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A massive new US embassy in a tiny Middle East nation is raising eyebrows (Beirut)
cnn ^ | 5-12-23 | Nadeen Ebrahim

Posted on 05/12/2023 4:54:09 PM PDT by dynachrome

A massive new US embassy complex in Lebanon is causing controversy for its sheer size and opulence in a country where nearly 80% of the population is under the poverty line.

Located some 13 kilometers (about 8 miles) from the center of Beirut, the US’ new embassy compound in Lebanon looks like a city of its own.

Sprawling over a 43-acre site, the complex in the Beirut suburb of Awkar is almost two-and-a-half times the size of the land the White House sits on and more than 21 soccer fields.

Many Lebanese on Twitter questioned why the US needs such a large embassy in their capital. Lebanon is smaller than Connecticut and has a population of just six million. Few American tourists go to the country as the State Department has placed it on the third highest travel advisory level, but it does have a sizeable population of Lebanese American residents.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; Iran; Israel; News/Current Events; Syria; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: beirut; bolton; embassy; iran; irgc; israel; johnbolton; lebanese; lebanon; opec; qudsforce; syria; uae; unitedarabemirates; unitednations; unrwa; untiednations; unwra; usembassy; waronterror
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WTF? A fort with comprehensive defense I could see. It's nothing but a target and not in a nation where we have much interest.
1 posted on 05/12/2023 4:54:09 PM PDT by dynachrome
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To: dynachrome
230512162422-mime-us-embassy-beirut
2 posted on 05/12/2023 4:54:35 PM PDT by dynachrome (“We cannot save Ukraine by dooming the US economy.” Rand Paul)
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To: dynachrome

Who is getting paid? That’s the question.
Our government is nothing but a bunch of scum-sucking vampires.


3 posted on 05/12/2023 4:59:22 PM PDT by vpintheak (Live free, or die!)
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To: vpintheak

Yup, it’s a jobs program. $12 a day for the Lebanese construction workers, $12 a minute for certain State Department connected officials and general contractors.


4 posted on 05/12/2023 5:03:24 PM PDT by monkeyshine (live and let live is dead)
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To: dynachrome
Re: "80% of population below poverty level"

I am old enough to remember when Lebanon was the most affluent (and most culturally liberal) no-oil country in the Middle East.

Everywhere that radical Muslims seize power, poverty and violent oppression quickly follow.

Also - great photo - thanks for posting it.

5 posted on 05/12/2023 5:10:01 PM PDT by zeestephen (Trump "Lost" By 43,000 Votes - Spread Across Three States - GA, WI, AZ)
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To: vpintheak

Exactly. Hand out contracts with free money and then have no accountability.


6 posted on 05/12/2023 5:10:41 PM PDT by MTBobcat (The “rank-and-file” are as corrupted as their leadership.)
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To: monkeyshine

Wonder how much is passing into offshore accounts for certain deep state actors.


7 posted on 05/12/2023 5:11:16 PM PDT by Rlsau1
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To: dynachrome

Does Biden have another ‘cut and run’ deal with a stone age culture?

We leave and billions of dollars worth of weapons and technology are ‘donated’ to our enemies? Or is this a party down site for State Department perverts?

Maybe Biden’s granddaughter gets a few million?

Here’s what we know for sure - this latest insanity doesn’t help our country or our people.


8 posted on 05/12/2023 5:12:56 PM PDT by GOPJ (Send 10,000 illegals to Martha's Vineyard this time... and rent them rooms.)
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To: Rlsau1

Hezbullah has 100,000 short range rockets. Hopefully we don’t have to rebuild it anytime soon.


9 posted on 05/12/2023 5:14:18 PM PDT by monkeyshine (live and let live is dead)
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To: dynachrome

Can’t build a wall on our border but can built this?


10 posted on 05/12/2023 5:14:53 PM PDT by McGruff (Don't underestimate Joe's ability to f*** things up - Barack Obama)
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To: monkeyshine

I was thinking mortars myself. How many people will be stationed there? It’s not exactly a spot people will fight to become ambassador.


11 posted on 05/12/2023 5:16:04 PM PDT by dynachrome (“We cannot save Ukraine by dooming the US economy.” Rand Paul)
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To: dynachrome

I wonder if Americans can go out and about in Beirut? I’m thinking they probably can, but I could be wrong.

My last gig in Iraq was at the US Embassy in Baghdad in 2013. I lived across the street in the DoD base at Union III. We walked or drove out of one fortified checkpoint and into another each morning for work.

The embassy was huge, but people couldn’t go off of it unless they were in an armored convoy or helicopter, so it’s set up like a town, (a town surrounded by big blast walls) with apartments, office buildings, dining halls, shopettes, movie theater, pool & tennis courts, gym, a couple of restaurants and a bar, etc.


12 posted on 05/12/2023 5:22:43 PM PDT by Allegra
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To: dynachrome
How many people will be stationed there?

Maybe it's going to be a homeless shelter.

Seriously, the opulence is astonishing. If I had to venture a guess there was someone who thought we could make it a middle-east "diplomatic hub". Its size and scope is astonishing for an Embassy. I see all kinds of buildings of various shapes some of which seem to be of questionable utility for "office space" Is it or will it be the largest embassy we have?

13 posted on 05/12/2023 5:22:55 PM PDT by monkeyshine (live and let live is dead)
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To: McGruff

Priorities, priorities.


14 posted on 05/12/2023 5:23:14 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (America Owes Anita Bryant An Enormous Apology)
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To: dynachrome

The size indicates that a lot of leftist deep state diplomats and intelligence officers will be there to totally eff things up in the region - more so than presently.


15 posted on 05/12/2023 5:25:42 PM PDT by ConservativeInPA ("How did you go bankrupt?" Bill asked. "Two ways," Mike said. "Gradually and then suddenly." )
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To: dynachrome; Fedora

Speaking of Lebanon- from Town hall.com:

...snip...

In “The Secret Backstory of How Obama Let Hezbollah Off the Hook,” Politico senior investigator Josh Meyer wrote about the investigation the government called “Project Cassandra” and Ali Fayad, a Hezbollah operative suspected of, among other things, of using profits from drug-dealing to finance terror operations and to move weapons to Syria. Meyer writes: “When Project Cassandra leaders sought approval for some significant investigations, prosecutions, arrests and financial sanctions, officials at the Justice and Treasury departments delayed, hindered or rejected their requests.

“The Justice Department declined requests by Project Cassandra and other authorities to file criminal charges against major players such as Hezbollah’s high-profile envoy to Iran, a Lebanese bank that allegedly laundered billions in alleged drug profits, and a central player in a U.S.-based cell of the Iranian paramilitary Quds force. And the State Department rejected requests to lure high-value targets to countries where they could be arrested. ...

“Lebanese arms dealer Ali Fayad, a suspected top Hezbollah operative whom agents believed reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin as a key supplier of weapons to Syria and Iraq, was arrested in Prague in the spring of 2014. But for the nearly two years Fayad was in custody, top Obama administration officials declined to apply serious pressure on the Czech government to extradite him to the United States, even as Putin was lobbying aggressively against it.... / snip...


16 posted on 05/12/2023 5:27:07 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
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To: Allegra

That makes sense.


17 posted on 05/12/2023 5:28:00 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
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To: dynachrome

Lebanon. Probably one of the most gangster and corruption filled Middle East countries.

What does Biden think he’s doing? Preparing to destabiliza Leebanon further, the way Obama destabilized Syria??? Or does he really think the U.S. can compete with Iran and Hezbolla in Lebanon?? Not a chance in hell.


18 posted on 05/12/2023 5:31:40 PM PDT by Wuli
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To: vpintheak

The DS can’t steal billion on a few billion. More you spend the more you can steal. It does look like a big target. Hope they don’t forget the helicopter pad on the tallest building when we evacuate it.


19 posted on 05/12/2023 5:34:36 PM PDT by wgmalabama (Censored !)
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To: dynachrome

I am thinking a warehouse of ammonia nitrate a few blocks away.


20 posted on 05/12/2023 5:36:41 PM PDT by wgmalabama (Censored !)
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