During the Vietnam war era, the US Government funded a "secret war" in Cambodia. Now, is the State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and its Cultural Heritage Center indirectly funding a not so secret war against Sotheby's Auction House?
Heritage Watch, an archaeological advocacy group with a focus on Cambodia, has been at the forefront of a recent campaign against Sotheby�s. See http://art-crime.blogspot.com/2011/10/what-does-lack-of-provenance-indicate.html
And http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/arts/design/sothebys-caught-in-dispute-over-prized-cambodian-statue.html?pagewanted=1
At the same time, Heritage Watch has received funding from the State Department�s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and its Cultural Heritage Center:
See http://ordinarymag.blogspot.com/2008/09/eca-ambassadors-fund-awards-22-million.html and http://ordinarymag.blogspot.com/2008/09/cambodian-import-restrictions-extended.html
Is State indirectly funding the archaeological lobby�s war on Sotheby�s? If so, it would be consistent with State's ongoing funding of the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute, which has been at the forefront of lobbying for a clamp down on collectors of ancient coins and other artifacts from Cyprus.