State Department and Customs and Border Protection will follow this bipartisan Congressional direction or revert back to their standard operating procedure: Create as broad a designated list of items with a "country of origin" (manufacture) of Syria as is possible and then assume that anything of a similar "type" is illicit unless proven otherwise.   Of course, this kind of "guilty" until "proven innocent" mentality may be contrary to the plain meaning of the Cultural Property Implementation Act, 19 USC Sections 2601, 2604 and 2610 as well as our great Anglo-American legal traditions, but it is quite in keeping with the "ends justifies the means" attitude of the State Department's Cultural Heritage Center, CBP and the "archaeological lobby," all of which already "coordinate" quite well with or without this legislation.

ISIS Iconclasm a Mere Cover Story for Looting?

So says an Iraqi official based on unnamed sources.  But Iraqi sources were also the basis for the now widely discredited claim that ISIS has netted $36 million from one site in Syria alone. 

So, is this new claim as well as other unsupported claims that there must be warehouses full of material looted by ISIS to be believed?  Or, is it possible that ISIS came up with far more "dry holes" than artifacts to be put into "cold storage?"

If the 2003 Iraq war proved anything, it was that "experts" could be dead wrong not only on the existence of weapons of mass destruction, but on the nature and extent of looting.  So caution should be warranted-- particularly where such information is being used to justify the creation of a new State Department bureaucracy and new import restrictions on all things "Syrian."

Meanwhile, on the ground in Syria, Palmyra, another UNESCO World Heritage site, is under threat of capture by ISIS.  What is needed is not more talk or even legislation, but concrete action to save the city from ISIS or at least a cost to pay for anyone who seeks to destroy its ruins.

They've Got it Backwards

Arturo Russo, a principal of Numismatica Ars Classica NAC AG, a numismatic firm and auctioneer with offices in Milan, Zurich and London, knows first hand about the frustrations of dealing with the Italian cultural bureaucracy.  As he states in his comments to CPAC:

As a quid pro quo for all prior MOUs, Italy promised to facilitate the issuance of export certificates for archaeological objects artifacts legitimately sold within Italy itself. 2001 MOU, Art. II, F; 2006 Extension, Art. II, F; 2011 Extension, Art. II, G.

This has not happened. In fact, since coins were added to the designated list for import restrictions in 2011, the Italian cultural bureaucracy has made it almost impossible for me to export coins from the country.

I used to be able to secure export licenses for collections of ancient coins so they could be sold at auction abroad. After restrictions were placed on Greek coins from Italy and Sicily, Etruscan coins from Italy, Early Roman Republican coins, and early Imperial Colonial and Provincial coins to 37 AD, I was told this would no longer be possible. When I enquired why, I was told that if such export licenses were granted, the Americans would not think that the Italian cultural bureaucracy was serious about protecting its cultural patrimony. It is important to state that these denials have been issued for coins with a legitimate provenance.

This is entirely backwards. The MOU purports to require Italy to make such objects legitimately sold within Italy available for legal export abroad, but instead the MOU is being used to justify precluding legal export of even common coins sold within Italy itself. Furthermore, Italian authorities deny export licenses even for very common coin types based on the argument that even a small variety is a good reason to decline an application. Please note that they also deny export licenses for coins of non-Italian origin with the premise that they would be difficult to acquire for Italian Institutions.

Another major problem is that most of the staff is not qualified to cast informed judgment on the rarity or importance of a coin, in fact they are archeologists and not numismatists. I must admit on several occasions I found myself informing them of the existence of the proper reference works required to establish the rarity of a coin type or even worse I had to draw their attention to the fact that several coins of that type were already in Italian Museums.

Unfortunately, since 2012 the attitude of the Italian officials towards export licenses for coins have changed dramatically. Italian collectors are still important buyers in auctions abroad, but in the eyes of Italian authorities every single coin of average rarity should remain on Italian soil. I find this position unfair and unreasonable especially considering that Italy has a gigantic numismatic heritage which is not published and more importantly very difficult to access for scholars and collectors.

In my experience, almost all European countries take a reasonable position by granting export licenses for most of the coins excluding only the exceedingly rare coin types.

More reason, if any were needed, to free the coins from foolish import restrictions or at least give them a "pass" and require US Customs to accept EU export permits or evidence no export permit is required for imports of "coins of Italian types" from the EU.  After all, Italy, as part of the EU, is also bound not only by the MOU, but EU law.

Cultural Heritage Center in Conservative Cross-Hairs

The State Department and its Cultural Heritage Center find themselves in conservative cross-hairs for wasteful spending in their Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Heritage Preservation.   The Weekly Standard paints a picture of a misguided "soft power" effort that has spent millions in anti-American countries.  In so doing, the author, Stephen Schwartz, focuses on the foolishness of giving millions for restoration projects to the same Assad regime which has bombed the Old City of Aleppo into rubble.

The article expresses hope the new Congress will scrutinize the program.  CPO also hopes Congress will also review the Cultural Heritage Center's administration of the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act.  Even leaving aside serious concerns about prejudgement of MOUs, it's increasingly clear that MOUs are little more than special interest programs for foreign cultural bureaucracies and the archaeologists that do business with them.  For proof, one need look no further than low public support for MOUs.  For instance, CPAC recently received only four public comments regarding a renewal of the MOU with Nicaragua, including one from the AAMD that suggested it should be turned down.

Prejudgment and Fraud?

Egyptian sources are reporting that  a MOU will be signed in early 2015 authorizing import restrictions on Egyptian cultural artifacts.   Troublingly, once again Egyptian authorities have suggested the whole matter was a "done deal"even before the Cultural Property Advisory Committee met on June 2, 2014.

According to the report,

"This step comes eight months (March to November) after a memorandum of understanding between Egypt and the United States, in order to protect Egyptian antiquities and combat smuggling of artefacts."

Yet more evidence, if any is needed, that MOUs are prejudged and that proceedings before CPAC are little more than a farce?

Egypt is now ruled by a military dictatorship which just ran a sham election that anointed General Sissi as Egyptian president.  So, it should be no surprise that these kinds of shenanigans are standard operating procedure in that unhappy country.

However, we can and should expect far more from our own State Department and its Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and Cultural Heritage Center.  Instead of sinking to the level of the Egyptian military dictatorship and its nationalistic cultural bureaucracy, our State Department-- which is so fond of lecturing others about the merits of  "Democracy" --should be providing our Egyptian friends with an example of what the rule of law actually means.

There is a well-founded perception in the collecting community and among the small businesses of the numismatic and antiquities trade that the Cultural Heritage Center is little more than a bureaucratic dictatorship in the service of the archaeological lobby and its crusade against collecting.   This latest revelation as well as news that a State Department Cultural Heritage Center contractor faked the claim that stolen antiquities are ISIS' most important funding source after "hot oil" will only add to this perception as will news that the archaeological lobby is asking Congress to give the State Department unlimited authority to enrich itself through a permanent grant program.  No wonder trust in government is at an all time low.

There is no doubt some in the archaeological community who are uncomfortable with the view that the ends justifies the means.  Hopefully, they too will raise concerns about how the State Department's Cultural Heritage Center operates.  Public confidence and the long-term viability of the State Department program may well depend upon it.

State Department Sponsored "Demonstrations" in Favor of MOU with Egypt?

Archaeo-Blogger Paul Barford has suggested that the US State Department Bureau of Educational Affairs is helping to organize a "spontaneous demonstration" in favor of the MOU with Egypt through its Facebook page for Egyptian students.  If so (I didn't see anything myself on the webpage), that should be of interest to the press, grown-ups at the State Department, and members of Congress.  This, of course, is just the kind of thing the Egyptian Military Dictatorship has been doing for decades-- turn out those dependent on the state (here those who rely on the US State Department and Egyptian Governments to get visas and student aid) to "demonstrate" in favor of the government and its programs.  Frankly, I suspect this is a bit of an attempt at humor on Barford's part, but we will see. If true,  it would indeed be a sign of some desperation if not another example of "extra-legal" behavior.

Addendum (5/29/14):  Barford's latest suggests this is no joke and that any planned demonstration will be a "spontaneous one" by "students."  But only the most gullible should believe that based on the orchestrated efforts of  the Egyptian cultural bureaucracy, the archaeological lobby and the State Department's "Cultural Heritage Center" to date.  For more, see here at pages 6-8.  And there is an additional irony; while people can still demonstrate legally here (with proper permits), that is no longer the case under Egypt's military dicatorship.

Addendum (6/5/14):  Looks like Barford is a jokester afterall.  It turns out no one showed up to demonstrate.

Tunnel Vision: MOU Supporters Oblivious to Facts on the Ground

Supporters of the Egyptian Military Dictatorship's request for a MOU should take note.  The Egyptian public is refusing to buy into the Generals' efforts to seek "legitimacy" through phony elections.  Indeed, so much so that the Generals have extended voting for another day.

Yet, the archaeological lobby still seeks to portray Egypt's request, which dubiously coincides with the country's fraudulent elections, as necessary to protect Egypt's cultural patrimony.  But from whom?  "Cultural racketeers" or poor stewardship, corruption and an absolutely Pharaonic view of state ownership that devalues artifacts so thoroughly within Egypt itself that they are either destroyed or smuggled from the country, presumably more often than not with "inside help?"

Hopefully, at least some on CPAC will see through this fraud during next week's public session.  The public certainly has, with 91% of public comments solidly against the MOU or the extension of restrictions to ancient coins.  That's an "election result" that should have resonance.