No wonder the US has such a huge deficit
March 2nd, 2013 at 11:00 am by David FarrarHank Schouten at Stuff reports:
United States embassy staff are to be protected behind blast walls built as part of a major upgrade of the Wellington complex, costing up to $60 million.
The walls, designed to protect against missiles and bomb blasts, will further beef up security at what is already one of the most heavily protected diplomatic posts in New Zealand.
They’re spending $60 million on walls to protect against missiles??
I have to say I don’t see a lot of missiles in Thorndon.
Embassy spokesman David Edginton said the upgrade work followed a seismic-risk assessment.
Whenever work was being done at an embassy, the State Department required it be brought up to worldwide standards for safety and security.
It’s their money, but personally I think it is rather stupid. The security needs in Thorndon are rather different to Kabul.
The State Department’s bureau of overseas building operations is looking for suitable contractors.
Good for the NZ economy though!
Related posts:
- Make Your Own Deficit-Reduction Plan
- Thorndon
- US Federal Deficit
- $500 million of infrastructure projects to be fast tracked
March 2nd, 2013 at 11:02 am
Probably worried about a future Labour/Green coalition inviting their buddies from North Korea over….
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 11:10 am
Not stupid at all. There is nowhere in the world where American embassies are not vulnerable. Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups are quite capable of striking anywhere in the world, especially in places like New Zealand which may take a lax attitude or underestimate the threat. In fact, if I was a terrorist, I can’t think of a better place to strike at The Great Satan than New Zealand, where people like DPF think there is no risk of attacks.
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 11:10 am
I don’t blame them. Terrorists and others go looking for easy targets. We think of our country as being quiet and peaceful. If they could sneak into the US and carry out 9/11 why not attack a US embassy in a peaceful country like New Zealand.
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 11:15 am
There is no more legitimate role of government than defending one’s territory. Of course this is the blog where the author supports government spending billions of dollars on cables so people don’t have to wait as long for their YouPorn feed.
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 11:33 am
I daresay the US had a similar view in 1998 concerning their embassies in Nairobia and Dar es Salaam.
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 11:57 am
Nah, Tama Iti is out and they’re shit scared
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 12:06 pm
Spending too much on defense is one reason the US deficit is so large, but their Embassies are prime targets wherever they are in the world.
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 12:07 pm
Yeah the State Dept deluded themselves that the newly “liberated” locals in Benghazi were friendly too.
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 12:14 pm
Spot on BlairM. Twice.
Besides, a lot of that $60 million is going to be spent on local New Zealand contractors and employees. So don’t be so quick to knock it.
Further, what it signals to me is an underlying increment in the US-NZ relationship, one worth investing good money in. And idiot-US-knockers-and-sceptics aside, this is no bad thing.
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 12:19 pm
But I thought everyone loved America now they have a new president. Do they not know he is
looks a bit more like dad than mumblack ?I guess the “race card” only works on idiot self righteous white liberals.
“So, in the Muslim world, approval of the U.S. was at 25 percent in 2009 when Obama became president. Today, approval of the U.S. in Muslim countries is down to 15 percent. In 2009, the Obama’s personal approval in the Muslim world was at 34 percent. Today, it is at 15 percent. Ooops! Hmmm, the reality is that President Obama is less popular than the alleged evil President George W. Bush in the Muslim world.”
http://www.examiner.com/article/obama-s-muslim-problem
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 12:19 pm
BlairM,
If your YouPorn is stopping and buffering then that’ll likely be a problem on their server connection, since NZ broadband speeds have long been sufficient for streaming.
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 12:34 pm
Just another example of the phobia that has infected the US. Its this type of crazed thinking that leads to things like the iran style invasion of the Dortcom massion.
Believe me – the US is going crazy in the head.
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 12:35 pm
Blair confuses no risk and significant risk.
The Embassy is already a fortress, because of the risk of attack. I doubt a tank could even get past the barriers outside. And the main Embassy is far enough back from the wall and fence that the level of explosives needed would be massive, to actually get people inside the building.
They are talking $60 million on top of what is already there. It isn’t like it is just surrounded by a wooden fence at the moment.
Pete M – I’m sure you’re not really comparing risk levels in Kenya and Tanzania to NZ. We are an island, with no militias, or insurgencies and I think even airport security would pick up someone importing some missiles.
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 12:38 pm
We are an island……with a growing immigrant population. Some evn got in after flushing passports down the dunny and were in contact with “brothers” in Australia.
More of whom will be making the trip here thanks to Julia’s lunatic asylum policies.
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 12:39 pm
Just to put things in perspective.
The death toll in 9/11 was somewhere between 3 and 5000. As a result we have seen the US go crazy. I think they have 1200 agencies to do with security that werent there before 9/11. And they want to impose their insanity on the rest of the world.
The annual road toll in the US is 33,000. Have they banned cars? Have the closed roads? have they any more agencies to stop this annual slaughter?
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 12:39 pm
Pete M – I’m sure you’re not really comparing risk levels in Kenya and Tanzania to NZ. We are an island, with no militias, or insurgencies and I think even airport security would pick up someone importing some missiles.
The 1998 Embassy Bombings were truck bombs rather than missiles and were set off by foreign visitors rather than domestic militias or insurgencies. All you need is some decent fertiliser and diesel, both of which we have plenty in NZ.
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 12:52 pm
Actually the real farcical suggestion here is that $60 million spent on embassy security is a matter of concern because of what it adds to the US deficit.
For fuck’s sake.
$60 million is a drop in the ocean compared to what the illegitimate Marxist thug Obama is spending elsewhere.
And look at this- some racist is calling Obama a “borderline communist”. How disgraceful.
Vote:
March 2nd, 2013 at 12:54 pm
Perhaps if the US did less of this, they wouldn’t need to spend this kind of money.
Of course, most people don’t even know they do that, thanks to stuff like this.
But the truth is hard to swallow, isn’t it. Looking at it seems to hurt some people’s tummies. Ain’t Travistock wonderful?
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 1:04 pm
The US wouldn’t put faith in NZ security……..just like those French bumpkins didn’t…..and one was a sheila!
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 1:06 pm
DPF>I think even airport security would pick up someone importing some missiles
Airport security would probably not detect someone buying tonnes of fertiliser in small quantities from dozens of retailers.
The Americans are doing us a favour by making it less of a soft target. Hopefully terrorists won’t try and blow up a truck bomb at the gate. However, if they do then they’ll probably collapse the Police Headquarters next door. Parliament and the national CD center, Wellington City CD Headquarters, Defence Headquarters, GCSB, and the Red Cross head office are all within a radius where they would suffer some damage. They’re also all likely to be cordoned off for some weeks while the police collect up every little bit of debris for forensic analysis.
I think it is insane that all the government agencies that respond to critical incidents are all located within about half a kilometer of each other and could be disabled or degraded by a single terrorist incident or earthquake. Someone should be thinking about distributing these functions for survivability.
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 1:21 pm
davidP
“….I think it is insane that all the government agencies that respond to critical incidents are all located within about half a kilometer of each other and could be disabled or degraded by a single terrorist incident or earthquake….”
“….upgrade work followed a seismic-risk assessment….”
I would presume that the Police HQ ect would have done this too.
Most large Police stations in NZ have taken ‘bombing’ into account since Earnie Abbott took a suitcase bomb into the Government Security building in Palmeston North in the early 80′s.[I think his name was Abbott and it was in P North - but I could be wrong].
If you go into a large Police Station and look upwards you will notice that the ceiling is 3-4 storys further up[or they will have a false ceiling made with slats that you can see through] this is so that the blast goes upwards and not outwards and weakening the foundations. The public area is usually not to far inwards from the main entrance so that the blast is more closer to the exterior of the building than the interior. That is for the same reason.
The entire public area structure of the building itself is designed not to bring the rest of the building down if the station is bombed.
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 1:25 pm
Most large Police stations in NZ have taken ‘bombing’ into account since Earnie Abbott took a suitcase bomb into the Government Security building in Palmeston North in the early 80′s
Two different bombings. One was a Trade Union Building and the caretaker Ernie Abbot was a victim rather than the bomber in 1984. The other was the Whanganui Police Computer bombing by Neil Roberts, who was killed in the attempt.
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 1:27 pm
“I think even airport security would pick up someone importing some missiles.”
Yep, terrorists are going to prefer trying to bring a missile in through an airport rather than on a yacht somewhere on NZ’s coast in the dark of night.
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 1:30 pm
The visionary expectation of the embassy is small bickies compared with the 30 year plans of most local bodies. In neither case are the visionaries concerned about cost or who pays.
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 1:34 pm
The reality is that Obama is a very dangerous man and I fear he will start a world war. In fact, if you look at the number of countries occupied by Obamas armies, it may have already started.
A few attacks in NZ might make people wake up to the reality of this president.
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 1:56 pm
Metcalf#
Thanks for that. I couldn’t remember all the details as it was a long time ago.cheers.
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 2:26 pm
Harriet>I would presume that the Police HQ ect would have done this too.
It’s a 14 or 15 story office block that looks like it dates to the 60s or 70s. The Indian High Commission is in the same building which means that the main entrance can’t be controlled, that unvetted foreigners are accessing the building to do business at the HC, and that it is a potential target for Pakistani terrorists. I don’t believe it has any seismic strengthening. If there were a large earthquake then I expect it would be one of those buildings that wouldn’t collapse, but there is a strong possibility it would be red-stickered and unusable.
I’d relocate the Police out to Porirua, near the Police College. I’d relocate the Defence HQ to Trentham. I’d take Civil Defence out of the Beehive (where politicians shouldn’t be micromanaging disaster response) and give them purpose-built facilities somewhere else in the Wellington region.
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 2:29 pm
The reality is that Obama is a very dangerous man…
Well of course he is Kea. Duh. And another reality is, so was Bush 43, and so was Clinton, and so was Bush 41. Anyone who doesn’t get this simple reality, by now, isn’t very good at analysing politics. That’s yet another reality.
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 6:49 pm
Maybe when they do this they will send us a really, really good ambassador?
Vote:March 2nd, 2013 at 8:00 pm
“as a man made sorry as a natural disaster”
“if there’s a man made sorry if there’s a natural disaster like an earthquake” – John Key
“This quake was pretty much a bullseye” – Professor John Wilson
FEMA Deputy Administrator for Protection and National Preparedness, Tim Manning, was in Christchurch at the time of the quake.
Thad Allen was in Christchurch at the time of the earthquake, too. This man was involved in directing the federal response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
http://uncensored.co.nz/2011/03/04/was-the-christchurch-earthquake-a-terrible-natural-disaster-or-was-it-a-terrible-man-made-disaster/
Vote:March 3rd, 2013 at 7:18 am
I just love the way Bedwetter works himself into a lather at the mention of Obama’s name. While Obama is far from ideal can anybody really imagine what the world would be like had Santorum or that stupid wimin Palin become POTUS?
Vote: