No Evidence for ISIS Looting at Palmyra

The truth is coming out now we have liberated Palmyra from Islamist scum, there is no trace of the looting we sat at Apamea and Dura Europos (neither of which was done by ISIS). British antiquities expert John Howland cogently comments on the Cultural Property Observer website:

The lack of looting evidence has put the skids under the anti-US, anti-collecting, propagandists' claim that collectors were/are buying ISIL-looted artefacts and thus supporting terrorism. Indeed, one airhead archaeo-blogger seems to be changing horses mid-stream, evidently realising that he and his pals are up for a torrent of ridicule: Then again, for that particular individual, swapping allegiances is nothing new. It certainly seems the US State Department ignored the advice of the tipsters and put its shirt on a nag. What price UNESCO now?

It now seems that our government has been lying to us all along and the extent of ISIS looting in Syria has been exaggerated. Peter Tompa suggests that "major sellers of classical antiquities are associated with the Assad regime, the Free Syrian army" or that guilty of the sales of any artefacts that are coming out of war-torn Syria are doing so in the baggage of hordes of destitute refugees as opposed to the rabid raghead iconoclasts of ISIS.

Sisi fires Egypt's Anti-corruption Watchdog

The anti-collecting cabal refuse to acknowledge that the main problem with illegal antiquities is where they get onto the market, not where they end up. Corruption is endemic in source countries and in order to fight the traffic, this is where they should be directing their attention. They are unlikely however to speak out when it threatens their excavation privileges. In Egypt for example, no archeologist will criticise the government when "Sisi fires Egypt's top auditor known for anti-corruption drives" (Middle East Eye March 29 2016)

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday dismissed the country’s top auditor, a known critic of the government who has accused it of corruption. Hesham Geneina, who headed the Central Auditing Organisation, told Egyptian media late last year that government corruption had cost the country about $76bn in just four years - roughly about 5 percent of the country’s GDP every year was lost to corruption. However, senior officials and pro-government media were quick to dismiss Geneina’s claims. Sisi removed Geneina by presidential decree.

It would not be at all surprising to find archeologists among those who were reported as putting pressure on the military dictatorship because they were concerned that his work would interrupt their “networks”.

Swopes on Feds' Asia Week Swipes

Hudson Dealer Tom Swope was at the Asia Week event in New York this week ("Asia Week 2016", Sunday, March 20, 2016) but reports sadly:

I wish I could do one of my posts on highlights seen during Asia Week, but this year the event has been destroyed by the actions of the US government misguided war on culture.

He was witness to one of the raids. He thinks that the rate at which fundamentalists are destroying our common heritage justifies buying precious art to save it from those who wish to see it pounded into fragments. After all, the dealers we come into contact with are not the ones who looted these objects, but they bought them in good faith and thus became the people who we should thank for getting it out of harm's way:

While in theory the idea of looted antiquities is abhorrent, in the age of Islamic extremism and civil wars, in which cultural destruction has become a regular event, we need to rethink our approach to the antiquities trade. [...] I think we should view objects from the conflict torn regions of the world as rescues facing probably destruction. Ideally, we should not encourage looting, but we do not live in an ideal world

The fate of the sculpture he saw being removed from a New York dealer's showroom is unclear. Mr Swopes observes:

I can tell you however with certainty that it is a great work of art, whose future is quite insecure if it goes back to Afghanistan. I can also tell you that the dealer who owned it did not loot it himself, and I am sure bought it on good faith for the great work of art that it is. Now, it is likely to be returned to the war torn country from where it came, to be lost to scholarship and humanity and likely destroyed. And apparently, that suits the extremists at Homeland Security just fine. [...] something must be done to stop the US government and change it's approach. This heavy handed manner will only drive the market underground

Mr Swopes deplores the way that the US government has taken an extreme position against the antiquities trade which could rescue so many objects from falling into the hands of ignorant foreign bigots who cannot appreciate them. Instead of fighting those who honor and respect culture and want to help preserve it, surely we should be active in stopping the violence and destruction where it is taking place. As Mr Swokes observes:

We have completely screwed up, through our invasions, Iraq, and now Syria as collateral damage, and Afghanistan [...] we as a nation should be focused on stopping the violence and the extremists that are responsible for the looting and cultural destruction taking place in the countries where it is taking place, not here.

Instead the US is prosecuting law abiding art dealers which does nothing to further the stated aim of preserving cultural heritage.

Anti-Collectors Celebrate Fascist Dictator

Cultural property expert Peter Tompa writes of a massive faux pas by the Department of State and their archeologist friends: "Today's Unfortunate Coincidence"

In what must be an unfortunate coincidence, the Italian Embassy's March 23rd party to mark the 15th anniversary of a MOU with the United States and its unpopular measures against collectors is taking place on the 96th birthday of Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini's Fascist party. Of course, Italy's cultural bureaucracy has never really broken from il Duce's nationalistic views of archaeology as well as the assumptions in favor of state ownership and control found in Italy's 1939 cultural patrimony law that dates from the same era.

Law Enforcement Scores Publicity Points at Antiquities Dealers’ and Market’s Expense

Whose interests are being served here?

 Art galleries are voicing concern about the recent high-profile raids during Asia Week in New York. They feel they are being unfairly treated in the seizures of suspected antiquities and the sudden confiscations are an unduly heavy-handed approach (Marion Maneker, "Law Enforcement Scores Publicity Points at Antiquities Dealers’ and Market’s Expense" Art Market Monitor March 17, 2016), this passage from the New York Times puts the issue in a nutshell: 

Lark Mason, an Asian antiquities dealer who is chairman of Asia Week, said gallery owners are ready to work with law enforcement when questions arise about objects.: “Why are they not approaching these galleries instead of treating them like criminals trying to do something underhanded,” he said. The items seized this week were all publicized by their vendors online and in catalogs, he said, not sneaked “in to be sold in some smoky back room.” 

 Law Enforcement officials are using this prestigious event to score publicity points at the expense of individual legitimate dealers and the antiquities market.

Art Dealers Fight ISIS

Catherine Chapman, "To Fight ISIS, Art Dealers and Archeologists Join Forces" — Mar 11 2016

The value of cultural heritage has always been a contentious issue within the world of art. Things intensified in 2014, when, as a global society, we began to bear witness to the irreversible amount of cultural cleansing being performed by ISIS in places like Mosul, Raqqa, and now Palmyra. While an unknown amount of antiques and artifacts have either been lost or destroyed, in a once divided scene of archaeologists, museums, collectors and dealers, a coalition of culture is starting to fight back.

Turkish academics face repression after criticising government

Freedom of speech is being destroyed in Turkey: Michele Catanzaro, "Turkish academics face repression after criticising government" 19 February 2016

Academics in Turkey are facing prosecution, dismissal and harassment after signing an open letter protesting military action by the Turkish government in the Kurdish region of the country. Thousands of academics have signed the letter and signatories face criminal charges of promoting terrorism and humiliating Turkey.  About thirty academics are thought to have been arrested and later released after signing the letter organised by Scholars for Peace. 

Scholars for Peace called for respecting a historic ceasefire and the subsequent peace talks between the Turkish state and the Kurdistan Workers Party, an armed faction of the wider movement calling for autonomy or independence for the Kurdish region in south-eastern Turkey.

On 10 January, the organisation released a new open letter, signed by more than 1100 academics (now more than 4000) to protest the government’s military intervention in the region after the ceasefire ended in July 2015. The letter labels the intervention a ‘massacre’ that has led to widespread ‘human rights violations’. Human Rights Watch and the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights previously raised similar concerns.

Yet artefacts seized from collectors are still being repatriated to his hideous regime.

We MUST Fight This Proposed Renewal of a MOU with Greece

Wake-up Call to Collectors, Our Hobby Under Threat Again!

The United States Department of State has proposed a renewal of its current Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) with the Hellenic Republic for another five (5) years and individuals will be afforded an opportunity to comment on whether the MOU should be extended. As Cultural Property Expert Peter Tompa urges:

Coin collectors in particular should comment to help protect the current exemption for ancient trade coins struck in Greece. Such coins —which include Athenian Tetradrachms, Corinthian Staters and Tetradrachms and gold coins of Philip and Alexander the Great— are very popular with collectors.

This is scandalous! Such coins were minted in their millions and were traded all over the known world in the past and this trade has continued until today (I have some). Mr Tompa kindly gives concerned collectors some welcome hints about what to write:

The governing statute requires that restrictions only be applied on artifacts "first discovered in Greece." But hoard evidence demonstrates that Greek coins circulated extensively outside the confines of the Modern Greek nation state. Although smaller denomination silver and bronze coins have been restricted, the State Department and U.S. Customs have already recognized this fact for higher denomination coins and they may still enter the US without difficult to obtain documentation. At a minimum, this finding protecting the collecting of Ancient Greek trade coins should be preserved.

The governing statute requires restrictions only be placed on artifacts of "cultural significance." But coins -- which exist in many multiples-- do not meet that particular criteria.

The governing statute requires that less drastic remedies be tried before import restrictions. But Greece has not tried systems akin the UK Treasure Act before seeking restrictions.

The governing statute requires that restrictions be consistent with the interests of the international community in cultural exchanges. But restrictions diminish the ability of American collectors (particularly Greek Americans) to appreciate Greek culture and greatly limit people to people contacts with other collectors in Europe.

Restrictions are unfair and discriminatory to Americans. Collectors in the EU--including Greece-- have no similar limitations on their ability to import ancient coins.

The Greek people are suffering from severe economic problems. Commerce in common artifacts like coins that are available for sale throughout Europe should be encouraged. The Greek economy can benefit from the legal sale of such coins to tourists and collectors who want to own a real piece of Greek History, which, after all, was originally designed to circulate.

Let us join together to put a stop to this government overreach. 

Ides of March

Today in 44BC Julius Caesar was assassinated, marking end of the Roman Republic and start of the Empire

Heritage Sites Destroyed

Heritage sites destroyed by Moslim extremists, while we award them repatriated art which would obviously be safer out of their hands.

Islamic State (Isil, Isis, Daesh) FAQ

 

ISIL FAQ

 

What is Isil?

An Islamic extremist group controlling territory in Syria and Iraq

What is it called?

In the West, the group is usually known as Isil (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) or Isis (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria). In June, the militants said they wanted to simply be called Islamic State in recognition of the self-declared caliphate 

What about 'Daesh'?

Daesh is an abbreviation Dawlat al-Islamiyah f'al-Iraq wa al-Sham, and is the derogatory name used by many Muslims for Isil. Following the Paris attacks, the French government is now using this term 

What are its aims?

A worldwide Islamic caliphate - a religious government - without borders

What terror attacks has it carried out?

Isil has claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks of 13 November 2015, the explosion of a plane travelling from Egypt to Russia, and the individual killings of Western hostages, including James Foley and Alan Henning

How is the group funded?

Looting, extortion and the possession of oilfields providing an estimated £1.8m in revenue per day

How much territory does Isil control?

An area of the Middle East that is roughly the size of Belgium

Where is it based?

Isil's HQ is understood to be in the city of Raqqa, Syria

ISIS Cash NOT from Antiquities

British cultural property expert John Howland reports on the Cultural Property Observer website that  the English newspapers are presenting a more balanced picture of the issue of terrorist financing than some of our own:

The UK's Daily Telegraph carried a piece on page 14 of it 3rd March edition, headlined:- 'Isil making £14m a month playing currency markets with looted bank cash.' Written by Colin Freeman, the DT's Chief Foreign Correspondent, went on to report that:- "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (Isil) white collar crime is now a major source of income, along with oil smuggling and extortion from people living in Isil-controlled areas." Oddly, Freeman makes no mention of the alleged vast sums of money Isil makes from selling looted antiquities that some on archaeology's anti-collecting cadre would have us all believe is Isil's financial mainstay.

It would seem, Mr Howland suggests, that archeology's anti-collecting lobbyists are out to deceive ...

ISIS Terrorist Funding No Evidence from European Union

John Kerry, Remarks September 22, 2014.

Michael Will, the manager of the Organised Crime Networks Group at Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency. ·

“We have no evidence that Isis is selling antiquities to fund its activities,”

No evidence for ISIS terrorist funding  from European Union... so who is making this story up? 

When Donald Trump is in the White House, a stop will be put to the lying to the American people. Not a moment too soon.