Pompeii in race against time to spend EU funds after years of mismanagement

Nick Squires, 'Pompeii in race against time to spend EU funds after years of mismanagement' Daily Telegraph 26th Oct 2015.

After three years of squabbling and mismanagement at Pompeii, restorers are now working round-the-clock to spend millions of pounds provided by the EU in a last-minute bid to keep money flowing before an end-of-year deadline. Having complained for decades that they did not have enough money for the upkeep of the ancient site, Pompeii’s custodians are now accused of failing to use funds offered by Brussels to prevent further damage to the World Heritage attraction. Three years ago the EU pledged £56 million (€78 million) for Pompeii, a generous donation that was topped up by Italy with a further £20 million (€27 million). But a combination of bureaucratic squabbling, inept management and fears of the money ending up in the hands of the local Camorra mafia, means that so far just €21 million of the total €105 million available has been spent. The failure to use the funds risked turning into a “national debacle” said L’Espresso, a respected weekly news magazine. 

Brussels has now issued a stark warning to the Italians – "use it or lose it". Unless work can be speeded up dramatically, the unspent funds will be claimed back by the European Commission.
English cultural property affairs critic John Howland suggests that Italy is characterised by its "bumbling inefficiency when it comes to heritage protection". He says:

In my view, if the present situation endures where the inmates are running the asylum; where UNESCO appears to be an expensive white elephant and gravy train, the future is indeed bleak for those of us whose snouts have never been in the trough.

Meanwhile the article offers one solution to the problem:

Tourists are frequently caught trying to pocket bits of mosaic or masonry as souvenirs of their visit. The latest incident came at the weekend, when a 36-year-old French tourist attempted to steal a fragment of Roman crockery that she found on the ground. She was spotted putting it into her handbag by an Italian visitor, who notified officials at the site.

If the Italians, who have storerooms full of these artifacts would have the imagination to sell small duplicate items to collectors, they would not have to rely on EC and UNESCO funds.

Oil Continues to be ISIS' major funding source

The anti-collecting lobby's lies about the connection between the antiquities trade and the creation of terrorist group ISIS continue to be spread by the media. Meanwhile observers from the trade itself point out that the evidence for it is looking extremely shakey. Peter Tompa's research reveals that 'Oil Continues to be ISIS' major funding source'. Citing the Financial Times, he says that it is increasingly clear that there is a lot of evidence  that "hot oil" remains ISIS' main funding source. He says: "claims that looted antiquities have become the most important source of funding as the US-led coalition have degraded ISIS' ability to sell antiquties seem to have as much credibility as other claims that ISIS makes "$100's of millions" from antiquities sales". It is difficult to argue with that, but the vested interests of the archeological world will no doubt continue to cloud the issue with their propaganda. This begs the question whether facts are being distorted in order to help justify proposed legislation in Germany and the US that would create intrusive new bureaucracies to regulate the longstanding trade in cultural goods.

David Roberts (1796-1864)

David Roberts (1796-1864) Scottish traveller & artist painted beautiful scenes of Egypt during his travels in 1838

Philae: Grand Portico of the Temple

Heritage Neglect in Middle East

The reality of how archaeological sites are treated in failed states like Iraq again should raise questions concerning whether nation states are the best stewards "cultural property".   Moreover the fact that the only people raising concerns about this are collectors says a lot for te lack of interest of the 'professionals' in the fate of our global heritage. "This belongs in a museum" - but only where it can truly be looked after.

Mainstream Media Reject Archaeologist Propaganda on Collecting

It took some time, but at last the "Mainstream Media Wakes Up" to the truth. Collection of ancient art is not "financing terrorism":

The Washington Post and mainstream media have finally recognized that Syrian archaeological sites have also been looted by regime and rebel forces other than ISIS.  Yet, no one has yet raised the question of what looting by regime forces means for both UNESCO's repatriationist agenda as well as the presumption that nation states are the best stewards of cultural patrimony.

ISIL Deals in Drugs, not Antiquities

The anti-collecting clique need to take a look at this: Leo Hornak, 'Afghanistan's Taliban and ISIS have the same funding model: Drugs', PRI's The World October 15, 2015. More evidence, if any were needed, that US collectors are not funding ISIS.This is based on an interview with Ed Follis who was the US Drug Enforcement Agency's Afghanistan Attache in the aftermath of 9/11:

The Afghan Taliban is dependent on opiate trafficking for about 95 percent of its income. And without that source of funds [...] it would pose a far less formidable problem to the Kabul government and the international community. "The Taliban would be highly localised, and they would revert back to their original organised crime portfolio: human trafficking, arms trafficking, kidnapping for hire and so on." [...]  Follis sees the same dynamics at play in Syria and Iraq with the growth of the Islamic State, which he believes is also dependent on income from narcotics trafficking. The drug trade is key to fighting ISIS and Follis argues that the West has put too much emphasis on punitive measures against the "end user" — the consumers of narcotics — to stop trafficking. "We have no moral justificiation for pursuit of the end users," he says.

Latest from the ADCAEA

Civilised values

The Association of Dealers and Collectors of Ancient and Ethnographic Art has commented the BBC news story: 'Islamic State 'blows up Palmyra arch' - BBC News' about Islamic State militants in northern Syria barbarously blowing up the Triumphal Arch in the ancient city of Palmyra. As the ADCAEA point out, this is precisely "what happens when people embrace monocultural fanaticism".

What values?

Unesco's director general Irina Bokova has said the destruction constitutes a "war crime" and called on the international community to stand united against IS efforts to deprive us all of our cultual heritage.
 

"New Documents" Worth Nothing

Islamist writing

They say: "New Documents Prove ISIS Heavily Involved in Antiquities Trafficking". I say, would the Islamic State keep their tax records IN ENGLISH? These documents must be crude fakes, what kind of fools do the anti-collecting cabal think we are?   Shame on you in Washington, our best in  Delta Force risked their lives for our freedom, and their bravery is rewarded by these blatant transparent lies. Andrew Keller, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Counter Threat Finance and Sanctions at the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs should resign!

The Universal Importance of Museums and Collections

Tom Swope gets it right in my opinion:

The great museums and collections we have are the repository for our common human history.  Their presence not only enriches the lives of those who live close but the many visitors who go to them.  And now, like zoos and our museums help to preserve things that are in danger and being destroyed in the countries where they were found. They can no longer be viewed as outdated vestiges of colonialism, but as repositories of human history preserving it for all mankind.

Anti-Collecting Antisemitism

An Iraqi historian and archeologist claimed Wednesday that an “international Jewish mafia” was plotting to loot the Middle East’s most treasured antiquities. He was joined by Walid al-Assad, the director of Syria’s Palmyra Museum. They said the so-called Jewish conspiracy is part of an effort to destroy the region’s Arab heritage. The two discussed the “Zionist mafia” in a two-and-a-half-minute video posted on Wednesday on YouTube. “The Jews are always looking for antiquities -- especially Middle Eastern ones, and particularly Iraqi ones – in order to prove that the Torah is true,” Ali al-Nashmi, Iraqi historian and archeologist, said in the video. “And so they extort, steal, and establish mafia gangs.” Walid al-Assad said the Jews want “to erase the Arab origins of the antiquities” and “destroy the city [of Palmyra] and wipe it off the face of the earth.” Al-Assad is the son of antiquities scholar Khaled Assad, who was beheaded in late August by the Islamic State group in the city.

Morgan Winsor, 'Iraqi Historian, Archaeologist And Syrian Museum Director Claim Jews Want To Destroy Arab Heritage', International Business Times, September 30 2015.

ISIS Opens Embassy in Turkish Capital

The ISIS Embassy's Webpage

Michael Morris. 'Report: ISIS Opens Embassy in Turkish Capital', CNS News September 30, 2014

Reports indicate that the fundamentalist terrorist group ISIS just recently opened a consulate in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. [...] According to Aydinlik Daily, a Turkish news source, ISIS has “started to issue visas to those who want to join the jihadist fight in Iraq.” Allegedly, the consulate, in a twitter account that has since been suspended, indicated that visa applications could be sent to isisturkey@gmail.com. Also, the address of the consulate, the Cankaya district of Ankara, was listed on the suspended twitter account.

While Erdogan is in power, nobody in their right mind should think of Turkey as anything except another typical Islamic State. Turkey most certainly is not an American alley. Turkey refused to allow us to launch air strikes against ISIS from their bases. They refused to allow us to fly over their country. This has been going on for some time and Turkey has zero business being in NATO, it needs to withdraw from NATO and we should isolate the country. If America is giving any financial aid to Turkey it should stop immediately.

Anti-Collectors Get an Audience

Once again the views of the anti-collecting cabal are getting an airing on the news. Now CBS News's Margaret Brennan is claiming "ISIS' records show millions raised by antiquities smuggling" on the basis of documents said to have been seized from a terrorist financier in Syria. Her report however contains some serious errors, pointed out by Peter Tompa. Her report claims that the seized documents "prove that ISIS has made $100's of millions of dollars from stolen antiquities.". This is enough to cast doubt on the whole fabric of the construction our enemies are trying to build as the documents themselves only support a far lower number, $1.25 million. Second, the reporter again suggests that Apamea has been looted by ISIS. In fact, the city has been in the hands of the Assad government since the beginning of the conflict. As Mr Tompa perspicaciously notes:

All this begs the question whether facts are being distorted in order to help justify proposed legislation in Germany and the US that would create intrusive new bureaucracies to regulate the longstanding trade in cultural goods.

This is the kind of news garbage that has been carefully nurtured by the usual 'academics' with vested interests (freebie excavation permits for example) who prefer to side-step the truth when it to comes to advising news-hungry journalists. If only they would ask collectors and dealers for their opinions before rushing to print.