illicit antiquities trading in economic crisis, organised crime and political violence
At the seminar on archaeology in occupied territories and in zones of armed conflict, a Research Fellow at the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Serhii Telizhenko or Sergey Telizhenko (Сергій Теліженко) revealed the situation of archaeological heritage in the area of hostilities (Lugansk region).
At the seminar on archaeology in occupied territories and in zones of armed conflict, the former Director-General of Bakhchisaray State Historical-Cultural Reserve, current Project Coordinator of the Crimean Institute for Strategic Studies, Elmira Ablyalimova (Ельміра Аблялімова) discussed protection of cultural heritage in the territory of occupied Crimea [and] pursuit of international legal channels.
A few months ago, I was fortunate enough to participate in a public seminar on Archaeology in Occupied Territories and in Zones of Armed Conflict (Археологія на Окупованих Територіях та у Зонах Збройних Конфліктів), which was organised by the All-Ukrainian Association of Archaeologists (Спілка Археологів України) and the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Інститут археології НАН України).
In the course of making notes for material from a seminar on Archaeology in Occupied Territories and in Zones of Armed Conflict, which will be posted next week and the week after, I found images in reports that depicted Ukraine’s first ATO Museum in Dnipro (in Ukrainian, Перший Музей АТО Дніпро; in Russian, Первый Музей АТО Днепр), the Museum of the Anti-Terrorist Operation against acts of destabilisation, invasion and occupation by Russia. It reminded me of formal and informal efforts to memorialise the Revolution of Dignity while it was still under way.
troll factories: the Internet Research Agency and state-sponsored agenda building
Identified members of a Russian state-linked propaganda outlet, the Internet Research Agency (IRA), are being prosecuted for participating in ‘a sophisticated and coordinated campaign to sow disinformation and discord into American politics via social media’, ‘interfering in American electoral and political processes’. Journalist Jim Galloway has captured the logic of much of the activity: ‘let’s you and him fight’.
State financing and assassination in the Cold War
As I noted on my doctoral research blog on Cultural Heritage in Conflict (and as Peter Campbell found elsewhere), there is secure evidence of conflict antiquities trafficking by Communist Bulgaria (the People’s Republic of Bulgaria) during the Cold War. There is also secure evidence of connections between state criminals who trafficked arms from Bulgaria and deep state criminals who trafficked drugs (heroin) from Turkey, at a time when drug traffickers from Turkey also trafficked antiquities.
