You can’t get an embassy in a box unless you push *real hard.* https://t.co/m7RIcMsYyV
— TSB (@TweetingTSB) April 26, 2024
We'd all like to see new diplomatic presences spring up overnight in all those little Pacific islands. How else could we counter the malign influences of what I like to call the ChiComs?
But a serious legislative initiative requires some substance, and this bill is all wishful thinking.
From the bill's text:
The Embassy in a Box Act:
So then, the bill requires the SecState to figure out what the hell Senator Risch means by an "Embassy in a Box" and then use a magic wand to dispel all the realities of limited resources and even more limited physical infrastructure on those tiny islands that the bill describes as "austere locations."
Requires the State Department to develop an “embassy in a box concept” that provides expedited procedures and physical resources needed to stand up new diplomatic missions overseas.
Requires the secretary of State to issue guidance so the Department can build new embassies more quickly and save taxpayer dollars.
Apparently, the catchphrase "Embassy in a Box" is supposed to bridge the gap between our wish and our reality.
From my own simple point of view, I'd rather focus on creating a "Box In an Embassy" on the assumption that our staffers may need a safe place to ride out any local Tong Wars. This kind of thing, for example.
Good luck, Senator, but I think this is the kind of bill that doesn't survive contact with reality.
4 comments:
What is this Senator talking about?
Oh, its all the rage right now, "micro-missions" that can be opened overnight to put our diplomats on tiny islands in the Pacific that are not significant enough to have merited an embassy already.
Security and all sorts of other requirements make government move slowly before opening new missions, so Sen. Risch (and others) want to prod State to act faster.
Okay by me, but then, if some micro-mission gets overrun by a mob or destroyed by a truck bomb, it won't be Risch's name on the dotted line.
I really must do something really really important https://youtu.be/LFrdqQZ8FFc?si=6WjHzs2egZSYdMuZ
Ah! That's really the key to it all. Don't tolerate for one second the idea that 'the whole thing is a bit silly" or else everything will fall apart. It would be pure subversion. Humor must not be tolerated in any organizational setting.
Post a Comment