Sir Mark.

This is coolbert:

“ ... ready to riot and slay for the sake of fanaticism …. detesting Europeans with a bigoted, foolish, senseless hatred. ” - - Sir Mark Sykes [1904].

I see that the body of Sir Mark Sykes is going to be disinterred. Exhumed for scientific purposes.

Sykes was a victim of the Swine Flu pandemic of 1918 and 1919. It is felt that tissue samples can be obtained from his body that will assist scientists in devising defenses against another outbreak of a world-wide pandemic, should one occur.

"The Fight Against Influenza"

In 2007, nearly 90 years after Sir Mark Sykes died, permission was given by his grandchildren to exhume his body for scientific investigation. His remains were of interest because he had been buried in a lead-lined coffin, and this was thought likely to have preserved Spanish Flu viral particles intact. Any samples taken are to be used for research in the quest to develop defences against the next flu pandemic . . . There are only 5 other extant samples of the Spanish Flu and none of the other remains from which they come are as well preserved as Sir Mark's body is expected to be."

Sir Mark Sykes is of course much better known for having been a co-author to the Sykes-Picot agreement.

"an English traveller, Conservative Party politician and diplomatic advisor, particularly about matters respecting the Middle East at the time of World War I. He will always be associated with the Sykes-Picot Agreement, drawn up while the war was in progress, regarding the apportionment of postwar spheres of interest in the Ottoman Empire to Britain, France and Russia."

A World War One [WW1] secret "treaty" between the English and French that is often pointed to as being a flawed document, the implementation of which is partly to blame for much of the problems in the Middle East to this day.

"The Sykes-Picot Agreement of May 16, 1916 was a secret understanding between the governments of Britain and France defining their respective spheres of post-World War I influence and control in the Middle East (then under Ottoman control), after the expected downfall of the Ottoman. The boundaries of this agreement still remain in much of the common border between Syria and Iraq."

Implementation of the Sykes-Picot Agreement meant that artificial nations with proxy rulers for the French and British were put into place. An agreement that created nations without regard to history, tribalism of the region, cultural characteristics of the local people, etc. [all the while furthering the interests of the French and British]. Damage, to what extent, has been done, the "horses are out of the barn, and there ain't no gettin' em' back", so to speak.

Regarding the quote of Sir Mark with which I have begun this blog entry:

"Sykes in 1904 wrote describing the Arabs"

"This quotation is often cited by those who believe that nothing has really changed regarding the Arabs and non-Islamic Westerners in the last century"

coolbert.