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comment by kleinbl00

It might have been Tim Wiener - not sure, don't quote me on that - who pointed out that the entire "embassy" system was essentially the United States establishing a foreign espionage beachhead on every shore they intended to trade with and that on the face of it, it's an imperialist, tyrannical move just to have one. Especially when you look at the one we built in Iraq.

The idea of an "embassy" is to give your diplomats a place to hang out and be available to foreigners to foster trade and understanding. If your embassy is behind barricades patrolled by soldiers, you aren't fostering shit.