Hello.

For those of you who have been around since the history of Rome days, you know that I

love the crisis for the 3rd century in general and the adventures of my favorite Emperor

Aurelion in particular.

Adventures that the city of Palmyra played a key role in.

If you want a quick refresher on the history of all this and didn't see the link I posted

the other day, I actually wrote an article for Reuters called When Palmyra Arrived the

Roman Empire and the link is posted up at the top of revolutionspodcast.com.

So you will probably not be surprised to learn that it was with mounting a horror that

I watched Islamic State advance on Palmyra at the end of May.

And then with severe dread that I watched them take the city.

Palmyra has been on my must visit list for years.

Google some pictures of the ruins, they are spectacular and they now hang under a grave

threat.

Now the last word we got is that Islamic State does not intend to destroy the ruins.

Only that they are going to destroy any statues that they deem pagan or idolatrous.

I hope that's true and I'm kind of horrified anyway that they're going to destroy all the

statues.

But this is all starkly highlighted what happens when one of the cradles of Western civilization

gets engulfed in a 27 way civil war.

Historical treasures that should be prominently displayed and studied are instead being

smashed to bits or hastily boxed up and carted off to God knows where.

...