Mining threat to ancient Afghan monastery at Mes Aynak

BBC ^ | June 12, 2011 | Unknown

[decimon]

Ten years ago, the Taliban blew up Afghanistan's ancient Buddhas of Bamiyan, provoking international outrage. Now, the country's rich heritage is facing a new threat. A Chinese mining venture has set its sights on another ancient Buddhist site, reports the BBC's Quentin Sommerville.

Mes Aynak lies in Logar province, a short helicopter ride from Kabul.

The site was was once an al-Qaeda training camp, but is also home to an astonishing discovery - a Buddhist monastery more than 1,400 years old.

Unlike many archaeological sites, this is more than a few stones on the ground.

There are walls and corridors. Walking past the stupas, or shrines, and the still brightly painted red Buddhas, you get a real sense of a living monastery and the grandeur of the place.

The monks settled here because there was copper in the ground; it was part of a Buddhist kingdom. This was a way-station on the Silk Road, the route that would take Buddhism from India to Tibet, and beyond into China.

>

The US military is spending a million dollars just helping to conserve the precious artefacts from the site, which are some of the oldest Buddhist finds in the world.

In a country shattered by war and facing so much uncertainty, what remains is more valuable than ever.

[decimon]

Copper brought the monks that built Mes Aynak. Could it be the reason for the monastery's ultimate demise?

[decimon]

Mes Aynak est vos Aynak ping.

[kingu]

In a country shattered by war and facing so much uncertainty, what remains is more valuable than ever.

Let's see... A relic site that has been known but virtually ignored for hundreds of years, or the hard currency that comes from mining? I'm guessing that Afghanistan's more than willing to take a whole bunch of cash to let someone cart the stuff away so they can get back to letting the Chinese do the mining.

There's a lot to be said about preserving history, but it wouldn't surprise me if there were calls to put a military guard around the remains of the ancient city and effectively annex it from Afghanistan.

[Ciexyz]

That poor country, so full of beauty but so plundered throughout history.

[Jack Hammer]

China? Copper? Buddhist?

Buh-bye!

[SunkenCiv]

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[patton]

Afghanistan? In terms of mineral wealth, it is not a “poor country.” It is one of the richest in the world.

But without a stable government and contract law, who cares?

[null and void]

How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy.

The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.

A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.

Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it.

No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.

— Sir Winston Churchill (The River War, first edition, Vol. II, pages 248-50 [London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1899] removed from later editions).

[ARepublicanForAllReasons]

I have read this amazingly accurate summation of Islam many times before. However, this is the first time I noticed the following:

— Sir Winston Churchill (The River War, first edition, Vol. II, pages 248-50 [London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1899] removed from later editions).

Removed by whom? And why? (Eerie music plays...)

No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.

Still true, 112 years later. National Socialism and Marxism are just passing fancies compared to Islam. Oh, does it seem that I slam Islam? So be it.

[null and void]

Here's what I've been told:

On Churchill's relationship with Islam

Sun Jan 2 22:00:27 2011 · 5 of 16
sinanju to null and void

It has to be the FIRST edition of 1899, however. Churchill heavily edited the later editions so as not to piss off Lord Kitchner, who had not wanted him on his staff for the punitive Sudan expedition, hated his guts and was to be a factor in his career for years to come.

“Fearless warriors” indeed. Muslim armies are a total bust in the modern age, besides trying to build nukes they can’t invent squat and advanced strategy and tactics are beyond them. Suicide bombers are the best they can manage.