Posted on 11/17/2010 7:57:14 PM PST by Islander7
A Chinese company digging an unexploited copper mine in Afghanistan has unearthed ancient statues of Buddha in a sprawling 2,600-year-old Buddhist monastery.
Archaeologists are rushing to salvage what they can from a major 7th century B.C. religious site along the famed Silk Road connecting Asia and the Middle East.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
as for it being far away from his home base, so to speak, it is along the Silk Road - the major artery of travel between China and the Middle East.
Kinda like Touchdown Jesus along the highway in Ohio...
was...
...which was promptly blown up.
There was a lot of travel from India up to the Silk Road and this route was the primary route for travel between China and India. Buddhism came very early to Afghanistan.
My point was this and only this: if that monastery is 2600 years old, and was always Buddhist from its beginning, then Buddhism came to Afghanistan before it even began -- because Buddhism itself is 100 years younger that the monastery.
It's only a minor point, I know, and I meant it as such.
Agreed. There is a dating issue in the article. OTOH, the Buddha’s birthday seems to me to have always been a rather hazy thing.
Yes, that’s what really piqued my curiosity - and then got me really angered. We dump billions of dollars every year into the pile of rock, opium and bandits - and the *CHINESE* get lucrative contracts to mine copper?
What the hell is wrong with this picture?
I can see why it’s being called “The Chinese Century.” They’ve hollowed out American businesses by undercutting them, sold us billions of dollars worth of cheap crap that break after two years, own us lock, stock and barrel now, use our trade imbalance to dominate industries that we have abandoned, and now get lucrative contracts for raw materials in the country that WE are paying to keep stable?
Everything about this picture is wrong. And we’ve been developing it for 15 years.
It doesn't make sense, but I am beginning to think this is part of the plan. The transfer of American wealth to the Chinese began under the first Bush administration. For some reason the Bushites love China along with country club Republicans. This is what they share in common with the Democrats.
I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but the Chinese are behind a lot of militant Islamic activity in Africa and the Middle East and Asia.
The chaos caused by the Islamists gives the Chinese an opportunity to wedge themselves into the gaps most Western companies and countries won’t go into.
But the Chinese are finding themselves increasingly on the sharp end lately since their own internal policies against Islamic activity are harsh and unforgiving, and their strategy will not only backfire on the world but on them as well.
Merci.
I guess now that ‘mes amis’ = ‘copper friends.’
They're the best kind.
Okay, where’s the little black spaniel when you really need him?
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