Smoke is rising from the bldg of the Russian embassy in Poland. Allegedly, the diplomats are burning

[Yorkie Mom]

Link to tweet

Smoke is rising from the building of the Russian embassy in Poland. Allegedly, the diplomats are burning the documents.

I think i've seen this somewhere before

[Atticus]

1. White smoke means a new President has been selected, right? nt

[lindysalsagal]

8. ...

[ColinC]

2. I imagine if this was going to happen (Russia attack Poland)

The US wouldhave said something based on intel. Seems unlikely with so much of it's military capacity being spent on Ukraine.

[PatSeg]

3. Oh yes, we've seen this movie before

Back during the Obama administration right here in the U.S.

[jmbar2]

4. Poland preparing to expel them?

Biden is calling for tougher sanctions from European countries. If Poland is the next Russian target, I'd want to clear them all out ASAP.

[Gore1FL]

15. At this point, I don't think Putin could even invade someone's personal space.

I don't think Poland has a lot to worry about at this point, anyway.

[Flaleftist]

5. What's the reason for many paper documents when everything can be digital?

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

6. Security

Paper can't be hacked.

[roamer65]

7. Reminds me of Saigon, 1975.

[usonian]

9. I remember when the Russian embassy in San Francisco was burning stuff.

They were having a toasty fire on a 95 degree day (this is extremely unusual in San Francisco)
9/1/2017

More: (and this is interesting)
https://www.newsweek.com/russian-consulate-mysteriously-burns-unidentified-objects-after-trump-orders-658708

The Trump administration's decision to order Russia to close the consulate, the oldest in the U.S., comes amid heightened tensions between Washington and Moscow.

In late July, Congress voted overwhelmingly in favor of new sanctions against Russia for its interference in the 2016 election. Trump ultimately agreed to sign the bill imposing the sanctions, albeit somewhat reluctantly.

Moscow retaliated by ordering the expulsion of 755 U.S. diplomats.

[2naSalit]

10. It's a tattletale sign.

The next step could be really bad.

[Stinky The Clown]

11. Prelude to War . . . . . or head fake

[Ex Lurker]

12. Not just Poland

[BGBD]

13. Probably going to shutter embassies

As a protest against sanctions and being called the war criminals they are.

Why do people think Putin is going to expand a war he already can't handle?

Russia is losing a conventional groud war to an Army that's about 5 years old and on their border. The Russian Army is supposed to be built for doing this.

[Marius25]

14. I thought you're supposed to eat the evidence, not burn it?

[Stinky The Clown]

16. What's an embassy? What's a consulate? What's a mission?

It probably matters where things are being burned. To burn them in Russian embassy and not see burning in consulates is less worrying than if all levels of Russian diplomatic missions are burning things. Some NATO countries might only have a Russian embassy. Others probably have the embassy and one or several consulates.

Several diplomatic services (US and foreign) are clients of ours. Here is some basic terminology offered in the spirit of being helpful:

Hierarchy of diplomatic properties (cut and pasted from Wikipedia, but accurate)


Embassy Diplomatic mission generally located in the capital city of another country which offers a full range of services, including consular services.

High commission Embassy of a Commonwealth country located in another Commonwealth country.

Permanent Mission Diplomatic mission to a major international organization.

Consulate General Diplomatic mission located in a major city, usually other than the capital city, which provides a full range of consular services.

Consulate Diplomatic mission that is similar to a consulate general but may not provide a full range of services.

Consular Mission Office of a consulate

Legation Diplomatic representative office of lower rank than an embassy. Where an embassy was headed by an ambassador, a legation was headed by a minister. Ambassadors outranked ministers and had precedence at official events. Legations ere originally the most common form of diplomatic mission, but they fell out of favor after World War II and were upgraded to embassies.

Honorary Consul The head of a diplomatic mission which provides only a limited range of services.