You get the idea
The United States has announced plans to leave its landmark embassy in central London’s tony Mayfair district and build a safer facility in a far less fashionable suburb south of the River Thames.
The move, which will end a 200-year U.S. association with London’s Grosvenor Square, is part of American efforts to secure diplomatic staff in compounds — a push that began in earnest after deadly al-Qaida bombings at two U.S. embassies in East Africa a decade ago.
Over the last decade, U.S. diplomatic outposts have been transformed from showcases for American openness to heavily defended fortresses. Around the world from Athens to Abidjan, embassies built in a spirit of with colonial elegance or postwar openness have been transformed with fences, blast walls and other barriers against attack.
“This has been a long and careful process,” Tuttle said. “We looked at all our options, including renovation of our current building on Grosvenor Square. In the end, we realized that the goal of a modern, secure and environmentally sustainable embassy could best be met by constructing a new facility.”
It’s fracking hilarious that these creeps feel it necessary to include “Green” goals into the equation for construction of a political Maginot Line.
The United States has been selling embassies and other diplomatic buildings around the world as it consolidates diplomatic staff into more secure and modern compounds, often away from city centers…
The move will bring a stark change in surroundings for the embassy’s 800 staff. The current building is a stone’s throw from designer boutiques and expensive restaurants. The future site sits near railway lines, public housing projects, a fruit-and-vegetable market and derelict Battersea Power station — although on the up side, Tuttle said the embassy would have a river view.
They’re going to allow windows?
And he reassured Britain — “our best friend and ally in the world” — that the new embassy would be just as close to Parliament and other government buildings as the old site…
Of course. You wouldn’t want to make it too difficult for the governors of the 51st state to report to headquarters.