A Look At What Happens When The U.S. Closes An Embassy

Peter Van Buren, Reuters: Who gets out when a U.S. embassy closes, and who gets left behind?

The American Embassy in Yemen closed its doors and evacuated its American staff on Tuesday. U.S officials say security concerns brought on by the advancing Houthi rebel group caused the closure. The Houthis say the evacuation was unnecessary, a political act seeking to undermine their legitimacy, and grabbed embassy vehicles on Wednesday. Closing an embassy can often be as much about strategic political aims, as it is about security concerns, but how hard is it to execute?

WNU Editor: It is always a worrisome development when a country closes an embassy .... it means that the situation has become dangerous. And yes .... Russia has (more or less) the same procedures and guidelines.

U.S. State Department Officials Are Expecting Trouble When The Long-Awaited Senate Report On CIA Torture Is Released

View of the Department of State in Washington, DC. (Kevin Lamarque/courtesy Reuters)

U.S. Heightens Embassy Security, Anticipating Report On CIA Interrogations -- Reuters

(Reuters) - The U.S. State Department is increasing security at some American embassies in anticipation of the public release of a long-awaited Senate report detailing the CIA's use of harsh interrogation techniques, U.S. officials said on Tuesday.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the additional security measures reflected concerns that the report could prompt protests in countries where the CIA operated secret prisons that were used to conduct interrogations.

Human rights activists and some U.S. politicians have labeled as "torture" some of the physically stressful interrogation techniques, such as simulated drowning, that were authorized under former-President George W. Bush.

Read more ....

My Comment: I suspect that nothing new will be made public when this report is released. But that has never stopped protestors from protesting outside U.S. embassies in the past, and I doubt that it will stop them now.