 |
| (Bayt Al Fann) |
Once one of the greatest museums in the world, it opened in 1919 and most of the artefacts exhibited were excavated in Afghanistan. It’s objects testified to the location of the region at the crossroads of Asia. An estimated 70% of its 100,000-object collection has been looted.
 |
| Tammy Bruce |
“Unesco works to advance divisive social and cultural causes and maintains an outsized focus on the UN’s sustainable development goals, a globalist, ideological agenda for international development at odds with our America First foreign policy,”according to Tammy Bruce, a state department spokesperson. Donald Trump's pick of Tammy Bruce for State spokesperson continues his trend of turning to the cable network for positions in his current administration
The US was a founding member of UNESCO in 1945, but this latest departure will be the third time it has quit. Washington first withdrew in 1983 under Ronald Reagan, whose administration said the global organisation had anti-western bias and “has extraneously politicised virtually every subject it deals with”. It rejoined under George W Bush in 2003, with the White House saying it was happy with Unesco reforms. Trump pulled the US out of Unesco in 2017, during his first term as president. His administration cited what it called “mounting arrears, the need for fundamental reform in the organisation, and continuing anti-Israel bias”. The US returned to UNESCO in 2023 under Joe Biden. The Biden administration said it was crucial to rejoin in order to counter “Chinese influence”. Beijing had become the organisation’s biggest financial backer in Washington’s absence. As a condition of readmission, the US agreed to pay about $619m in unpaid dues and make contributions to programmes supporting education access initiatives in Africa, Holocaust remembrance and journalists’ safety. In 2011, UNESCO voted to admit Palestine, which is not formally recognised by the US or Israel as a UN member state. The Barack Obama White House had cut UNESCO contributions, resulting in the US owing millions in arrears to the organisation.
"PAS, What's Happening in the Preston Museum Artefacts Case?"That was two years ago. Since then, silence from the PAS and its so-called "liaison officers" (who do nothing of the kind). Meanwhile, a group of guys has their prison sentences extended for not handing over found some Leominster Treasure, yet in the case discussed above (and goodness' knows how many others that have been hushed up), guys who did hand over their (and the landowners') finds have had the objects nicked while in the custody of UK museum authorities. In metal detecting circles, the name of the suspected sticky-fingered individual is known. It is known to the PAS too, no doubt. I have one of the aggrieved artefact hunters writing to me this morning, disgusted: "Looks like he got away, CPS [Criminal Prosecution Service] not charging with it". Like the guy reportedly trading papyri stolen from the storerooms of Oxford University, the bloke flogging off stolen ancient gems from the storerooms of the Bloomsbury edifice itself, this person probably comes from a different social group compared to the ones who have swapped their muddy boots for prison bars. What is the key, PAS?
Nothing to see here, move along
According to a letter received by the NCMD, the Finds Liaison Officers, Pauline Clarke and Alex Whitlock are again "now accepting finds" on behalf of the PAS Lancashire and Cumbria. Readers are also informed that:The present police investigation is ongoing and a great many of the finders [and landowners? PMB] have recently been informed of the successful recovery of items linked to this investigation.What does this mean? An arrest was reportedly made in December 2022 ('More on Empty Storeroom Shelves' PACHI; thePipeLine ', Arrest in Preston Museum Missing Treasure Investigation' December 22, 2022.The news broke in November 2022 and concerned items missing/lost by Lancashire FLO and/or LANCUM, several hoards stored during the Treasure process "and many, many, valuable single items". Allegations were made that in one case the finder [and landowner] on being informed of the loss were asked to "keep it quiet", and that "the thefts are thought to have been occurring for a period of over a decade and it's all been hushed up!".I have been given the (to be accurate, alleged) name of a person arrested when some "objects were found". There has been precious little further information since December. Neither is it clear if the "found" items mentioned in the letter to the NCMD are those relocated in December, or fresh ones. In the light of the recent discussions about items missing from the Bloomsbury headquarters of the British Museum, we may note the fresh significance of this text cited in my earlier post (Post by geoman » Sat Nov 26, 2022 3:44 pm):It would appear that the system of keeping quiet has been to protect reputations and perhaps the guilty. Often the explanation has been that items have gone astray and are missing without any hint of them actually stolen by a third party There have always been hints of malpractice in the academic world with experts allowed to peruse museum store rooms and collection in the pursuit of their research and so on. Naturally some will have had sticky fingers and to preserve reputations cover ups seem to have been the norm. Proving what has gone on is very difficult as the museum establishment will simply close ranks.It is time for the PAS to come clean and explain their version of what actually is going on. When do they anticipate we will hear of any charges pressed, or whether the case is dropped?
This is the scene in Kyiv early on 4 July. Putin launched a massive bombardment of the Ukrainian capital immediately after his call with Trump. Note, these are all civilian, not military targets. Russia continues to try to eliminate Ukraine while we all stand by and watch. Apparently the US not so long ago gave them a "security guarantee" and declared support for "as long as it takes".
The irresponsible use of historic sites and landscapes can have a lasting impact and result in the destruction of the irreplaceable heritage.
Of course in the British mentality that does not always apply to those who use metal detectors to hoik out collectable artefacts for themselves. That's "OK" they say.
archaeology has always survived on a trickle of federal funding. But it has not escaped cuts by the administration of President Donald Trump, which has halted or slowed research on past cultures and human origins and choked off spending on training and scholarship, jeopardizing the future of the field in the United States, researchers say.Some of the excuses offered by the US officials sound pretty dystopian. One piece of research was cut because in the view of MAGA policy-makers it "advanced “woke DEI” (diversity, equity, and inclusion) objectives". Another aiming to reconstruct the social and political networks of the Classic Maya kingdoms was said to "represent neo-Marxist class warfare propaganda” (what's the betting by somebody who has not the slightest inkling of what Marx actually wrote as it turns out many MAGAmericans bandying the M-term about actually do not).
Ari Caramanica, an archaeologist at Vanderbilt University[...] says the cuts represent “an event that will mark ‘before’ and ‘after’ times; it’s existential, and it’s a completely novel disruption to our work with no foreseeable remedy”.
