In today's New York Times, there was an article about the pending demolition of richly decorated ancient Buddhist monasteries in Afghanistan that is being ignored by the United Nations and endorsed the United States government.
"WHEN the Taliban blasted the famous Bamiyan Buddhas with artillery and dynamite in March 2001, leaders of many faiths and countries denounced the destruction as an act of cultural terrorism. But today, with the encouragement of the American government, Chinese engineers are preparing a similar act of desecration in Afghanistan: the demolition of a vast complex of richly decorated ancient Buddhist monasteries. . .
. . . Whether for economic gain or ideological purity, destroying humanity’s common heritage limits our understanding of one another, as well as of our past — something we can ill afford in today’s fractious world. . . Even given Afghanistan’s dire financial plight, it’s not a position to accept, much less emulate."
Read the entire article. I hope you are as outraged as I am.
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