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UN duped, ancient 'bill of rights' bogus
In the UK, author and historian Tom Holland, who wrote about the rise of Cyrus in his book Persian Fire, joined the condemnation of the cylinder as a model text enshrining human rights."It's nonsense, absolute nonsense," he said. "The ancient Persians were not some early form of Swedish Social Democrats." He added that conquering a huge empire in the ancient world did not come without a list of atrocities, and "he staged several salutatory atrocities when he invaded." He added that the UN's adoption of the cylinder stemmed in part from a desire to claim some eastern roots "when it is so Western in its philosophical underpinnings". But the UN, which has promoted the relic as an "ancient declaration of human rights" since 1971, when then Secretary General Sithu U Thant was given a replica by the sister of the Shah of Iran, stood by its importance yesterday. Posted by: lotp 2008-07-17 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=244455 |