Latest Policy Brief from the Antiquities Coalition Lays Out Roadmap for NATO and Its Allies to Fight Back 

History and cultural heritage have become one of Russia’s most effective weapons in its efforts to target the West.

That is the warning from a newly released policy brief from the Antiquities Coalition’s Think Tank. Daniel Shultz and Christopher Jasparro provide a detailed case study, illustrating how historical propaganda and the exploitation of cultural heritage has become a central component of the Kremlin’s information warfare campaigns, orchestrated from the top by Vladimir Putin himself. Russia has leveraged revisionist histories about Soviet victory in World War II to solidify its identity as a nation besieged, prepare its domestic audience for military conflict, and vilify its opponents as Neo-Nazis deserving of eradication. All the while, the same inflammatory rhetoric is being used to exacerbate tensions with the West by stoking historical grievances, real and perceived, of the Russian people, whether within the country’s borders or around the world.

Given the Kremlin’s willingness to back these false narratives with violence in Ukraine, the authors argue that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) should immediately bolster its defensive posture along its eastern flank, while preparing for an increase in information warfare activity.

When compared with Ukraine, “The striking similarity in historical propaganda narratives targeting the Baltic states implies that the threat to the Baltics should now be considered acute,” write Dr. Shultz and Dr. Jasparro. Yet, they add, “NATO and its allies are not sufficiently postured and organized to counter or exploit adversary historical propaganda and cultural heritage exploitation.”

Thankfully, there is much that NATO and its partners can do to respond, if they act now. Shultz and Jasparro, experts in the exploitation of history and cultural heritage for propaganda purposes by state and non-state actors, propose five concrete recommendations that can be implemented in the short, medium, and long term. These include raising awareness and building resilience, institutionalizing the threat, exploiting opportunities, effective counter messaging, and avoiding an over-emphasis on history in geopolitical debate.

The consequences are high, not just for NATO, but also for those who are bearing the brunt of Putin’s invasion. According to Shultz and Jasparro, “In the case of the conduct of the Ukraine war, historical narratives about Ukraine as an anti-Russian, Nazi-led western puppet without its own statehood and culture have been sufficiently seeded within Russia that the risk of attempted cultural (and physical) genocide in Ukraine is very high, if not already underway.”

For a summary and link to the policy brief, click here. 

Experts Believe 35 Seized Masterpieces Include One of the World’s “Ten Most Wanted Antiquities”

Washington, January 11, 2022: This week, the United States government filed suit to recover tens of millions of dollars worth of illicit artifacts which criminals had plundered from ancient and sacred sites across Southeast Asia and then laundered onto the American art market, where they ended up in the collection of Netscape founder James H. Clark.

In doing so, U.S. investigators and prosecutors may have also solved a decades-long archeological mystery: experts believe the seizure includes a 1000-year-old masterpiece that ranks among the world’s “Ten Most Wanted Antiquities,” a list launched in 2020 by the Antiquities Coalition to help find some of the top looted, stolen, and missing cultural treasures from around the globe.

This “Top Ten” shone a spotlight on a monumental sandstone sculpture of Ganesha, the elephant-headed Hindu god, who had once graced the 10th century Cambodian capital of Koh Ker. Standing five feet tall, it was photographed at the site in the 1930s, but then vanished during the country’s many years of civil war and genocide. A near identical twin emerged in a temporary exhibition at Berlin’s Asian Art Museum in 2004, prompting leading art historians and archeologists to sound alarms that the pieces were one and the same, only slightly modified to describe its illegal origins. Following the controversy, the “Berlin” Ganesha then disappeared itself, only resurfacing this week as one of the 35 objects targeted by U.S. authorities.

According to court filings, this Ganesha and the dozens of other pieces Clark voluntarily forfeited were tied to Douglas Latchford—the “adventurer scholar” who made front page headlines in last year’s Pandora Papers for smuggling blood antiquities from Cambodian war zones, and then hiding his millions of dollars in profits through the misuse of tax havens, trusts, and offshore accounts.

“The Antiquities Coalition commends the U.S. government for ensuring that Douglas Latchford’s death in 2020 did not end the quest to bring him and his co-conspirators to justice,” said Deborah Lehr, Chair and Founder of the Antiquities Coalition. “For a half century, Latchford plundered the rich heritage of the Cambodian people, crimes that we now know helped to fund the Civil War and Killing Fields. He also defrauded countless American collectors, including Mr. Clark. We are grateful for his cooperation and hope that this example inspires others to do the right thing, so more of the world’s top ten missing antiquities can return home.”

If this Ganesha is indeed the one photographed at Koh Ker in the 1930s, it will mark the first success from the Ten Most Wanted Antiquities list, an illustrated guide to artifacts from around the world that have been looted or stolen—and are still missing. The list is accompanied by posters of each object, published on the Antiquities Coalition’s website, which provide snapshots of the pieces’ significance, their theft, and their last known whereabouts. Any information leading to their possible recovery should be submitted to law enforcement using the included tip lines.