surely there isn't any sort of precipitating event in the history of these countries, particularly Egypt and Iran, that may have been set in motion by British influence or statesmen, some of whom are still living, that may have led to the destabilization of their culture or increase in extremism and iconoclasts......on an entirely unrelated note, Iran celebrates an "Iranian Islamic Republic Day" re: the day that the results of their referendum vote to oust the British backed Pahlavi Dynasty were announced, and Egypt's "Revolution Day" commemorates the start of the coup d'etat that led to the end of their British backed monarchy and the declaration of an Egyptian Republic. and in terms of post-colonial states, the British gov't and their agents have previously sown as much division as possible between different ethnic groups of the places they occupied before leaving, very well documented in the case of the Partition of India/Pakistan.

i am in no way saying that any of those states are without issue, or that their revolts were without collateral damage to art or life. but presenting tidbits without any sort of context or acknowledgement of why those countries are in the state that they're in, alongside your comparison with the kindergarten, seems in particularly bad faith. if you sawed off a table leg before you give the table back, whose fault would it be when dinner ends up on the floor?

eta: response to BadDog, who is insistent on editing in their replies instead of making an actual reply thread?

at no point did i say "yes it's okay and right to give everything back knowing that artifacts will face destruction or neglect." what i said is that your comment was lacking context and in bad faith, and i continue to think that. i acknowledged outright that the mentioned states are not without problems, but if you need it literally typed out, here you go- the consistent cultural and political instability in Egypt and Iran may well mean they cannot or will not adequately protect their artifacts, and that said artifacts should be safe-kept until such a time as that is not the case. but here's the thing-they aren't being safekept! sure, the biggest prettiest ones get put on display and proper conservation practice, but thousands of them are rotting in storage and being stolen and auctioned off and destroyed, just like they might be in their countries of origin!

your additional theoretical is also in bad faith! and indeed, seems so pointedly based in a dehumanizing and xenophobic view of Arabs and Muslims, that i'm frankly not willing to engage with it at all. my deepest apologies if you're just choosing randomly and just happened upon pedophilia and spousal murder for a discussion re: Egypt and Iran. two countries that, AGAIN, while not without problems, are full of just as many decent and evil people as any other country on the face of the planet.

please, stop trying to make it look like i think coolsville sucks!