Davis and Vlasic on the Context of 'Saving History"

Tess Davis and Mark Vlasic, 'An Allied Effort to Save History', The World Post, 23rd January 2014
An interesting US-centric opinion piece about the modern political context of efforts to fight illicit cultural property crime:

Experts have warned that [...] organized crime, rebel armies and even terrorist cells may be the ones carrying out and profiting from these crimes. Moreover, after the post-9/11 crackdowns on terrorist financing, law enforcement has reported a marked increase in antiquities and other artworks being used to launder money (in fact, one agent told us that money laundering cases make up the bulk of their art investigations, not repatriations). It is no wonder then that HSI, the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Scotland Yard, Interpol and other agencies are now prioritizing their efforts to combat antiquities trafficking. Or that the European Union -- through the European Research Council -- has funded a million euro project to study it at the University of Glasgow. There, academics are working to provide much needed data about the trade's mechanics in the hopes of better combatting it.

There is however another context for such activity: 

But the U.S. interest in this issue should go beyond fighting crime. By respecting our Allies' past -- and their laws -- we are also respecting them. [...] Clearly, by doing the right thing here, the United States is benefiting from more than just good karma. [...] The world must stand together to combat crimes against culture -- whether the Nazi theft of artworks from Jews during the Holocaust, or the plunder of cultural treasures from Syrian war zones in recent years -- to preserve our shared heritage.