I like magazines. A lot.
One of my favorites is
Archaeology.
The new issue had two interesting stories I'd like to share:
First, on September 25, 2008 the United States finally ratified the
1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.
Fifty-four and a half friggin' years later we get around to ratifying a global law already recognized by 120 other countries.
Are you kidding me?
This right here is a perfect example of me being ashamed to be an American.
So do you want to know why it took so long?
1954 was the start of the Cold War. The USSR was making funny faces at us, so we decided that we might have to bomb the Moscow Kremlin - which is an old and historic building. But the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, well, it doesn't take to well to bombing cultural property in the event of armed conflict. So we
signed the document, but didn't
ratify it.
Are you kidding me?
So embarrassing.
And when did the Cold War end? December 1989, or December 1991 at the latest. And it took the United States
this long to sign -- er,
ratify -- the treaty?
Wow.
The second piece of news is almost as mind-blowing for me ... but I'm a history nerd so beware.
They just found ammunition on the wreck of the
Lusitania.
What?
Picture if you will May 7, 1915. Europe has been in a big-ass war since the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June of 1914. The war extends to the waters around Europe - the Germans have made it clear that they will sink vessels flying the flag of Britain. In fact, they made it so clear they actually took out an ad in the New York
Times. Right next to an ad for the British luxury ocean liner
Lusitania.
Irony.
Because on May 7, 1915 the
Lusitania is torpedoed by German subs 30 miles off of the coast of Ireland. Sinks within minutes.
1200 dead, a tenth of whom were American citizens.
At the time President Woodrow Wilson said, "There is such a thing as a man being too proud to fight. There is such a thing as a nation being so right that it does not need to convince others by force that it is right."
(Needless to say, he was
not one of George W. Bush's favorite presidents.)
Eventually the US gets into the war (I won't spoil it for you if you don't know, but it involves a telegram from Germany to Mexico, and if everything had played out they way they wanted right now they'd be speaking Spanish in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona - oh, wait ...)
Anyway, the whole thing about the
Lusitania is that it was supposed to be a cruise ship. The public was told it was. But in this case, the Germans were right.
Wow, so add this to the list that includes the Spanish-American War's
USS Maine, the fact that FDR probably knew about the
Attack on Pearl Harbor, the Vietnam War's
Gulf of Tonkin Incident, and our current Second Gulf War's
WMDs.
Awesome. Pretty much whatever the government tells you is a lie. Fifty-four and a half years, or even ninety-three and a half years, later.
