Remember that big-ass embassy in Iraq? We're building its cousin in Islamabad

[charlie]

We're also making major expansions to consulates in Peshawar, Karachi, and Lahore. Kabul's embassy will be enlarged too.

Strap in for the long haul.

The United States plans to build a massive new embassy in Pakistan's capital, adding another several adjacent properties to the already sprawling compound to expand office space and accommodate 400 to 500 apartments, according to diplomatic insiders.

With large portions of Pakistan's population deeply hostile to the United States, the Islamabad project is sure to draw the ire of those who believe Washington has “imperial designs” on the region.

The scale of the project rivals the giant U.S. embassy in Baghdad, which was controversially completed at a cost of $740-million (U.S.), making it the biggest American mission overseas to date.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/islamabad-to-get-giant-us-embassy/article1156484


ISLAMABAD — The U.S. is embarking on a $1 billion crash program to expand its diplomatic presence in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan, another sign that the Obama administration is making a costly, long-term commitment to war-torn South Asia, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

The White House has asked Congress for — and seems likely to receive — $736 million to build a new U.S. embassy in Islamabad, along with permanent housing for U.S. government civilians and new office space in the Pakistani capital.

...

"For the strong commitment the U.S. is making in the country of Pakistan, we need the necessary platform to fulfill our diplomatic mission," said Jonathan Blyth of the State Department's Overseas Buildings Operations bureau. "The embassy is in need of upgrading and expansion to meet our future mission requirements."

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/68952.html

[Lasher]

1. Nothing says 'empire' quite like castles.

And the bigger the better.

[glowing]

2. And yet, its perfectly acceptable to continue allowing more and more American's

to camp out in Tent Cities because they've lost their jobs, homes, and their is a waiting list for subsidized housing. Isn't it convenient to build a billion dollar hotel off the backs of the taxpayers, rather than shore up our own social standards of living?

[Mari333]

3. the obama admin had better never ever bitch again

about the deficits of bush, because they are traveling down the same empirical path and making many of the same mistakes ... american empire is alive and well and I have resigned myself to the fact that we will fall, like every empire falls, because we will be bankrupted by our own arrogance and greed.
sickening.

[Hannah Bell]

4. "we" will be bankrupted, but capital goes one forever...you can trace it through hundreds of years,

from genoa & venice, to spain, holland, britain, the us....china....

nations are potemkin villages, rearranged at will.