Excavation-Permit Flaunting Archaeologist Goes Free

Poland has released Russian archaeologist Alexander Butyagin who was due to be extradited to Ukraine to face charges of carrying out illegal excavations in occupied Crimea. He was arrested while travelling across Europe to give lectures on his work. Butyagin was exchanged at the Belarus–Poland border today in a "five for five" exchange. According to Russian officials, he was exchanged for two officers of Moldova’s special services the Russians had in captivity. Alongside Butyagin the wife of a Russian serviceman in Polish custody was exchanged. Other sources report that activist Andrzej Poczobut was also exchanged. As for Butyagin, he was facing charges of digging stuff out of a site without an excavation permit, and who gives a tinkers about them, eh? If we are not going to respect each others' cultural property legislation, Ukraine should suspend all permits for any current Polish excavations there. Including the controversial Volyn exhumations.

The Wheels of British "Justice" Once More Grind Slowly when Antiquities and the Establishment are Involved

"Great" Britian shows once again  what a load of tossers they are when it comes to chasing up antiquities crime (Craig Simpson 'Academic who exposed British Museum thefts 'annoyed to die before seeing justice' MSN 28/4/2026).

An expert who exposed the theft of hundreds of artefacts from the British Museum was “annoyed” to know he was dying without the case being resolved. The arts and heritage world was scandalised in 2023 when an arrest was made over items stolen from the museum’s collection and sold. There was outrage when it emerged that Dr Ittai Gradel, a Danish academic turned antiquities dealer who has died at 61 from cancer, had raised the alarm as early as 2021. The institution did not act on Dr Gradel’s warning that British Museum items were appearing on an online auction site.

Hat tip Dave Coward

 

On the US Bombing Iran

 

This young lady from TicTok has an important message for Trump, the cognitively-challenged guy who struggles to construct a coherent sentence and commits crimes against the English language daily (from 'Just human being' justhuman_being7).

@justhuman_being7 #tiktokviral #tiktokindia #tiktokpakistan #tiktok?bangladesh🇧🇩🇧🇩🇧🇩 #tiktokmalaysia ♬ Hard News - DM Production

Cultural Property in War, 2026

 Not so long ago, American academics and heritage professionals were eager to leap in and tell Syrians and Ukrainians how to protect their own heritage by getting grant money and setting up in the USA various judgemental monitoring groups and even 'command centres'  to engage their MAGA-like fantasies about being the world policeman (such as the Virginia/Smithsonian "Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab"). And there was Stae Department money for this. Now that the United States of America is - together with its genocidal partner Israel - (again) the aggressor in the Middle East, one wonders whether US academics will be standing up actively for the heritage of Iran as their president issues a warning to bomb civilian targets in his illegal war ( Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump Apr 04, 2026, 4:05 PM " Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT. Time is running out - 48 hours before all Hell will reign (sic!) down on them. Glory be to GOD! President DONALD J. TRUMP"). Or will they sit quietly by complicitly this time?