Kremlin-imposed cuts at U.S. Embassy leave thousands adrift

Shameful business from Russia.

Russia has done nothing wrong, much of Russia's tragedies in the last 40 years was caused by U.S. ! Should understanding the miserable feelings from the Russian people! They just want to have peace and a simple life!

Calling Mr. Putin a killer has consequences, like these impacts to businessmen and American citizens. And maybe Russian hackers disrupting US petroleum supplies. This is a tremendous self-own by the US side.

Sure but Putin is a killer.

Mass-murderer I guess a tad more precise.

Why not just hire staff in the US and bring them over, like the other countries do, it ain't that complicated.

Sure but Putin is a killer

Sure, "Saddam has WMD", "Putin is a killer". The usual fodder to deflect attention from the West's horrible crimes.

Why not just hire staff in the US and bring them over, like the other countries do, it ain't that complicated.

For one thing other countries do not. It is traditional for embassies to hire locals for work that doesn't involve classified information or security. It is a way to build friendships and understanding between the two nations. The Chinese have a government run agency that provides such labor for the various embassies in Beijing and their consulates around China. If you go to the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles you find lots of Americans working there. That is the norm around the world.

Why not just hire staff in the US and bring them over, like the other countries do, it ain't that complicated.

The other consideration is the host nation has to approve every US citizen that works in the US Embassy or a consulate. A diplomatic clearance has to be obtained and then they have to gain permission to live there. Embassies generally do not have living quarters for their staff. They live in town. This is deliberate. The nation with the Embassy wants their people to mix with the locals, shop in local stores and such. This way the locals get to see real Americans and not the cartoon villain of the official press.

Often too the host nation prefers a foreign embassy hire locals than bring their own people in. Obviously the hose nation wants to infiltrate the other nation's embassy if they can and the Embassy is going to try to screen their applicants and have them work in jobs where they can't see anything that isn't already public knowledge. How many locals and how many citizens of the nation with the embassy become part of the negotiations for the agreement to have an embassy there.

Well, calling other world leaders "killer" in public seems to play out for Americas new brilliant leader, doesnt it. Wonder if he surprised.

For one thing other countries do not. It is traditional for embassies to hire locals for work that doesn't involve classified information or security. It is a way to build friendships and understanding between the two nations. The Chinese have a government run agency that provides such labor for the various embassies in Beijing and their consulates around China. If you go to the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles you find lots of Americans working there. That is the norm around the world.

I didn't know this. This is very useful to know, and it makes a lot of sense to me. It makes me resentful of the Russian government's decision even more.